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Opposition day on Wednesday, 14 May 2008, in the House of Commons, led by Andrew Mitchell. The answering member was Douglas Alexander.

Burma

Burma. Twelfth opposition day debate. Main question negatived on division (252 to 181). Amendment agreed on question.

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
475 c1406-55 
Session
2007-08
Department
Department for International Development
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
Andrew Mitchell | 475 c1408-9 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman, who knows what he is talking about in this matter, makes an extremely good point...
Andrew Mitchell | 475 c1408 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend's understanding is the same as mine. I have no doubt that the Secretary of State will...
Show all contributions (96)
John Battle | 475 c1408 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman did not extend or develop his point about the parallels between the tragedy in Ch...
Andrew Mitchell | 475 c1406-7 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House is gravely concerned by the immense suffering and damage caused in Bu...
Julian Lewis | 475 c1407-8 (Link to this contribution) Although this was not made entirely clear when the subject came up at Prime Minister's Question Time...
Speaker | 475 c1406 (Link to this contribution) I must advise the House that Mr. Speaker has selected the amendment standing in the name of the Prim...
Nigel Evans | 475 c1411 (Link to this contribution) Does it not illustrate just how callous the Burmese regime are when the small trickle of aid that ha...
Andrew Mitchell | 475 c1411 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is entirely right. I was referring to the issue of access by sea and to the UN sea c...
Tony Baldry | 475 c1410 (Link to this contribution) Are we not in danger of getting into a false argument on this matter? I was in Ethiopia during the f...
Andrew Mitchell | 475 c1410 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an extremely good point. I seek to carry the House with me when I say that no o...
Douglas Alexander | 475 c1410 (Link to this contribution) I am keen for the hon. Gentleman to clarify the position of his Front Bench on this issue. My unders...
Andrew Mitchell | 475 c1410-1 (Link to this contribution) I strongly urge the right hon. Gentleman not to abuse his position by trying to make party political...
Tom Clarke | 475 c1409 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will appreciate that he is making a very serious point. I have not met any repres...
Andrew Mitchell | 475 c1409-10 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right about the difficulties that would accompany such action...
Mike Gapes | 475 c1410 (Link to this contribution) Following on from the previous intervention, will the hon. Gentleman acknowledge that certain things...
Andrew Mitchell | 475 c1410 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a fair point, to some extent. We are not suggesting dropping water from the...
Douglas Alexander | 475 c1413 (Link to this contribution) The confusion is among Front-Bench Conservative Members. Only this afternoon, the hon. Member for Su...
Nigel Evans | 475 c1413 (Link to this contribution) I too am a little confused about what it is in the motion tabled by my right hon. Friend the Member ...
Douglas Alexander | 475 c1413 (Link to this contribution) As I made clear earlier before I embarked on my substantive speech, there is some confusion about th...
Jeremy Wright | 475 c1413 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State will recognise that much of what he is describing is precisely reflected in t...
Douglas Alexander | 475 c1413-4 (Link to this contribution) I have been clear that the confusion rests with Conservative Members; they failed to back up their o...
Andrew Mitchell | 475 c1413 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State offers the House a most unusual—[Interruption.] As my hon. Friend the Member ...
Douglas Alexander | 475 c1414 (Link to this contribution) I have been generous in giving way and I am keen to make a little progress—[Interruption.] Before ab...
Pete Wishart | 475 c1415 (Link to this contribution) I am still looking at the motion and the amendment. In view of the wording, can the Secretary of Sta...
Douglas Alexander | 475 c1414 (Link to this contribution) I am keen to make a little progress, but I will be happy to give way again in due course. A complex...
Simon Burns | 475 c1415 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is beginning to get into the Prime Minister's mode of failing to answer a s...
Douglas Alexander | 475 c1415 (Link to this contribution) At the hon. Gentleman's request I shall return to the subject of the Conservatives' lack of clarific...
Mike Gapes | 475 c1415 (Link to this contribution) I have read both the Opposition motion and the Government amendment. The phrase ““responsibility to ...
Douglas Alexander | 475 c1415 (Link to this contribution) The Opposition motion refers to the responsibility to protect, which reflects an enduring apparent i...
Andrew Mitchell | 475 c1415-6 (Link to this contribution) When the hon. Member for Ilford, South (Mike Gapes) quoted Mr. Gareth Evans, he should not have quot...
Douglas Alexander | 475 c1415 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend brings his considerable experience in the Foreign Affairs Committee to bear on these ...
Speaker | 475 c1414 (Link to this contribution) Order. There are too many sedentary interruptions. This is an extremely important matter and many pe...
Douglas Alexander | 475 c1414 (Link to this contribution) I would be glad to return to the central issue as you direct, Mr. Deputy Speaker, which is the compl...
Meg Munn | 475 c1448-9 (Link to this contribution) I need to make a bit of progress. HMS Westminster will arrive off the Burmese coast tomorrow. We do...
Julian Lewis | 475 c1449 (Link to this contribution) On behalf of Members who have been present for all or most of the debate, may I ask why the Governme...
Richard Burden | 475 c1448 (Link to this contribution) Given the scale of the suffering in the Irrawaddy delta, the main focus must obviously be on how to ...
Meg Munn | 475 c1448 (Link to this contribution) This has been an important debate, which has attracted a good deal of passion, argument and discussi...
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown | 475 c1444-7 (Link to this contribution) I thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and the House for giving me the opportunity to sum up this debate...
Virendra Sharma | 475 c1444 (Link to this contribution) I apologise that I was not in the Chamber earlier. I was in another meeting and therefore missed man...
Stephen Crabb | 475 c1442-4 (Link to this contribution) Forgive me, but I am not going to give way. I have just three or four minutes left. The fact that t...
Meg Munn | 475 c1449-50 (Link to this contribution) I completely agree. We said at the time that the referendum was a distraction. It should not have go...
Mark Lazarowicz | 475 c1449 (Link to this contribution) Is it not a scandal that in the midst of this crisis the Burmese regime proceeded with its sham refe...
Meg Munn | 475 c1450-1 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, but I need to make progress. The crucial factor in any natural disaster is the response...
Meg Munn | 475 c1449 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman will just wait, I will come to that point. We have a desired option: to convi...
Mike Gapes | 475 c1438 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is shouting at me, but I will not take an intervention. The position in Burma to...
Mike Gapes | 475 c1437-8 (Link to this contribution) Or worse. But the principle is that the Security Council has to issue a binding resolution. The Chin...
Tony Baldry | 475 c1434 (Link to this contribution) That is welcome from the Secretary of State, but he will also have to note that today's report in th...
Mike Gapes | 475 c1435-7 (Link to this contribution) I agree with much that has been said and I will not repeat those points, but I want to pay tribute t...
Tony Baldry | 475 c1434-5 (Link to this contribution) I have no quarrel with the Secretary of State on any of that except that I express the concern that ...
Douglas Alexander | 475 c1434 (Link to this contribution) Other partners on the Security Council object to the Security Council being an appropriate forum for...
Tony Baldry | 475 c1434 (Link to this contribution) Tough and nice. But China's actions in the Security Council are not entirely consistent with the lin...
Stephen Crabb | 475 c1441-2 (Link to this contribution) As the last Back-Bencher to contribute to the debate, let me put on record how regrettable it is tha...
Stephen Crabb | 475 c1442 (Link to this contribution) Forgive me, but I will not give way. I welcome the new money that the Secretary of State pledged, a...
Nigel Evans | 475 c1438-40 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. He commented on China, whi...
John Battle | 475 c1440 (Link to this contribution) I appreciate the hon. Gentleman's passion and anger about what has been going on in Burma, but the s...
Nigel Evans | 475 c1440-1 (Link to this contribution) We have a pecking order of preferences. We want, surely, to use the influence that we have in the Un...
Nigel Evans | 475 c1441 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State said that he is going to rule nothing out. The last thing that we want to do ...
John Battle | 475 c1427 (Link to this contribution) I am more than happy to give way, first to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and then to t...
John Battle | 475 c1426-7 (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to my right hon. Friend. When I was privileged enough to be in the Foreign Office...
Douglas Alexander | 475 c1426 (Link to this contribution) In my discussions with the British NGOs this morning, it was confirmed that although some are findin...
John Battle | 475 c1424-6 (Link to this contribution) I welcome this debate and the topic that has been chosen by the Opposition. It is a credit to us all...
Douglas Alexander | 475 c1424 (Link to this contribution) I give the hon. Gentleman the assurance that he was looking for. The funds that we are providing for...
Michael Moore | 475 c1424 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that that is welcome on both sides of the House; right hon. and hon. Members will be pleas...
Douglas Alexander | 475 c1419-20 (Link to this contribution) First, given my hon. Friend's knowledge of, and expertise in, foreign affairs, he will be aware that...
Michael Moore | 475 c1420-4 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the Secretary of State. Like him, I join the shadow Secretary of State, t...
Douglas Alexander | 475 c1433-4 (Link to this contribution) It is fair to place on the record that I first contacted the Chinese ambassador here in London befor...
Tony Baldry | 475 c1432-3 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the Secretary of State's confirmation of that line and I am glad that we have that on the ...
Douglas Alexander | 475 c1432 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes his reasonable point well, and in the same spirit I wish to reiterate the p...
Tony Baldry | 475 c1433 (Link to this contribution) My take on that—and I would be interested to see whether it finds support elsewhere—is that China se...
Julian Lewis | 475 c1433 (Link to this contribution) I apologise that a commitment to the Royal British Legion meant that I missed part of the Secretary ...
John Battle | 475 c1428 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that, and that should be pointed out, because we want people to be generous in the...
John Battle | 475 c1428-9 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that. On the DEC and the NGOs that gather around it, from my personal experience o...
Tony Baldry | 475 c1429-32 (Link to this contribution) It is always a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Leeds, West (John Battle), with whom I e...
Douglas Alexander | 475 c1427-8 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for giving way, and for his clear sense of priority in who he ...
Douglas Alexander | 475 c1417 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree, which is why I am not convinced of the case that a deadline of yesterday should ha...
John Battle | 475 c1417 (Link to this contribution) The Government should be commended for moving quickly and offering material aid, but as the Select C...
Douglas Alexander | 475 c1417-8 (Link to this contribution) I have been generous in giving way, and I want to make a little more progress before taking further ...
Tony Baldry | 475 c1417 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way?
Douglas Alexander | 475 c1418-9 (Link to this contribution) I was endeavouring to do so when that intervention was made. Let me seek to make a little more progr...
Tony Baldry | 475 c1418 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Secretary of State for giving way, because this is an important issue. Britain chairs th...
Mike Gapes | 475 c1419 (Link to this contribution) The UN 2005 millennium summit resolution defines the meaning of the responsibility to protect narrow...
Douglas Alexander | 475 c1416 (Link to this contribution) I think the hon. Gentleman doth protest too much. It is for him to account for the disparity between...
Tom Clarke | 475 c1416 (Link to this contribution) I regret that the House appears to have been invited to choose between a motion and an amendment. We...
Douglas Alexander | 475 c1416 (Link to this contribution) I recognise the significant contribution that can be made by NGOs, given both their knowledge of wha...
Douglas Alexander | 475 c1411-3 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, To leave out from ““House”” to the end of the Question, and to add instead thereof:"“...
Sammy Wilson | 475 c1441 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that given the brutality of the current regime in Burma, limiting the ...
Meg Munn | 475 c1448 (Link to this contribution) I can give my hon. Friend that reassurance. When I was in Thailand I spoke to people about the aid g...
Nigel Evans | 475 c1440 (Link to this contribution) I will tell the right hon. Gentleman how. I make no apology for using the word ““despair”” seven tim...
Andrew Mitchell | 475 c1428 (Link to this contribution) My aim in intervening was precisely the same as that of the Secretary of State. When I was in Rangoo...
Subjects
Disaster relief Disasters International assistance Humanitarian aid Myanmar Storms
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