Speeches by Foord.

“We have somebody else who will ask about the business of proportionality being about the military objective, rather than somehow being about equivalent deaths on both sides—of course, that is a very misrepresented principle of international humanitarian law. I want to focus on distinction. If there are civilians in the…”

“Perhaps we can take an example: the sort of precaution you are talking about is tapping on the roof before ordnance—”

“One of the distinctive elements of this particular conflict. Could we use the example of the destruction of a 12-storey residential building in the al-Yarmouk neighbourhood in October 2023? The target of the strike was a Hamas terrorist tunnel underneath the building. The building was 12-storeys tall, and the strike re…”

“When you appeared before the Business and Trade Committee this time last year, you were talking prior to the UK’s arms embargo on Israel, when the UK was still supplying those arms. At that time, you were having to defend Israel’s action around distinction and proportionality, by talking about Hamas-run health ministry…”

“I would like to move on to international humanitarian law and ask you some questions on jus in bello. If we can agree, first, that there is consensus that a single fighter suspected of being a terrorist operative for Hamas or Islamic Jihad is a legitimate target, and a civilian is not a legitimate target—I think we can…”

“One of the distinctive elements of this particular conflict. Could we use the example of the destruction of a 12-storey residential building in the al-Yarmouk neighbourhood in October 2023? The target of the strike was a Hamas terrorist tunnel underneath the building. The building was 12-storeys tall, and the strike re…”

“When you appeared before the Business and Trade Committee this time last year, you were talking prior to the UK’s arms embargo on Israel, when the UK was still supplying those arms. At that time, you were having to defend Israel’s action around distinction and proportionality, by talking about Hamas-run health ministry…”

“It is an honour to serve with you in the Chair, Mrs Hobhouse. Across mid and east Devon, I have heard time and again from young people who want safer ways to get to school by foot and by wheeling. Students at Sidmouth college have been asking for something very simple: a cycle path between Sidford and Sidbury. Right no…”

“It is an honour to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Stuart. It is plain from what others have said that this is a sector-wide problem. In 2017, Sajid Javid, when he was the Secretary of State, set up the regulation of property agents working group, under Lord Best. When it reported in 2019, it recommended “a model for a…”

“I congratulate the Defence Secretary on co-chairing the 27th meeting of the Ukraine defence contact group. While it was good to see the German Defence Minister also chairing, that role was carried out until 9 January by the US Secretary of Defence. Defence Secretary Hegseth did attend earlier this month, but it was rem…”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“I commend the Defence Committee for talking to the families of service personnel as well as directly to soldiers, sailors and airmen. If I think back to the people with whom I served, they tended to be phlegmatic about making the ultimate sacrifice, but they cared a great deal about the satisfaction of their immediate …”

“Tony Hibberd, a former sub-postmaster from Colyton in east Devon, is 84 years old. Four years since he submitted his claim, and 14 years after his wrongful dismissal, there has still been no meaningful progress towards a fair and final settlement that reflects the loss to Tony’s reputation. Following the statement from…”

“I rise to talk about South West Water and Pennon Group. I speak today for anyone in Devon and Cornwall who has ever had to walk past a polluted stream, stay out of the sea when visiting a beach, or stare at a water bill and wonder, “How did we end up here?” South West Water, like its parent company, Pennon, has become …”

“We have heard Ministers refer many times to the risk of breaches of international humanitarian law. On the one occasion, on 17 March, when the Foreign Secretary admitted that withholding aid to Gaza was “a breach of international law”—[Official Report, 17 March 2025; Vol. 764, c. 41.], he had to retract the admission a…”

“If there is a recognition that we need to switch from copper to broadband, then this plainly is another incentive to get broadband rolled out to the most remote rural areas. A councillor wrote to me to say: “As we only get 2MBs on a good day, adding the land line will reduce the signal to a point where our devices will…”

“My hon. Friend’s point about the south-west is absolutely right. Some 217 visits per 100,000 to accident and emergency are for dental-related issues, compared with 154 for the next highest region. So the south-west is a real outlier, and not in a good way. Does my hon. Friend think that that is having a detrimental eff…”

“Absolutely. I would add that the Royal British Legion is fantastic at bringing in volunteers—people who have not served, but on whom the RBL depends. We have some really strong local branches in Cullompton, Honiton, Kilmington, Sidmouth, Sidbury and Sidford, Beer and Seaton. They are all fantastic examples of commitmen…”

“The Minister talks about the previous Government’s dental recovery plan, and part of that was to impose a firmer ringfence on dentistry spending so that there was not an underspend that was reallocated elsewhere. The previous Government tasked NHS England with collecting monthly returns from ICBs to establish spending …”

“It is an honour to serve with you in the Chair, Sir Jeremy. Mid and east Devon has a very strong veteran community. Although the national average for people who have served is 3.8%, there are 4,616 households in Honiton and Sidmouth with at least one veteran—6.3% of the population. It speaks volumes about Devon’s conne…”