Lara Bird MP: speeches

Speeches

• 14 Sept 2026 · Israel and Palestine · Hansard source

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  I want to start by congratulating the latest iteration of the Labour Government for finally growing a backbone and doing what anybody with a moral conscience would and should have done years ago. While I genuinely welcome the statement and the sanctions that were announced last week—I really do—it is crucial that we remember that this is not the end goal, and that we do not lose sight of just how long Israel has been conducting violence and terror against the Palestinian people, and how long the UK Government have known in detail and failed to do anything about it. It was 25 years ago that Israel constructed a wall in the occupied west bank, barricading Palestinians in, separating families, denying them access to their land and enforcing a regime of illegal annexation and apartheid —treating an entire population like they were animals. The UK Government knew that and did nothing. It was 22 years ago that the ICJ confirmed that the construction of that wall was an unlawful use of force and violated international law. At the time, the UK Government accepted that and still did nothing. It was 20 years ago that the UK Government accepted that Israel was systematically abusing human rights in Palestine. There was a Labour Government at the time, and yet no action was taken because there was no political will to do so. For decades, successive UK Governments have known in detail the level of harm that Palestinians have suffered at the hands of the Israeli Government—arbitrary detention, torture, burning farms and farmland, killing children, destroying entire villages. Members of Parliament from across this House have gone to the west bank and seen it with their own eyes, and yet no action has been taken. There have been debates and statements of condemnation, and yet thousands of Palestinians have been killed, thousands of homes have been destroyed and thousands of children will grow up without their parents because the UK Government had no political incentive to act. I thank the hon. Member for Glasgow West (Patricia Ferguson) for raising the murder of Awdah Hathaleen, who was murdered a year ago by an Israeli settler in the village of Umm al-Kheir. Awdah was a friend of mine. I knew him well, and I grieve his murder every single day. Awdah was known to this House, because in 2024 he visited Westminster and spoke to parliamentarians. He visited Government officials in the FCDO and detailed the horror of living under illegal occupation in the west bank. He asked the UK Government to act and, at the time, they did not. Just think: how many Palestinian lives could have been spared if the UK Government 25 years ago had acted on the information and the facts that were in front of them. How many Israeli lives could have been spared? I might be new to this House, but I have watched every single debate in this place on Palestine and Israel, not just for the last three years since the genocide but for years before that. I will not make any friends when I say this, but I am so disappointed at how few Members across the House have raised their head above the parapet to condemn the UK Government’s continued support of Israel, and at how so many Members are doing so now just because it is politically convenient for them to do so. I genuinely welcome the statement given by the Government last week and genuinely hope that this causes a change, and that it saves Palestinian lives. But I cannot forgive, and so many others will never forget just how long it has taken the UK Government to finally do the right thing.

• 8 Sept 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Monifieth in my constituency is home to over 9,000 people and is the central connection point for a vast rural community across Angus. Despite an application in 2023, a banking hub was denied because the regulations are not fit for rural communities. Will the Minister commit to meet me to discuss how those regulations impact rural communities and see if we can finally get Monifieth the banking hub that it needs?

• 1 Sept 2026 · Direction of Government · Hansard source

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  Scotland is not a region, and nor should it be treated as one. Those in Scotland are hurt and frustrated at the way the Prime Minister has conducted the conversation around devolution and so arrogantly dismissed the pro-independence mandate that the Scottish people gave. Why does the Prime Minister think he can dismiss the democratically elected mandate of the Scottish people?

• 15 Jul 2026 · Devolved Powers · Hansard source

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  5. Whether he has had recent discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the devolution of further powers to Scotland.

• 15 Jul 2026 · Devolved Powers · Hansard source

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  Devolution appears to be all the rage at the moment, and the Secretary of State will know fine well that the Scottish Parliament recently voted to devolve energy powers back to Scotland. So in this new spirit of renewed co-operation and trust that we are apparently about to start to see, can I ask the Secretary of State when the UK Government will respect the vote of the Scottish Parliament and devolve energy powers back to Scotland?

• 14 Jul 2026 · UK-Switzerland Enhanced Free Trade Agreement · Hansard source

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  I apologise in advance to those on the Opposition Front Bench, because I, too, am going to ask a question about Brexit. A study last month showed that the Scottish economy has been hit to the tune of £30 billion every single year because of Brexit, so deals like this—as much as I congratulate the Minister on securing them—do very little to comfort Scottish businesses, especially those in the food, drink and agriculture sectors. So although I welcome some of the additional benefits that will come from this deal for Scottish agricultural industries, there is still a deep feeling among Scottish farmers that they have become collateral damage and are constantly overlooked as the UK Government scramble to secure trade deals in a post-Brexit world. What does the Minister have to say to my farming constituents who feel that they have been overlooked in new trade deals?

• 13 Jul 2026 · State of Climate and Nature · Hansard source

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  The Energy Secretary says that he supports green jobs, yet there is growing concern that only two of the six National Energy System Operator pipelines will support the Scottish wind pathways, with the rest of the investment being redistributed to areas across the rest of the UK, despite the fact that Scotland is a renewables superpower. Can the Minister confirm whether one of the Energy Secretary’s last moves in the job, potentially, will be to rob Scotland of £100 billion of renewables investment while jeopardising thousands of Scottish jobs? Or will he commit to investing in the grid connectivity that Scotland needs to support our crucial Scottish renewables industry?