"I will be brief. I want to address the main points made by the right hon. Member for Maldon (Sir John Whittingdale).
First, the issue of funding is critical, but it is not just about the decline in the number of licence fee payees; some of the damage has been …..." John McDonnell - View Speech
"My hon. Friend very eloquently makes the point for me. It is also about local radio, on which a lot of our constituents rely. They cannot rely on social media. If Members want to see the independence of social media, they should look at my Twitter account. The abuse levels …..." John McDonnell - View Speech
"The Secretary of State has said that the role of the Government has been to uphold international law. Part of upholding international law is to call out crimes when they are witnessed. Article 2.4 of the United Nations charter is explicit about the illegality of entering into a foreign state …..." John McDonnell - View Speech
"I was one of those MPs who campaigned hard for the release of Alaa Abd el-Fattah, so it is important, when we consider the overall process, that there is an accurate narrative. The narrative is partly this: yes, there were vile social media interventions by this person, which we all …..." John McDonnell - View Speech
"May I return to the issue of the Russian assets? I talked to members of the Ukrainian community last night, and their anxiety is that if a deal is not done quickly—[Interruption.] Sorry, did the right hon. Member for Rayleigh and Wickford (Mr Francois) want to intervene?..." John McDonnell - View Speech
"I talked to members of the Ukrainian community last night, and they were extremely worried about the situation. They are concerned that unless a deal is done quickly, there will be further threats not just to Ukraine but to Poland, because the Russians are amassing on the Belarusian borders. The …..." John McDonnell - View Speech
"Many Members have referred to the hunger strikes. The Secretary of State is refusing to meet representatives or lawyers of the hunger strikers. Will the Leader of the House put this proposition to the Secretary of State for Justice? According to the Government’s own guidelines for the Department, one possibility …..." John McDonnell - View Speech
"I have no time limit, Dr Huq, but I have only a limited number of questions. This debate is sparsely attended, but I do not think the Minister should interpret that as a lack of interest in the issue. It might well be because of where we are at in …..." John McDonnell - View Speech
"The hon. Lady and I will have to disagree on that. In my experience, the decision for the male to come here is often made on the basis of the family itself asking, “Who can get here? Who can survive that journey? Who can get through?”. That provides some hope …..." John McDonnell - View Speech
"It is nice to be buttered up, but that usually means that the Minister is ignoring me. On safer routes, the Government have put forward sponsored routes. Those are different from some of the proposals put forward by the PCS and others for specific visa routes, but we can debate …..." John McDonnell - View Speech