Extracts from Westminster
Hall debate on Persecution of Christians: Role of UK
Embassies
(South West Bedfordshire)
(Con):...Talking of the work that they do, major
trade negotiations are of course coming up, as part of the Brexit
arrangements. As has been said, freedom of religion and belief
contributes not only to countering extremism, but to encouraging
economic development in the countries in question, and to making
them prosperous, so that they can be markets with which we can
trade well in the future. The Foreign Office will be looking for
trade deals with countries such as China, India, Saudi Arabia, Mexico,
Indonesia and Turkey, in all of which there are issues of the kind
we are discussing. I hope, therefore, that it will not be with a
sense of embarrassment, or as an afterthought, that the issue of
freedom of belief is mentioned in the negotiations. The evidence,
as has been said, is that when it is properly dealt with,
prosperity increases, here and around the world. Those things are
not opposed to each other; they are all of a piece...
(North Ayrshire and Arran)
(SNP):...India also has a poor record on
freedom of worship for its 59 million Christians, and so does
Qatar, which has 900,000—not to mention Pakistan, whose 5.3 million
Christians are often treated as second-class citizens. Christian
women and children there are often the targets of sexual abuse, and
blasphemy laws are abused to attack Christian churches; those
churches are monitored and often attacked. Even in the Maldives
converting to Christianity means forfeiting citizenship, and owning
a Bible is punishable by death. I could go on with my examples, of
course, but there is not time. The list is unfortunately far too
long. What a world we live in...
(Heywood and Middleton)
(Lab):...I would like to give the Minister a chance to
answer the various points that have been raised, so I will finish
with a quote from India’s most famous member of the Dalit caste,
Dr Ambedkar, who renounced Hinduism to escape the caste system
and converted to Buddhism. He said,
“where equality is denied, everything else may be taken to be
denied.”
That sums up the issue of discrimination worldwide, on whatever
basis. Christians worldwide who are discriminated against are
being denied equality.
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Extract from Health
Oral Questions in the Commons
(South West Wiltshire)
(Con): One of the consequences of free movement in the
European Union is that proportionately we take in rather fewer
doctors, in particular, and fewer nurses from the Indian
subcontinent and other places. What assessment has the Secretary
of State made of the capacity to revisit the strong relationship
we had with those workforces in the immediate post-war years?
The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Jeremy
Hunt): My hon. Friend makes an important point. We want
to attract the brightest and best into the NHS from all over the
world, wherever they come from, if there is a need. The only
caveat I would make is that we have imported a number of doctors
from very, very poor countries that actually need those skills
back home. We have to recognise that we have international
responsibilities to make sure that we train the number of doctors
and nurses we need ourselves.
