Counter-Daesh Update

Paul Sweeney Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd July 2019 Commons Chamber

[Rory Stewart]

The reason why the Home Office has been considering introducing this legislation is that we are looking at ways to try to prevent people from going out to such areas for terrorist activities. It is not primarily intended to prevent humanitarian assistance from going out. One of the legal issues that the Home Office has faced is that, despite having clearly advised that British citizens should not be travelling to such areas in order to prevent them from joining Daesh, we did not have the legal framework in place to make that happen. The proposals that the Home Office has been considering have been designed to target foreign fighters and to exclude people who are going there for humanitarian reasons.

However, I have listened carefully to the concerns, which have also been expressed by a number of international aid agencies, NGOs and others, about the possibility that people going there for good reasons could be caught up with people going there for bad reasons. I am sure the Home Office will have heard the hon. Gentleman’s representations. Indeed, we at DFID have raised similar concerns ourselves.

[Mr Paul Sweeney (Glasgow North East) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Secretary of State’s analysis of the situation was thorough and highlighted the fluid and unstable situation that continues to persist in the region. However, I cannot help but note the cognitive dissonance that seems to exist between his Department and the Home Office, particularly in relation to asylum applications. Some 250 of my constituents are liable to be evicted from their homes, many of whom are Syrians from the region. Will the Secretary of State undertake to write to his counterpart in the Home Office to emphasise the continuing and ongoing danger that the region presents and to stress that sufficient credence should be given to asylum applications, so that asylum seekers are not placed in situations where their lives are threatened?

World Immunisation Week

Paul Sweeney Excerpts

Thursday 2nd May 2019 Commons Chamber

[Dan Carden]

I agree with my hon. Friend wholeheartedly. We must take tougher action to tell the truth about immunisations, and we need to act fast with global partners if we are to avert the destructive potential of this. According to UNICEF, half a million British children are not vaccinated against measles, and in 2018 there were 966 cases of measles across the country, more than double the number in 2017. This is a worrying and sharp rise that requires our attention.

That is why my colleagues in Labour’s health team have committed to a vaccination action plan that includes getting tough with the big social media companies that are providing a platform that is fuelling a new public health crisis. Labour wants to see the £800 million of public health cuts reversed, more health visitors recruited to provide proper health advice backed by science to parents and GPs given the investment they need to drive up vaccination rates.

[Mr Paul Sweeney (Glasgow North East) (Lab/Co-op)]

My hon. Friend is making an important point about the massive positive impacts of public health campaigns, and I am reminded of the great public health drive in Glasgow to eradicate tuberculosis from the city in the 1960s, a public awareness campaign that was a huge success. But is my hon. Friend aware that this creeping cynicism around the positive benefits of immunisation is a critical national emergency, and does he agree that it is worth exploring making it a criminal offence not to immunise our children? Perhaps we should explore whether that is a necessary step given the critical nature of this.

[Dan Carden]

I agree with my hon. Friend. This is absolutely critical, and our discussion shows the importance of raising awareness in such debates.

Counter-Daesh Update

Paul Sweeney Excerpts

Thursday 29th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

I share the hon. Lady’s concern. The atrocities that have been committed against those people are horrific. As she will know, to classify something as genocide is not something that the Government can do—there is an international process to classify something as genocide—but I would be happy to update her, perhaps by letter, on what the timetable for that process might look like.

[Mr Paul Sweeney (Glasgow North East) (Lab/Co-op)]

I raised the issue of Afrin with the Foreign Secretary some weeks ago and sought his assurance about what discussions he has had with the Turkish Government and our NATO allies about how they are safeguarding the law of armed conflict in relation to civilians in Afrin. Will the Secretary of State update the House on what discussions the Government have had with their Turkish counterparts on upholding the cornerstone of NATO policy and the law of armed conflict, and on securing civilians?

[Penny Mordaunt]

The Foreign Office has ongoing discussions. Most recently, my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Middle East was in Turkey last week and spoke to the Deputy Prime Minister.

Aid Sector: Safeguarding

Paul Sweeney Excerpts

Tuesday 20th February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

We have good practices and procedures in place, and I have confidence in what my Department does. However, we work not only with the Oxfams and the Save the Childrens of this world, but with a raft of other organisations further down the supply chain. We must ensure that we can have confidence in the whole of that process. There are individuals whom we can accredit and register, but that will not be possible in the case of other partners on the ground, so we must also ensure that we have the right oversight wherever in the world we are working.

[Mr Paul Sweeney (Glasgow North East) (Lab/Co-op)]

Extremely serious though they are, we should not allow these ongoing revelations to be used as a pretext to undermine the UK’s financial commitment to overseas development aid. A significant number of influential people who are now being vocal on the issue seem to be trying to exploit them for that, and I welcome the Secretary of State’s reassurances in that regard. Does the Secretary of State share my concern about the ulterior motives of certain people of influence, who are conveniently jumping on this issue, despite being silent on other forms of abuse and sexual exploitation when they occur in other sectors and other parts of our society?

[Penny Mordaunt]

I do not think that is how people are responding to this situation; I think the bulk of people in this House and in the country want us to get a grip on this particular issue. As I said, we are committed to 0.7%—we introduced it; it has been in our manifesto; we are committed to it. We are also committed to spending it really well and ensuring that, in spending it, we are working with organisations that we can trust and that put their beneficiaries first.