G20 and Leadership of EU Institutions

Alison Thewliss Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd July 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I have raised the United States’s approach to climate change, and particularly to the Paris agreement, with President Trump on many occasions, and I continue to raise it with him.

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

My son Alexander is nine today, and in so many ways I think he is incredibly lucky to be growing up in Scotland.

Was there any discussion at the G20 of the appalling scandal emerging at the US border, where women and their children have been separated from each other, are being held in overcrowded and insanitary conditions that have been likened to concentration camps and, according to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, who visited this week, being forced to drink from toilets and abused by US border guards? Has she raised that with President Trump, and if not, will she do so?

[The Prime Minister]

I wish the hon. Lady’s son Alexander a very happy birthday today.

I am sure we are all concerned about the deeply shocking images that we have seen from the US-Mexico border. Obviously, countries are responsible for their own border policy, but we all, I think, have the responsibility of ensuring that we address migration issues humanely. Concerns about what has happened on that border will continue to be raised.