Hamish Falconer MP: speeches

Speeches

• 16 Jun 2025 · Air India Plane Crash · Hansard source

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  The UK has a proud record of playing its full part in global aviation standards. As I said, our Air Accidents Investigation Branch will be assisting the investigation into this incident fully, and taking full note of its findings.

• 16 Jun 2025 · Air India Plane Crash · Hansard source

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  I confirm to my hon. Friend that we will, of course, keep our consular response under review, as events develop. I can also confirm that there remains close co-ordination between the Foreign Office and the Department for Transport. The Foreign Secretary, the Secretary of State for Transport and I were all in the first ministerial Cobra in response to the incident, and I know the Transport Secretary continues to have a close engagement in these issues.

• 16 Jun 2025 · Air India Plane Crash · Hansard source

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  I thank the shadow Foreign Secretary for the tone of her questions. She rightly points to the scale of this; it is the single largest loss of British life in an aviation accident since 9/11, and one of the single largest losses of British national life overseas in one incident in a long time. Ten years ago this month, practically, I was part of the diplomatic service on the ground in Sousse after a terrible tragedy. I know well the agony for families seeking to pick up the pieces after an incident like this. The right hon. Lady asks an important question about the mortuary process, which can be particularly traumatic in another country. I can confirm that any British national who wants consular assistance in going through that process will have it from my officials. She rightly raises questions that have been asked by some of the families about the location of our reception centre and our presence at the hospital. Since becoming aware of those reports, I have sent officials to the hospital. We are not aware at the moment of British nationals congregating there. I have asked officials to review the signage and general arrangements to ensure that people know where our reception centre is. It is at Ummed hotel, which is close to the airport, because we though that would be the best place to receive British nationals, rather than the hospital, where, tragically, there are no living British nationals. We keep these questions under review. As I know from my experience, in tragedies like this, it is difficult to get right the first time the assistance that British nationals need. We will learn lessons with each step. I spoke to some of the families who made those points this afternoon.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories · Hansard source

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  I welcome the tone and spirit of my hon. Friend’s question. We do have agency in this House. The frustrations that are felt by so many, both within and without the House, are completely understandable and justifiable. This Government have sought change and have been frustrated by how slow that change has been, but we will continue to work for a better situation for those in Gaza, for those in west bank and, of course, for those in Israel. My hon. Friend asks about maritime corridors, which are an important but, ultimately, relatively peripheral part of any aid operation if it is to be at the scale required. There were maritime corridors supported in an earlier phase of the conflict and they did important work, but ultimately the three road crossings into Jordan, Egypt and Israel are the most practical, most viable, and most tried and tested routes to get aid in at the scale and with the flexibility required to meet the needs of those in the strip.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend speaks with the painful authority of one who has clearly taken a great deal of time to get to know someone who is facing truly dreadful circumstances in Gaza. I am grateful to all those, on my Benches and beyond, who take part in such engagement and share it with me. I recognise how heavily the responsibilities weigh on us, both constituency Members and, of course, those of us in the Government. It is not simply inefficiency that makes me counsel the House repeatedly not to focus on air and sea routes. We do keep them under regular review, and we discuss them with our partners, particularly our friends and allies in Jordan, who have conducted important airlifts of aid into the Gaza strip. The reason I counsel the House in the way that I do is that I see so many of these cases, and I am so conscious of the aggregate demands. If we can get aid safely into Gaza in a way that is consistent with humanitarian principles, of course we will do so. I can reassure my hon. Friend and his constituent that we keep that under regular review, but I must be honest with the House and say that it is road routes that will meet the scale and the manner that are required.

• 14 May 2025 · Gaza: UK Assessment · Hansard source

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  We have supported airlifts in the past, as I am sure the right hon. Lady knows, and we were glad to work with our Jordanian partners on that question. I have to be straightforward with the House: given the scale of need in Gaza, we should not be displaced from the central question, which is ensuring that the road crossings open. That is the only way to get aid in at the scale required.

• 14 May 2025 · Gaza: UK Assessment · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is committed to these questions. I responded to an earlier question by emphasising the central importance of road routes in ensuring aid of the scale required. However, I assure the House that we continue to look at what alternatives we can find to help where we can. That has included supporting a small number of Gazan children to get access to specialist healthcare here in the UK, which they are currently accessing. Where we can help, we will help, but I must be honest with the House about the scale of aid that is required if the IPC findings of Monday are to be averted.

• 14 May 2025 · Gaza: UK Assessment · Hansard source

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  I recognise the concern that my hon. Friend’s constituents will be feeling, but I can reassure him that we are considering all measures to try to ensure that aid gets into Gaza. I regret that there is no alternative to road access, given the scale of the aid required, but we will continue to work on these questions with the urgency that he has described. I am grateful for his words about British diplomats. Let me reassure the House that not only the ministerial team but the diplomatic service of the United Kingdom works on these questions each and every day, includes in yesterday afternoon’s session of the UN Security Council.

• 13 May 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  Let us not forget what this Government have done. We restored funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency after the Conservatives froze it. We suspended arms export licences whereas the Conservatives did not take action. We have provided £129 million in humanitarian assistance to the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We are not on the other side of the road. I welcome the right hon. Member’s strong views on this; I found his intervention last week very powerful indeed. There is no one on the Labour Benches who does not understand the gravity of the situation. That is why we invited the Palestinian Prime Minister, why we signed the memorandum of understanding, and why we are calling an urgent session of the Security Council. This Government will not be on the other side of the road from Palestinian suffering.

• 6 May 2025 · Middle East Update · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for his question—I know of his long personal commitment to those so badly affected by this conflict. I join him in condemnation of the Houthi attack. The House should be under no illusions about the nature of the Houthis. They are no friend to the Palestinians, and their repeated strikes against international shipping—indeed, against practically any flagged vessel that crosses through the Red sea—are a threat to global peace and security, and to international trade. Their actions targeting civilian aviation do nothing for the Palestinian people.

• 6 May 2025 · Middle East Update · Hansard source

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  I thank the right hon. Lady for her important questions. I take the opportunity to respond to her important questions about the attack on Ben Gurion airport. I absolutely condemn the Houthis’ continued missile attacks, including the attack on Ben Gurion airport over the weekend. Israel has extensive experience of the dangers of civil aviation attacks of this kind, and we reiterate our support for its right to self-defence in the face of Houthi attacks. The House heard from the Defence Secretary last week some of the efforts we are taking in the collective self-defence of our allies in the Red sea. The right hon. Lady raised a number of other important points. I can update the House that we are in regular contact with those pressing for a ceasefire in the region—most obviously, of course, the President of the United States’ special envoy, Mr Witkoff, who I believe is in the region now. Of course, the Foreign Secretary has been in touch with his counterpart in Israel, as well as with many others. He has been in Oman and Qatar recently, and as the right hon. Lady would expect, I have been in regular contact with all those with an interest. The right hon. Lady asks for an update on sanctions. I was not aware of any discourtesy in the sequence of how we announced the Syria sanctions, but I am happy to take that point away. If there was any discourtesy, I can assure her that it was accidental. We took the steps that we did in relation to sanctions because we want the new Syrian Government to succeed. Britain’s interests—indeed, Israel’s interests—are in a stable and secure Syria. The new Syrian Government have taken welcome steps. As the right hon. Lady points out, there are still areas of major concern, but the judgment that I took alongside the Foreign Secretary was that we should lift sanctions that clearly no longer targeted entities controlled by the Assad regime—given that it is clearly no longer in power in Syria—and maintain sanctions where assets held by the Assad family were still relevant. We took a series of principled steps to try to ensure that the new Syria has the best possible chance of being the success that would be in Britain’s national interest. We maintained those sanctions on the Assad family, and we did so in close co-operation with our allies.

• 7 Apr 2025 · Israel: Refusal of Entry for UK Parliamentarians · Hansard source

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  I pay tribute to the dignity of my hon. Friends the Members for Sheffield Central and for Earley and Woodley. I can assure my hon. Friend that we will continue to work with the Israeli Government, and all our partners across the region, towards a two-state solution. I welcome the strength of support from her and many other colleagues in this House. To be clear on the position of the Israeli Government: they do have the right to decide who enters their country, as indeed do we. On this occasion, the two Members of Parliament were given clearance to enter, so it was known to the Israeli Government before they arrived at the airport that they would be travelling. It was therefore with some surprise that I received the call on Saturday evening.

• 7 Apr 2025 · Israel: Refusal of Entry for UK Parliamentarians · Hansard source

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  To be clear, they were granted entry clearance, rather than a visa. The distinction may seem academic to this House, given that both would have permitted my hon. Friends to travel to the airport. Clearly, it was not a surprise to the Israeli authorities that they arrived.

• 7 Apr 2025 · Israel: Refusal of Entry for UK Parliamentarians · Hansard source

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  I reiterate that nobody in the British Government is disputing the Israeli’s Government’s right to decide who enters Israel—that is clearly their right to discharge as they see fit. What was particularly surprising about this incident was not just its novelty—it is the first time of which we are aware that MPs have been stopped—but that they had entry clearance already and they were permitted to travel to the airport.