Business of the House

Rupa Huq Excerpts

Thursday 25th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

I am sure that my hon. Friend’s constituents will thank him greatly for raising the matter. The Government are giving careful consideration to a number of levelling-up grants that we are keen to follow through on. He will be aware, though, that the difficult economic situation that we have inherited is much worse than we foresaw. The funding was not actually there for a number of the previous Government’s commitments, but this Government will do our very best to support places like Halesowen with the additional funding that they need.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)]

In recent days, there have been protests in Rome, in Paris, in my right hon. Friend’s city of Manchester and in Trafalgar Square over what has been going on in Bangladesh. A three-figure number of student protesters have been killed; we do not know how many, because the internet has been turned off. May I press again for an urgent Government statement on our position, because I was not successful in the ballot for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office questions on Tuesday? We have a historic, unique role in this situation.

[Lucy Powell]

My hon. Friend raises an important point. We are deeply concerned about the violence of recent days. The loss of life is unacceptable. The right to protest must be restored and access to the internet should also be restored. We urge all sides to have restraint in this regard. I know that the Foreign Secretary and Foreign Office Ministers will want to update the House; we are running out of time ahead of the recess, but all possible steps will be taken to ensure that those important updates are brought before the recess.