Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Carol Monaghan and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 4th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

Yes, I am very happy to announce that we were successful in our application to join the GPA and we were strongly supported by a number of allies all over the world.

[Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP)]

The 3.9 million Christians in Pakistan are among the most persecuted in the world. Will Ministers assure the House that they are working with colleagues in the Department for International Trade to make sure that any future trade deals are not made at the expense of those people?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Carol Monaghan and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 30th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

My hon. Friend is a great expert in Chinese matters. I think this issue is of very great, and growing, concern. We will raise it in all appropriate forums, and that may be a very good thought.

[Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP)]

Will the Secretary of State consider all options we have at EU level to prosecute and impose sanctions on those who have committed atrocities against the Rohingya people in Myanmar?

[Mr Hunt]

The hon. Lady will be pleased to know that the EU has already introduced targeted sanctions against seven Burmese generals. We are in discussions with the French, as the other EU permanent member of the Security Council, as to what further measures we can take.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Carol Monaghan and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 4th September 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

I very much welcome my hon. Friend’s experience of the region. Obviously that would be a matter for Parliament to decide, but it is very important that in all our dealings with the Burmese regime they understand that a line has been crossed. It is also important to update the House on the fact that a great deal has happened over the summer months, including an EU decision, which the UK was instrumental in making happen, to impose sanctions on seven individuals in the Burmese military. Much more now needs to be done.

[Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP)]

It was a shock to read reports of the jailing of two Reuters journalists in Burma who had been instrumental in reporting the Rohingya massacre. What representations has the Secretary of State made to the Burmese Government on the importance of press freedom?

[Mr Hunt]

The two journalists were doing what is in the very best traditions of all journalism: exposing evil and bad things that Governments do not want exposed. We are very concerned, and I want to visit Burma/Myanmar to talk about all these issues and will certainly raise the issue with the Burmese authorities.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Carol Monaghan and Jeremy Hunt

Tuesday 19th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hunt]

Of course I am happy to meet my hon. Friend. I recognise that this is one of the things that we are not good at at the moment. We have fantastic research, with amazing new drugs developed in this country, but our uptake can be painfully slow, and that is of course something that we want to put right.

[Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP)]

ME affects approximately a quarter of a million people across the UK, and while there has been substantial psychological research into the condition, there has been very little biomedical research. What funding will the Secretary of State make available specifically for biomedical research into the treatment and diagnosis of ME?

[Mr Hunt]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for raising that issue. She is introducing a debate on it in Westminster Hall on Thursday. I have met a number of families who have suffered very badly as a result of ME, and we would all like better research, so I hope that her campaign is successful.