Hamish Falconer MP: speeches

Speeches

• 25 Feb 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I can confirm that we will continue to support the ceasefire deal through all three of its phases, which we hope to see concluded in full. I am working with international partners, as are other Ministers; I saw the Jordanian and Egyptian ambassadors on this question just last week.

• 25 Feb 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I can confirm that I will be adding information to our dedicated page for independent travellers to highlight the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning globally. I shall be writing to Cathy Foley, who I was moved to meet, and to the hon. Member.

• 25 Feb 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I was very pleased to meet the Iraqi Foreign Minister Dr Fuad Hussein during the official visit of Prime Minister Al Sudani to the UK from 14 to 16 January. During that visit our two Prime Ministers signed the landmark partnership and co-operation agreement, a wide-ranging treaty on trade and strategic co-operation, and announced a trade package worth up to £12.3 billion.

• 12 Feb 2025 · Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories · Hansard source

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  It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Dame Siobhain. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Alloa and Grangemouth (Brian Leishman) for securing this debate. I will try to make some progress. I imagine that many colleagues will want to intervene, but I am keen to give my hon. Friend a chance to respond, so I will limit the number of interventions that I take. Many Members have spoken movingly of the horrific scenes that we have seen right across the conflict, and many have drawn attention to the fact that it is right for all our minds to be on the ceasefire at this time. It is vital that the ceasefire continues through this weekend and beyond, through all three of its phases, on time and in full. That is the most important intervention that the international community can make for the people of Gaza and the people of Israel at this time. I reiterate, as the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have done repeatedly, that the UK is fully committed to international law. When the Prime Minister addressed the UN General Assembly last year, he urged UN members to turn back “towards the rule of law towards cooperation, responsibility and progress. Towards peace.”

• 12 Feb 2025 · Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories · Hansard source

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  I am not going to comment further on how we are going to respond to the advisory opinion. It is in process and I hope to be able to update the House soon. Recognising that time is running away from me, I am not going to take any more interventions, but I will very quickly run through some of the other issues that were raised most regularly. In relation to trade, I want to be clear that the UK Government consider Israeli settlements illegal under international law, and goods produced in those settlements are not entitled to benefit from trade and trade preferences under the UK’s current trade agreements with the Palestinian Authority and Israel. We support accurate labelling of settlement goods so as not to mislead the consumer. We routinely update our guidance to British businesses on the overseas business risk website and advise British businesses to bear in mind the UK Government’s view on the illegality of settlements under international law when considering their investments and activities in the region. There have been many questions about statements from the US President. The UK has always been clear, and we remain clear, that we must see two states, with Palestinians able to live and prosper in their homelands in Gaza and the west bank. There must be no forced displacement of Palestinians, nor any reduction in the territory of the Gaza strip. Palestinians should be able to return and rebuild their homes and their lives. That is a right guaranteed under international law. We need to move through the phases of this ceasefire deal, towards reconstruction. We will play our part in supporting that reconstruction, working alongside the Palestinian Authority and Gulf and Arab partners. Let me end by reiterating this Government’s commitment to international law. We continue to consider the advisory opinion carefully, with the seriousness and rigour that it deserves. Our long-standing position is that Israel should bring an end to its presence in the OPTs as rapidly as possible. That should be done in a way that creates a path for negotiations towards a two-state solution where two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace. That is what we will continue to press for with our international partners at every opportunity. I close by saying that my thoughts are with those in Gaza and in Israel suffering with terrible uncertainty at the moment. We must all hope for the preservation of the ceasefire. I and the rest of the Ministers at the Foreign Office will do everything in our power to preserve it.

• 12 Feb 2025 · Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories · Hansard source

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  I will in a minute. We demonstrated our commitment to international law in September, when the Foreign Secretary announced to Parliament the decision to suspend relevant export licences to Israel. I reassure hon. Members that that is not a partial suspension; it is a full suspension. I will not rehearse the F-35 arguments, but those suspensions do cover drones and the kinds of attacks that Professor Mamode has been briefing about so movingly. That decision was made following the Foreign Secretary’s review of Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law, which concluded that there is a clear risk that UK exports could be used in violation of international humanitarian law. We are continuing those assessments and we keep all aspects of our exports policy under close review.

• 12 Feb 2025 · Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories · Hansard source

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  My right hon. Friend will understand that I do not want to comment too much on an individual case, but the diplomat in question was not engaged in this issue specifically since our Government have been in power, so I am not sure that there is a question for us to answer there. The hon. Member for Honiton and Sidmouth (Richard Foord) asked about the advisory opinion of the ICJ. The UK has traditionally been a strong supporter of the ICJ. It is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations and this Government respect its independence.

• 12 Feb 2025 · Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories · Hansard source

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  I will make a little bit more progress, if I may. As the Foreign Secretary and others have made clear, we continue to consider the opinion carefully. My hon. Friend the Member for Hammersmith and Chiswick (Andy Slaughter) rightly identified the complexity and the novel elements of that advisory opinion, and we are taking our time in considering it. I hope to be able to return to the House in due course. The opinion contains novel findings that require further reflection. I understand his desire to know quickly our position, but hon. Members will appreciate that such an important decision necessarily takes time and careful consideration. The advisory opinion in itself took months in its development, and will take some months in its—

• 12 Feb 2025 · Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories · Hansard source

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  I am not going to be drawn on precise timings.

• 11 Feb 2025 · Carbon Monoxide Poisoning: Travel Advice · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Allin-Khan, and I am grateful to the hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Dr Pinkerton) for securing the debate. I send my condolences to Cathy and to the whole family for the tragic loss of Hudson in Ecuador. I know how difficult it must be, and my thoughts are with them. I am grateful, too, for the contributions of other hon. Members, and I shall try to respond to the points that have been made. I know that some of those contributions are informed by personal and painful experience. I am the Minister with consular responsibilities for British nationals overseas, so I hope hon. Members will forgive me if my speech focuses on the overseas elements of the debate. We have taken careful note of the points made for other Departments, including the Northern Ireland Office, the Department of Health and Social Care and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. My officials will seek answers for hon. Members on the more detailed questions that I am unable to answer today. Supporting British nationals abroad is clearly a key priority for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Most British people live or travel abroad without incident or needing to seek consular assistance. When an incident does occur, they naturally and understandably ask whether it was preventable. If it was not, what might have made it more bearable? Let me say a few words on how the Government are acting to help British nationals in need abroad. I will begin by setting out our approach to travel advice, the goal of which is to help British nationals to make better informed decisions about international travel. Their safety is always our top priority, and our advice is based on objective assessments of the risks, based on inputs from multiple sources. That includes our own embassies, foreign Governments, and, where relevant, intelligence services. On carbon monoxide poisoning specifically, as the House will be aware, building, fire and gas safety standards abroad do not always match those in the UK, as the hon. Member for Romford (Andrew Rosindell) identified. Since the Foreign Office lacks in-house expertise on building safety, we share information from expert organisations, such as Energy UK, in some of our travel advice. As the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) said, for some countries, such as China and Nepal, where carbon monoxide poisoning is a higher risk, we include specific information on that in our travel advice, based on local reports and consular case trends. I recognise the questions asked by the hon. Member for Romford about trends; it is difficult to determine those on the basis of the information available to the Foreign Office. Last year, sadly, 4,000 British nationals lost their lives overseas, and we believe that at least two of those were as a consequence of carbon monoxide poisoning. However, as many hon. Members have identified, we cannot be sure of what we do not know. Wherever cases are raised, as with the tragic case raised by the hon. Member for Surrey Heath, my officials and I are available. If there is uncertainty about the cause of death and further support is required from the Foreign Office, we stand available to provide that. But as I think the hon. Member identified, ultimately, our advice is there to guide people, not to set rules that people must abide by. It is intended as just one source of information to help British people to make informed decisions about where and how they travel. I acknowledge what the hon. Member for Surrey Heath said about the impact of our advice. I assure the House that we always consider the arguments for changes to travel advice on their merits. We must make judgments, try to consider all risks proportionately, and consider the best way to ensure that advice is presented to travellers.

• 11 Feb 2025 · Carbon Monoxide Poisoning: Travel Advice · Hansard source

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  I think the right hon. Gentleman’s proposal is that we include the risks from carbon monoxide everywhere in the world. I am happy to take away that proposal and to come back with a more detailed answer, particularly in relation to the letter from the hon. Member for Surrey Heath, in which he set out some further requests of the Foreign Office, as he did in his speech. With travel advice, we always balance the desire not to have too much standard text across all countries with the wish to keep it as focused as possible, but I am happy to take away that question and return to it. Alongside travel advice, of course, the Government aim to reduce incidents through our long-standing Travel Aware campaign, which includes key messages such as encouraging British nationals to have appropriate travel insurance, to read our travel advice and to sign up for our alerts. We partner with more than 100 organisations from across the travel industry, including airlines, tour operators and insurance providers, and we ask them to help to amplify our key messages and drive customers to our travel advice pages. We try to regularly review our work with partners to ensure that they highlight appropriate issues to British travellers. That has included work with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and the Safer Tourism Foundation, which I think the hon. Member for Surrey Heath has mentioned already, to raise awareness specifically on the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning around the world. I commit that my officials will hold another meeting with the Safer Tourism Foundation later this month to explore opportunities for greater collaboration. Turning now to our work on prevention, we use a range of sources—customer feedback, casework data and in-house research—to determine when to take preventive action. We also work closely with host authorities, partners in the travel industry and others to improve local support for British people abroad. Through our student brand ambassador programme, we aim to raise awareness among young people of preventable incidents. Let me assure the House that the Government are committed to continual improvement. We are looking for ways to improve our consular services, including our prevention activity, messaging and travel advice. Priority themes are constantly under review, with decisions being made according to what poses the greatest risk to British travellers abroad. We will also explore options for linking to other expert sources through our travel advice pages for solo and independent travellers. That includes advice such as that shared by the Safer Tourism Foundation on carbon monoxide safety. I admire the efforts of the Foley family to urge travellers to take safety equipment such as carbon monoxide detectors on their travels. We will consider including that in our advice, and it is of course important that travellers use them in accordance with manufacturers’ instructions and that they should be maintained and tested regularly. I emphasise that we welcome all feedback and use it to improve our services. I recognise the strength of feeling from the House and from the hon. Member for Surrey Heath. We will consider his proposals carefully, and I am happy to meet with colleagues again to follow up on these important issues. In the spirit of the speech from the hon. Member for Romford, we intend to work on this on a cross-party basis. I reiterate the Foreign Office’s commitment to providing clear, accessible and up-to-date travel advice. We will keep it under constant review and ensure it reflects the latest assessments. We will continue to collaborate with the travel industry to amplify personal safety messages, and we will work with host Governments to reduce the risks for British people abroad.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Syria: Religious Minorities · Hansard source

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  I welcome the appointment of my hon. Friend as the new UK special envoy for freedom of religion or belief. As part of our intensive diplomatic engagement with international partners, and indeed with the interim Syrian authorities, we have consistently advocated for an inclusive political transition and underlined the importance of protecting the rights of religious and ethnic minorities.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Syria: Religious Minorities · Hansard source

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  It is vital that the new Syria includes representation of all its people and that all Syrians can see themselves represented in the Government that will follow. We are supporting an inclusive political process that must respect the rights of ethnic and religious minorities, and we will continue in our efforts.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Syria: Religious Minorities · Hansard source

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  As the House would expect, we follow reports of such incidents in Syria very closely. I was discussing some of those incidents with members of Syrian civil society just last night, and the Foreign Secretary has raised those questions directly with the interim Foreign Minister of the Syrian authorities. We will continue to call for all parties in Syria, in this moment of transition, to do the utmost to respect the rights of all religious minorities across the country.

• 14 Jan 2025 · British Council · Hansard source

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  I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for his long-held commitment on these issues. Soft power is an issue of the most vital importance, particularly in this contested world. I am very pleased to confirm, as the Foreign Secretary already has, that we are establishing a soft power council in the coming days. That is an important initiative and the British Council will be an important part of that work. In relation to country offices, the British Council retains a significant physical presence in more than 100 countries, which is welcome, and has a growing presence online, which is to be encouraged.

• 14 Jan 2025 · British Council · Hansard source

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  May I pay tribute to the hon. Member for her overseas work as the British Council’s former director of communications? [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear!”] I understand that she was posted in London, Paris, Tokyo and Shanghai. I am jealous, as my assignments in my overseas postings were rather different. The British Council’s board of trustees is responsible for the organisation’s financial sustainability. As an FCDO arm’s length body, the British Council received £162.5 million of grant in aid funding in 2024-25. My noble Friend, Baroness Chapman, oversees this as the Minister responsible. This contribution supports the British Council’s role as a soft power asset, promoting UK arts and culture, education, and the English language.

• 14 Jan 2025 · British Council · Hansard source

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  Ministers are aware of the issues in relation to the £200 million. As the hon. Member said, the loan was made on commercial terms in order to be compliant with the UK subsidy control regime. On 6 January, my ministerial colleagues the Foreign Secretary and Baroness Chapman met the chief executive officer of the British Council to discuss these issues.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  The UK Government consistently urge Pakistani authorities to act in line with their international obligations and respect fundamental freedoms and human rights. I raised these issues during my visit to Pakistan in November and in my statement to the House on 28 November. We issued a further statement on 23 December about the role of military courts. We have made it clear that the UK supports individuals’ rights to freedom of assembly and expression, and we will continue to do so.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  We have set out our position on the designation of genocide, so I will not enter into that discussion again, but I will respond to my hon. Friend on the questions of aid access, on which a ministerial colleague has spoken already and on which we have been consistent. We are clear that not enough aid is getting into Gaza, and we have been clear with the Israeli Government on our difference on the conduct of hostilities and of aid access.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for the question and for his long-standing work on Syria issues. I was very glad to join him and so many inspiring members of Syrian civil society who are keen to make a contribution. We will do what we can to enable the new Syria to be a success and to enable Syrian civil society here and across the world to play their full role in that.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  We continue to consider the advisory opinion of the ICJ carefully. It is a far-reaching opinion that took months in the production, and we hope to be able to report back soon.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Iran · Hansard source

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  We unequivocally condemn Iran’s attacks on Israel in April and October 2024. These attacks, and Iran’s ongoing support for its proxies and partners, have destabilised the region and fuelled escalation. Alongside our allies and partners, we will continue to hold Iran to account for this behaviour, including through sanctions, addressing Iranian weapons proliferation, and maintaining our permanent defence presence in the region.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Iran · Hansard source

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  We continue to work closely with the American Administration, and we look forward to doing so with the new Administration. It is regrettably true that Iran’s nuclear programme has never been more advanced, and it threatens international peace and security. We remain determined that Iran must never develop a nuclear weapon, and we remain committed to a diplomatic solution to achieve that.

• 14 Jan 2025 · Iran · Hansard source

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  I recognise that the hon. Member has asked questions about proscribing the IRGC a number of times in this Chamber, and I can assure him that we are working urgently on measures to take the necessary action to deter the Iranian state from posing a threat to this country and the region. We will continue to update the House in due course.

• 7 Jan 2025 · Northern Gaza · Hansard source

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  I have been clear about the position in relation to F-35s. I have a responsibility, as do the rest of the Government, to try to ensure Britain’s national security. That includes, where we have entered into multi-nation, complex programmes such as the F-35, not bringing those programmes down where that would undermine international peace and security. That is our judgment in relation to the F-35 components, which I have discussed already. On other arms that are not suspended, I think that this House would be much reassured to see the detail of those licences. I am sure that everybody wants body armour and helmets on aid workers going into dangerous areas. I am sure that everybody would want us to focus on the arms that could be used in breaches of international humanitarian law, not other arms.