International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Bill

I will in a moment, but I want to make some progress first.

On page 116 of the manifesto th...

I feel it is important at this moment to put on the record the work of my right hon. Friend. The ...

My right hon. Friend is extremely generous.

In return for this extraordinarily favourable a...

My right hon. Friend keeps talking about how we should spend our money, but he might have noticed...

Order. I am sure the hon. Gentleman will want time to speak as well. May I just remind everybody ...

I will come in a moment to the point raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Philip Davi...

I, too, pay tribute to the role my right hon. Friend played when he was an International Developm...

My hon. Friend is absolutely correct: this is an investment in tackling conflict, building prospe...

I confess that I cannot see why the Independent Commission for Aid Impact should not be given sta...

My right hon. Friend makes an interesting point. Of course, ICAI was created through an Order in ...

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. The debate will soon have been going on for two hours. Be...

The Chair will always look after the Chamber first. Rest assured that whoever is in the Chair wil...

I am delighted that the Bill has been introduced by the right hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxbu...

As a former trustee of Christian Aid and television foreign correspondent, I agree that we must s...

No, I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman. That point has been more than adequately answered by ...

I thank my hon. Friend for giving way. She has made an important point about forests and replanti...

I know that my hon. Friend takes an interest in Mexico and Latin America as a whole. This issue a...

The hon. Lady is making an excellent speech about the way the world’s poorest people are those mo...

The right hon. Lady is entirely correct and I am pleased she is speaking in this debate. Banglade...

The hon. Lady is making an important point, and although today’s debate is about enshrining spend...

Order. Thirteen Members still wish to speak, so we need brevity from everybody.

I agree that a united approach would be good, and I am sure there are many issues we can discuss ...

I am pleased to follow the hon. Member for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy) and recall the visit tha...

I am sorry to hear the right hon. Gentleman going down this road, as I agreed with him up to that...

I am sorry I gave way, because the hon. Gentleman had already made that point. I thought I had ma...

I think that the House should calm down and examine exactly what the right hon. Gentleman is sayi...

Order. We must have shorter interventions. There are many Members still to speak, and it is helpf...

All I will say is that a Scottish agency of similar efficiency would require only a fifth of the ...

It is a privilege to speak in the debate, following so many distinguished and committed speakers....

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the significance of the UK aid programme to Malawi is demonstr...

I wholeheartedly agree. As many Members will be aware, Malawi has gone through many challenges si...

Does the hon. Gentleman not agree that the passage of this Bill will not result in a single extra...

If the economy grows, it will do, of course. The crucial thing is that we are tying this to the s...

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that another important consequence of predictable funding is that, ...

I thoroughly agree with the hon. Gentleman. I have seen many of those programmes at work, and we ...

I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests relating...

I find it ironic that in so far as there is opposition to this target being put into legislation,...

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that, and for his expertise in understanding the proced...

When someone comes second in the ballot for private Members’ Bills they are inundated with reques...

I add my congratulations to the right hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (Michael...

The idea that this is not an arbitrary figure is just a load of old drivel. It started off as 0.7...

I do not believe that the figure is arbitrary. I am not a qualified statistician, but I know that...

They need to get out more.

I hear a challenge from beside me about where that is substantiated. For the record, according to...

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. May I ask whether it is appropriate for the House to r...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising the point of order and for bringing this very sad...

Further to that point of order. May I briefly put on the record Her Majesty’s Government’s tribut...

Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. The Opposition are saddened by the loss of ...

Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. May I join in the tributes and recognition?...

I thank right hon. and hon. Members for their points of order. It is right that we should spontan...

If I may, I would like to start by paying my tribute to Ian Paisley. It was a great privilege tha...

Does my hon. Friend share my concern about the constitutional propriety of trying to bind our suc...

I agree with my hon. Friend, and that is in effect what the Bill is trying to do.

rose—

I am not going to give way. We have heard so much from people in favour of the Bill, and now we a...

I am trying to tell you why we are not binding the hands of our successors.

We heard that in an intervention from one of the hon. Gentleman’s colleagues, who said that his w...

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is the custom of this House when a Member intends t...

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that point of order. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman who c...

What I will make clear is that unlike the right hon. Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, who st...

Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker, I understand that the purpose of that rule ...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for pre-empting what I was about to say. I am sure that the h...

I assure you, Madam Deputy Speaker, that I am apologising for nothing.

Order. If I suggest that it might be in order for the hon. Gentleman to apologise, that is to kee...

I confirm that I certainly meant no discourtesy, Madam Deputy Speaker, but I stand by everything ...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will not give way. We have heard so much drivel from people with a different opinion from me. I...

Would our constituents be right in asking this pertinent question: why is it appropriate for the ...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I personally think that if my constituents were asked for wha...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I am not giving way to the hon. Lady.

We are not even spending taxpayers’ money. We keep on...

We are, in effect, spending the money of taxpayers as yet unborn.

My hon. Friend is absolutely right.

Are we going to take into account the debt interest tha...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

No, I will not.

My right hon. Friend the Member for Meriden provided some of the history. I...

Will my hon. Friend confirm that when that motion was adopted by the United Nations General Assem...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The original target is completely out of date. Indeed, I note...

Is not the most important point that if we fix a Department’s budget as a proportion of the natio...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Let us just imagine what would happen if the Government inten...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will not.

Those countries have probably also thought, “Well, this is marvellous. We don’t...

My hon. Friend is making a powerful speech—[Interruption]—in which I can see hon. and right hon. ...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right.

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I wonder whether you could provide some guidance. Is i...

Order. I do not need to be told whether it is a point of order, thank you very much. The hon. Gen...

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. As I said at the start, we have had three hours of speeches from...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

No, I will not.

The other point I want to make is that we ought to bear in mind the money t...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

No, I will not.

I can mention two organisations in my constituency in that regard: Mpika Re...

It might help my hon. Friend to know that, actually, the gift aid from those kinds of donations i...

My hon. Friend is missing my point. I am not talking about gift aid on donations. I am talking ab...

That must be one of the more curious attempts I have made to intervene on the hon. Gentleman. I c...

Clearly the hon. Lady has not listened to a word I said. At the very start I said that I support ...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

No, I am not giving way again. The last intervention was so poor that I do not think it justifies...

Rubbish!

Order. The hon. Lady will not shout across the Chamber, no matter how much noise the hon. Member ...

I am grateful to you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I always feel that I must be doing something right if...

Will my hon. Friend give way?

I will not give way.

The reason that people want to invest in this country is that the rule...

As someone who rarely wears sandals and never reads The Guardian, but who nevertheless believes i...

Well, it appears to have been beyond us. While we have been handing over all these cheques, in an...

If I had had time to make a speech—I now will not—I would have pointed out that I observed many e...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her intervention. I do not doubt that she is taken to all the...

I have been listening carefully to my hon. Friend’s speech. I am concerned that he is conflating ...

My hon. Friend has a perfectly legitimate point of view, and I agree with much of it. As he has r...

Order. The hon. Gentleman is speaking and is in order. I appreciate that he has a great deal to s...

I am, as always, grateful to you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for your guidance. As I said at the start...

rose—

I will not give way; I am drawing my remarks to a close. India spends $35 billion a year on defen...

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. Neither my hon. Friend the Member for Bury South (Mr L...

The hon. Gentleman has found the mechanism whereby he can rightly pay tribute to a great man. The...

Britain should rightly be proud of being the first G8 country to reach the internationally agreed...

I mean no discourtesy to the hon. Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce), who is making an excellent ...

claimed to move the closure (Standing Order No. 36).

Question put forthwith, That the Quest...