Miss Joan Lestor: I accept that there are private flows and they are very welcome, but I am talking about the Government's record, not other people's record. It cannot be right to say, as I presume the hon. Gentleman meant, that although the Government are failing in their responsibilities, other people are making up the deficiency. That is not the subject of the debate. The Government's intellectual...
Miss Joan Lestor: I will repeat the commitment.
Miss Joan Lestor: There is nothing amazing about it. A Labour Government will start to reverse that decline in their first year of office.—[HON. MEMBERS: "Don't give way".] No one is trying to stand up. They are on their bottoms, mumbling, but they are not standing.
Miss Joan Lestor: I have given way to the hon. Gentleman already—[HON. MEMBERS: "Ah!"] All right, I will give way.
Miss Joan Lestor: The trouble with me is that as I get older I get kinder. Perhaps I should not have given way. I made it perfectly clear. We can be judged on our record. When we left office the figure stood at 0.52 per cent. and was rising towards target. The longer that the Government are in power, the steeper is the climb back to the target, but a Labour Government would start to reverse that decline in...
Miss Joan Lestor: Will the Minister cast his mind back to what the Chancellor said in his Budget statement and not play around with figures? The right hon. and learned Gentleman said that the planned allocation for bilateral aid is likely to be little different from that set out in last year's departmental report."—[Official Report, 28 November 1995; Vol.267, c.1060-61.] Will the Minister confirm that the...
Miss Joan Lestor: On a point of order, Madam Speaker.
Miss Joan Lestor: Is the Minister aware of the dismay that has been felt throughout southern Africa at the Government's refusal at last month's round table conference in Brussels to pledge any new money to help to consolidate the peace process in Angola, in response to calls for investment in vital rehabilitation programmes? That was prejudging the cuts. Is the Minister aware that that refusal is viewed as a...
Miss Joan Lestor: I should like to follow up the question by my hon. Friend the Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Mrs. Roche) and the Minister's answer. Last week the Prime Minister received a letter from representatives of the African, Caribbean and Pacific states, who represent 70 of the world's poorest countries. The letter urged Britain to reconsider plans to slash its contribution to the EDF by 30 per...
Miss Joan Lestor: We could continue this debate until 10 o'clock, but in view of the assurances that the Minister has given and the fact that some important matters may be raised in a moment, I join the Minister in wishing Crown Agents good fortune for the future. We will be looking at the details of this with great interest and I hope that things go well and smoothly.
Miss Joan Lestor: I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time. Underpinning debates on Crown Agents in the Chamber, in Committee and in the other place has been a genuine cross-party desire to maintain the development focus of Crown Agents, while at the same time securing its commercial future. That task is difficult, and I must record my continuing belief that the privatisation is not wholly...
Miss Joan Lestor: I believe that he is in an aeroplane, if the hon. Gentleman really wants to know. I am also particularly grateful to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and the Minister for Overseas Development for the eve-of-Committee release of the memorandum and articles of association. The resulting brisk and businesslike discussion clarified many important...
Miss Joan Lestor: I am flattered that the hon. Gentleman singles me out in that way, but, quite honestly, I have no wish to do that and I am not sure of the circumstances surrounding people in such a position; it is not something that I seek in any way. We know from discussions that have taken place between the Overseas Development Administration and the Treasury that, in some ministerial circles, a strong...
Miss Joan Lestor: The Minister has been a little more forthcoming in response to questions that I have raised. As he said and as I reiterated, we are anxious that this has a development angle as well as a business angle. He has gone a little way to meet my requirements. He is asking us to take a lot on trust but, as I am still, despite my many years in the House, a trusting individual, I shall just say to the...
Miss Joan Lestor: I must correct the hon. Gentleman—I hate to do so, because I am being flattered. In fact, I resigned because of the cuts in nursery school education. There would have been no need to resign over the overseas budget, because it increased throughout the life of the previous Labour Government.
Miss Joan Lestor: It was all the work we did in getting the signatures.
Miss Joan Lestor: I beg to move, That this House, concerned by reports that one billion people throughout the world live in abject poverty, condemns Her Majesty's Government's failure to place genuine poverty alleviation at the heart of overseas development policy, an aim which has been repeatedly sacrificed to the pursuit of political dogma, confusion over Britain's relationship with its partners in the...
Miss Joan Lestor: I wanted to get on, because this is a short debate that is held only once a year—but such is the hon. Gentleman's charm that I will.
Miss Joan Lestor: I am rather glad that I gave way to the hon. Gentleman, in the event. When we left office, the amount spent on overseas aid was 0.52 per cent. of GNP, and rising. This Government have been in power for 16 years, throughout which time it has been shamelessly falling. I do not intend to give any commitments—for the following reason. If the overseas aid budget carries on falling at the...
Miss Joan Lestor: I have already said that we get this debate just once a year, and it would not be fair to others if I gave way again.