Middle East and North Africa

Emily Darlington Excerpts

Monday 5th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

I need to be clear that the contribution that the UK has made to the provision of aid to children will always be a tiny drop in the ocean of overall need. We are working in the ways that I have set out to try to ensure that medical assistance is provided in Gaza, with all the equipment and expertise that that involves. Where that is not possible, we have provided aid to the Egyptian healthcare system, in order to support Palestinians there; I have met some of them myself, in El Arish general hospital. As I set out to my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool Riverside (Kim Johnson), where there are specialised cases, we must look at them, and I will say more to the House in due course about that.

[Emily Darlington (Milton Keynes Central) (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for taking over an hour’s-worth of questions on the updates he has provided on the situation right across the region. He has a very difficult job to do, particularly given the decimation of the United States Agency for International Development, and the cuts in our aid. What are we doing to open the borders for those people who have family in, and connections to, the UK, so that they can escape the horror that they are in in Gaza, and can get a visa to visit family in the UK? Can he update the House on any progress in getting those borders open, or any discussions that he has had with the Home Office to stop biometrics-related restrictions, and to help people apply for visas from Gaza?

[Mr Falconer]

My hon. Friend has been a committed campaigner for cases in her constituency, and I know that there are colleagues right across the House with a constituency or personal interest in these cases. As I said to the House shortly before we rose for Christmas, there are a range of cases in which we have been able to provide support, both to Chevening students and to the injured children we have discussed. It remains a real challenge to ensure that people with a legitimate reason to travel can do so, and I am happy to take up any individual cases.