Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Situation

Stella Creasy Excerpts

Tuesday 19th November 2024 Westminster Hall

[Patricia Ferguson]

I thank my friend for that intervention. The shocking aspect of the statistics is that the figure of 16,000 children who have been killed does not refer, of course, to those children who have been maimed. I would personally like to see more of those young people, or at least some of those young people, being able to come to Europe, including to Britain, to receive treatment, because their injuries are severe and often they have not received the treatment that they needed at the time of surgery. Their situation is dire, but we could help to make it less dire; indeed, we could make it easier for those young people to live good lives in the future and to be able to achieve everything they are capable of. So, I think we have to look at every opportunity and I hope that the Government keep under review the situation regarding the sale of arms to Israel, and that they will, when the time is right, make that decision.

[Ms Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op)]

I thank my hon. Friend for giving way; she is making a very powerful case and many of us share her deep concern for the children in Gaza. Does she recognise, as I do, that the time has probably now come for the UK to use its full range of diplomatic powers to express its concerns, particularly regarding the comments in the last 24 hours by Finance Minister Smotrich, who has called for Israel to permanently occupy Gaza as a means of getting the hostages home? The hostage families do not want that; Israeli communities oppose it. So, does she agree that it is time for us to stand with all those Israelis and Palestinians against that kind of extremist language, because it does not help the people of Gaza and it will not end this crisis?

[Patricia Ferguson]

I agree with my hon. Friend; that kind of language does not help the people of Gaza, or the hostages. That is the message that many of the hostage families have been trying to get across. There have been massive protests all through this horrible period. Indeed, at the weekend, despite the fact that demonstrations have apparently been restricted to 2,000 people at a time, there were demonstrations where exactly that kind of point was being made and where many Israeli people were criticising those members of their own Government in a way that perhaps has not been heard before.

I was about to say that it would be helpful if the Minister could give us an indication of when sanctions against Smotrich and Ben-Gvir would be introduced.

Children’s Social Care

Stella Creasy Excerpts

Monday 18th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Ms Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op)]

Having spent 14 years watching children’s services struggle in the way the Secretary of State outlines, with serious case reviews often being the moment of intervention, I heartily welcome the emphasis on early intervention, and what she says about the responsibility that we all have. She will know that there has been much discussion about the concept of corporate parenting. What is her thinking on that, and what role does she see for us as Members of Parliament? At the moment, relationships across the country are clearly too inconsistent. That is to the detriment of safeguarding, and indeed of our young people.

[Bridget Phillipson]

My hon. Friend is right that there are many long-standing challenges in this area. On corporate parenting, today’s Command Paper sets out the steps that we intend to take to bring forward further plans in this area. I look forward to working with her on the shape and scale of those plans, because it is essential that we all take our responsibilities incredibly seriously, as I know she does.

Israel: UNRWA Ban

Stella Creasy Excerpts

Tuesday 29th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Anneliese Dodds]

As I have stated, I will not speculate on the activities of another Parliament. However, I will be very clear about the UK Government’s response, particularly when it comes to the potential humanitarian impact. Others may wish to discuss trade issues, but for me, as Development Minister, the most important thing is how we ensure access to aid for those who are so desperately in need in Gaza. That is what I will continue to focus on.

[Ms Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op)]

With winter on its way, as the Minister said, it is vital that we are clear about the importance of aid and of challenging all who obstruct it. The Israeli Finance Minister said that the starvation of 2 million people in Gaza might be “justified and moral” in order to free the hostages. Let us be clear: the hostage families do not think that. The Israeli National Security Minister backed the protests against aid convoys reaching Gaza. I understand why the Minister says that she will not give a running commentary on sanctions, but if we do not have sanctions now, what else is open to us to send the clear message that aid must get to Gaza immediately?

[Anneliese Dodds]

I most definitely share the deep concern at, and the rejection of, the truly appalling comments to which my hon. Friend has just referred. We are very clear that they were completely unacceptable; we could not have been clearer. Some in the Opposition have suggested that the sanctions regime should be in opposition to taking action on the legal regime on arms exportation, but the Government believe that we need to keep all these issues under review, as the House would expect us to in fulfilling our legal requirements. That is why we announced the changes to arms export licences a few months ago.

Oral Answers to Questions

Stella Creasy Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd February 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We are very happy to work with the authorities on the Isle of Wight. I think that I am right in saying that the spending power will increase slightly in the next year. As it is a relatively flat cash settlement overall over the five-year period, this local government settlement allows councils to use their reserves and also to sell unwanted property and use the money directly to provide services to bridge that period. Although I am happy to look at the circumstances of the Isle of Wight, I do believe that it is a fair settlement.

[Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q9. The Prime Minister has told us today that more money is going into the NHS, but let me tell him that my local hospital trust is spending £1.5 million a week on interest payments alone to Innisfree for its private finance initiative deal. [Interruption.] Wait for it. The Prime Minister eventually saw sense about the need to deal with the damage that high-cost credit was doing to individuals, but when will he deal with these legal loan sharks of the public sector?

[The Prime Minister]

Sometimes it takes a long time to unwind the damage done by a Labour Government. The hon. Lady is absolutely right. One of the first things that we did in Government was to launch a review of Labour’s PFI and begin an initiative to extract savings and give better value for money for all of the projects, including Barts. In her own health economy, there are more GPs in the NHS, and next year, because we are putting more money into the NHS, the NHS Waltham Forest clinical commissioning group will get a cash increase of 3.7%.

Oral Answers to Questions

Stella Creasy Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd May 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is right to raise that completely shocking case, and for anyone trying to understand how a parent could treat that child that way, it is just completely unfathomable. I will obviously look at what he says about the Law Commission and modernising the law, but in dealing with such appalling cases of child neglect and with families that have completely broken down, we have so many agencies currently working on this, including, crucially, social workers, and the most important thing is to have a real system of passing on information and passing on concerns rapidly—and then acting on them. Just passing another law will not make up for the common sense and action that we require our agencies to deliver.

[Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op)]

I thank the Prime Minister and the Chancellor for joining so many of their colleagues yesterday in abstaining from the vote against my “Save Bianca” amendment. Given that 65% of the public want to see caps on the cost of credit, when does the Prime Minister think his Ministers will finally give in and do something about ending legal loan sharking in the UK?

[The Prime Minister]

As the hon. Lady knows, we have a new power for the Financial Conduct Authority, which has been established, and the Office of Fair Trading has powers as well, so it is very important to talk to those agencies and to make sure that they can act.