Syria Crisis: UK Response

Yvette Cooper Excerpts

Monday 8th February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The lucidity and comprehensiveness of the Secretary of State’s replies cannot be disputed, but I would gently point out that we have got through two Back-Bench questions in seven minutes, so we shall now strive for improvement in productivity.

[Yvette Cooper (Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford) (Lab)]

I strongly welcome the results of the London conference and the leadership shown by the Secretary of State and others in Government. That is immensely important. She said that Britain is also helping refugees in Europe, but the honest truth is that the help being provided to them is tiny. There are refugees in Greece and the Balkans, and close to home in Dunkirk and Calais, who are in worse humanitarian conditions than those in the region and who are being denied support by Governments, the United Nations and aid agencies because they are in Europe. Children are suffering from scabies, bronchitis and cold. How much of the London conference funding will go towards helping refugees in Europe? If the answer is none, what is the Secretary of State doing to hold a similar pledging conference to help the refugees in Europe?

[Justine Greening]

The conference was, indeed, about making sure that we are responding, in the region, to Syrian refugees and host communities affected by the crisis. The right hon. Lady asks about the response in Europe. We are talking about European countries that have the resources to respond to and help refugees who are currently in their own countries, but, as I have said, the UK has played its role in helping refugees who have arrived.