Rachael Maskell MP: speeches

Speeches

• 2 Jul 2026 · Historical Forced Adoption · Hansard source

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  I sincerely thank the Prime Minister for his statement. In my role as the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on adoption and permanence, he will know that I wrote to him at the start of the year about the importance of issuing this apology. I really thank him for the way that he has done that. We know that from that post-war era to 1976, 185,000 families—that number is hard to appreciate—were affected by forced adoption, including 404 families in my own city. Will he ensure rapid access to therapeutic support? We know that it is incredibly difficult, both for adoptees and for women and those who were girls who had their babies forcibly removed. Will he consider babies who were brought to the UK from other jurisdictions and who were also forcibly removed from their mothers?

• 9 Jun 2026 · Middle East · Hansard source

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  I thank the Foreign Secretary for her statement. We know that over 20,000 children have been killed in Gaza, and 21,000 have lifechanging injuries. We made a commitment that will bring around 300 children to the UK to have urgent surgery to aid them. Last week, I met two of those children. They had two specific pleas. First, we should expand the scheme and bring over the 4,000 children who are waiting and need our medical care. Secondly, children can bring only one parent; they want both their parents to be with them. Having their family around them will help with their healing. Can we ensure that their families can come too, so that those children are safe, mentally as well as physically, as they get the support they need?

• 13 May 2026 · Debate on the Address · Hansard source

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  I congratulate His Majesty on delivering the Gracious Speech, and I concur with the hon. Member for North Cotswolds (Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown) that investing 0.7% of GDP in international development aid will bring greater stability and increase our ability to secure greater diplomacy, as well as development. I think that should be our focus. I also thank him for the work he does on the Public Accounts Committee. The intersection of crises bearing down on our planet, our nation and our communities demands a bold response in this parliamentary Session. I recognise the current bind, but as we move into the next chapter of Labour’s story, there is one consideration that I want the Government to take through this legislative programme: how we bring our communities, our country and our fractious planet together. Such vision and policy must be the thread that gathers and inspires us. Against the backdrop of fast-paced change, this planet is breaking. The grotesque inequalities, climate degradation and conflict are driving people apart. At home we have had 14 years of austerity, whereby the harder someone works, the tougher it gets. That is why I have called for a new economic orthodoxy, as neoliberalism preys on the working class and exploits all who want to get on as much as those who cannot. As people are fleeced, the energy giants and water bosses profit, despite putting carbon in our air and sewage in our rivers, such as the Ouse in York—the second worst in the country. The clean water Bill must pull this service back into public hands and public accountability.

• 13 Apr 2026 · Middle East · Hansard source

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  Resorting to violence does not achieve anything, but it has left 2,000 Lebanese dead and 1.2 million displaced. As the Prime Minister is demonstrating, bilateral and multilateral dialogue is the way forward to get progressive change. Instead of just looking at increasing the defence budget, will he also look at increasing investment in diplomacy and development, which is crucial in this increasingly destabilised world?

• 10 Mar 2026 · Fur: Import and Sale · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Ms Jardine. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Newport West and Islwyn (Ruth Jones) for all the work that she does championing animal rights in this space. Whereas she spoke about the fur in a bobble hat, I am going to talk about King’s Guard caps and the use of black bear pelts, which the Government have committed to ending. This has been a commitment for decades, and yet we are still seeing the import of black bear fur. In the past, the Ministry of Defence believed that the black bear fur came from licensed culls; the Canadian authorities have denied that, both at federal and provincial government levels, saying that there is no such thing as licensed culls. We therefore know that trophy hunters are the source—something that this House has campaigned on time and again. We must ensure that, under this Labour Government, we see an end to trophy hunting. Coming back to the issue of the King’s Guard caps, we know that trade through the work of trophy hunters leads to bears—killed in a random way—often dying slowly and in much distress through blood loss, infection and starvation. The future is perilous for those cubs that lose their mums. We need to ensure that those pelts do not move on to the auction houses from which the MOD purchases them. Only part of the pelt is actually used—the bit with longer fur. The rest of the pelt is simply thrown away. It is costing us as taxpayers—this is what I find so repugnant: it has cost us £1 million over the past decade. One thousand bears have been killed to put on the heads of soldiers. What on earth is that all about? When there are faux fur alternatives available, which have been developed with great skill, we need to ensure that we use them. Faux fur mimics, and even outperforms, real fur with regard to waterproofing; it is lighter, it dries more quickly and it springs back into shape. The chemicals and water used in the making of faux fur are recycled, ensuring that it is environmentally friendly as well as ethical. Faux fur has uniformity of colour and fur length, and it can be developed from a bio-based fabric. The MOD must stop placing these pelts on the heads of soldiers. More than 75% of the public support that, so it is an obvious move. I call on all hon. Members present to sign early-day motion 2907 in my name to ensure that we end the use of this cruel method of both ceremonially parading these dead animals through our streets and having them standing outside Buckingham Palace. I find it shameful; it must end. What steps is the Minister taking to end the use of bearskins, and what discussions has she had with the MOD concerning that? Will the Minister halt the purchase of any further pelts from this point on, pending a review, and will she ensure that we use faux fur as an alternative to bearskin pelts? I am sure that nobody would disagree with such a move, and it would be such an improvement. Doing so would have no bearing on the safety of soldiers, but would restore safety to bears, so that we can take pride in knowing that animals are not being paraded on the heads of our soldiers.

• 24 Feb 2026 · Gaza Healthcare System · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Sir Jeremy. Clinicians have been targeted by arrests, torture and bullets, and 1,700 have been killed. Hospitals, clinics and ambulances have been destroyed by bombs and drones. Medical aid, equipment and pharmaceuticals have been blocked at the border. Patients have been denied healthcare for blasts and bullets, disease, infection, poor sanitation and malnutrition at unimaginable scales. Mental trauma has engulfed every mind. Sexual violence has violated innocent women and girls. The crisis continues, yet where are we today? The right to healthcare—to life itself—has been destroyed. International humanitarian law has been breached and the International Court of Justice’s ruling has been undermined as daily violations occur, all while the IDF has destroyed every place where someone can heal. Apart from three field hospitals, three primary health centres and six medical points, all functioning health facilities are only partially functioning. As of 30 January, 18 hospitals, 105 primary healthcare centres and 233 medical points remain non-functional in Gaza.

• 24 Feb 2026 · Gaza Healthcare System · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to my hon. Friend for securing the debate and for the pertinent points he is making. Does he agree that the Minister should work with the Health Secretary to ensure that clinicians of all kinds can get the release they need to spend the appropriate amount of time in the region to provide training and clinical support?

• 24 Feb 2026 · Gaza Healthcare System · Hansard source

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  I absolutely am. I heard that evidence too. That passage for the whole of the Palestinian healthcare system must be opened. Even now, aid cannot enter Gaza. In four days’ time, 37 organisations will lose their registration to operate. The provision of healthcare, but also the whole humanitarian support network, will collapse. Although every step that the Government take is welcome, the response has been woefully inadequate, leaving people in an indescribable health crisis. I will never forget the clinicians who have taken the time to inform us of the conditions that they work in, the scale of the challenges they face and the clinical choices they make. One clinician described having to make the choice of which child to save as they looked on at the little bodies writhing in pain and distorted by brutality. Yet the provision of healthcare, water, nutrition and sanitation will evaporate this week. If countries do not step up their efforts in the next few hours, disease will be enabled to spread further and faster. I ask the Minister some questions. What specific demands has he made of the Israeli Government to release all 309 health workers who are being held as hostages and prisoners? Their skills are urgently needed. What specific demands has he made of the Israeli Government to extend the right of all NGOs providing healthcare or preventing ill health through food and sanitation projects to be allowed to continue their work in Gaza despite the registration scheme? When did he last call in the ambassador for Israel in the light of the immediate removal of the NGOs that deliver healthcare and vital humanitarian aid? If she does not extend those licences, why extend her stay in the UK? What has been her response? What sanctions will the UK Government apply to the Israeli Government for ending access to NGO support for humanitarian work in Gaza? Finally, how has the Minister sought for people suffering in Gaza to move to East Jerusalem and the west bank where clinicians are ready to receive them? Given that it is our manufactured F-35 parts that have inflicted so many of these wounds, what more can the UK Government do to ensure that we provide the healthcare facilities, here and wherever we can, to save these precious lives?

• 24 Feb 2026 · Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor · Hansard source

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  I do agree with the hon. Gentleman, because I know that journalists have been up through the night poring over the Epstein files and digging deep to hold power to account. Our media have a vital role in this, and long may it continue. Their scrutiny is also important for this place and the work that we do here. We need a process of learning from this, and I believe that there should be a judge-led inquiry to ensure that the multiple strands of this global network of power are brought to account so that we can learn and hold to account in this place with regard to concerns about how these associations are formed and the depth to which they infiltrate places like this, the Government and international networks. As we have learned over the last few weeks, sensitive financial information has been shared, and this can impact on our constituencies, markets and trade. That in turn has an impact on the very people we are here to represent. No longer can these powerful men swan around the world having these conversations, gaining more power and exploiting whoever crosses their path without being held accountable. We therefore need to understand how to create even deeper transparency across all institutions, including all areas of Government, just as we try to do in this place each and every day. As the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran) says, this inquiry must be far-reaching and it must pursue all these issues. I recognise that many Departments have been missed out in the Humble Address. We need to understand, for instance, how transport has been used, and not just civil transport but military transport. We need to see the missing logs to find out who was on those planes, where they were going and where they had come from. We also need to understand the expenses system that ensued and to find out how signing off for massages became a duty of the taxpayer. Individuals questioned this, as we have heard, but the reality is that people did not feel empowered to blow the whistle and raise those concerns. We need to institute processes where people can raise concerns wherever they see them, but at the moment we do not have the confidence that that was undertaken within the systems. How are we going to institute that? There are also questions about visas—we know that 90 people came in and out of the country during the period that we are looking at today—and of course there must be rigour in appointment processes. Much has been heard about that over the last few months, and it lies at the heart of this Humble Address. We need to ensure that all these appointments are transparent. I heard what the Minister said today, but we have 32 trade envoys and I have never seen one post advertised. I am not aware of the expertise that those individuals have with regard to trade or to their relations with a particular country. What do they actually add? What value do they actually bring, and how can we assess that from this place? I therefore ask for a proper review of all these appointments to assess what they bring, because surely we should have better accountability. I also want to mention the intelligence services. I cannot believe that our intelligence services were not aware of some of the movements of Mr Mountbatten-Windsor. How do we bring that to account, to ensure that that information is also in the public domain? Where are the minutes of all those meetings? What do they say? How do we find out? There are so many questions in response to the Humble Address being put today, but we have to think about what we want to do from this point on as well. This must not be about just holding and examining the information and commenting in the tea rooms and the corridors; we must ensure that power is held to account, and that those with privilege know that they are answerable for the responsibilities that they hold. As the light is shone deeper into the darkest networks of the elite’s exploitations, and as the systems are overhauled and reviewed, may the police do their job well and extensively and may we in this place always focus on the women who were exploited, gaslit, traumatised and left broken as we seek justice and seek to hold that power to account.

• 10 Feb 2026 · Ministry of Defence: Palantir Contracts · Hansard source

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  There is a pattern with Palantir: its £1 covid contract with the NHS expanded to a £330 million contract under the last Government, and its Ministry of Defence contract tripled in size to £240 million, without due process or competition. As we have seen, the links with Global Counsel are now on the record. Will the Minister ensure that all contact with Global Counsel from his Department and across Government—Palantir has a total of 34 contracts with public sector bodies—are published, so that we can understand the revolving doors around Peter Mandelson, Global Counsel and this Government?

• 5 Feb 2026 · Sudan · Hansard source

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  Let me say to the Foreign Secretary that that was the most powerful statement this House has heard on Sudan over the 1,000 days of the conflict. I thank her for all her work in this area, but we know that this war is being fuelled by external actors with an interest in their own profligacy in Sudan. Can she say how she will engage with those actors, many of which we have trading relationships with? What leverage will she use to ensure that they withdraw their weapons and the supply of mercenaries into Sudan, which is fuelling this conflict?

• 15 Dec 2025 · Sudan: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  We know that health workers have been targeted and killed, that 80% of health facilities are no longer functioning and that a generation have not received vaccines. We have seen this happen not only in Sudan, but in other conflicts. Rather than being reactionary or using the law retrospectively, what proactive measures are the Foreign Office taking to secure vital humanitarian structures such as healthcare and ensure that they are in place, and to ensure that countries are held to account in real time?

• 25 Nov 2025 · G20 and Ukraine · Hansard source

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  It is feared that the brutality in El Fasher will only intensify and spread to Tawila and beyond if international action is not convened and focused on the resolutions that are needed, not least to stop the incursions with drones supplied via the United Arab Emirates and mercenaries. Will the Prime Minister say more about what happened in South Africa to put the necessary focus in place, and about the next steps to stop the expansion of the atrocities we are witnessing in Sudan?

• 25 Nov 2025 · Immigration Reforms: Humanitarian Visa Routes · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Sir Edward. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (James Naish) for securing today’s debate. In a dangerous and dystopian world, our word must be our word. It must be honoured. Many have fled to our land for sanctuary, safety and security, and we cannot change the terms retrospectively; nor should we change them for those to come. We rightly have made commitments to people who have embarked on their settlement journeys, from the horrors of Taliban Afghanistan, to our BNO friends from Hong Kong who have fled the human rights abuses of the Chinese regime, young people who have arrived under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees schemes, and our good friends from Ukraine who have come to the UK because of the sanctuary and human rights we have extolled and spent 80 years leading. I will say it plainly today. I believe the Government have got this wrong. Their analysis is political, not factual, and their propositions are unacceptable. I agree with all the hon. Members today who have made such pertinent points in this debate. I appreciate how the Tories absolutely destroyed the system. They built the backlogs, did not put the staffing into the Home Office and lost focus and urgency, weaponising our systems. They did not have functional pathways. But all of these things speak of the pace that is needed, not slowing the pathways down. It has been wrong not to have the humanitarian routes available to so many, and I welcome the Government now putting those in place. But it is right that we honour the schemes already in existence and create the right culture for our country to be safe and secure for others fleeing dangers, so that they have security here as well. On the issue of language proficiency, what we need is functionality around language. I therefore ask the Government to think this through carefully again. Also, we know that many will not make the earnings threshold. They will be predominantly women who are carers of children and adults. I therefore call for an impact assessment to understand how gendered already our pay is in this country, and how the policy will press into that space and discriminate. As somebody who represents a human rights city—the only human rights city in England—articles 3 and 8 are not to be questioned. We need to ensure we have secured the right human rights framework and use it to protect people at home and abroad. If we lessen rights for others, it lessens the rights of us all.

• 24 Nov 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Obligations · Hansard source

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  Of course. Journalists are the eyes of the world, and they open all our eyes to the suffering and the scale of what is happening. We need to ensure their safety and security, as well as the free access that my hon. Friend calls for. I understand that 16,500 people are currently registered for medical evacuation, with many more yet to make the list. Those long lists are posing serious risk to life. The UK has evacuated 51 children, plus family members, for medical treatment, yet the need for lifesaving interventions is overwhelming. How will this Government ensure that that need is addressed proportionately? We can do more, and we must do more. Médecins Sans Frontières rightly highlights that priority should be given not just by age, but by medical emergency. Are we ensuring that patients are properly triaged and that we are taking those most in need? I also believe that we could do a lot more to scale in the region. I trust that the Minister can set out exactly what is happening to ensure that people can cross the border and receive the healthcare they need, as well as to allow the aid to flow—it cannot be impeded at the border any longer, whatever that requirement is. Beyond that, I would like the Government to consider how we can assist in the training of medical and other health professionals from Gaza. Our medical, nursing and allied health professional schools are first class. With all the universities in Gaza decimated, there is a clear need to ensure that the Palestinian healthcare workers of the future are given the right training and the opportunity, alongside those currently practising, for remote supervision and interventions to support them. How can we further help support those programmes? Are we doing everything we can to ensure that vaccination programmes are in place, particularly given the significant risk of disease? The trauma is unimaginable and enduring. We need to ensure Palestine has the opportunity to heal. Many of us talk about mental health support in our country, but we cannot imagine the scale at which it is needed in Gaza. What are we doing to ensure that the right mental health support is given to heal that nation? It used to be that, when we saw injustices across international borders, and the world order was not working, we called the world together to ensure that we changed the world order and justice was served. To this date, it seems that we follow the rules and do not set them any more. I ask the Minister to dig deep at this time and say, “What more can we really do to ensure that we are once again the convening voice for changing the world order, to see that justice is served and people have the aid and resources they need to move forward from this tragedy, which will mark us all in years to come?”.

• 24 Nov 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Obligations · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair this afternoon, Ms McVey. I thank all the petitioners for their efforts, as well as my constituents who, as the hon. Member for Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber (Brendan O’Hara) also highlighted, have for decades been campaigning on this and standing with the people of Gaza and across the occupied territories of Palestine. The critical humanitarian situation in Gaza must remain the focus of this Government. The demand for medical and surgical facilities, for equipment, for clinical staff and interventions, is as great as ever. The consequences of famine and war alongside the more recent surges in violence after the so-called ceasefire, which continue to require an acute response, need to be considered alongside the chronic need to manage disease, poor sanitation and malnutrition and, as we heard earlier, the particular healthcare needs of often incredibly frail women and children. There is also the issue of maternity provision, when 130 babies are born every day into this horrendous situation—a fifth prematurely or with enduring complications—and, of course, that constant need for good public health.

• 24 Nov 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Obligations · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend. It is an obscenity that mothers cannot feed their infants and have only filthy, disease-ridden water to give to their children. Of course we have to use every lever we have to address that injustice—including sanctions on the Israeli Government. As we have already heard about in this debate, we have applied those to other nations; we must apply them to the Israeli Government too. In the light of the makeshift, ready-to-erect hospitals sitting on the other side of the border, it is vital that there are negotiations to bring them across, so that such facilities can be erected rapidly and provided with the support needed, whether that is equipment, pharmaceuticals or, crucially, medical staff. I understand that the number of health service points has risen from 197 in October to 219 today, but the levels of staffing and equipment have to match the need. With so much reconstruction of medical facilities needed, how are the UK Government ensuring that an assessment of sites is undertaken so that construction can be prioritised around healthcare? Likewise, what are the health needs for the workforce to be taken into Gaza? How can we support that effort, both in this transitional period and in the long term—and with the equipment and pharmaceuticals required as well—so that we can support the supply required at this time? We have already heard about anaesthetics not being available and operations taking place without them; we cannot imagine the suffering that people continue to endure. This is urgent, and we need to be able to address those health concerns. As we have witnessed in wars across the world, it is women and girls who are targeted; sexual violence has further wounded survivors, and we should increase support services for them, alongside rigorous safeguarding to ensure that children are protected from those who, tragically, may prey on them. What has the Minister done to raise that specific issue with the Israeli authorities and to ensure that children are safeguarded? Regarding the health workforce, are we confident that medics and other health professionals taken captive by the IDF have all been released? If not, what is the Minister doing to press that point? Their skills are needed, and it is important that they are given safe passage back into Gaza to support their community.

• 18 Nov 2025 · Gaza and Sudan · Hansard source

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  I thank the Foreign Secretary for the focus she is putting on Sudan. We know from the horrific bloodshed in El Fasher that the RSF has got its sights, as we have heard, on Tawila and then on Khartoum itself. We have got to stop those atrocities from occurring. We know that the conflict is being fuelled by the supply of mercenaries and weapons via the UAE, including Chinese drones. Can she set out a bit more detail on the talks she is having with the UAE to stop that supply?

• 5 Nov 2025 · Conflict in Sudan · Hansard source

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  The Independent Commission for Aid Impact, in its evidence to the International Development Committee, made some insightful observations about the focus of the Government as the penholder. In what way is the Minister using the strength of the UK to bring parties together to stop the flow of arms, mercenaries and other resources into Sudan?

• 4 Nov 2025 · Sudan: Government Support · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the Minister for what she has said, but can she tell me how the UK is approaching the UAE, especially in relation to the supply of arms and the use of mercenaries who are being deployed into Sudan?

• 4 Nov 2025 · Sudan: Government Support · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the hon. Member for securing this debate. When I read the transcript from the International Development Committee, I was struck by the contribution from Liz Ditchburn, who said that the Government’s approach to this was not sufficiently structured and that there needed to be focus and strategy. Does he agree that we need to convene such focus and strategy in this place in order to have a comprehensive response?

• 4 Nov 2025 · Official Development Assistance Reductions · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Sir Desmond. I congratulate the hon. Member for West Dorset (Edward Morello) on securing the debate. I refer hon. Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests: I have recently met Unite representatives who work for development agencies. They set out the challenges that they face, professionally and personally, from the cuts to the aid budget. As they face job losses here and around the world, their greater concern is the impact of the cuts, not least given that $44 billion of development funding has been cut this year alone. That is a scandal, given that the UN highlights that for every $1 invested in peacebuilding and development initiatives, $16 are saved, and that for every $1 invested to stimulate economic growth and stability, $103 can be saved by averting future instability. The World Health Organisation warns that the cuts will mean 38 million essential immunisations not being delivered to children, and that we will see regression in TB, AIDS, malaria and many other programmes. The UN World Food Programme will be starved of vital funds, and the loss of education will deny too many, especially girls, a future. This is a false choice between development, defence and diplomacy, which are now out of balance with one other, causing instability to grow. I urge the Government to rethink and restore our 0.7% commitment, and to look to raise it to 1%, as we are now learning of the real climate devastation that is causing so much unrest around the world. The last Labour Government built global respect as we modelled our investment approach on building resilience and enabling local providers to sustain services for themselves, multiplying their impact. The erosion we have witnessed since we lost office—the shutting of the Department for International Development, the removal of a Cabinet member and the diversion of funds to pay for the asylum hotels scandal—has been stark. We need to reset our strategy and focus. Climate and geopolitical challenges are unabating, so the UK approach is needed more than ever to de-risk and build stability in the system. Get this wrong and demands on defence will rise; cut too deep and diplomacy will lose impact. Scaling down funding will have a particular cost for women and girls—it is gendered. Yet fund them, and their empowerment and resilience is unparalleled. Cutting our aid presence gives countries such as China and Russia further space to intervene, as we have heard. Their interests are far removed from ours: while we seek independence, they drive dependence. Their economic models are self-serving; they seek power, control and extraction, and escalate risk for recipients and for us. We have been such pioneers in providing leadership. Staff have excelled globally. Now they are fighting for others, so today I am fighting for them. The Minister knows the arguments all too well, and I trust that her powerful voice will echo around the Treasury over the coming days so that we can avoid this futile cut, which will cause such harm, cost lives, and cut hope and opportunity. We cannot afford to look away now, when the world is looking to us to step up and lead again.

• 14 Oct 2025 · Middle East · Hansard source

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  I thank the Prime Minister for his statement today and also for this peace—may it be long lasting. Over 1,700 health workers have lost their lives in Gaza, and many more have been physically and psychologically traumatised by the conflict. There are not the health workers now to provide the healthcare that is urgently needed at this time. Will he ensure that the UK plays its part in providing healthcare to Gaza, and with the decimation of all the universities in Gaza, can we also play a part in training the healthcare workers of the future?

• 22 Jul 2025 · UK Government Relations with Israel · Hansard source

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  I rise to present a petition concerning the UK Government’s relations with Israel. It is joined by 354 signatures from a parallel petition collected by campaigners for Palestine in York, who have had a presence in our city for the last 30 years, but never at a time when the scale of violations and barbaric acts against civilians, including children, has been so catastrophic. The petition recognises the genocide against the Palestinians, which must end immediately. The petition states: “The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to immediately cut off all military and economic relations with Israel. And the petitioners remain, etc.” Following is the full text of the petition: [The petition of residents of the United Kingdom, Declares that there is a genocide taking place in Palestine. The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to immediately cut off all military and economic relations with Israel. And the petitioners remain, etc.] [P003105]

• 22 Jul 2025 · Humanitarian Situation in Sudan · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Dr Huq. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Huddersfield (Harpreet Uppal) on securing this debate. This war is both violent and catastrophic, entrenched in bitterness and brutality. It is backed by external actors feeding the atrocities enacted upon civilians, especially women and girls. We have heard graphically today of the levels of physical, sexual and psychological violence. We also see the tragedy of famine and disease, with floods expected to cause even further harm. While the world looks away and the political platforms are silent, today, as Back Benchers, we are calling Government to account over this humanitarian crisis. The Sudanese need this Government and those around the world to step up. We need a strategy and relief to be met with opportunity and hope. The escalating suffering and brutality of war in Sudan since April 2023 exceeds that of all conflicts. As people move out, external actors are moving in, fuelling their interests and those of the warring parties, as are those with economic interests, particularly in gold. Darfur, as ever, is the focus of this conflict. We have heard today about the impact on El Fasher and the Zamzam camp for those already experiencing such tragedy. The scale of aid that is needed requires not only the UK Government, but those around the world, to step up. I plead again with the Government to move rapidly to restore the 0.7% ODA target, because our world is suffering and needs that replacement. As we look at the strategic approach, we recognise that the three strands of defence, diplomacy and development need to be held in far better balance in order to achieve outcomes for people in Sudan and across our world. Therefore, as we look forward, we have to get the strategy and the financing right and, ultimately, diplomacy in the right place. It is essential that the African Union is empowered and strengthened through its regional efforts, but it is time for the Government to refresh a resolution at the UN, be mission-focused and ensure that the right measures are put in place for the next Security Council. We know that time is not on our side and we have heard about the scale today. We need to focus on three strands. The first is the humanitarian response of food, healthcare and support for all those who are displaced, whether internally or externally, across the region and beyond. The second strand is the protection of civilians. We need to develop strategies for sustained support, access for humanitarian and medical aid, aid at scale, better communications, the documentation of evidence of war crimes and adherence to international law. We need to ensure the creation of safe areas that are patrolled and protected. We also need to ensure that there is a trauma-based approach, and most of all that it is delivered on the ground through the experts who have developed the connections and reasons for it. We also need to move to disarmament, demobilisation, reintegration and, ultimately, rebuilding. The third strand is a political process. We know how crucial it is at such times to establish good dialogue and systems that enable conversations about not only accountability but moving forward to take place. We need to take a human rights approach while upholding international law. Governance must be rebuilt through civil society. We need to ensure that civil society is leading the dialogue and invest in that heavily, so that this will never be a forgotten war, but one where peace prevails.