Humanitarian Situation in Mosul

Debate between Alec Shelbrooke and Priti Patel

Wednesday 12th July 2017 Commons Chamber

[Alec Shelbrooke]

In all my elections, I have proudly stood in support of our manifesto commitment to spend 0.7% of GDP on international aid, although many people have criticised it. Does my right hon. Friend agree that in situations such as these, such a commitment is not only morally right but enables us to invest in Iraq? A lot of the situation with Daesh in Mosul came about because the residents were worried about divisions in the Baghdad Government. It is investment from this country through my right hon. Friend’s Department that allows people to be educated and ensures that that Government will work for the entire country to prevent this happening again.

[Priti Patel]

I thank my hon. Friend for re-stating the importance of UK aid and our commitment to the world’s poorest through the 0.7%. We have been undertaking urgent humanitarian support for a number of years, but we are also looking ahead to the stabilisation that we will work to achieve collectively within the international development community. We can see UK aid making a difference to people, and bringing peace, stability and global influence to countries such as Iraq in the way that we would all expect our aid budget to do.