Points of Order

Debate between Zarah Sultana and Lindsay Hoyle

Wednesday 6th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The right hon. Gentleman is in danger of answering his own point of order. I have received no notification of a statement, but I am sure that those on the Treasury Bench will have taken his point on board. Let me also say to him that I know he will not rest there on this matter; that he will use all other avenues available to him ensure that the profile of the case is raised—I would expect nothing else.

[Zarah Sultana (Coventry South) (Ind)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. This concerns the lack of response to my cross-party correspondence addressed to the Foreign Secretary, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, and the Defence Secretary, dated 13 September 2024. In that letter I, along with 36 parliamentary colleagues, requested clarification on the Government’s decision to exempt offensive F-35 fighter jet components from the 30 out of 350 licences that they have suspended for items that could be used in Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza, as there is a clear risk that they may be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law. Given the significance of the issue and its implications for the UK’s international obligations, it is imperative that MPs receive a comprehensive response. Having to wait two months for a reply raises questions—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I have absolutely got the point of order. Obviously, this is not my responsibility, but I take it seriously if any Member of this House writes to the Government and does not receive a timely reply. I am here to defend whoever the correspondence is from and ensure that they receive a reply. I am entirely convinced that those on the Front Bench will have heard what has been said and will already be looking to get that reply. If not, the hon. Lady should inform me and we will raise it again. I thank her for her point of order.

Bills Presented

Financial Assistance to Ukraine Bill

Presentation and First Reading (Standing Order No. 50)

Darren Jones, supported by the Prime Minister, James Murray, Tulip Siddiq and Emma Reynolds, presented a Bill to make provision for loans or other financial assistance to be provided to, or for the benefit of, the government of Ukraine.

Bill read the first time; to be read a second time on Monday 11 November, and to be printed (Bill 48) with explanatory notes (Bill 48-EN).

Armed Forces Commissioner Bill

Presentation and First Reading (Standing Order No. 57)

Secretary John Healey, supported by the Prime Minister, Secretary Angela Rayner, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Secretary Yvette Cooper, Secretary David Lammy, Secretary Hilary Benn, Secretary Ian Murray, Secretary Jo Stevens, Dan Jarvis, Maria Eagle and Luke Pollard presented a Bill to establish, and confer functions on, the Armed Forces Commissioner; to abolish the office of Service Complaints Ombudsman; and for connected purposes.

Bill read the first time; to be read a second time on Monday 11 November, and to be printed (Bill 124) with explanatory notes (Bill 124-EN).

Child Criminal Exploitation (No. 2) Bill

Presentation and First Reading (Standing Order No. 57)

Victoria Atkins presented a Bill to create an offence of child criminal exploitation; and for connected purposes.

Bill read the first time; to be read a second time on Friday 29 November 2024 and to be printed (Bill 75).

China: Human Rights and Sanctions

Debate between Zarah Sultana and Lindsay Hoyle

Monday 28th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Zarah Sultana (Coventry South) (Ind)]

Much like Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong, British-Egyptian writer and pro-democracy activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah remains unlawfully detained in Egypt, and still has not been granted access to British consular officials, despite the British Government raising the case at the highest levels. His mother Laila is now on hunger strike against his continued imprisonment. In November 2022, the Foreign Secretary called on the then British Government to take more direct action to bring Alaa home, recognising the UK Government’s responsibility to protect citizens from arbitrary detention and human rights abuses abroad. Since coming to office, what have the Foreign Secretary and the Government done to follow through on what he once promised and to bring Alaa home?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The urgent question was purely about Hong Kong. I know that there is a slight connection.

[Zarah Sultana]

There is a similarity.

[Mr Speaker]

Yes, but I judge the similarity, not your good self. If the Foreign Secretary wishes to take it, fine. If he does not, I understand.

Easter Recess: Government Update

Debate between Zarah Sultana and Lindsay Hoyle

Tuesday 19th April 2022 Commons Chamber

[Zarah Sultana (Coventry South) (Lab)]

Energy bills are soaring, wages are falling and the cost of living crisis is getting worse and worse, but while my constituents are forced to choose between heating and eating, the Chancellor is benefiting from the non-dom tax loophole and 17 of the Prime Minister’s 22 Cabinet members have refused to deny that they or their families benefit from tax havens or non-dom status. They are laughing in our faces while robbing the public purse. So I ask the Prime Minister, how many more children need to go hungry at night before he stops putting the greed of his super-rich mates before the needs of ordinary people?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Can the hon. Lady withdraw “robbing the public purse”? That is just not the case.

[Zarah Sultana]

Yes.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Zarah Sultana and Lindsay Hoyle

Wednesday 26th May 2021 Commons Chamber

[Zarah Sultana (Coventry South) (Lab)]

Tala, 13, Rula, just five years old, her big sister Yara, aged nine: three Palestinian children killed in an Israeli air- strike. The Israeli military murdered 63 other children and 245 Palestinians in its recent assault on Gaza. The call for Palestinian freedom has never been louder, but this Conservative Government are complicit in its denial. They have approved more than £400 million in arms to Israel since 2015, so can the Prime Minister look me in the eye and tell me that British-made weapons or components were not used in the war crimes that killed these three children and hundreds of other Palestinians? [Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I remind hon. Members that we should not use props.

Business of the House

Debate between Zarah Sultana and Lindsay Hoyle

Thursday 17th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Zarah Sultana (Coventry South) (Lab)]

For the first time ever, UNICEF, the UN agency responsible for providing humanitarian aid to children, is having to feed working-class kids in the UK. While children go hungry, a wealthy few enjoy obscene riches: from Tory donors handed billions in dodgy covid contracts, to people like the Leader of the House, who is reportedly in line to receive an £800,000 dividend pay-out this year. Will he give Government time to discuss the need to make him and his super-rich chums pay their fair share, so that we can end the grotesque inequality that scars our society?

[Mr Speaker]

I do not like to personalise too much in the House. I understand that Members want to get things on the record, but I want to show at least some kind of Christmas spirit at the moment.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Zarah Sultana and Lindsay Hoyle

Monday 20th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Zarah Sultana]

In 2010, like thousands of other young people, I argued against the tripling of tuition fees, but the Government ignored us, and I currently have around £50,000 of student debt. I have here my latest student loan statement, which says that the interest added in the past year alone was £2,022.65. Can the Secretary of State look me in the eye and tell me that it is fair that working-class kids who want an education are being forced to take on colossal debt while his Government is led by a man who went from the playing fields of Eton to a free education at Oxford—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We are going to need short questions.