Tuesday Volume 697 15 June 2021 No. 17 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Tuesday 15 June 2021 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2021 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 103 15 JUNE 2021 104 House of Commons Aid Budget Reduction: Humanitarian Impact Mr David Davis (Haltemprice and Howden) (Con): Tuesday 15 June 2021 What recent assessment he has made of the humanitarian impact of reducing the UK aid budget. [901216] The House met at half-past Eleven o’clock Steven Bonnar (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (SNP): What assessment he has made of the potential effect of reductions in the UK aid budget on UK PRAYERS humanitarian work overseas. [901224] Martin Docherty-Hughes (West Dunbartonshire) (SNP): [MR SPEAKER in the Chair] What assessment he has made of the potential effect of Virtual participation in proceedings commenced reductions in the UK aid budget on UK humanitarian (Orders, 4 June and 30 December 2020). work overseas. [901226] [NB: [V] denotes a Member participating virtually.] Hannah Bardell (Livingston) (SNP): What assessment he has made of the potential effect of reductions in the BUSINESS BEFORE QUESTIONS UK aid budget on UK humanitarian work overseas. [901228] DANIEL MORGAN INDEPENDENT PANEL REPORT Resolved, The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, That and Development Affairs and First Secretary of State she will be graciously pleased to give directions that there be laid (Dominic Raab): The UK will spend £10 billion in before this House a Return of the Report, entitled The Report of official development assistance in 2021, making us the the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel, dated 15 June 2021.— third highest bilateral humanitarian donor country based (Rebecca Harris.) on the OECD data. Mr David Davis: Let me start by saying that I understand full well that this is a policy imposed by an unintelligent Oral Answers to Questions Treasury edict. Nevertheless, it has, potentially, the fatal consequences of a medium-sized war. The Minister for the Middle East and North Africa could not tell us FOREIGN, COMMONWEALTH AND whether the 60% cut to Yemen meant more or less than DEVELOPMENT OFFICE 260,000 deaths of women and children as a result. On Ethiopia, where the UN told us that 350,000 faced The Secretary of State was asked— imminent starvation, the Minister for Africa—the Under- Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Human Rights Violations against Uyghurs: Sanctions Development Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge)— James Murray (Ealing North) (Lab/Co-op): What yesterday could not tell the House the size of the cut in plans he has to extend Magnitsky-style sanctions to our aid. I understand from impeccable sources that we Chen Quangou, Party Secretary of Xinjiang region in propose to cut that aid by £58 million—more than half. China, in response to his alleged involvement in human Can the Foreign Secretary confirm the size of that cut rights violations against the Uyghur. [901215] and tell the House what we intend to do to reduce the hundreds of thousands of deaths arising from our policy? The Minister for Asia (Nigel Adams): On 22 March, the Foreign Secretary announced global human rights Dominic Raab: I thank my right hon. Friend for his sanctions against four Chinese officials and one entity question. I do not accept the proposition that he has responsible for serious human rights violations in Xinjiang. put forward. As a global leader in ODA—and we We did so alongside the United States, Canada and the continue to be a global leader in ODA—we stretch to European Union, sending a powerful message to China put as much in as we possibly can. Of course, we have about the strength of international concern. The Foreign, temporary financial exceptional circumstances, but we Commonwealth and Development Office will continue will get back to 0.7% as soon as we can. He raised, in to keep all potential evidence and listings under close particular, the issue of Yemen. We have committed at review. least £87 million in 2021—that is more than £1 billion since the conflict began. He asked about the firm statistics. James Murray: While we wait for the Government to They are sent out in the normal way through Development take further action on sanctions against individuals, I Tracker and the final returns that are made annually. would like to press the Minister on whether the UK Government will follow this House and the US and Steven Bonnar: Last week, the Prime Minister casually Canadian Governments in declaring the Chinese dismissed protests against billions of pounds-worth of Government’s persecution of the Uyghur people to be a aid cuts as “lefty propaganda”. Analysis by Save the genocide. Children estimates that at least 3 million people in need of life-saving humanitarian assistance right now will Nigel Adams: As the hon. Member probably knows, not receive it because of this Government’s decision. we do not shy from taking action. Wehave led international Can the Foreign Secretary not see that this is not about efforts to hold China to account. It is the long-standing left or right? It is about right and wrong. Does he policy of several Governments of the United Kingdom recognise that this is not propaganda? This is about life that the determination of genocide should be by a and death for the most vulnerable people, so will he now competent court. U-turn on this decision before it is too late for them? 105 Oral Answers 15 JUNE 2021 Oral Answers 106 Dominic Raab: What I recognise is that we remain the because we have just made the biggest global commitment third largest donor in the G7, based on GNI. What I on girls’ education ever, of any Government ever in the recognise is that we have made the biggest ever donation UK. We sleep at night because we are doubling the to the Global Partnership for Education, pursuing our average annual spend on international climate finance. goal of 40 million girls receiving 12 years of education. We sleep at night because we led the way with the As a result of that, we raised at the G7 billions of 100 million doses that we are providing from excess pounds from other partners towards that goal. What I surplus because of the money that we spent on the recognise is that we have doubled bilateral spending on AstraZeneca vaccine: of the doses that the poorest international climate finance and we secured, through countries have so far received via COVAX, 95% have our donation of 100 million surplus vaccines,a contribution come from AZ. In relation to humanitarian spend, of a billion more by the middle of next year, which bilaterally, we are the third biggest as well. We continue means that we will be able to vaccinate the world not at to be a global leader, but I think that our constituents the end of 2024, which is the current trajectory, but by would be asking some pretty serious questions if, at a the mid-point of next year. That is what global Britain time when we face the biggest contraction in our economy is about. That is what we achieved at the G7. for 300 years, we were not also making or finding savings from the international as well as the domestic Martin Docherty-Hughes [V]: Two aspects of the budget. recent integrated review that jumped out at me were the explicit wish to integrate diplomacy and development Preet Kaur Gill (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab/Co-op): and the so-called Indo-Pacific tilt, which stated the COVAX aimed to deliver 2 billion doses of vaccine to desire to see the UK’s ODA more effective in the region. countries around the world in 2021. Six months in, less As a member of the Defence Committee, I am always than 5% of that total has been shipped. To rapidly interested to know how one can make the so-called vaccinate health workers and older people in low-income region that is home to three of the five largest states in countries, we must address global shortages with a the world, and which is named after the first and third global plan to increase production of vaccines and largest oceans on the planet, any sort of effective domain equitable access. Instead, what we got this weekend for UK foreign policy, so can the Foreign Secretary, from a Prime Minister who has been in perennial retreat while his Government cut aid to many of the poorest in from the world stage was a commitment to 5 million the world, advise the House which areas or countries of doses by the end of September, and a vague commitment the Indo-Pacific they will be prioritising to maintain to more at some point over the next 12 months. Does their investment with this new-style of integrated the Secretary of State agree that cutting the aid budget development and diplomacy? while most of his counterparts were increasing theirs made it harder for the Prime Minister to play a leadership Dominic Raab: As I mentioned to my right hon. role at the G7, and that the cuts are a key reason for the Friend the Member for Haltemprice and Howden Prime Minister’s abject failure to deliver a comprehensive (Mr Davis), the final figures, as has historically always strategy that accelerates global vaccine access so that we been the case, come out not just through DevTracker, can achieve at least 70% coverage in all countries and but in the international development statistics.