Hamish Falconer MP: speeches

Speeches

• 5 Nov 2025 · Conflict in Sudan · Hansard source

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  As I am sure the House knows, this ministerial team is very happy to return to the House regularly, and Mr Speaker provides us with plenty of opportunities to do so. I will take the right hon. Gentleman’s comments back to the responsible Minister. For reasons that I am sure he will understand, I will decline his invitation to comment on the regional balance of military forces.

• 5 Nov 2025 · Conflict in Sudan · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend raises an important point. Cholera is now endemic in Sudan, and the spread of waterborne diseases is increasingly common in humanitarian crises. I know that there are Members on both sides of the House with experience of post-disaster recovery. Water and sanitation are always vital, and it is deeply disturbing that we are seeing these outbreaks in so many places. The Government will continue to do all we can in the way I have described.

• 5 Nov 2025 · Conflict in Sudan · Hansard source

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  I am happy to enter into the wider debate about aid funding, whether in relation to Sudan, Afghanistan or Gaza, but I must also tell the House what I see on a day-to-day basis: in Sudan, just as in those other countries, restricted access is the single most significant cause of harm, and that is a result of the actions of the participants in the conflict. There is a debate to be had about the overall aid budget, but at moments such as this, when areas that require aid are being cruelly deprived of it, we need to focus on where responsibility lies, and that is with the parties to the conflict.

• 5 Nov 2025 · Conflict in Sudan · Hansard source

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  As the House will know, genocide determinations are, in the view of the British Government, a question for the competent courts. That does not in any way take away from the horror of what we see and the reports that we receive, including the World Health Organisation reports from early last week, which are absolutely horrifying about the scale of the violence taking place in Sudan.

• 5 Nov 2025 · Conflict in Sudan · Hansard source

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  My right hon. Friend—my predecessor—makes an important point about the role of what was known as the Wagner Group and is now Africa Corps. It has suffered some setbacks in the region, not least in Syria, but it continues to play a deeply malign role. We are focused on what Russian support is doing to that part of the world, and it is all malign. We will continue to bear down on those questions in the way he would expect.

• 5 Nov 2025 · Conflict in Sudan · Hansard source

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  We have looked closely at the reports in The Guardian and the associated documentary evidence that it has provided. I have tried to set out our assessment of those reports. We are still looking in particular at this question of the engine and the licensing arrangements by which it may have made its way to Sudan. However, unlike some of the reports that I have seen online and elsewhere, this is not large-scale British arms; this is three specific components, and the dossier of documents included a range of other countries. That is why I have focused my remarks more broadly. I can also reassure my hon. Friend that the UK and the UAE continue to discuss these issues, including discussions on Friday between the Foreign Secretary and her counterpart.

• 29 Oct 2025 · Gaza and Hamas · Hansard source

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  If you will permit me, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will say a little bit about the wider evacuation operations. Evacuations have continued, including on Monday and Tuesday this week, both for students, who my hon. Friend has been so doughty in pursuing, and for highly medically vulnerable children who can benefit from UK support. That work continues, and I have been working alongside the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow South West (Dr Ahmed). We have been able to help many people to get to the UK to transform their lives by getting vital medical assistance and educational opportunities, which I hope will allow all of them to make a real contribution to the future of Palestine. The operations to get people in and out of Gaza have been incredibly complex, not least given the most recent closures. I am afraid that there are very strict limits on how many dependants anyone can bring out. We have made an update to our policy in relation to students who are fully funded, which says that we can support a very small number of dependants to leave. I know that many hon. Members with an interest in this have engaged with me directly, and I reiterate that these operations remain incredibly complex. I am happy to talk to all hon. Members who have an interest, but there is neither infinite capacity in the UK to support people, nor, even with our partners, unlimited capacity to get people out. We have made an announcement and I pay tribute to the work of my hon. Friend and many others across the House, but I wish to keep people’s expectations suitably focused on the very many constraints that remain on these operations.

• 29 Oct 2025 · Gaza and Hamas · Hansard source

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  One thing I have learned so far as a politician is not to make comparisons between the middle east and practically anywhere else, and certainly not with Northern Ireland. I will allow the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to answer the hon. and learned Gentleman’s particular questions about the current arrangements. Clearly, peace is possible—we have demonstrated it here and in many other places. That has to the be the work of the Government, and that is what we are focused on.

• 29 Oct 2025 · Gaza and Hamas · Hansard source

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  I reassure the House that I am absolutely certain that everyone in the UK who is working on this is focused on ensuring that the ceasefire sticks in the way that my hon. Friend describes. Indeed, I can tell from our many contacts with the American system that they remain similarly focused. They want this ceasefire to stick, and they are working to try to ensure that it does.

• 29 Oct 2025 · Gaza and Hamas · Hansard source

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  There have obviously been innumerable wrongs in the region in recent months. It is important that we now continue the work, move forward with the ceasefire into phase 2, and see the wider peace plan fully implemented.

• 29 Oct 2025 · Gaza and Hamas · Hansard source

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  I am not sure that I totally follow. The composition of the ISF is not yet determined, as I said to the hon. Gentleman’s colleague. We will no doubt discuss this matter further in the House once we are in a position to provide a fuller update. A number of states have indicated some willingness to provide troops to the ISF. I will clarify for the House that we have provided military personnel into the region, but it was into the Civil-Military Co-ordination Centre, which has a different tasking to the ISF. These are all complex questions that are very much in negotiation at the moment. When some of those matters are more clear and finalised, I am happy to return to the House.

• 29 Oct 2025 · Gaza and Hamas · Hansard source

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  I think my hon. Friend refers to the ICJ advisory opinion in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territories. As the House will be aware, there has been another advisory opinion from the ICJ more recently in relation to aid accessing Gaza. Assuming that she is asking about the former, we have made significant decisions since that advisory opinion—not least on the recognition of the Palestinian state. I clarify once again for the House that no British weaponry is used either in Gaza or in the west bank, other than subject to the messages relating to F-35s that we have discussed previously.

• 29 Oct 2025 · Gaza and Hamas · Hansard source

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  We have spoken in this House on a number of occasions about events in the west bank, and we have announced three waves of sanctions—including at the most senior levels—against the Israeli Government. I reassure the House that we remain very focused on settler violence. We are moving into the olive harvesting period, which, as the right hon. Member will know, is a period in which violence is often particularly high. Regrettably, we are seeing similar trends this year. I will have more to say about that later in the day. In relation to the right hon. Member’s first point on individual incidents, I refer him to my previous comments. It is important, at such a delicate moment for the ceasefire, that we are as precise as possible. That is why the CMCC is engaged in the way that it is.

• 29 Oct 2025 · Gaza and Hamas · Hansard source

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  There has been some public reporting of Israeli concerns about the Allenby bridge, particularly after the violence there. Rafah is a subject that we have discussed many times in this House, and it remains an absolutely critical artery. It is true to say that in both the Allenby crossing and Rafah there will need to be agreement between both countries. I hope that agreement can be secured quickly, that Israel removes the restrictions in place, and that we see the free flow of aid through those crossings very shortly.

• 29 Oct 2025 · Gaza and Hamas · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member is right: Hamas must return all the bodies immediately. We have made that point to our regional partners with force, and we will continue to do so.

• 29 Oct 2025 · Gaza and Hamas · Hansard source

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  International justice and accountability are of vital importance. That is why this Government removed the block on the International Criminal Court and continued to support that very important body, and that is why we continue to support the International Court of Justice. They are the competent courts and the process by which justice will be secured, and we continue to support them in those endeavours.

• 29 Oct 2025 · Gaza and Hamas · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for his kind words. There are two areas in which aid will be particularly vital. Of course, there are the immediate needs of the Gazan people. Most recently at Sharm el-Sheikh, the Prime Minister announced a £20 million contribution to the humanitarian programme to meet those needs, which will be focused on water, sanitation and health. There is also a need for the sustainable reconstruction of Gaza. The message that we hear so often from Palestinians is that they wish for their own companies and private sector to be engaged in that endeavour, and do not simply wish to see the World Bank or the United Nations leading the charge. They, too, want to take agency in those questions. That was one reason we involved them so closely in the conference that I held in October.

• 29 Oct 2025 · Gaza and Hamas · Hansard source

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  I associate myself very much with my hon. Friend’s comments. He knows that neck of the woods well. Our diplomats are excellent. I was pleased to be in New York in July when the declaration he describes was made. It was part of a declaration that included our own commitments in relation to the Palestinian state, which led to our recognition in September.

• 29 Oct 2025 · Gaza and Hamas · Hansard source

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  The hon. Member speaks with personal experience, real force and a long track record on these issues. My heart goes out to families on both sides. Mortuary processes are difficult at the best of times; one can only imagine the agonies that they are facing. We are not aware of specific requests for support in mortuary services, but if they are any, I am very happy to consider them.

• 29 Oct 2025 · Gaza and Hamas · Hansard source

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  That is a vital question from my hon. Friend, who follows these things closely. As I said in my last answer, to get to the volumes that we need, we will need both Rafah and the Allenby bridge to be reopened. It is welcome that there appears to be an increase of aid through Kerem Shalom—both UN aid and private trucks. It is vital that the Palestinian private sector, particularly in Gaza, can get goods in, restart the market and enable people to go about their normal lives. We will, as he would expect, continue to work with all our partners until we see the reopening of those crossings.

• 29 Oct 2025 · Gaza and Hamas · Hansard source

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  I think I have covered those questions already in this session, but let me be absolutely clear: all Palestinians are very clearly not part of Hamas. So many Palestinians want to see an alternative. They want to see this process succeed and to see the ceasefire hold, and that is where our focus is.

• 29 Oct 2025 · Gaza and Hamas · Hansard source

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  As I said to the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness (Richard Tice), we are committed to ensuring that those bodies are returned and that Hamas are disarmed. The infrastructure of Hamas is not just heavy weapons and small weapons, as has been the case in other conflicts; there is also a network of tunnels under Gaza that have posed a very significant threat to Israel. Dismantling them is a difficult and complex engineering and military task, but it needs to be included as part of the process.

• 29 Oct 2025 · Gaza and Hamas · Hansard source

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  We have discussed sanctions in this House many times, including the three waves during my time in government, and including against two Ministers. The priority now has to be to make the ceasefire work, to move to phase 2, and to get through all these incredibly important and complex questions, and that is the focus of this Government.

• 29 Oct 2025 · Gaza and Hamas · Hansard source

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  Much work has been done in recent months, including under this Government, in relation to the curriculum in Gaza, and I am aware of the concerns that have been raised. The funding to UNRWA that we have provided, which the shadow Foreign Secretary referred to, included specific provision for ensuring that all reforms identified in the Colonna report, including on curricula, were followed through, and we continue to engage with UNRWA on those questions.

• 29 Oct 2025 · Gaza and Hamas · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right: there has been a significant increase in settlements and in violence associated with those settlements. This is a continued problem, and we will continue to work at it, alongside our partners, to try to see that terrible trend reversed.