Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David Lammy and Yuan Yang

Wednesday 17th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I never thought I would get a request from the hon. Gentleman to look at his tattoos. I know that Eastbourne pier is a much-loved iconic local landmark. I believe he is meeting the Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, the hon. Member for Barking (Nesil Caliskan), to discuss his campaign. I am pleased that we have allocated £20 million of Pride in Place funding to regenerating Eastbourne. It was one of the first seaside towns I visited as a young child. This summer, his constituents will be able to enjoy their day at the pier for less with our Great British summer savings, with free bus travel for kids, cheaper meals and cheaper tickets to amusement parks.

[Yuan Yang (Earley and Woodley) (Lab)]

Q11. Thames Water’s headquarters are local to my town of Reading, but it is their distant creditors who are really in charge. Investors should be rewarded for success, but they should pay for their failures. That is why I strongly welcome the Government’s objections to the current creditors deal. Under any deal or special administration regime, the company will be restructured, but the question is whether that restructuring will be done only in the interests of senior creditors, or with customers and the environment in mind. Will the Deputy Prime Minister tell us whose side he is on?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for her dedicated work on this. I am on the side of the people who elected us to clean up our rivers, our lakes and our seas. I and this Government are on the side of consumers, who are paying the price for years and years of failure by the Conservatives. We do not want Thames Water customers to have to pick up the bill for the company’s failures. We stand ready for all eventualities. The Labour Government have already blocked bonuses and introduced criminal sanctions for polluting water bosses, and we will go further by creating a new powerful regulator to hold all companies to account and clean up our waterways.

Middle East

Debate between David Lammy and Yuan Yang

Monday 1st September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

The right hon. Gentleman put his opening remarks very well, and I would accord with them. We need proper independent scrutiny of some of this behaviour. We did call for that, by the way, for the awful atrocity involving the World Central Kitchen staff, where British nationals lost their lives, and we await an update from the advocate general. I understand that the Israelis have said there will be an investigation into the incidents we saw last week, but there are many for which it is not clear that there will be an investigation. The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to put this centre stage, which is, of course, something I do when I speak to the Israeli Government.

[Yuan Yang (Earley and Woodley) (Lab)]

I strongly welcome the Foreign Secretary’s historic move to recognise the state of Palestine and thank him for all the work he has done to progress this issue. While we follow the news from Gaza, let us remember the journalists who have risked their lives to bring us the news. My constituent, the former managing director of Al Jazeera English, is now mourning the deaths of six of his former colleagues in a targeted attack. I, too, am awaiting news from my former Financial Times colleague, who is still stuck in Gaza, where he is starving and at risk. Will the Foreign Secretary meet me and other media stakeholders to discuss how we can work together to progress evacuations and support our journalists on the ground?

[Mr Lammy]

I am very grateful to journalists and media workers, who play an essential role in putting the spotlight on the devastating reality of war. We are part of the Media Freedom Coalition, and the UK is of course urging Israel to allow immediate independent foreign media access and to afford protections to journalists. I am very happy to meet my hon. Friend on this matter.

Middle East

Debate between David Lammy and Yuan Yang

Thursday 16th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

We continue to support non-governmental organisations and to call for journalists to be allowed in. Of course, it is important that the appropriate authorities properly document what has happened and that, where necessary, people can be held accountable.

[Yuan Yang (Earley and Woodley) (Lab)]

The ceasefire deal gives families in Israel and Palestine, as well as their relatives in my constituency, hope for longer-lasting peace and security. However, there can be no security without accountability, and there is no accountability without scrutiny—scrutiny, for example, to ensure that the funding the Government have pledged for UNRWA reaches its intended destination. This war has been the deadliest on record for journalists, so what can the Government do to ensure that all journalists in Palestine, including my former colleagues, can do their job without fear for their lives?

[Mr Lammy]

My hon. Friend has represented the interests of those journalists very well in her question. I repeat again that I deplore the number of journalists who have lost their lives. It is important that any democracy engaged in conflict of this kind allows journalists to cover what has truly happened. As we head now to this ceasefire and the stability that is required, the time has come, I hope, for journalists from all corners of the globe to be let in.