Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Connarty Excerpts

Wednesday 18th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Yesterday, the announcement was made that the minimum wage should increase from £6.50 to £6.70, which is a real-terms increase. After the great Labour recession, we did not have increases in the minimum wage and it lost its value, but under this Government, it is going up. I can guarantee my hon. Friend that if we keep increasing the minimum wage at the rate it is being increased now, it will get to beyond £8 by the subsequent election. So Labour’s proposal for an £8 minimum wage will mean a cut in the minimum wage. It is like so many of its other policies, including its university tuition fees policy—as someone said today, the first example in political history where you get less for more.

[Michael Connarty (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (Lab)]

Q7. My neighbour Helen was able to live in her own home for many years with degenerative multiple sclerosis because of the independent living fund, until sadly she died. How can the Prime Minister and the Government morally justify taking away the fund from the most disabled people in our communities, so that they might end up being institutionalised, not independent?

[The Prime Minister]

As the hon. Gentleman knows, we have devolved the funding for the independent living fund, but we have also maintained the vital disability benefits, such as the disability living allowance, which has been uprated every year in line with inflation.

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Connarty Excerpts

Wednesday 17th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. and learned Friend gives us a very important historical perspective. It comes back to the point that the Opposition now seem to be basing their entire economic policy on some throwaway remark on the BBC at about 10 past 6 on a Monday morning. The truth is, what is envisaged is getting public spending back to the level where it was in 2002, when the Leader of the Opposition was sitting in the Treasury. I am afraid that his whole idea, like all his economic policies, has collapsed within five minutes.

[Michael Connarty (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (Lab)]

Q11. The most recent OECD report, No. 163, on income inequality, shows that the UK economy would be 20% bigger if tax policies had redistributed income to the bottom 40% of citizens. Can the Prime Minister resist the temptation to waffle and consider seriously his policies and those of Chancellor Scrooge over his five years, of rewarding the rich with tax cuts and hammering middle and low-income people with rises in the cost of living, not only—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I call the Prime Minister.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. We have increased spending by £12.7 billion. That translates into a real-terms increase. Scotland and Wales have had the extra money to spend, but Labour in Wales chose to cut the NHS rather than to invest in it, and in Scotland the SNP Government have not translated the full amount of money. That is why, when we look at figures for such things as accident and emergency, yes, we need to do better in England, but our performance is still well better than it is in Wales, Scotland, or, indeed, in Northern Ireland. The moral of this story is that you need a long-term economic plan and a Conservative-led Government to deliver these advances.

[Michael Connarty]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

Points of order come after statements, and we have a statement. The hon. Gentleman ought to know that by know, with the greatest of respect. We will come to the statement in a moment.

Global Health (Research and Development)

Michael Connarty Excerpts

Tuesday 8th July 2014 Westminster Hall

[Michael Connarty (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (Lab)]

I declare an interest: I went numerous times with Results UK to see its work on the GAVI fund and other matters. I thank the hon. Member for St Ives (Andrew George) and his co-chair for outlining the problem that we face in R and D for global health. An estimated 13.7 million people die every year from or in connection with a group of diseases known as poverty-related and neglected diseases, including TB, HIV, malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever and many others.

As has been said, there has been a market failure in developing drugs, diagnostics and vaccines for diseases that predominantly impact low and middle-income countries. Significant improvements could therefore be made, as the co-chair of the all-party group said, in co-ordination, financing and the policies of public sector donors. The World Health Organisation has been the focus of efforts to develop a globally binding convention on R and D for nearly a decade, but has not made much progress. Progress has been dishearteningly slow, and given the figures that I just quoted, every year that passes without globally co-ordinated efforts to remedy the R and D market failure results in the unnecessary loss of millions of lives. However, despite that massive figure, we do not seem to get any progress.

One of the core proposals is for countries to contribute a fixed percentage of GDP to R and D for global health, as we have done with international development generally, in recognition that such diseases represent a threat to global human, social and economic development, just as the matters on which the Department for International Development focuses its contributions do. The percentage called for is 0.1% of GDP, which could be spent bilaterally or contributed to a central fund that would apportion money for key projects and programmes to develop the new drugs, diagnostics and vaccines that are missing.

What are the challenges of reaching such a consensus? Among donors, there is a general reluctance to support a global R and D convention; the push for it is coming from developing countries. The countries that conduct the majority of research and host the biggest pharmaceutical companies want to maintain their sovereignty over their research programmes. Countries have competed over scientific research for centuries, and it is important to developed economies. Many Governments even direct money from their aid agencies directly to domestic research only. The UK can be proud that it does not do this, meaning that DFID’s contributions and aid are spent on the best research, wherever it is carried out. Nonetheless, co-ordination of funding and priorities is extremely important to ensure that there is no unnecessary duplication between research in different countries. I see the sense in that, but of course it is not how the capitalist market works.

Why should the UK back such reforms? First, they are ultimately in our own self-interest and that of other developed countries; I always like to appeal to self-interest when a Conservative Government are in power. We will not eliminate TB or HIV unless we find quick, safe and effective cures for those diseases. They have a small but significant presence in the UK: HIV treatments alone, for example, cost the NHS more than £630 million every single year.

[Frank Dobson]

Is it not also the case that in order to protect blood products and blood transfusions, this country has been spending the best part of £1 billion for the same reason?

[Michael Connarty]

I know that when my right hon. Friend, a former Health Secretary, speaks, he tells only the truth, so I accept that £1 billion figure. It is a frightening sum, and it could be used in other ways. If we return to a situation in which TB and HIV are essentially untreatable, the cost of handling those diseases in the UK could become more costly than investing in finding further cures.

The second reason is that UK academic institutions are some of the best in the world, as my right hon. Friend the former Health Secretary outlined. It would therefore lead to more money, not less, being devoted to UK research establishments. Thirdly, the reform process could lay the foundation for new mechanisms and new systems of developing drugs, diagnostics and vaccines that would otherwise never be brought to market under the competitive capitalist system. The co-chair of the all-party group mentioned antibiotics, which have recently been brought to our attention. A global convention could implement new approaches and prevent microbial resistance, which has been discussed by the Government and the Chief Medical Officer.

Fourth, as a major funder of global health programmes and with their stated 0.7% commitment, the UK Government must acknowledge the enormous benefits of accelerating progress against HIV, TB and other diseases. From treating diseases, we could turn to preventing them. In Cambodia, Kenya and Rwanda, I have seen the cost of treating diseases once they have caught hold in a country. Driving those diseases back will result in savings for country health programmes, improved health and educational outcomes for children, increased work productivity for adults and overall reduced dependency on preventive foreign aid, which is the model that we want. We want to raise people out of complete dependency so they can generate their own futures.

A WHO convention, bringing new money and new resolve to global health R and D, is the best way to develop a new intervention that will accelerate our progress against global diseases. I have a question for the Minister, although I must apologise for the fact that I cannot remain in the Chamber for his reply, as I will be trying to speak in the debate on the Modern Slavery Bill, with which I have been engaged for the last couple of years. Will DFID and the UK Government commit to supporting a WHO convention on R and D in 2016 and lead the world towards the eradication of some of mankind’s deadliest diseases?

Garment Industry (Working Conditions)

Michael Connarty Excerpts

Wednesday 30th April 2014 Westminster Hall

[Shabana Mahmood]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The ILO plays a very important role and I am pleased that other organisations work closely with it, including DFID. I hope that that co-operation continues.

[Michael Connarty (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (Lab)]

I spoke on this issue on 25 April, two days after the disaster, in the Council of Europe; what happened was in breach of article 4 of the European convention on human rights. On standards, my hon. Friend visited a factory where she was shown that everything was fabulous, but that was because she was visiting. The reality is that in October 2013, 112 women died at the Tazreen factory in Dhaka because they were locked in the factory when it caught fire. On 11 September 2012, 289 workers died at the Ali Enterprises factory in Karachi because they were locked in the factory when it caught fire. How much confidence can we have that we are not just being shown the best on the day? All the reports say that such factories do not represent the standards when interested parties, such as my hon. Friends, are not there observing.

[Shabana Mahmood]

That is an important point. When we visited that factory in Dhaka, I had the benefit of having my hon. Friend the Member for Bethnal Green and Bow with me. She was able to engage with the workers in Bengali and Sylheti. She had a conversation with them that probed whether what we were seeing was for the benefit of visitors, rather than what happens on a day-to-day basis. I left confident that what we had seen was a true picture. DFID put in place arrangements to work with grass-roots organisations to ensure that those standards are not just what someone sees when they visit on any given day, but what happens every day for those workers.

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Connarty Excerpts

Wednesday 9th April 2014 Commons Chamber

[Lynne Featherstone]

My hon. Friend raises the issue of the frustrating endgame on polio. GAVI will play a major role in delivering that endgame, but we are working with everyone to try to ensure that vaccinations are seen as good and not some kind of problem.

[Michael Connarty (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (Lab)]

I declare an arrangement, as I went to Cambodia with Results UK to see the GAVI-funded programme there. I am told that the Government put in £860 million, which raises questions about the future. Will the Government make a commitment to maintaining that level of funding in future for GAVI, which runs a wonderful project?

[Lynne Featherstone]

Right now, GAVI has not stated what its actual target is. We are the largest donor at 33%, and we will continue to support it. We will make a decision in the next few months.

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Connarty Excerpts

Wednesday 26th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Duncan]

I can assure the House, and the hon. Lady, that climate change is one of the three pillars of our development policy in the Caribbean. The UK is working bilaterally in the overseas territories, as well as regionally across the Caribbean with institutions such as the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre and the Caribbean Development Bank, as well as other donors, to promote green economies in the Caribbean and address the broader challenges of climate change.

[Michael Connarty (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (Lab)]

6. What plans he has to visit Palestine to assess the humanitarian situation.

[The Minister of State, Department for International Development (Mr Alan Duncan)]

I visited the west bank in July and saw at first hand the difficulties faced by Palestinians, particularly in Area C. The Secretary of State is keen to visit when his schedule permits.

[Michael Connarty]

I am grateful for that positive response from the Minister. I am sure that, like me, he reads the reports of the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs occupied Palestinian territory, which I believe every Member should look at regularly. Some 90% of the water in the aquifer in Gaza is undrinkable, while up to 80 million litres of raw or partly treated sewage is going into the sea, and the Israeli authorities have just bulldozed six wells on the west bank. Surely nothing can be more pressing than a man-made humanitarian disaster on this scale. We must take positive action, and the Secretary of State must go and see it for himself.

[Mr Duncan]

Notwithstanding the difficulties of getting into Gaza, we have a broad measure of sympathy with what the hon. Gentleman has said. We are deeply concerned about the impact of restrictions on Palestinians living in Area C and Gaza. Access to water and land is restricted, food insecurity is high, and 18% of Palestinians in the west bank are living below the poverty line.

Gaza (Aid)

Michael Connarty Excerpts

Tuesday 13th September 2011 Westminster Hall

[Michael Connarty (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (Lab)]

I gave you a note, Mr Dobbin, to say that we may be joined by others who have recently been on a trip to Gaza. Should they make it here—they are currently in other Committees—they would like to speak in this debate, rather than just intervene. If the Minister agrees, I should like to end my contribution early so that they can tell us about the recent events that they have seen with their own eyes.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Mr Stephen O'Brien)]

I am grateful that I have been given that notice. It is fine for those Members to speak, provided that we keep roughly to the same split of time.

[Michael Connarty]

Mr Dobbin, it is my intention to give the Minister adequate time to speak.

Having been to Gaza on five occasions, I feel that I should say a word about the people there. I was lucky enough to be a monitor at the first democratic elections in Gaza city. At all times, the people were unbelievably welcoming, friendly and tremendously supportive and I was much buoyed up by my meetings with them. On my last visit, we went to Beach camp. I was very ill—an allergy that I suffer from kicked in while I was there—and I found the people to be unbelievably hospitable and caring. They looked after me very well. I have nothing but the highest regard for them; they were kindness incarnate. It is those people whom I want to talk about in this debate.

First, though, I must talk about the context in which such recent visits have taken place. Deep concerns have been expressed, and continue to be expressed, about the impositions placed on the people of Gaza and the humanitarian effects of them. In the second democratic election, the people of Gaza chose to elect a Hamas majority Government. Since then, there have been tremendous controversies. I join others in condemning not only the inability of that Government to stop the firing of rockets into the Israeli territories and households, but the unbelievable excessive force used in retaliation by the Israeli Government, which has killed more than 1,000 people and destroyed many of the basic facilities required for humanitarian reasons.

There has been strong condemnation from the Turkish Government over the killing of nine Turkish citizens on the aid flotillas. They have now said that they will defend the flotillas taking humanitarian aid to Gaza if they are carrying Turkish citizens. The problem has been caused by Israel’s appalling blockade of Gaza. Access to the Gaza strip remains severely restricted. Only the Kerem Shalom crossing is functioning, although it has recently been subject to Palestinian industrial action, which is in protest at the recent closure of the Kami crossing. The Gisha Legal Centre for the Freedom of Movement notes that Kerem Shalom can accommodate 250 trucks per day in both directions, compared with 1,000 trucks in both directions at Kami, so that is clearly severely restricting the amount of aid going into Gaza.

In September 2009, the IMF directly attributed the continuing restrictions on access to Gaza as a prime reason for the continued high unemployment rate, low growth and high inflation. Gaza could reach growth rates of 7 to 8% if the economic blockade were lifted. As for the children of Gaza, one in three is anaemic and one in 10 is malnourished. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN classes 61% of Gazans as “food insecure” and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency reports that 80% of Gazans rely on some form of aid.

A report published in January 2011 on the website of the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, which has access to documents obtained by Wikileaks, makes it quite clear that the Israeli Government are determined to starve the economy of Gaza to bring it to the point of collapse. If people cannot sustain their own economy, the need for aid grows and grows, and that is a strategy that the Israeli Government are clearly using. That is wholly unacceptable.

The report said that a shortage of Israeli shekels in Gaza has continued to be an issue. Last July, Tony Blair, speaking in his role as representative in the middle east, said that he welcomed

“Israel’s decision to allow the entry of 50 million shekels into Gaza as well as the exchange of 31.5 million shekels of spoiled banknotes”.

The pressure is on Israel. This is about not just starving people of basic materials that the international community would give them or that people would be able to trade, but trying to break the economy in retaliation for people exercising their democratic right, which we are always espousing, to choose a different Government.

Let me put on the record the names of all those Members who went on the visit in July 2011. They are my hon. Friends the Members for Manchester Central (Tony Lloyd), for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock (Sandra Osborne), for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Cathy Jamieson), and for Edinburgh South (Ian Murray), and Lord Warner. Before I quote from their reports, I also want to put it on the record that the right hon. Member for Rutland and Melton (Mr Duncan) was the first Minister to visit Gaza in the last decade. I hope that the Under-Secretary of State will follow that example and go to Gaza to meet the people.

[Guto Bebb (Aberconwy) (Con)]

The difference between Israel’s attitudes to the Gaza strip and the west bank might be because it faces more of a threat from the Gaza strip. As for the recent visit to the west bank, my understanding is that the economic growth in that part of the Palestinian authority is about 12% per annum. Clearly, the message is that if the Palestinians can restrain the violence being shown by Hamas in Gaza, economic growth in Gaza might be much greater.

[Michael Connarty]

Even when I have visited some of the worst regimes, I have always been impressed by the tremendous entrepreneurial ability of the people of the Palestinian nation and their tremendous thirst for knowledge and high skills. We see them all around the world. We have quite a number in Scotland who contribute to our economy.

If we look at what has happened on the west bank, and such things have been well recorded, we see that the people have to manage in very straitened circumstances, especially given the Israeli Government’s attitude to land, roads and water. Even in the west bank, the people live under a penal regime. In Gaza, there is an attempt to starve out and harm the ordinary people in retaliation for what is the unacceptable use of rockets.

Everyone recognises that Israel has used disproportionate force. We cannot just blame Hamas. The circumstances are set by the occupying nation, which is Israel. That may change shortly, because there will be an attempt in the UN to recognise the nation of Palestine as a state. Hopefully, that will change the attitude of the people in the UN—perhaps not in the Security Council. It will help Hamas and Fatah to try to create one non-violent approach to unity and to statehood.

Let me turn now to the situation that our colleagues found when they visited Gaza in July. The blockade clearly aims to cause great harm to the people’s ability to generate income and run their own economy. The effects of denying them the supplies that they require to function were quite stark. My hon. Friend the Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun said that it took them three hours to get into the occupied territories. Some of the Palestinians who were waiting at the crossing to get through had been waiting for days.

The imposition was deliberately put in by the Government. On a positive note, my hon. Friend said that when she spoke to women’s groups, voluntary organisations, small businesses and trade unions, she found a tremendous sense of activity within the community to overcome the burden placed on them. The people are not lying down with their hand out waiting for someone to come to their aid; they are a very determined people who are attempting to live under these terrible conditions and to do their best.

None the less, the reality is that the people cannot generate much of their own wealth—50% of factories were destroyed in the Israeli war in 2008-09. The numbers of employed fell from 135,000 to 15,000; that is a massive drop that impacts on their ability to generate income. As a result, inferior, illegally imported goods are coming through, which create safety problems. They are not of the right quality. Raw materials for manufacturing are difficult to source, so the Palestinian people’s ability to save their own economic life is minimal.

Another problem that has always existed in Palestinian communities is the difficulty of sourcing adequate water. The hon. Member for Aberconwy (Guto Bebb) compared Gaza with the west bank. There is a water problem in the west bank, but the water problem in Gaza is probably more extreme. Even when I was last in Gaza, before the latest problem caused by the reaction to the election of Hamas, most of the main water sources had been diverted to Israeli settlements outside Gaza.

That has always been a problem, because the Israeli wells are sunk much deeper than the Israelis allow the Palestinians to sink their wells, so the Israeli wells soak up water from the aquifers. The Coastal Municipalities Water Utility organisation in Gaza has said that, because of the reduction in the flow of the water, the amount of nitrates and the level of chlorine contamination are now rising very fast in the water sources that the Palestinian people have to use. Even when I was last in Gaza, which is some time ago now, doctors told me that children were beginning to show signs of diseases that had not been prevalent among the Palestinian people for quite some time, and children are the ones who are harmed by using contaminated water.

Another thing that caused me great distress when I was last in Gaza was the fact that people were not being allowed to dump their rubbish by taking it away to somewhere safe; often they had to dump it within the limits of their cities and communities. That meant that, when it rained, material from the rubbish leached down into the aquifers and was then absorbed back into the bodies of the people using water from the aquifers.

Because of the inability to generate enough electricity, the people in Gaza now have problems keeping even the basic facilities running in their hospitals. One of the hospitals in Gaza city is mostly comprised of wards that were built with donations from the families of returning or deceased soldiers from the first world war. Many soldiers recuperated in Gaza city after the terrible Gallipoli campaign and many of the wards in that hospital have plaques on the walls to show that they were built by the British.

To keep those wards running is very important. However, the recent British delegation visited Al Shifa hospital in Gaza city and the members of the delegation were told that kidney dialysis machines have to be disconnected from patients every time the power goes out, meaning that the blood has to be cleaned and the dialysis process has to be restarted every time the power goes out. Dialysis has to be done twice, which is a great imposition on kidney patients.

There is also a major problem in trying to source legitimate building materials, because of the argument put forward by the Israeli Government that certain things, including basic building materials, have dual use and therefore should be denied to the people of Palestine. That argument does not make any sense. For example, radiotherapy drugs for cancer patients are banned, because Israel says—for some reason—that they are a dual use product. I am not quite sure how to extract the small amount of radioactivity from radiotherapy drugs and how it could be used for anything other than medical purposes.

I know, Mr Dobbin, that you come from a medical research background and so you will know that a small amount of radioactive material, with a very low level of radioactivity, is generated by every hospital in the country. I do not see anyone saying that we need to rush around and put that material in a high security facility, so the Israeli attitude is nonsense and an imposition on patients.

Doctors who spoke to the British delegation that visited Gaza recently estimated that in the past year 500 Palestinians have died simply because of a lack of medication; Gazans are simply not being allowed to import medication in adequate quantities. Children and cancer patients are most at risk, as they are denied the treatment they need. For example, we met a young boy with a sickle cell anaemia problem. In this country, we would regard any child who had that problem as being a priority, but that child in Gaza was denied drugs to deal with that terrible disease. Providing those drugs is what humanitarian aid is about.

We must ask the Minister, “When will the warm words and the talking stop? When is all this nonsense about it being all right when we have a negotiated settlement going to stop?” There is a widespread feeling that the Israeli Government do not want to have a negotiated settlement that would give the Palestinians an equal and adequate life, and it is quite clear that we are condoning and colluding in the situation in Gaza. We did not like the result of a democratic election and we have not done enough to try to move from that viewpoint, to a situation where that election result is not seen as a threat but as something that should be absorbed into the discussions about what happens in Palestine.

In all the years since I last visited Gaza, and in the time since the British delegation visited Gaza recently, there seems to have been very little movement, except perhaps for a backward movement in the conditions of the people there. That is a great tragedy and, to be quite frank, in the past it has been a cause of great shame for my party when we were in government; we should have dealt with that situation if we were in any way humanitarian and democratic socialists.

Now the challenge lies with this Government, without regard to party. I hope that they make the choice to change their position so that they support UN recognition of the state of Palestine. But if they cannot do that, I hope that they will do something to argue very strongly for, and win through the UN, a situation whereby it is accepted that it is wrong for Israel to do what it is doing in preventing humanitarian aid and other basic aid from being taken to the people of Gaza by whichever route people choose to take it.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr O'Brien]

I certainly recognise that it is difficult to envisage how the tunnels might have come into being but for there being a difficulty in getting goods to move, so I fully understand the hon. Gentleman’s point.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency reports that at the current approval rate for reconstruction projects, it will take 78 years to rebuild Gaza. Only 28% of its work programme for Gaza has been approved by Israel, and only half of the materials needed for approved projects have entered into Gaza. UNRWA wants to build 100 schools, but at the moment has permission for only 42. The UNRWA schools are vital, because they teach the lessons of the holocaust and of the universal declaration of human rights. If a child cannot get a place at an UNRWA school, he or she might end up unable to go to school at all, or might attend a school with a curriculum approved by Hamas or another extremist group.

What is the UK doing? We continue to press the Israeli Government bilaterally to ease the movement and access restrictions. We have consistently lobbied the Israeli Government at ministerial and official level, in close co-ordination with the office of the Quartet representative and European Union partners. The Department for International Development supports the UN Access Coordination Unit to work with the United Nations, Israel, the Palestinian Authority and aid agencies to facilitate the transfer of vital humanitarian assistance, including medical equipment and supplies, in and out of Gaza. DFID has also contributed to a greater international understanding of the situation in Gaza and the impact of the blockade. Earlier this year, DFID-funded reports by the World Food Programme and the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs provided detailed and impartial analysis of the situation in Gaza, and that has provided a solid, analytical basis for our work with partners in identifying ways to improve the situation.

We are also providing support through our programmes. Immediately after Operation Cast Lead, we concentrated on humanitarian aid, working with the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross and NGOs to provide drinking water, food, shelter, medical assistance and support for those traumatised by the conflict. Our current work on Gaza addresses the key access constraints, promotes economic growth and provides support to the poorest and most vulnerable parts of society.

The UK supports the Palestinian Authority and UNRWA to provide basic services, such as education and health, to the people of Gaza. About 50% of our support to the Palestinian Authority and 30% of our support to UNRWA benefits the Gazans. We provide 2,400 vulnerable families with work and an income through our support for UNRWA’s back-to-work programme, and we help to develop the private sector by supporting 304 small companies in Gaza and generating jobs for more than 1,800 unemployed Gazans. We also provide food vouchers to 5,750 poor households through our support to the World Food Programme, enabling them to purchase the basic food items, such as bread and milk, that they need to survive. We help 24 UN agencies and 132 international NGOs to get aid and goods into Gaza through our support to the UN Access Coordination Unit and the Palestinian Authority’s crossing co-ordination committee.

We understand Israel’s security concerns, but for a peace settlement to work any future Palestinian state must be economically viable.

[Michael Connarty]

Will the Government take up with some priority the matter of much-needed medical drugs, particularly for the treatment of cancer? It is ridiculous to deny people cancer-treatment drugs because of the dual-use nonsense.

[Mr O'Brien]

I am happy to undertake that we will look into that, to see what the situation is and what can be done, not least because of the commitments that I have just listed, particularly our help in ensuring that there are supplies for assisting with medical needs—not just in emergencies, but for ongoing health requirements.

In the last couple of minutes of the debate, I shall touch on the broader process. We in the UK hope that the reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas announced in May this year will lead to the formation of a Government who reject violence and pursue a negotiated peace. We will judge any future Palestinian Government by their actions and their readiness to work for peace.

It is clear that negotiations towards a two-state solution are the only way to meet the national aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians and to achieve a sovereign, viable and contiguous Palestinian state living alongside Israel in peace and security. We therefore call on both parties to resume talks on the basis of clear parameters, including borders based on 1967 lines with agreed land swaps, security for Israel that respects Palestinian sovereignty, a just and fair resolution of the refugee problem, and Jerusalem as the future capital of both states.

We want the new generation of Palestinians to grow up in hope, not despair, and to believe in a peaceful settlement with Israel, rather than being impoverished and susceptible to terrorist recruitment. We want the next generation of Israelis to live free from the fear of rocket fire, and able to enjoy peaceful relations with their Arab neighbours. We cannot deliver that for either side, but as friends to both the Israelis and the Palestinians, we will work with our international partners to help deliver progress in the peace process. We remain a strong supporter of those who are building the institutions of a future Palestinian state.

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Connarty Excerpts

Wednesday 16th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. This is exactly what we have been looking at. The whole intention of the change that was announced in the Budget and the spending review was to make sure that there was not an overlap in the way that we were judging people in care homes and people in hospitals. I think that when he sees what is proposed in the welfare Bill, he will see that it meets his concerns.

[Michael Connarty (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (Lab)]

Q6. Sadly, since I first asked the Prime Minister about human trafficking in September, he has collapsed every Government initiative on the issue, including the excellent POPPY project, which rescues women from prostitution. Tomorrow, when I meet my colleagues from the Portuguese Parliament who are signing up to the human trafficking directive, where will I tell them that our Prime Minister has lost his moral compass on the issue of human trafficking?

[The Prime Minister]

What the hon. Gentleman says is completely wrong. The Government are supporting organisations that are helping on the issue of human trafficking. We are committed to ensuring that we have the best and toughest laws on human trafficking. I know that he works on this issue, as does my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough (Mr Bone), as have Members in previous Parliaments. It is not necessary to opt in to the human trafficking directive to give ourselves the strongest laws here in the UK. It is that that we should be doing, and that that I am committed to making sure we are doing.