Overseas Aid (Private Sector Contracts)

Graham Stuart Excerpts

Monday 11th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

My hon. Friend will not be surprised to hear that this issue was raised after my speech in this morning’s question and answer session, and it is an incredibly powerful one. I believe that this country has more natural links to many of these developing economies than almost any other country in the world. We should be making the most of those and allowing our diasporas also to be part of helping the countries to which they have family links to develop.

[Mr Graham Stuart (Beverley and Holderness) (Con)]

Trade with the developing world was an insufficient priority of the previous Administration, yet it is economic dynamism, not dependency, that our development spend should be seeking to encourage. I congratulate my right hon. Friend on her speech. Does she agree that British education companies have a key role to play in developing the economic strength of developing countries, which will be good both for them and for us?

[Justine Greening]

I do agree and, for example, we are talking with Pearson about how we can work more closely with it in places such as Pakistan. A number of sectors in our country’s economy have real value to add. We have talked a lot about retail today, but education is yet another sector where we have so much knowledge and so many skills. We can pass those things on to developing economies, and it is in everybody’s interests to do so.

Oral Answers to Questions

Graham Stuart Excerpts

Wednesday 12th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Lynne Featherstone]

Conflict plays a big part, and the sustainable development goals are incredibly important to ensuring that we reduce poverty. Poverty is at its highest where conflict is at its greatest.

[Mr Graham Stuart (Beverley and Holderness) (Con)]

The GLOBE climate legislation initiative will be launched in the Foreign Office on 14 and 15 January, and will bring together legislators from 33 countries to discuss national action on climate change. Does the Minister agree that further national action is necessary, and that we should follow the example of countries such as Mexico, which has passed legislation, and China, which plans to do so, in order to establish the conditions that will allow international agreement in 2015?

[Lynne Featherstone]

We already have legislation in the form of the Climate Change Act 2008, but it is crucial for all of us, in all countries, to work together in moving towards sustainable development goals. As I said earlier, climate change is absolutely critical to the reduction of poverty, and all countries need to ensure that they are working on that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Graham Stuart Excerpts

Wednesday 13th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I know that former Health Ministers wanted to hear the rattle of every bedpan, and maybe I need to see the order of every pair of boots in the military, but I recognise the point the right hon. Gentleman makes. One of the things we are trying to do in the Ministry of Defence is recognise that there is a huge amount of back-office and logistics costs, and we want to make that more efficient so that we can actually spend money on the front line. The example he gives is a good one, and I shall check it out and see if we can save some money.

[Mr Graham Stuart (Beverley and Holderness) (Con)]

Q10. Can the Prime Minister assure the House that all illegal press activity under the last Government will be investigated now, and that that will include the criminal conspiracy between the highest levels in that last Government and parts of the Murdoch empire, including the blagging of bank accounts of Lord Ashcroft in a bid to undermine him and his position as laid out in “Dirty politics, Dirty times”?

[The Prime Minister]

The point about the inquiry that we are shortly going to discuss is that it will look at the relationship between politicians and media groups, across the whole issue of that relationship including as it relates to media policy. I think that is extremely important. The inquiry will have the ability to call politicians—serving politicians and previous Prime Ministers—to get to the bottom of what happened and how unhealthy the relationship was. That is what needs to happen.