Sir Andrew Mitchell
MP for Sutton Coldfield · Conservative · United Kingdom
“In the discussions that the Foreign Secretary is holding with European countries, is he also emphasising the vital role that soft power and the international development budget play in promoting security?”
House of Commons27 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“If left unaddressed, this new legal principle could make it far harder for victims of police misconduct to obtain justice, even where the harm that they have suffered is severe and life-changing. The doctrine has been described as a form of police misconduct immunity.”
House of Commons13 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The victim of the abuse had given her confidential refuge address to the Sussex police, and that address was later disclosed in court, exposing her location to the abuser and forcing her to flee. The Court of Appeal answered the question by extending what is known as core immunity.”
House of Commons13 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“At the time, I was the Secretary of State for International Development and was engaged in the Government’s response to the kidnapping through COBRA, but we now know that Ali Kololo was innocent. A Kenyan court has since overturned his conviction, with the evidence showing that he had become a scapegoat in a deeply flawed investigation.”
House of Commons13 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I want to draw the House’s attention to new clause 22, which I have tabled with the hon. Member for Birmingham Yardley (Jess Phillips), my parliamentary neighbour, whose absence from the Government Front Bench is a matter of regret to all of us on the Conservative Benches.”
House of Commons13 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Court’s ruling therefore raises serious concerns about whether victims will be able to seek redress when police misconduct, negligence, human rights breaches or serious errors occur. That is why the case of XGY matters far beyond the individual victim involved.”
House of Commons13 October 2026Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
The complete record
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“Will the Minister condemn that action by Unite?”
House of Commons22 April 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Will the Minister make a point of thanking the well-run and cost-effective Conservative councils that have either helped or offered to help clear up this terrible mess? Will he bear in mind that it is not just the bin strike that my poor, long-suffering constituents in the royal town of Sutton Coldfield have had to endure, but the pending closure of our libraries and the massive hike in council tax? Does he understand why so many of us want to see a proper judge-led inquiry into how bankrupt Birmingham city council has got Britain’s second city into this mess? Will he also bear in mind that this is a dispute between two wings of the Labour party? Whatever I may think of the council that he leads, it is quite wrong that my constituent, the leader of the council, should have had a photograph of his house put on social media by Unite.”
House of Commons22 April 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Are the British Government going to act, as the French and American Governments have done, to support Morocco’s autonomy plan for Western Sahara?”
House of Commons1 April 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Surely the people of Birmingham, Britain’s second city, deserve better from the Labour party.”
House of Commons31 March 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“What discussions has the Minister had with her American counterparts to ensure that we drive the UK and US joint spending and get greater value for money?”
House of Commons31 March 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank the hon. Lady for her statement to the House. For those of us who have been closely involved on issues to do with Burma/Myanmar for decades now, the severity of the disaster is shown by the fact that, unusually, the regime has called for international support. However, it is a mark of the barbarity of that illegal and corrupt junta that it conducted 11 airstrikes against its own people after the earthquake took place, which is undoubtedly a war crime. We have a long history of engagement with Burma. Some 6.3 million children are absolutely dependent on assistance. It will be very difficult to sustain the necessary level of support in future following Labour’s dreadful cuts to the international development programme.”
House of Commons31 March 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Minister really cannot get away with blaming the last Conservative Government for this situation. Labour’s own campaign improvement board said: “Budget cuts and the size of the City are used as reasons to explain the situation however, this does not hold up to scrutiny”. My constituents in the Royal town of Sutton Coldfield, which is part of Birmingham if only for local government purposes, are absolutely furious at this latest evidence of paralysis and incompetence under Labour. It follows Labour bankrupting the city, rocketing our council tax, seeking to close our libraries and trying to charge us for parking in our own park. Does the Minister not think that we now need a judge-led inquiry into the cause of the equal pay crisis, Birmingham’s bankruptcy and this dreadful bin strike?”
House of Commons31 March 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Minister is to be commended for bringing this statement to the House. He will be aware that Britain has been heavily involved, since we helped to set up the Zaatari camp, in supporting the 5 million people in the surrounding countries who we know wish to go home as soon as the situation allows. My plea to him is to ensure that, given all the other preoccupying crises around the world, the full force of the Foreign Office, with its long history of engagement in Syria, does not get distracted elsewhere but is brought to bear at this time.”
House of Commons10 March 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“T2. The Minister for Intergovernmental Relations is an extremely experienced Minister, so will he cause to be reviewed the quite extraordinary decision to cut the integrated security fund by £120 million? Is that fund not a classic example of how development complements defence demonstrably and effectively? Will he listen to the great concerns that Members on his own side of the House feel at the terrible decision to axe crucial development spending?”
House of Commons6 March 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I very much hope that Labour Members will exert influence and explain to the Government why this is the wrong decision at the wrong time and that it must be reversed.”
House of Commons5 March 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Many are horrified to see a Labour Government behaving in this way, bludgeoning development, which was already badly damaged by the abolition of the Department for International Development and the previous cuts in the last Parliament. I ask colleagues on the Labour Benches to make a principled decision and ensure that their voices are heard in government. They should imagine those Prime Ministers who really drove forward international development and the cause of development, turning Britain into a development superpower: Prime Minister Blair, Prime Minister Brown, Prime Minister Cameron and Prime Minister May. Those four Premiers drove the cause and did so much good, saving so many lives.”
House of Commons5 March 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Furthermore, the stopping and starting of development is very bad value for money for taxpayers. I know that Foreign Office Ministers will have fought against this terrible decision and it gives me a chance to pay tribute once again to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the civil servants and diplomats who work there. It is the finest diplomatic corps in the world. I also want to pay tribute to the right hon. Member for Oxford East (Anneliese Dodds) whose principled and brave resignation letter will serve her very well. We all know that this is an example of the iron fist of No. 10 cynically conquering the extremely good arguments put up by the Foreign Office, to take the low-hanging fruit. In my view, that is entirely wrong.”
House of Commons5 March 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“All are independently verified by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact, which is the taxpayers’ friend. That is what development does and it ought to be unanswerable that this is of vital importance. The cut from 0.7% to 0.5% was terrible, but we did manage to find a number of ingenious ways of augmenting that money through guarantees, co-financing, insurance, and the use of special drawing rights, but the reduction to 0.3% will destroy any incipient recovery. And, as the hon. Lady said, who will fill the gap? It will be China and Russia. It will be music to the ears of the many terrorist organisations that exist across sub-Saharan Africa. The failure to do some of the things that the hon. Lady set out so clearly will result in the clarion call of the terrorist being heard.”
House of Commons5 March 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It is a pleasure to follow the brave and principled speech of the Chair of the International Development Committee. The Government are absolutely right to increase defence expenditure, and President Trump is right, too, in saying that Europe must shoulder the burden against Russian imperial expansion. But development should be part of that strategy. Development, defence and diplomacy are intertwined. I remind everyone that the development budget tackles conflict, helps build better societies and builds prosperity. It helps tackle migration, disease, medicines, education, vaccinations, growth, jobs, British International Investment—I do not entirely agree with the hon. Lady on this, because BII is an outstanding example of British success in development—transparency, accountability, and anti-corruption.”
House of Commons5 March 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Yes, it is. As far as I am aware, it is not true that the office in East Kilbride is being closed. It is being moved to Glasgow, and I am advised that the Government have no plans to change that arrangement.”
House of Commons5 March 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Minister will understand that in the royal town of Sutton Coldfield, we were delighted to receive the towns fund money from the last Government, and we are grateful to him for—in his words—honouring that commitment from the Dispatch Box. May I also thank him for the courtesy he has shown in the discussions that he and I have had about this? As I have said to him before, I hope that he will pay a state visit to the royal town of Sutton Coldfield, where we can show him not only the delights of the town, but how well we will ensure that this taxpayers’ money is spent.”
House of Commons4 March 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Prime Minister should surely be commended both for the meetings that he held in the White House last week and for the effective leadership that he showed over the weekend. Will he bear in mind, as he seeks to forge this coalition of the willing with urgency and vigour, that the GDP of Russia is some $2 trillion, while the GDP of the six European members of NATO that are the most committed is more than seven times that, at $15 trillion? That should surely add to the effectiveness of the deterrent and the work that he is now doing with European allies.”
House of Commons3 March 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Let me help the confused Liberal Democrat Member. I was in the Foreign Office during the whole of the Tory negotiations. I witnessed exactly what my right hon. Friend the Member for Braintree (Mr Cleverly) and the noble Lord Cameron did in those negotiations. I can tell my right hon. Friend, the House and the Liberal Democrats that the deal that has been done by the Labour party is one that Tory Ministers would never have countenanced.”
House of Commons26 February 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Foreign Secretary will be aware that under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018, the British Virgin Islands is obliged to introduce open registers of beneficial ownership by the end of 2020, or be subject to an Order in Council. It has not done so, it is in contempt of Parliament, so when will the Foreign Secretary issue the Order in Council?”
House of Commons25 February 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I agree entirely with the strategic direction that the Prime Minister has set out. Defence and security must come first, but he does have choices about how he funds that important uplift. In the last Parliament, he and I voted together against balancing the books on the backs of the poorest people in the world. Does he still think that vote was right?”
House of Commons25 February 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The whole House will want to wish the right hon. Gentleman, and the Prime Minister, a strong and successful visit later this week. He will be able to agree with the President about the importance of all European members of NATO stepping up and playing their part in the significant increase in defence expenditure that we all now need to see, while of course never forgetting what General Mattis has said about the important part of the mix that development constitutes in national defence. However, I hope there will be no compromise in Washington on the facts of the matter, namely that a P5 member of the United Nations invaded its neighbour in an act that we thought had gone out with the last century, has bombed and destroyed its infrastructure, and has butchered and murdered its citizens.”
House of Commons24 February 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Prime Minister will be well aware of the global vaccination fund, Gavi. One of the United Kingdom’s great success stories, it has vaccinated from deadly diseases more than a billion children under five, it presents real value for money to British taxpayers and more than 80% of our constituents support it. Will he give the House an undertaking that Britain will continue that leadership and make a decisive pledge at next month’s replenishment conference?”
House of Commons12 February 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“This has gone on far too long. I read that they were suggesting the Foreign Secretary was working to impose these orders in a colonialist way. I cannot think of any other Member of Parliament of whom that is less likely to be true than the current Foreign Secretary. The brilliant officials in the Foreign Office, who are second to no one in my admiration, have been too willing to keep the peace between the overseas territories and London. They must now ensure that the open registers of beneficial ownership are implemented forthwith, in accordance with the will of Parliament. I very much hope that that will be the result of the summit to which the hon. Member for Kensington and Bayswater referred.”
House of Commons5 February 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Unless at this summit the overseas territories—we are talking particularly about Cayman and the BVI—say that they will follow the will of Parliament, which is clearly set out in that section of the 2018 Act, the Government must impose an Order in Council in the way that has been agreed. Let us be clear: the Government set out in 2012 the constitutional position on using an Order in Council. None of us wants to do it, but that is what Parliament is now pushed to do. The Government said: “As a matter of constitutional law, the UK Parliament has unlimited power to legislate for the Territories.” The overseas territories themselves recognise that they gain hugely from their relationship with the United Kingdom. If they want to travel under our flag—if they want to have the privilege under our monarch—they must accept our values as well.”
House of Commons5 February 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Friend the Member for Goole and Pocklington (David Davis) —and two former Secretaries of State for International Development, namely the right hon. Member for Leeds South (Hilary Benn) and myself, made it clear that that had been done by sleight of hand and that the open registers had to be implemented as soon as possible. Outrageously, we now find that the will of Parliament has been flouted. The letter from the BVI, which I think was received last week, amounts in my view to a contempt of Parliament. The remedy lies with an Order in Council. The Order in Council, which was published on 14 December 2020, insists that the overseas territories must comply with the requirements of section 51 of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018. The position is very clear.”
House of Commons5 February 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“On 1 May 2018, the House added new clause 6 to the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill, under which all overseas territories must implement open registers of beneficial ownership by the end of 2020. As the hon. Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Rachel Blake) said, it was meant to be 2019, but because of the hurricanes, Lady Hodge and I agreed when tabling the amendment that it would not be necessary to do it until the end of 2020. Subsequently, the Foreign Office arbitrarily extended that figure by three years to 2023. On 4 March 2019, in a succession of points of order to the then Speaker, two former Chairs of the Public Accounts Committee—my now noble Friend Lady Hodge and my right hon.”
House of Commons5 February 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“It is a pleasure to contribute to the debate. I congratulate the three Members who have made speeches so far, particularly the hon. Member for Kensington and Bayswater (Joe Powell); he represents a royal borough and I represent a royal town, but this is an issue on which there is huge cross-party agreement. It has already been set out why that agreement exists. We know that this dirty money comes from the drug trade, from the sex trade and from modern slavery. Alas, credible sources indicate that something like 40% of it comes through London, the overseas territories and the Crown dependencies. Parliament has already decided what should happen.”
House of Commons5 February 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Can the Minister provide an undertaking that if the overseas territories, and indeed the Crown dependencies, do not co-operate with what Parliament has set out—the Order in Council published in draft already—the Government will exercise their rights on behalf of Parliament and issue this Order in Council?”
House of Commons5 February 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“We have another three minutes, so I am keen to help out. To be clear, we are talking here about dirty money and the source of this money—money stolen from Africa and from Africans. The baddies have all the best tunes, and they have the money to get their way, so the forces of law and order are always fighting to catch up. It is important to emphasise the open registers. The mist fell from all our eyes when, thanks to the BBC and The Guardian newspaper, the Paradise and Panama papers were published. They showed that, without this open register approach, we cannot join up the dots to see what those clever villains are doing, catch them, trap the money and hopefully return it. The hon. Gentleman and I agree completely, but I hope that we can carry the Government with us.”
House of Commons5 February 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I want to try to be helpful to the Minister. I was the Deputy Foreign Secretary throughout much of the negotiations and I am in a position to tell the House that neither my right hon. Friend the Member for Braintree (Mr Cleverly) nor the noble Lord Cameron in the other place would ever, as Foreign Secretary, have done the deal that the Government are now intent upon. I think the Minister must be praying every night for a “get out of jail free” card—that, when the American Administration come to look at the deal, they will veto it and get the Government off the hook.”
House of Commons5 February 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“May I commend the Development Minister on her statement to the House today? I think she would agree that it continues the drive and commitment of the last Government. I particularly applaud her for making it clear that the policy of the British Government is that any plans for the future governance of Gaza will involve a reformed Palestinian Authority and categorically rule out any role for Hamas. In a week when we have seen the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and the release of terrified young hostages, does she agree that it is deeply depressing that antisemitism is alive and well, and often expressed through hatred of Israel?”
House of Commons28 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Does he agree that it would help if the Congolese army did not so clearly make common cause with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, who perpetrated the genocide to which he referred, and who pose a serious threat to Rwanda’s security and were responsible for the murder of nearly 1 million Tutsis in 1992?”
House of Commons28 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I thank the Foreign Secretary for his kind remarks. On Sudan, I commend the Foreign Secretary for going to Chad. I visited the same location last year, and he will have seen the clear and horrific evidence that this is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. While he was there, did he make it clear to the President of Chad that the use of his private airport by foreign powers to arm and assist the RSF is completely unacceptable? On the DRC, as the Foreign Secretary rightly says everyone should draw back and engage with the Luanda process.”
House of Commons28 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I know that Members on the Treasury Bench attach great importance to the international development budget, not least because I recall that the Chancellor of the Exchequer supported my efforts to stop the 0.7% being cut by my own Government, even winding up the debate with great skill and flair. Will Treasury Ministers therefore follow in the footsteps of the Chancellor’s predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Godalming and Ash (Jeremy Hunt), and top up the budget with an additional £2.5 billion so that the Foreign Office and the Government can achieve their own international development objectives?”
House of Commons21 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“May I thank the Foreign Secretary for his kind remarks and applaud his expression of cautious optimism? It is cautious because the agony of the hostages continues and the urgent need for a quantum increase in humanitarian aid remains unrequited. The deal must be implemented in good faith, and I very much welcome his comment that Hamas can never again govern that space. I pay tribute to his diplomats and officials for their extraordinary hard work and effectiveness, and I underline that Britain has a very important role to play in what comes next. Will he bear in mind that abject devastation can lead to unforeseen breakthroughs? Following the Yom Kippur war, we saw Israel make peace with Egypt, and significant progress was made on the Oslo accords following the intifada.”
House of Commons16 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“The Government are right to continue the all-party approach to the next International Development Association replenishment of the World Bank, which is extremely good value for taxpayer money. Will the Foreign Secretary press the Treasury to match what the former Chancellor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Godalming and Ash (Jeremy Hunt), did in adding £2.5 billion to the 0.5% official development assistance budget, to help defray some of the costs of first-year asylum seekers, which that budget bears? Otherwise, we will be spending more development money in UK postal districts than in Africa.”
House of Commons14 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“In the royal town of Sutton Coldfield, we understand that we must do our bit to help house asylum seekers, but the Ramada hotel on Penns Lane has always been the wrong place because it is too far away from inner-city Birmingham-based services. Under the last Government, the facility was slated for closure, so will the Minister look urgently at winding it down and closing it as soon as possible?”
House of Commons13 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“(Urgent Question): To ask the Minister for International Development for a statement following the United States’ determination of genocide in Sudan.”
House of Commons13 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Many of us have long warned that Sudan is the forgotten crisis. I saw this for myself on the border between Chad and Darfur last year. It has come to pass that the world’s neglect has allowed appalling crimes to thrive. Now, more than ever, it is time for British international leadership to shine the spotlight, to prick the world’s conscience and to bend every sinew of our capabilities to bring this indescribable horror to an end.”
House of Commons13 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“And if that is not enough, the violence perpetrated by the RSF—particularly, but not only, in Darfur—is explicitly identity-based, involving the targeting of black African tribes such as the Masalit and Zaghawa. Right now in El Fasher, Darfur, over 500,000 civilians face siege and the triple threat of identity-based mass violence, armed conflict and famine. Last week, the US Secretary of State, Tony Blinken, called these horrors out for what they are: genocide. His determination is surely the clarion call for the UK, as the penholder on Sudan at the United Nations, to confront genocide and crimes against humanity in Sudan. Will the Minister set out the Government’s approach to atrocity crimes in Sudan? Will she consider funding Adama Dieng’s office as the African Union special adviser on the prevention of genocide?”
House of Commons13 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“My purpose today is not to criticise the Government but to urge them to do more on what is without doubt the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. I wish not to detain the House on the high politics of the region, but to focus on the unspeakable suffering of the Sudanese civilians, who for almost two years have borne the brunt of the most appalling violence perpetrated by the two warring factions. Today, 25 million people need urgent humanitarian assistance, with over 8 million internally displaced and a further 3 million seeking refuge in Chad, Egypt, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Above all, we face the unconscionable situation where a horrific famine looms over millions of people, which will lead unbearably to hundreds of thousands of women, children and men starving to death before our eyes.”
House of Commons13 January 2025Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I want to make three brief points. First, I have completely changed by mind on this subject since I entered the House during the last century, because I have sat in my advice surgery with tears pouring down my face listening to constituents who have set out so clearly, speaking with such emotion, about how their mother, brother, father or child had died in great pain and great indignity. I strongly support the Bill, and I congratulate the hon. Member for Spen Valley (Kim Leadbeater) on the excellent way in which she has presented it. I believe that we should give our constituents—our fellow citizens—this choice. I want this choice for my constituents; I want it for those whom I love; and I want it, perhaps one day, for myself.”
House of Commons29 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“He had visited his father and seen him in great pain and indignity. He had seen him three days before he died. In the end his father put a bag over his head and used his dressing-gown cord to hang himself. That young man said to all of us: “If you are ever in this position, let’s hope that God will help you, because they certainly won’t.” Today, this House has the opportunity to ensure that they will.”
House of Commons29 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“There will not be a slippery slope unless this Parliament agrees to there being one. If we agree to a Second Reading today it is, in my judgment, inconceivable that the Government Front Bench will not ensure we have the proper time to scrutinise the Bill. This Bill goes with the grain of our constituents’ views—about 75%, according to the most recent polling. There is an opportunity and a chance, as the hon. Member for Spen Valley has set out, to consider in detail these matters ahead of Third Reading. As drafted, the Bill seems to me a very modest and controlled proposal. Let us not forget this: Oregon shows us that fewer people take these steps once they know they have this choice as a back-up. I end with something I have never forgotten. Some years ago, I was listening in a debate to a young man who had recently lost his father.”
House of Commons29 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“She said, “I love my country, but I object very strongly to my country forcing me to make this choice, and to having to travel unaccompanied to a foreign country to die.” The status quo is cruel and dangerous. People caught up in these circumstances have no transparency; there is no regulation, safeguards or oversight. The Bill contains a whole series of safeguards that are not present at the moment. Thirdly, we are deciding today on a principle. If the Bill is voted down on Second Reading, that will be the end of the matter for many years, and we will do that in the knowledge that Scotland, the Isle of Man, Jersey and many other countries are likely to bring in legislation like this. There are 300 million people in 30 jurisdictions who have secured this ability to choose. There will be numerous safeguards.”
House of Commons29 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“Let us be clear that all of us on both sides of the debate strongly support an increase in the quality and extent of palliative care. For me, the debate is about extending choice, in very narrow and heavily regulated circumstances under the Bill, as the hon. Lady so clearly set out—the choice not to be forced to end your life in pain and indignity. No element in the Bill talks about intolerable suffering. Many believe that the Bill is too narrowly drawn. I stand by the hon. Lady’s drafting. We should remember that in Oregon there has been no serious attempt to change or amend the law. I had the privilege of speaking to an NHS consultant last year, the day before she headed to Dignitas.”
House of Commons29 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“I will not, I am afraid. The current law forces people to plan their deaths in secret. Their bodies are found by their loved ones. Often, they die in the most horrific circumstances. They have no chance to say goodbye to their loved ones. It is devastating for their families. The former Health Secretary commissioned the Office for National Statistics to try to find out how many people who committed suicide every year were dying people. The figure was between 300 and 650. Secondly, in our democracy, the Commons must make this decision. Only we, elected by our constituents, have the legitimacy to do this. It is not the DPP, the Crown Prosecution Service, the police, doctors or even unelected Members of the House of Lords—this House of Commons must make this decision.”
House of Commons29 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“May I wish the new shadow Foreign Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witham (Priti Patel), every success in her role? May I also wish the Minister and the entire Government foreign affairs team courage and wisdom as they deal with a world more dangerous than at any time in our lives? When it comes to soft power and development, I remind them of the importance of the words best articulated by former US Defence Secretary Mattis: “If you cut development spend, you have to order more ammunition.””
House of Commons26 November 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs if he will make a statement on the situation in Sudan.”
House of Commons29 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗
“As Christmas approaches, from the comfort of our homes, we are going to witness the hideous spectre of mass starvation in a world of plenty. “Urgent” is an understatement: we must do more and act now.”
House of Commons29 October 2024Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0Source ↗