Commons
Westminster Hall
26 November 2025
1994 RAF Chinook Crash
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair this afternoon, Mr Dowd. I, too, begin by thanking the hon. Member for North Down (Alex Easton) for securing this debate and for the thoughtful and considered way in which he opened it.
This debate is long overdue, and I share the hon. Gentleman’s hope that …
Commons
Westminster Hall
24 November 2025
2 contributions
Gaza: Humanitarian Obligations
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair for this hugely important debate, Ms McVey. I begin by thanking everyone from every corner of the UK who signed the petition and forced us into having this debate. It is another perfect example of just how far ahead of the Government and, unfortunately, of th…
I wholeheartedly agree with everything that the Minister has said, and applaud much of it. The restriction of aid in Gaza is utterly reprehensible. There have been multiple calls for action in this Chamber, but what is the plan if Israel says no? If Israel says that it is not allowing unfettered acc…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
18 November 2025
Gaza and Sudan
This morning, as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on international law, justice and accountability, I hosted a briefing for parliamentarians on the crisis in Sudan, at which Nathaniel Raymond of the humanitarian research lab at Yale described El Fasher as a slaughterhouse, where 60,000 peo…
Commons
Proceedings
30 October 2025
Sudan: Protection of Civilians
The massacre at the El Fasher hospital by the RSF is utterly barbaric and marks a new low in what was already a horrific conflict. Where is the international community in all this? What has happened to our duty to protect civilians from such atrocities? When was the last time that the Government car…
Commons
Proceedings
29 October 2025
Gaza and Hamas
Overnight, more than 100 Palestinian civilians were killed by Israeli airstrikes. Once again, innocent civilians are suffering a collective punishment, this time imposed for breaches of the ceasefire by Hamas. Unless this Government believe that all Palestinian civilians are Hamas and are therefore …
Commons
Proceedings
23 October 2025
Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East (Seamus Logan) for securing this urgent question. The aggregated coastline of my constituency is greater than that of France, so the fishing industry plays a crucial part in its economic wellbeing. Having barely survived the di…
Commons
Oral Questions
Cabinet Office
23 October 2025
Topical Questions
Given that the Cabinet Office advises the Government on establishing public inquiries, will the Minister meet the families of the senior military and intelligence personnel who were killed when an RAF Chinook helicopter crashed on the Mull of Kintyre in 1994? The families have gathered compelling ev…
Commons
Oral Questions
Scotland
22 October 2025
2 contributions
Scottish Independence Referendum
11. What his policy is on the holding of a referendum on Scottish independence.
I, too, welcome the Secretary of State to his place, although it seems that his appointment has not been universally welcomed. Indeed, I hear that the Daily Record , having asked his Labour colleagues for their opinion, feared an asterisk shortage. One particularly caustic comrade said:
“If I had a…
Commons
Proceedings
10 September 2025
2 contributions
Qatar: Israeli Strike
Israel’s bombing of Doha was the action of a state that knows it can act with complete impunity. Once again, the Netanyahu regime has shown that international law simply does not apply to it, and as long as this Government ignore the overwhelming evidence of the genocide in Gaza, so that they can pr…
The figure is 15%.
Commons
Proceedings
7 July 2025
Actions of Iranian Regime: UK Response
Last week, in the most tawdry and cynical fashion, a decision—born in anger and driven by revenge—was bulldozed through this House. I wonder: while the Government were discussing proscribing Palestine Action, did the Minister or any of his Foreign Office colleagues advise that Iran’s Islamic Revolut…
Commons
Debate
7 July 2025
Government Performance against Fiscal Rules
A year ago we were promised radical change, but the only radical change appears to be in the Labour party itself, which has decided that if you are poor, old or disabled, it will be you who will bear the brunt of the cuts and on whose backs the books will be balanced. So were the fiscal rules always…
Commons
Oral Questions
24 June 2025
Alaa Abd el-Fattah
I recall the right hon. Gentleman, before he became Foreign Secretary, asking the previous Government what “diplomatic price” Egypt had paid for the arbitrary detention of Alaa, before demanding that “serious diplomatic consequences” should be put on Egypt should it not release him. Alaa’s mother is…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
23 June 2025
Middle East
We have now been here for an hour, and still the Foreign Secretary appears incapable of saying whether he supports or condemns America’s actions or whether he regards them as legal, and nowhere in his statement does the role of international law even merit a mention. Will the Foreign Secretary now t…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
16 June 2025
Iran-Israel Conflict
Let us be clear: there are no good guys in this conflict. The concept of pre-emptive self-defence does not exist in international law, and nor should it. Israel’s decision unilaterally to retaliate first has made the region—indeed the world—a much more dangerous and unstable place. To what extent do…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
10 June 2025
Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories
Although we welcome the sanctioning of Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, that should have happened a long time ago, and we now need to go much, much further. Further to the previous question, today’s announcement highlights the absurdity of the Government’s position. The Foreign Secretary recently described th…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
9 June 2025
Winter Fuel Payment
When the Chancellor slashed the winter fuel allowance last year, she told us that it was necessary, urgent and the responsible thing to do. It turns out that it was not necessary, urgent or the responsible thing to do after all, so is the Minister going to apologise to the millions of pensioners who…
Commons
Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister
4 June 2025
Engagements
Q3. The Prime Minister has repeatedly told this House that it is not for him or his Government to determine what is and is not a genocide. That position is no longer tenable, because at the High Court recently, the Prime Minister instructed his lawyers to argue that in Gaza,“no genocide has occurred…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
20 May 2025
Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories
May I repeat the question asked by the hon. Member for Bristol Central (Carla Denyer), which went unanswered? Last week, 65 members of nine political parties in both Houses wrote to the Prime Minister, asking him to publish the most recent genocide assessment—the one that persuaded him to send his l…
Commons
Proceedings
14 May 2025
Ministerial Code: Compliance
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeen North (Kirsty Blackman) for securing this urgent question. It is not the first time that she has had to raise this issue during her parliamentary career. It appears that whoever is on the Government Benches conveniently forgets everything they said when…
Commons
Proceedings
14 May 2025
Gaza: UK Assessment
I have just returned from the High Court this morning, where Government lawyers will argue, in defending the continued supply of F-35 components, that the evidence available does not support a finding of genocide, and that there is a
“tenable view that no genocide has occurred or is occurring”.
It…
Commons
Proceedings
13 May 2025
Point of Order
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. On 20 March the Foreign Secretary said in relation to the conflict in Gaza:
“There are atrocities on both sides”. —[ Official Report , 20 March 2025; Vol. 764, c. 529.]
On 24 March, I wrote to the Attorney General asking how and when His Majesty’s Governm…
Commons
Oral Questions
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
13 May 2025
Gaza: Humanitarian Situation
Last week the United Nations issued a report describing the situation in Gaza as
“one of the most ostentatious and merciless manifestations of the desecration of human life and dignity”.
The Government have always insisted that it is not for them but for the courts to determine what is and what is…