Oral Answers to Questions

Emily Darlington Excerpts

Tuesday 27th October 2026 Commons Chamber

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

T8. While successive Governments have cut the international aid budget, the reality is that the public are still donating in their millions to causes that are dear to their hearts. Those usually relate to disasters, but the public also care about women and LGBT communities in other countries and many other issues. Will the Minister meet me to talk about how we can extend UK Aid Match beyond disaster recovery?

[Kirsty McNeill]

We do not currently have plans to expand UK Aid Match beyond the Disasters Emergency Committee funding appeals, which, as my hon. Friend rightly said, are focused on crises that require a large-scale rapid response. She is right, however, that the British public continue to care deeply about equality and the human rights of those overseas. The FCDO formally supports that through our women’s rights organisations programme, our grassroots sexual and reproductive health and rights programme and our LGBT+ rights programme. I would be delighted to talk to her and, indeed, any other hon. Members across the House about what more we can do to give life to the British public’s impulse towards deep solidarity on questions of equality.