Middle East

Debate between Yuan Yang and Keir Starmer

Tuesday 14th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank the hon. Lady for raising that individual case. I offer to provide her with further information on it as soon as we can.

[Yuan Yang (Earley and Woodley) (Lab)]

I deeply welcome this long-awaited ceasefire and the release of the hostages. I thank the Prime Minister and his Ministers for their tireless work and international leadership on this front, including in the upcoming Gaza recovery summit, which is to be held in the UK later this week. I am glad to hear of the Prime Minister’s commitment to reconstruction and aid. I note that recent report of the UN commission of inquiry described how the obstruction of aid getting into Gaza has led to what it calls the “destruction of Palestinians”. What is the current situation for UN agencies’ access to Gaza, and what can we do to ensure that aid flows freely?

[The Prime Minister]

Tom Fletcher is leading our work in relation to this, and we have been clear throughout that aid cannot get in at the scale and volume that is needed without the UN. That is why we have always championed and said that the UN should be part of that distribution.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Yuan Yang and Keir Starmer

Wednesday 4th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We are moving at pace on all relevant issues. We passed the Budget to provide the baseline for what we need, and we will continue to do so.

[Yuan Yang (Earley and Woodley) (Lab)]

Q13. Local councils in my constituency are facing significant financial pressures on special educational needs and disabilities provision. In Wokingham borough, for example, the SEND incidence is twice the national average, yet historically the level of funding has not met the level of need, and that has left families and children waiting too long for help. The previous Government’s safety valve programme was only a sticking plaster, so I welcome this Government’s announcement today of additional SEND funding in mainstream schools. What more can the Government do to make SEND funding sustainable?

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising this—I think this is the fifth or sixth time that SEND has been raised at Prime Minister’s questions. We inherited a system neglected to the point of crisis by the last Government, and so we will deliver the change that is desperately needed. That means increasing funding to the core schools budget by £2.3 billion, which includes almost £1 billion more on high needs budgets. Today we are announcing investment of £740 million to create SEN units in mainstream schools which deliver specialist support, and I am very pleased to take that forward.