Tuesday 27th February 2024

(9 months, 3 weeks ago)

Commons Chamber
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Andrew Mitchell Portrait Mr Mitchell
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The hon. Lady makes an interesting theoretical and legal point, and I suggest that those discussions might go on usefully between theorists and lawyers.

Jeff Smith Portrait Jeff Smith (Manchester, Withington) (Lab)
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I have raised with the Minister and other Ministers the case of my constituent who is trying to get his wife and baby daughter through the Rafah crossing. Very frustratingly, he cannot get the mother on to the approved list. I know it is not the only case like that. Will the Minister focus with a renewed urgency to press the Israeli and Egyptian authorities to resolve these delays and make sure that these people can get through to safety?

Andrew Mitchell Portrait Mr Mitchell
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My answer to the hon. Gentleman is yes. He and I have discussed the specific case, as well as the general cases to which he is alluding. I can tell him that the experts in the Foreign Office, extremely experienced in these matters, are doing everything they possibly can to advance that objective.