Israel and Gaza
Debate between Andrew Selous and Andrew Mitchell(1 month, 3 weeks ago)
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Mr Mitchell
The hon. Gentleman makes a good point, but he will have seen from the Government’s amendment last week that a very clear process is going on. I very much hope that his party can support it.
Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)
I know that the Government are doing everything they can to get food into Gaza, but we hear increasing numbers of reports of malnourishment and even starvation of adults and children. Will the Government say to the Israelis that there really is no acceptable reason to not allow food in now?
Mr Mitchell
My hon. Friend is right: there is no acceptable reason. That is why the Government are pressing so hard to get additional humanitarian support into not only the southern part of Gaza, but the northern part.
Israel and Hamas: Humanitarian Pause
Debate between Andrew Selous and Andrew Mitchell(4 months, 4 weeks ago)
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Mr Mitchell
I thank the right hon. Lady for her question. She speaks with great wisdom on these matters. I can tell her that the discussions to which she refers are going on throughout the region and internationally. Britain is playing a proper part, not least by the visit last week of the Foreign Secretary to the region.
Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)
I very much hope we can extend the humanitarian pause. The Minister, as a former serviceman, like me, will know that the United Kingdom armed forces make extraordinary efforts to avoid civilian casualties, even when targeting terrorists embedded in civilian areas—a point that has been made very forcefully to me by veterans in recent days—so will the United Kingdom carry on very clearly calling on Israel to follow similar standard operating procedures?
Mr Mitchell
Yes, and the Foreign Secretary, during his visit to Israel, made precisely that point.
Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Situation
Debate between Andrew Selous and Andrew Mitchell(5 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I hope that the Government’s calls for humanitarian pauses will continue and be insistent. The Minister talked about a viable Palestinian state, which requires land. The reality is that so much of that land has been lost to illegal settlements. Will he continue to make that point, because a brighter future will require land to guarantee the peace we all yearn for.
Mr Mitchell
My hon. Friend makes an extremely good point. Of course we will continue, as he suggests, to prioritise the issue of pauses. He will know that, in my statement, I condemned settler violence, as did the Prime Minister in yesterday’s response to the Gracious Speech. What he says is right, and we will not forget that.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Andrew Selous and Andrew Mitchell(13 years, 6 months ago)
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Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)
1. What steps he is taking to increase the transparency of arrangements for distribution of overseas aid.
The Secretary of State for International Development (Mr Andrew Mitchell)
The new UK aid transparency guarantee will deliver a step change in the transparency of British aid. Under the guarantee, we will publish full and detailed information on our projects and policies, strengthen accessibility and feedback, and press international partners to follow our lead.
Andrew Selous
Hard-pressed British taxpayers will be pleased to have heard what my right hon. Friend has said, but could he tell us how transparency will be assured for the fairly large part of the British aid budget that is spent through the United Nations, the World Bank and international development charities?
Mr Mitchell
My hon. Friend is right about this, because there are some 44 international and multilateral aid agencies through which we spend British taxpayers’ money. All of them are being looked at under the multilateral aid review, which we set up immediately after this Government took office. The review will report by the end of January next year and we will decide upon our spending allocations in accordance with the results that we are achieving, which will be examined by that review.