Hamish Falconer MP: speeches 2026

Speeches

• 3 Feb 2026 · Iran · Hansard source

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  I can confirm that we are in regular contact with our US counterparts and others on all of those questions.

• 3 Feb 2026 · Iran · Hansard source

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  I will repeat to the House the message I gave the Iranian ambassador on one of our first interactions: any violence on the streets of the UK that is linked back to Iran, whatever Iran might think about the origin of those individuals or the press coverage they might supply, will be treated in the most serious terms by the British Government. I have left the Iranian ambassador—and, indeed, all our Iranian contacts—in no doubt about the strength of our feeling on these questions.

• 3 Feb 2026 · Iran · Hansard source

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  It was so important for us to ensure that the independent fact-finding mission was voted through by the United Nations. That means it can continue its work, and then we will see who really was responsible for the deaths.

• 3 Feb 2026 · Iran · Hansard source

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  The right hon. Gentleman speaks with considerable expertise. He will know that I will not comment on further sanctions from the Dispatch Box, but I will say that Iran’s influence in its near abroad and beyond has usually proven to be malign. We can see the long scars of Iran’s influence in Lebanon, in Gaza and in a whole range of contexts, so I warn all our allies to be very careful about their relationships with Iran.

• 3 Feb 2026 · Iran · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend reflects the feelings of the whole House about the issues that we are describing. He asks me to comment on embassy arrangements. I can confirm to the House that while we did withdraw staff from our embassy in Tehran temporarily, they have now returned, and our embassy is functioning. Our embassy operates under the same restrictions that the rest of Iran currently operates under. As we have heard from many hon. Members, it is a source of real anguish to British-Iranians that we cannot provide consular assistance in Iran in the way that we can in other nations, particularly at a moment of such acute restrictions. However, our ambassador is back in Tehran, alongside his team, and we will do everything that we can.

• 3 Feb 2026 · Iran · Hansard source

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  I set out to the shadow Foreign Secretary some of the steps we are taking. I am grateful for the Liberal Democrats’ support for the sanctions package that we announced yesterday. I can confirm that we continue to be in very urgent talks with a whole range of our partners about developments in Iran. We must see the fundamental rights of Iranians respected.

• 3 Feb 2026 · Iran · Hansard source

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  I hear the passion in the hon. Gentleman’s voice. We are taking this issue incredibly seriously. This is a far-reaching sanctions package, and we will come back to the House once the Leader of the House is in a position to set out the timetable for the legislation.

• 3 Feb 2026 · Iran · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the right hon. Lady for her questions; I will respond to them in turn. We have taken a series of steps to ensure that anyone in this country wishing to support the Iranian Government must meet a much higher threshold to do so. We have introduced 550 sanctions, including some introduced by the last Government and some that we have built on. I will come to the sanctions we announced yesterday in due course. Let me turn to the foreign influence registration scheme. We have now put Iran at the very top tier, which means additional reporting requirements for those who would seek to act here. That provides new options to our services and our police force should those seeking to act for Iran attempt to do so in the UK. This House has heard from me, and the right hon. Lady knows from her time as Home Secretary, about the extent of the threat that Iran poses to the UK. I reassure the House that we continue to treat that threat with the utmost seriousness that it requires, and we believe that the legislative steps we have taken on FIRS, the increase in sanctions and implementation of the Hall review will all further increase our defences against such action. The right hon. Lady asks about discussions in recent days. We have been in regular discussion with all our regional partners. I am sure she will be aware of commentary over the last few days about further conversations between the Iranians and the United States. I do not wish from the Dispatch Box to get ahead of the direct participants but, as she would expect, we are in regular discussion with all those with an interest. As I said in my initial response to her urgent question, we want Iran to have no prospect of achieving a nuclear weapon. A diplomatic process to that effect is necessary, and we support all efforts by the United States and our other partners to assure that. The right hon. Lady asks about our plans regarding assets and what scenarios may entail. She will appreciate why I will not be drawn into speculation in any great detail. These are clearly very delicate moments for Iran; as she rightly says, there has been very widespread loss of life on the streets of Iran. I will also take this opportunity to say that I know that for many British Iranians, there is great anguish about the lack of contact they have been able to have with their families in Iran. I feel that most acutely for British people still detained by the Iranian regime, but it is obviously an experience felt widely across the country. The British-Iranian community make an important contribution to this country, and I understand the anguish they feel over these recent days.

• 3 Feb 2026 · Iran · Hansard source

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  As I set out in my statement, we brought this matter to the United Nations Human Rights Council, and we will continue to raise it with the United Nations, in the way that Members would expect. I want to reassure the House that I understand the points that hon. Members from across the House are making, but we have already sanctioned the entirety of the IRGC. The sanctions that we have announced are far-reaching, as indeed are the foreign influence registration scheme steps. We will bring forward legislation, but I would not wish to get ahead of the Leader of the House when it comes to setting out the timetable.

• 3 Feb 2026 · Iran · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Gentleman for his concern about these issues. As he would expect, when it comes to the Iranian authorities, we have been focused on ensuring consular access for our nationals who have been detained, but he raises important questions about basic rights, including the right to a fair trial, access to a lawyer and access for families. We call on the Iranians to show those basic courtesies to their own people.

• 3 Feb 2026 · Iran · Hansard source

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  I want the House to be in absolutely no doubt that the IRGC is already sanctioned in its entirety in the UK. The sanctions that we announced on Monday included one on the Interior Minister. There is no pulling of punches by the British Government in response to the sanctions. I say gently to the right hon. Member and to those on the Conservative Benches that we are moving with considerably more alacrity on these questions than they did during their period in government.

• 3 Feb 2026 · Iran · Hansard source

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  I am sure the right hon. Gentleman will appreciate why I do not want to be drawn into speculating about regime change in Iran. The question at the moment is the rights of the Iranian protesters, which we want to see protected. We are horrified to see those rights violated in the way reports suggest, and that is where I want to focus my remarks today.

• 3 Feb 2026 · Iran · Hansard source

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  As the House knows, the Government are a strong supporter of international law. Everything we do is consistent with that principle, but for the reasons that I set out to the shadow Foreign Secretary, I will not be commenting on hypothetical scenarios.

• 3 Feb 2026 · Iran · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I am sure many Members of the House have seen the pictures of female protesters on the streets of Iran, not just in Tehran but across the country. It is impossible not to be moved by their bravery, and I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving me the chance to reflect on that.

• 3 Feb 2026 · Iran · Hansard source

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  Iran’s horrific attacks on protesters have shocked the world. In recent days, the scale of the violence and brutality has become clearer. Reports suggest that many thousands of people across Iran have been killed, and many more arrested, in what has been a brutal and bloody repression against those exercising their right to public protest. There has been a range of estimates for casualties and detentions. However, the internet blackout imposed by the authorities, which we have also condemned and which has only recently started to relax, makes it impossible at the moment to reach a reliable figure. As one young Iranian woman chillingly told the BBC: “We all know someone who was killed”. What is clear from the reports is the scale of the killing, the brutality of the crackdown and the bravery of the protesters. As the Foreign Secretary has said, the Iranian people have shown extreme courage in the face of brutality and repression. We condemn these horrific attacks on those exercising the right to peaceful protest in the strongest possible terms. This Government committed to the House that we would hold the Iranian authorities accountable, and that is exactly what we are doing. Yesterday, we announced a sweeping package of sanctions against the Iranian authorities for a number of serious human rights violations; this includes the designations of the Minister of the Interior, police chiefs and prolific Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members for their role in the recent brutality against protesters. We continue to work with our international partners to tackle the threat posed by Iran and to hold the Iranian regime to account by a range of means. Most recently, we led the call for a special session of the Human Rights Council on 23 January. We are pleased that the council has voted to extend the independent fact-finding mission to collect the evidence of the authorities’ human rights violations, and we will continue to support those efforts. We continue to monitor developments closely and will not cease in our demands to Iran to protect fundamental freedoms, including access to information and communications. We are also continuing to take robust action to protect UK interests from Iranian state threats. Those threats are unacceptable. They must and will be defended against at every turn. We will continue to work with our allies and partners to improve regional stability and prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. The UK will continue to challenge the actions of the Iranian regime and we stand proudly on the side of freedom and human rights.

• 3 Feb 2026 · Iran · Hansard source

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  I do not think that the Iranian Government’s interpretation of the actions of the British Government in recent weeks is one of weakness. The sanctions package announced on Monday was far-ranging and follows a whole range of actions, some of which I described in response to the shadow Foreign Secretary. The fair point that the hon. Gentleman makes is that, given the urgency of the situation, are we taking all of the steps that we need to take? We think that the Hall review is a substantial contribution to the question about the risks of the IRGC; we want to follow it carefully and make sure that we do this properly. That does not mean that we cannot act swiftly through our sanctions regime in the way that we announced yesterday.

• 3 Feb 2026 · Iran · Hansard source

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  I thank the right hon. Gentleman, who was my predecessor, for his questions, but for reasons that he will understand, I will not give the precise low-down on our defence assets. I think he refers to the regular exercises that Iran has conducted in the strait. We are a maritime nation, as are many of the Gulf nations, and we take questions about the free passage of trade with the seriousness that they require.

• 3 Feb 2026 · Iran · Hansard source

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  I was interested to hear about my hon. Friend’s visit to Oman. The Kingdom of Jordan is one of our closest allies in the region. We discuss these issues regularly with the Jordanians, and other regional powers that are affected, and I was conducting that business this morning.

• 3 Feb 2026 · Iran · Hansard source

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  I will not speculate on further sanctions from the Dispatch Box, but of course we have kept a close eye on Iran’s interactions with other states, including both China and Russia. This Government imposed sanctions on Iran for supplying weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine. Given that Iran is conducting such a brutal crackdown on its own people, all members of the Security Council will wish to consider the nature of their relationships with it.

• 3 Feb 2026 · Iran · Hansard source

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  I know that there is a large British-Iranian community in Kensington, and I join my hon. Friend in sharing in its anguish. The most important step needed is for the Iranian authorities to take the decision to lift the internet blockade to allow the Iranian people access to information, which is their right. I will not comment any further on some of the operational elements that my hon. Friend touches on, but that access is vital. I will repeat today, from the Dispatch Box, the call that I made when last we discussed this: the Iranians must allow their people access to the internet.

• 20 Jan 2026 · Palestine: International Humanitarian Law · Hansard source

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  In that period, the UK has made a range of significant determinations in relation to our policy in the middle east. Of course, we continue to consider the Court’s advisory opinion on Israel’s occupation carefully. There is lots in that advisory opinion with which we agree, and which is, indeed, already Government policy. We agree that settlements are illegal, and we have already taken strong action against them. Since this Government came into office, we have introduced three packages of sanctions related to violence against communities in the west bank, and we continue to keep these matters under review.

• 20 Jan 2026 · Palestine: International Humanitarian Law · Hansard source

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  We have consistently called on all parties in Palestine to comply with their international humanitarian law obligations. Where this Government have had concerns about Israel’s commitment to those obligations, we have taken decisive action. That has included stopping exports to the Israel Defence Forces that might be used in Gaza, suspending negotiations with Israel on a new free trade agreement, and last month voting in favour of the UN resolution that welcomed the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion on Israel’s obligation to allow lifesaving humanitarian assistance to reach Palestinian civilians.

• 20 Jan 2026 · Palestine: International Humanitarian Law · Hansard source

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  I know how deeply so many of our constituents and, indeed, Members of this House feel about these issues, and how often they raise them. We will continue to take action in the way that the Foreign Secretary set out this morning. It is vital that the ceasefire holds, and that we make progress in the three areas set out already, and that is the priority for Ministers.

• 20 Jan 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  As I said to the House yesterday, we treat the internet blackout in Iran as a breach of the human rights of the Iranian people. We continue to work on this issue with our partners for the reasons that my ministerial colleagues have set out, but I will not give further commentary on operational business.

• 20 Jan 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I answered the substance of the right hon. Gentleman’s question when I replied to the hon. Member for Leicester South (Shockat Adam). We are aware of the reports in relation to the UNRWA headquarters in east Jerusalem and, as the Foreign Secretary has set out already, we are taking them very seriously indeed.