Speeches by Harding.

“Do the Government have a strategy of their own to increase public perception and awareness of the good that aid and development can do?”

“The best innovative finance factoring tool that I saw was the TFFF, and I know the Committee wrote to you about that. First of all, it is great for public perception because it is not a grant, as we know it. Can you elaborate on what will happen to that, whether there will be funding behind it from the UK?”

“Sudan in five minutes will not give it any justice at all as I know you are personally committed, as is your team and the team in the Foreign Office. Clearly it is the biggest humanitarian disaster since records began, the scale of the killing in El Fasher. With the UK as penholder on the UN Security Council, it shows …”

“Can I push you a bit further? You talk about your focus on it, which is really welcome. Would that translate to more Foreign Office development staff on the ground in and around Sudan? More than there are at the moment?”

“Being there and being able to talk to the various groups, old-style diplomacy, may be the only thing that gets through at the moment.”

“What do you think are the keys to restoring public awareness and confidence in the spending of ODA?”

“Thank you for coming, Minister. When you talk in that vein to Norway, for example, they will push back and say that they maintain their aid at current levels because of the moral imperative, but also because it is useful for their influence and where they want to be. Although it is not a direct relationship between tra…”

“The ODA budget seems like a bucket that you pinch from to sort out domestic problems—asylum hotels, migration and climate change, which for everyone is the biggest threat coming towards us—but at the same time, the bucket has been emptied and is very stretched. Why is that? Why is it seen as easy pickings? Is it someth…”

“Last time you came, you talked about diaspora groups and meeting with them to discuss Sudan. Has that happened?”

“There are reports that this morning Israeli security forces arrived at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency compound in Sheikh Jarrah, in occupied East Jerusalem. Security guards were forced out of the premises, bulldozers subsequently entered the compound and began to demolish UNRWA buildings, and the demolition…”

“I have had almost 1,800 emails from constituents urging for something to be done about this. I declare an interest as the mother of four young adults and teenagers. Local headteachers and campaigners tell us repeatedly about the mental health issues and harmful algorithms, but the tech companies must be held to account…”

“Perhaps the Prime Minister, on his much-heralded cost of living tour, might like to visit the pubs and cafés in my constituency of Esher and Walton, if they let him in. They are being squeezed to breaking point by this Government, while constituents watch their wallets because of tax rises. Hospitality venues are the l…”

“The Iranian Government are massacring civilians, and brave young protesters are risking their lives for freedom and dignity against a violent and corrupt regime. The Minister has spoken about the thousands of people who we fear have lost their lives, and The Times is reporting that up to 16,000 people may have died—and…”

“When the US President tells the Iranian protesters that “help is on its way”, as he has just done, does that include British help? Will the Government rule out the UK taking part in any planned US military intervention without multilateral authorisation?”

“My constituency is the highest contributor to the Exchequer of any constituency outside London, and most of the people who pay those huge taxes commute into London on South Western Railway, which is London’s least reliable train network. A major cause of that poor performance is an outdated signalling system at Clapham…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Betts. I thank the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for securing this debate, and for all his work. I also thank all the hon. Members, from across the parties, who have spoken in this debate with such clarity and conviction, and so powerfully. Next month mar…”

“I am sorry to stop my hon. Friend mid flow, because that is a really interesting concept. I draw his attention to a BBC article from today about using centuries-old samples of tumours from bowel cancer to work out why there is such a massive increase in bowel cancer among young people. I do not understand the science o…”

“Brain cancer is one of the deadliest cancers, and it disproportionately affects young adults: it is the big cancer killer of people under 40. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that this proposal not only would save lives at a relatively small cost but has an economic benefit? The Brain Tumour Charity points out that most p…”

“May I pay tribute to the hon. Member for everything she is doing on glioblastoma? It has affected my own family: my brother-in-law, Pip Harding, was diagnosed with a glioblastoma. He has received oncothermia therapy, but only through crowdfunding. The cost of—I think—10 treatments was something like £40,000, which he g…”

“Trial by jury is not a luxury; it is one of the oldest and most fundamental protections in this country and a key safeguard of liberty. Yet under this Government, it is being treated not as a principle to be defended, but as a system to be rationed. We all agree that there is a crisis in the criminal justice system and…”