Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
Conservative MP for Witham
I put on record the Opposition’s thanks to officials working to get British nationals home and to our partners in the region for their exceptional support and the assistance they are giving to British nationals who are stuck in Gulf Co-operation Council countries. Iran is a world-leading state sponsor of terrorism. It plots lethal attacks on British soil and has murdered a generation of its...
We have had a wide-ranging debate. I will not touch on all the areas mentioned, but I will add a few others. While the debate focuses on budgets and all the other issues around the FCDO’s work, its people and the reforms, it is overshadowed by ongoing events in the middle east. With British nationals in the region sheltering, fearful for their safety while Iran is indiscriminately firing...
Last month, the Foreign Secretary held an unpublicised meeting in Munich with Wang Yi, which we only know about because the Chinese Communist party boasted that the Foreign Secretary told the party that the Prime Minister’s visit to China was “a complete success with fruitful results” for UK-China relations. Can the Minister, on behalf of the Foreign Secretary, confirm whether or not...
Clearly, the Minister is desperate, and is having to go backwards, rather than moving forwards to address the situation. For her information, China oppresses Hongkongers, refuses to free Jimmy Lai and supports Russia and Iran in their barbaric actions to undermine freedom and democracy. Those are issues that the Government should take a grip of now. China plots, spies and undermines our...
The Government’s indecision on how to deal with Iran has left the UK weaker and has undermined our own security, but, as the House has already started to discuss, proscribing the IRGC will strengthen our position. I proscribed Hamas when I was Home Secretary, so I have dealt with state proscriptions. Last year, in her role as Home Secretary, the Foreign Secretary spoke about bringing...
Events in the middle east remind us how important to our collective defence and security the Diego Garcia base and the whole of the Chagos archipelago are, and nothing should be done to undermine that. Given the latest comments from the President of the United States on the importance of the base and on the folly of giving sovereignty away, will the Foreign Secretary finally do what is right...
I commend my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) for securing this important urgent question. Today Jimmy Lai, and the democracy and freedom that he has campaigned for in Hong Kong, has been sentenced to 20 years. As his son Sebastien has said, Jimmy “dedicated his life to defending the freedoms of Hong Kong. For that heroism, he’s being...
The situation in Sudan is serious and deadly, and Members across the Chamber want this awful, barbaric war to end. Millions are suffering, displaced and malnourished, and an estimated 150,000 people have been killed, including in massacres such as El Fasher. War crimes are being committed, and appalling acts of sexual violence are being perpetrated against women and girls. UK leadership is...
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether any costs were incurred by updating railway station announcements to convey a message from the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with her US counterparts about activating provisions in the Comprehensive Security Integration and Prosperity Agreement to support Bahrain’s defence against Iranian attacks.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what mechanisms within the Comprehensive Security Integration and Prosperity Agreement are being utilised to support Bahrain’s defence against Iranian attacks.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what information her Department holds on discussions between Lord Mandelson and (a) the US Administration and (b) the National Security Adviser on the future of the Chagos Islands during the period that Lord Mandelson was the UK Ambassador to the United States of America; how many times she has met with the...
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions (a) her ministers and (b) her officials had with Peter Mandelson during his tenure as Ambassador to the United States on the future of the Chagos Archipelago; and what discussions her Department had with Peter Mandelson on the future of the Chagos Archipelago prior to his appointment as...
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with the Mauritian Government on the internal domestic Mauritian processes and timescales to ratify the UK-Mauritius Treaty.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what communications her Department have received from the Government of the Maldives on the Chagos Archipelago since 5 July 2024.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with the Mauritian Government concerning that Government's plans for the resettlement the Chagos Islands in each of the next five years.
