Oral Answers to Questions

Chi Onwurah Excerpts

Tuesday 27th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for International Development (Kirsty McNeill)]

As the hon. Member will appreciate, every time we enter into one of these negotiations across the whole of Government, our objective is to uphold the integrity and impact of our migration policies. The FCDO has responsibility for ensuring that our policy position is communicated forcefully bilaterally, and we will continue to do that. I have been in dialogue with the Eritrean ambassador to convey exactly the seriousness with which the Home Secretary, the Foreign Secretary and the wider British Government take this matter. There will be no resiling from the forcefulness with which we promote our policy that Eritrean returns are central to this Government, and we will pursue that until they are secured.

[Dame Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West) (Lab)]

T5. While knocking on doors in Denton Burn in Newcastle on Saturday, a resident said to me that we see these terrible images of families putting children on to small boats and of floods, wars and droughts all around the world, but we never hear what Britain is doing to help people stay and flourish where they are. I thought, “Well, he’s right actually.” Could the Secretary of State tell us what is the most successful or effective thing that the Department is doing to reduce migratory pressures?

[Ed Miliband]

My hon. Friend, as always, speaks a great deal of sense, as do her constituents. She is right, and the role of our G20 summit and—the right hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield (Sir Andrew Mitchell) made this point earlier—the work we do on debt, development and climate with our partners across the world is not just right for our values but right for our security, because failed states and climate breakdown are a threat to our security as well as to our values.