International Development

Bambos Charalambous Excerpts

Thursday 19th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

The hon. Member rightly mentions Lebanon, where as we speak there is a huge humanitarian crisis. That is why in the past two weeks we announced an additional £15 million this year, particularly for Lebanon but also for some of the nearby areas, to provide urgent additional humanitarian and crisis support this year. It is why we have added Lebanon to the list of countries—alongside Sudan and Palestine, which he also raised—where we are protecting the funding next year as well, because this is so important. He talked about the scale of conflict. It is also why it is right that we target the aid we spend—the grant funding—on those areas that are in the greatest crisis and conflict, but also for other countries where they have Governments that we can work with. For example, we can help them to raise more taxes of their own, as we are doing in Ghana, or work with British International Investment, where we can put investment in growing their economy, which also helps them to raise revenue. We take different approaches for different countries in different circumstances. The aim is still the same: to provide support for people and their lives and the long-term economic development they need, but it does have to be done in different ways in different countries.

[Bambos Charalambous (Southgate and Wood Green) (Lab)]

Over 220 million children worldwide are not in education. The UN sustainable development goal 4 is unlikely to be met by 2030. What investment is the UK making to support global efforts to help those children?

[Yvette Cooper]

I welcome my hon. Friend raising the issue of education. There is a particular issue with girls not being in education. It is also an issue in conflict areas, such as Sudan or Ukraine, where children’s education has been held back. That is why we are continuing the funding for Education Cannot Wait, because it provides the crucial funding in conflict zones and crises, particularly for refugee families in need of support. In other areas, we think the crucial need is to work with those Governments. In some countries we need to work in partnership with the Government concerned, because there are schools, there is provision and there are services, but for different local policy reasons too many people, particularly girls, are excluded. We want to work both internationally and bilaterally to support education.