Emily Thornberry

Emily Thornberry

Labour — Islington South and Finsbury

Speaking in the House of Commons on 3 June 2026

Debate

Lord Mandelson: Response to Humble Address

Contribution

I congratulate my hon. Friend on her thoughtful and important contribution. We need to ensure that if we use a Humble Address again, we use it as effectively as we can. We have talked about the amount of money, but will she also highlight the opportunity costs? We heard in the Committee from the Foreign Office and the Cabinet Office about the amount of time that civil servants were spending on this. One particular gentleman had come back from Iran and was an expert on that, but he was spending his time on this issue, rather than being able to give the right sort of assistance to the Foreign Office on what we should be doing on Iran.

More from Emily Thornberry

Other recent Hansard contributions by the same speaker.

About Hansard

Hansard is the official verbatim record of proceedings in the UK Parliament. Every word spoken in the Commons and Lords is recorded and published — this page is a single contribution from that record.

For Emily Thornberry's full parliamentary record including voting history, expenses and all other contributions, see the Emily Thornberry report card.