Gaza: Humanitarian Situation
Marie Rimmer Excerpts(2 weeks, 5 days ago)
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Anneliese Dodds
The figure that the hon. Member quoted is right, and in some cases Gazans have been moved up to nine times because of recent events. She described Gazans as having the right of return, and I would underline that word “right”. They do have that right. That is clear under international humanitarian law, and it is a right that the UK will seek to ensure becomes a reality.
Ms Marie Rimmer (St Helens South and Whiston) (Lab)
We must build confidence on both sides to help sustain the peace, but how are we going to do it? There are 70,000 families who left Palestine before the war and never got back. Many of them still have their keys. I have seen friends and families who never got back to see their grandparents, or who got back once a year. How can we build anybody’s confidence to move out of the destruction, particularly in northern Gaza, while it gets rebuilt? We cannot do that. How will we build the confidence of the families and loved ones of the hostages who are still being held there? They fear that Netanyahu will sacrifice them so that the war will return; the IDF says that there will not be a second phase of this peace. How do we build confidence? My heart is with everybody involved. I know that people want peace, but these are the facts. We have to identify and resolve the risks. I do not know how we will do it. God knows.
Anneliese Dodds
The passion with which my hon. Friend speaks is shared by many Members in this House. It can sometimes be almost impossible to see a way through, particularly after a conflict in which so many thousands of people were killed, but it is the UK’s responsibility, working multilaterally with our partners, to reach towards a peaceful future in which there are two states, and Palestinians and Israelis can live in security. We must aim towards that. It is particularly important for all of us parliamentarians, and the UK Government, not to shift away from this crisis as the media coverage starts to diminish in days and weeks to come. We must keep up the pressure, so that we can ensure the future that the Israelis and the Palestinians deserve.
Oral Answers to Questions
Marie Rimmer Excerpts(9 years, 2 months ago)
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Greg Clark
I recognise that the cost of delivering services is higher in areas with a sparse population, for obvious reasons. The rural services delivery grant was introduced to reflect that extra cost, and it has since been increased. I will obviously have to bear that in mind when we assess what is needed in the financial settlement.
Marie Rimmer (St Helens South and Whiston) (Lab)
It is a year since a National Audit Office report found that the Department for Communities and Local Government had limited understanding of local authorities’ financial sustainability. Does the Secretary of State understand the unsustainability of high percentage, across the board cuts in low tax base authorities, and the fact that the complete removal of revenue support grant and the retention of all business rates without national redistribution will drive those authorities into the ground?
Greg Clark
I would have thought that the hon. Lady, as a former council leader, would be in a position to welcome the spending review settlement, which not only provided protection in cash terms for the resources available to local government over the four years ahead but did what local government requested and made money available for the care of the elderly through the social care precept. I would have thought that her experience caused her to welcome that.