Carla Lockhart MP: speeches

Speeches

• 14 Sept 2026 · Robert Hamill Inquiry Report · Hansard source

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  This relates directly to my constituency, so I welcome the opportunity to speak to it today. Robert Hamill’s murder was a brutal and appalling crime, and my thoughts are first and foremost with his family, who have many questions, as do many families right across Northern Ireland. But the truth matters, and the truth today is clear. Paragraph 21 finds that four RUC officers “were not aware of the assault until they got out and they did not in any way condone or collude with attackers.” Paragraph 75 concludes that “we have found no wrongful act or omission which facilitated Robert Hamill’s death.” Put simply, they did not sit idly by, they did not collude, they did not facilitate murder—something that has been hurled at them for the past 30 years. The complaint, advanced by Rosemary Nelson, has been demolished by the inquiry, which also found that she failed to “co-operate fully” with the RUC and “did not improve the situation.” This goes to the heart of the nationalist republican legacy activism, whereby truth and the rule of law are subjective terms to be weaponised to seek to arrive at a predetermined political outcome. More than 300 RUC officers were murdered while protecting the entire community. Will the Secretary of State now end this decades-long smear, defend these four officers and reject any attempt to rewrite history or attach collective guilt to the RUC?

• 8 Sept 2026 · Safety of the Jewish Community · Hansard source

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  I commend the hon. Member for Hornsey and Friern Barnet (Catherine West) for securing this important debate. I want to make it absolutely clear that I stand with Jewish communities right across the United Kingdom. We cannot speak about the safety of Jewish people in Britain without remembering the appalling events of 7 October. The slaughter carried out by Hamas was an act of barbaric terrorism and violent antisemitism. Men, women and children were murdered simply because they were Jewish. I have said before that those who value democracy must stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel in the face of such terrorism, and I make no apology for repeating it today. I am increasingly concerned not only by what we have seen, but by what we have failed to hear. There have been occasions when some in this House who are vocal on many international issues have struggled to offer the most basic condemnation of the murder of Jewish people or of the hatred that motivated it. That silence matters. It matters because Jewish people in this country should not have to wonder whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them will stand with them when antisemitism becomes uncomfortable or politically inconvenient. We have seen antisemitism manifest in the streets, at demonstrations on university campuses and, tragically, in attacks on Jewish people and institutions. We saw it over the weekend in Northern Ireland, when athletes were prevented from taking part in a triathlon not because they had committed any offences, had been racist or had provoked hatred; no, it was simply because they were from Israel. People of all faiths and none represent Israel in international sport. We have seen the consequences of the normalisation of hatred. Indeed, the slogan “From the river to the sea” is used by those in this House. Just consider its meaning: the obliteration of the state of Israel and all who live within it. We must be absolutely clear that antisemitism is not a legitimate political position or acceptable criticism. It is hatred directed at people because they are Jewish, and it must be confronted wherever it appears. This debate is fundamentally about equality. There are no second-class citizens in the United Kingdom. Every citizen should be able to walk down their street, attend their place of worship, send their children to school and express their faith without fear of intimidation or attack. It is therefore deeply troubling that Jewish people feel that they have to conceal their identity or alter their behaviour simply to feel safe. If a Jewish person is advised not to walk down a particular street, or feels unsafe wearing a kippah openly, we should not simply accept that as the unfortunate reality in modern Britain. We should not settle for that standard. Generations before us fought and made sacrifices so that people in this country could live freely, practise their faith and express their identity without fear. The Jewish community must be entitled to the same freedoms. We must remember that antisemitism did not begin with 7 October and will not disappear simply because the headlines move on. We have a responsibility to learn the lessons of history and ensure that Jewish people in Britain today do not remember the promise of “never again” as something that belongs only in the past. They must be able to live it, walk our streets freely, wear the symbols of their faith openly, attend synagogues without fear, send their children to school without worrying about whether they will face hatred because they are Jewish, and know that when antisemitism raises its ugly head, this Parliament, this Government and the wider British public will stand with them.