International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Bill

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

New clause 2—Reduction of Cabinet...

As the House will have seen on the amendment paper this morning, there are seven new clauses, two...

For context, and for those who read our debates, perhaps we should remind ourselves that we are t...

I do not want to be drawn immediately off target. We are considering some rather detailed provisi...

Is not the problem with the Bill highlighted by the autumn statement? GDP is forecast to increase...

My hon. Friend makes a good point. Several newspapers have today reported that that would indeed ...

Is it not worse than that, though? Given what the Chancellor said in the autumn statement, and gi...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. That is one of the reasons why we are attempting to change th...

My hon. Friend mentioned our hon. Friend the Member for North East Somerset (Jacob Rees-Mogg). Pe...

I am extremely grateful for that intervention, because I was looking towards where our hon. Frien...

My hon. Friend is making a powerful case for new clause 1. Given that the proponents of the Bill ...

I certainly hope that the House will have the opportunity to choose between the options that are ...

Clause 5 states:

“The Secretary of State must make arrangements for the independent evaluat...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I hope that when the Minister addresses this particular sub-g...

Is not the danger with the Bill as crafted that, in effect, the Government will be responsible fo...

My hon. Friend is right. Indeed, more suspicious minds than mine may wonder why the Government ar...

Will my hon. Friend give way?

Yes; I am pleased to see that my hon. Friend has arrived in the Chamber.

It is always one of life’s great pleasures to be in the Chamber, and it is always a sadness to be...

That is the core problem, which some of us have pointed out since the Bill’s inception: it is a B...

Before my hon. Friend moves on, he mentioned payments to the European Union being included. As mo...

My hon. Friend, as ever, is absolutely right. That is one reason why new clause 5 should be inclu...

Just to give an illustration, the overseas aid Department gives aid to Moldova, which is the poor...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that example, which is a perfect reason why it would make sen...

I have not signed new clause 7, but its heart seems to be that the Bill will have effect only in ...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. While we are in deficit we are undoubtedly borrowing money to...

Does my hon. Friend agree that, as drafted, the Bill will require a lot of extra expense and work...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It makes sense for those who want to see the United Kingdom m...

Does my hon. Friend agree that we need some flexibility around what is affordable for the country...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I will not go into all the detail, but other countries have r...

I hope that we shall make good progress today, and respond to the concerns of those who have tabl...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Just one second.

It was agreed, on a cross-party basis, to amend the Bill to provide for an...

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. The hon. Gentleman has misspoken in attributing an amendment to ...

The hon. Member for Luton South (Gavin Shuker) has heard the point of order, to which he may wish...

I am delighted to correct the record, Mr Speaker. It is absolutely true that the hon. Member for ...

The hon. Gentleman is rattling through these amendments at a rate of knots, and we can barely kee...

Forgive me for teaching the hon. Member how this place works, but we vote for the principle of th...

The Bill places a simple duty on a Minister to report to this House. The amendments fall into fou...

I want to begin by saying how regrettable it is that the Minister and the shadow Minister have tr...

Is it not worse than that, because the Bill suggests that it should start on 1 June 2015, which i...

My hon. Friend is right about that. I know that what he says reflects a proposal that he has put ...

Absolute rubbish.

The hon. Gentleman says “absolute rubbish” from a sedentary position, but there is lots of eviden...

Does my hon. Friend find it astonishing that jobseeker’s allowance is included in those benefits?...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. You would not let me get sidetracked into discussing the defi...

My hon. Friend’s point about administrative costs is very important. Does he recall that when Mar...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention. As in virtually everything, Lady Thatcher ...

The situation is even worse than that. There will be pressure always to overspend above the targe...

My hon. Friend is right. Nobody could deny that if the recalculation means that we have underspen...

Will my hon. Friend make it clear that the Office for National Statistics has had to change the w...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that. I am sure everybody in the country will be pleased to k...

My hon. Friend makes a good point. The 2012 British social attitudes survey shows that, when aske...

My hon. Friend makes the point particularly well. I am pretty confident that the majority of the ...

Will my hon. Friend clarify that he is not saying that there should be no expenditure on overseas...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I would be the first to say that when countries face some ter...

When other countries are in their greatest hour of need, it is often our armed forces who come to...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I do not want to go down that cul de sac either, but it is wo...

Is my hon. Friend aware that that promise is incorporated in the Defence Expenditure (NATO Target...

My hon. Friend makes his point well and I agree with it, but I will make no further comment, beca...

I accept the thrust of the amendment and what my hon. Friend is trying to achieve. However, the O...

My hon. Friend makes a good point. My amendment does not give any particular date for a final fig...

Is it not obviously absurd to have one Government Department accounting on a different basis from...

I have made that point, but I agree with my hon. Friend.

Who will calculate the calendar ye...

Mr Davies, that is very gracious of you. We both made our views clear last week, but today is ano...

Thank you for graciousness in accepting my apology, Madam Deputy Speaker, which is, I might add, ...

My hon. Friend raises a very serious and important point, because it is not the usual practice of...

I agree. I am not entirely sure how any money spent in the first half of 2015 will apply to the B...

Is my hon. Friend aware that, in an August 2012 report specifically on the introduction of target...

I absolutely agree with that. Apparently this ridiculous Bill is very important, but there is no ...

Is it not serious that we are proposing to pass legislation that will raise public expectations, ...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. This sort of thing brings this place into contempt with the p...

I simply do not think it is right for a statement, which is a proceeding in Parliament, to be the...

I take my hon. Friend’s point. He is usually right on most things, so I always err on the side of...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. That is exactly why I put the word in. I thought that it migh...

I applaud my hon. Friend for his ingenuity. Everybody is in favour of sustainability, but nobody ...

I have tabled a number of amendments to the Bill, which I will speak to before turning to some of...

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

Question put forthwith, That the Quest...

I ask the Serjeant at Arms to investigate the delay in the No Lobby.

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.

Let me say—on behalf of most of us...

Order. Will Members who are leaving the Chamber please do so quickly and quietly? The right hon. ...

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.

The Bill matters because UK aid—from emergency relief and ...

I pay tribute to the right hon. Member for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (Michael Moore). Wi...

The Government support the Bill, and I believe that, in the face of an enormous humanitarian cris...

You will be pleased to learn, Madam Deputy Speaker, that I do not intend to detain the House for ...

I will not detain the House for long, but I want to add my congratulations to my right hon. Frien...

It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell). The whole Ho...

rose—

Order. Before the hon. Gentleman takes an intervention, may I ask the House to give him the court...

I give way to the hon. Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn).

I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way. He is obviously not aware that very large numbers of p...

I am aware that there is a significant number of people in that category, and I pay tribute to wh...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

No, I want to finish my point.

I say again that that polling is simply ignored by a cosy ca...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Then they vote that into law, which I oppose.

I am a member of the establishment!

I give way.

Thank you very much indeed. I am sure that the hon. Gentleman is aware that, every month, 30 mill...

I do accept that spirit, and I believe that people deserve great credit when they give voluntaril...

The last opinion poll I saw showed that when people were asked what they thought we were giving i...

I thank the Minister for his intervention. It reveals the extent of the weight he attaches to the...

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that his constituents, like mine, would not support the premise of ...

The hon. Gentleman is quite correct. He is one of the very few Members who appear actually to vot...

The hon. Gentleman clearly does not see the point of giving aid for humanitarian or compassionate...

No, I do not acknowledge that; the idea that by giving all this overseas aid we are reducing immi...

The hon. Gentleman has tried to paint a picture of a cosy cartel and of us not listening to our c...

I think right hon. and hon. Members should listen to all our constituents. The problem is that we...

The hon. Gentleman should know that Gladstone said the lives of the hill tribesmen in the wilds o...

I could not disagree more. The difference between the Liberal Democrat party today and the Libera...

It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Rochester and Strood (Mark Reckless). I used...

Let me ask the hon. Gentleman a question about his statement that so many Conservative Members an...

I am not sure that it is represented only by a small number of Conservative Members. We saw durin...

Where are they?

They are not here at the moment, but I cannot answer as to where they are. I do know that the Cha...

When the hon. Gentleman has left this House after this debate, will he do me the great favour of ...

I am sorry, but I cannot really follow that intervention. I have never resorted to biblical texts...

Perhaps you should.

The hon. Gentleman is entitled to his own views, but the misunderstanding at the heart of his int...

As well as support for inoculations and clean water, the area of overseas aid that my party does ...

Absolutely. That is one area in which the British people are traditionally incredibly generous. I...

Does my hon. Friend agree that it is important for the public to know the whole truth about this ...

That must be correct. If we have a pot with a declining amount of money, we may be taking out mor...

If the hon. Gentleman has any concerns about spending money that the UK does not have—indeed the ...

I am very much in favour of increasing our expenditure on defence. The hon. Member for Rochester ...

Order. The hon. Gentleman well knows that this Bill is a narrow one. I appreciate that he is answ...

I certainly shall not do that, Madam Deputy Speaker. I wish to put it on record that there is a t...

This Bill sets such a bad precedent that we should not follow it in other areas, and we should lo...

As always, there is logic in what my hon. Friend says, but, as Madam Deputy Speaker has said, I w...

Leaving aside the general validity or otherwise of the hon. Gentleman’s argument, does he not acc...

That takes me back to the debate we had in this House on the climate change legislation, when my ...

Is it not the case that since we have been increasing the amount we have been spending as a propo...

My hon. Friend makes a good case. This is one reason we need proper evidence-based policy making ...

I intend to be brief because the case for the Bill is overwhelming, as the votes this morning sho...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

No. The hon. Gentleman has had enough to say and I found him totally unconvincing.

What I d...

I very much admire and respect the emotion that comes from those who support the Bill, though it ...

Does the hon. Gentleman consider that the Bill will be susceptible to enforcement through judicia...

No, it would not be enforceable by judicial review because the sanction provided for is a proceed...

Is not that, of itself, a reason why a judge might determine that because the legislation specifi...

No. There is a remedy, but it is not enforceable in the courts. It is essentially at the discreti...

I am pleased to be here to support the Bill on Third Reading. I pay tribute to the right hon. Mem...

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

Question put forthwith, That the Quest...