Melanie Ward MP: speeches

Speeches

• 24 Jun 2025 · War Memorials · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for her important remarks. There is also a peace part of the memorial in Kirkcaldy, which is an important way to integrate those values into the overall memorial. I have said a lot about the importance of our memorial to our town of Kirkcaldy, but it has not been free of problems in recent years. In January, it fell victim to an arson attack, the third attack on the memorial in two years. That was not just reckless vandalism; it was an affront to those who gave their lives serving our country and our town. I am glad that an individual was charged with wilful fire-raising in the aftermath. That raises another issue of how we protect and cherish our memorials, and how we prosecute those who seek to desecrate them. Although I understand that this is a justice issue and, therefore, devolved to the Scottish Government, I ask the Minister to outline how the UK Government plan to strengthen protections for war memorials across the country.

• 24 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T8. I pay tribute to the Foreign Secretary and his team for all their diplomatic efforts on de-escalation in the middle east. With the rules-based order under enormous strain, upholding international law and multilateral institutions matters more than ever. It is almost a year since the International Court of Justice handed down its judgment on the illegality of Israel’s occupation of Palestine. Given that senior Government Ministers received advice last year on the implications of that judgment for the UK, when can we expect the Government’s response?

• 19 May 2025 · Mental Health Bill [Lords] · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend mentioned men’s sheds. I was delighted to visit the Kirkcaldy men’s shed in my constituency recently to see the amazing work that the people there do. Listening to this debate, I have been struck by the positive changes that this Bill will bring, and by the contrast with Scotland. The people I speak to from almost every local service raise the issue of the mental health crisis across Fife, be they from the NHS, charities or the police. NHS Fife has asked for funding from the Scottish Government to sort out our mental health crisis and was told to not even ask. That is such a contrast with where we are in this place, and I am sure my hon. Friend agrees that action needs to be taken in Scotland and in Fife.

• 22 Apr 2025 · “For Women Scotland” Supreme Court Ruling · Hansard source

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  Following the welcome clarity from the Supreme Court that Labour’s Equality Act has always contained the right to single-sex spaces for women as well as protections for trans people, does the Minister agree that the SNP Scottish Health Secretary must urgently get a grip and ensure that the NHS is upholding the law, especially in my area of Fife where it appears that a nurse, Sandie Peggie, was disciplined by NHS managers for trying to exercise her right to use a single-sex changing room?

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

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  The detention and deportation of my hon. Friends the Members for Sheffield Central (Abtisam Mohamed) and for Earley and Woodley (Yuan Yang) by the state of Israel is disgraceful, and it smacks of racism—we cannot ignore the fact that they are women of colour. They were visiting not Israel, but the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Let us remind ourselves that the International Court of Justice recently found that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians constitutes “systemic discrimination” on the basis of “race, religion or ethnic origin.” The fact is that white hon. Members on recent delegations who have made similar comments about the conflict are not treated this way. Will the Minister summon the Israeli ambassador over this issue, and over what it now seems was the execution of 15 PRCS paramedics and those who went to rescue them in Gaza?

• 20 Mar 2025 · Knife Crime: Children and Young People · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is making an important and passionate speech. Historically, my area of Fife has not been synonymous with knife crime, and we want to keep it that way, but the possession of weapons in Fife has increased by 50% in the last year. Does he agree that figures like that, along with concerning recent footage on social media of a young man brandishing a knife shortly before he was attacked, are a warning sign that we need to act now to prevent worse developments?

• 4 Mar 2025 · Gaza · Hansard source

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  With almost 20,000 Palestinian children having been killed, Gaza and its people are in a state of devastation. The use of starvation as a weapon of war is a war crime. The denial of humanitarian aid is a war crime, and it leads to babies freezing to death—an example the Minster gave earlier. What specific action are the Government taking with allies to pressure the Israeli Government to comply with international law and let aid into Gaza?

• 27 Feb 2025 · War in Ukraine: Third Anniversary · Hansard source

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  I absolutely agree; accountability is essential. More than a decade ago, Putin tested the tactic of attacking hospitals in his operations in Syria, and the world stood by. The message about impunity spread, and we have subsequently seen the same tactics used by other forces in Gaza and Sudan, and now by Putin in Ukraine. Children should never be targeted in war, and the International Criminal Court has an arrest warrant out for Putin for his deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia. The stability and prosperity that we have enjoyed in our part of the world for the last 80 years cannot be taken for granted. It was fought for, literally. Democracy does not just happen. We have to want it, value it, work to keep it and protect it, and we have much work to do in that regard. In my previous work in war zones across the world, I often returned home with the sense that conflict and disaster can happen anywhere. That is why we need to support our global institutions now more than ever—institutions such as the United Nations, and the framework of international law put in place after world war two. If we value those achievements, we must uphold and protect them. Our Government are absolutely right to increase defence spending rapidly. I have seen too many times as a former aid worker what happens when Governments fail in their most basic duty: keeping their country safe. Of course, funding this increase in defence spending through the aid budget is painful, and I say to those in the international development community in this country and elsewhere that I and others feel the pain. Given the scale of external threats, we should all understand that further painful decisions of a different kind may come in the future. I end by paying tribute to the Ukrainian refugees I met in Kirkcaldy in my constituency a few weeks ago. We owe it to those refugees, and to all who have fought for Ukraine, the UK and Europe’s freedom, to now do whatever it takes to defend our shared freedom and security.

• 24 Feb 2025 · Social Media Use: Minimum Age · Hansard source

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  Does the hon. Lady share my concern about what seems to be a growing phenomenon in my area of Fife, where young people are filming themselves committing acts of violent crime and then sharing the footage on social media? Last month, there was an attack on a young boy in Cowdenbeath by a group of other youths; they filmed it and shared the footage on Snapchat. Does the hon. Lady agree that although raising the online age of consent to 16 would not solve that problem completely and it would need to be properly enforced, it would be an important first step in tackling this kind of harm?

• 23 Jan 2025 · Holocaust Memorial Day · Hansard source

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  It is impossible to do justice to the scale of the horror witnessed by those entering Auschwitz-Birkenau when it was liberated 80 years ago. They found a death camp that was specifically designed to facilitate starvation, forced labour and the most chilling methods of mechanised execution in human history. Historians estimate that 1.1 million people perished at Auschwitz in just under five years. Across the whole of Nazi-occupied Europe, 6 million Jewish people were murdered, and millions more prisoners of war, political prisoners, Poles, disabled people, members of the LGBT community, Roma and others were slaughtered. I found the speech of my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon (David Pinto-Duschinsky) so moving, and I will share my own family’s story. One of those we believe was lost was my great-grandfather, a Polish Jew who emigrated to the UK and changed our family’s name in the face of antisemitism here. He returned to Poland just before the second world war, and my family never heard from him again. That is just one reason I am proud that my constituency contains the Kirkcaldy Polish club—branch No. 50 of the Association of Polish Combatants, set up across the UK after the second world war by heroic Poles who, together with so many others, resisted Nazi aggression. I read a letter written by Helen Oglethorpe, a British medic who was one of the first into Bergen-Belsen when it was liberated. The letter was dated 28 May 1945. She described some of what she found: “We left Holland on April 29th and came up to the Belsen Concentration Camp. It has been truly terrible and I never really believed what the newspapers told us but it was even worse than that. The first few weeks we spent clearing out all the SS and Hungarian troops’ barracks and turning them into hospitals and cleaning out the actual Concentration Camp. There were 52,000 living and 10,000 unburied dead in an area of about 1 sq. mile. One can’t imagine it unless one has seen it. A further 13,000 died on our hands in the next three or four weeks. We had medical students…working in the Concentration Camp picking out the people who might live and trying to clean up a bit.” Despite the Nazis’ attempts to strip their victims of their humanity, including by assigning numbers to those held in concentration camps, these people were not numbers or statistics; they were humans loved by their families and citizens who contributed to the cultural, economic and social life of Europe. Indeed, across the great cities of Europe and beyond, each Holocaust memorial is marked by an attempt to remember these people by using their names. That is why I would like to commend the important work of the Holocaust Educational Trust. Each year, as we have heard across the House, we lose Holocaust survivors, and the trust’s efforts to keep the stories of survivors and victims alive ensures that we do not forget them or, indeed, what was done to them. The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2025 is “For a better future”. In the face of mass atrocity crimes taking place across the world, the need for us in this place and, indeed, globally to work for a better future could not be clearer. We must learn the lessons of history, especially in this era of misinformation. We know what happens when antisemitism, hatred and prejudice are allowed to flourish. We must do far more to prevent identity-based violence, genocide and mass atrocity crimes. We must honour those who perished in the Holocaust and those who survived.

• 9 Dec 2024 · Syria · Hansard source

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  A few days ago I met Sawsan Abou Zainedin of Madaniya, a Syrian non-governmental organisation. She speaks powerfully of the shared responsibility of Syrians to build an inclusive state governed by law and citizenship. As they do that, will the Foreign Secretary commit himself to increasing UK support for Syrian civil society? Will he also increase support for human rights experts, including the UN, as they document the horrific crimes that have been committed against Syrian civilians and work to bring to justice those responsible?

• 28 Nov 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  In some parts of my constituency, particularly Cowdenbeath, there has been a reported rise in violent and antisocial behaviour. Such behaviour is unacceptable and causes fear, injury and damage to property. I have written to the Scottish Government urging action. They must use some of the additional £3.4 billion from the Budget for next year to properly fund our local police. Does the Leader of the House agree that the SNP should also learn from Labour’s new respect orders, which will clamp down on antisocial behaviour and the menace of off-road bikes in England? Will she grant a debate in Government time to discuss these issues?

• 25 Nov 2024 · Israel-Gaza Conflict: Arrest Warrants · Hansard source

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  I thought the Conservative party styled itself the party of law and order, but it seems that that is increasingly not the case when it comes to international law. The Government are right to uphold the ICC’s decision, and they were right to vote for last week’s UN Security Council resolution on a ceasefire. The Minister will be aware that there is increasing evidence, including from organisations such as Human Rights Watch, of the forcible displacement of Palestinians from the north of Gaza. He will be aware that this is a crime against humanity, and that two of the main proponents are Israeli Ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir. The Prime Minister has confirmed that the Government are looking at this, so when will the Government move to sanction those Ministers as part of a wider package of further action to uphold international law?

• 19 Nov 2024 · Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Roger, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow West (Patricia Ferguson) for securing this important debate. As we meet today, there is increasing evidence that what is being done to the Palestinians of Gaza will come to be understood as crimes of historic magnitude. Our response to them and our efforts to stop them should be of a gravity that is equal to the moment we are in. The last time we spoke on the issue in the Chamber, I expressed grave concern that Israel was preventing aid from entering Gaza, and that it might even go as far as preventing the UN from carrying out its duties in the provision of humanitarian assistance. Since then, the Knesset has passed a Bill banning UNRWA from Israeli territory and occupied Palestinian territory, and it has even banned the UN Secretary-General. I spoke about the situation in the north of Gaza, including at Kamal Adwan hospital, where the Israeli military’s actions were endangering the lives of children in paediatric intensive care. Some of those children were killed after the hospital was besieged and many medical workers were abducted. They must be released. How will the Government help to ensure those responsible are held accountable? The denial of humanitarian assistance has been accompanied by what Human Rights Watch referred to last week as “massive, deliberate forced displacement of Palestinian civilians in Gaza”. Human Rights Watch made it clear that the Israeli authorities are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said: “We are facing what could amount to atrocity crimes, including potentially extending to crimes against humanity.” One person who is similarly clear is the Israeli National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir. In the summer, he said he wanted to “encourage emigration” from Gaza and replace the population with Israeli settlers. I remind the House that forced displacement constitutes a crime against humanity. Finally, I share the words of my friend Moe, a doctor and aid worker in Gaza. He is Palestinian. Last night he said: “I’ve started to feel like the world has forgotten about us. It’s been over a year now and it feels as though no one is paying attention anymore, as there is no change at any level. I’m still displaced here in Khanyounis...The situation is getting more dire. At times, it really starts to feel like this is the ‘new normal’ we’re going to have to endure for years to come. Death and destruction might never end. I have been once to the North, where my home is, and I think only that day I understood what this war is about—it is about the Land.” Therefore, I ask the Minister what fresh action the Government are taking to pressure Israel into complying with the ICJ’s multiple binding orders? In light of Ben-Gvir’s many statements of intent, and as part of a wider package of measures, will the Government now announce sanctions against both Ben-Gvir and Smotrich?

• 12 Nov 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T4. Some 824 former miners in Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy are rightly delighted that our Government have returned over £1 billion from the mineworkers’ pension scheme to those who powered our country for decades. Does the Minister have plans to deliver similar justice to the 290 members of the British coal staff superannuation scheme in my constituency and, indeed, all those affected across the UK?

• 10 Oct 2024 · Gaza and Humanitarian Aid · Hansard source

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  It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. I thank the hon. Member for Birmingham Perry Barr (Ayoub Khan) for securing this important debate. It is impossible to do justice to the horrors in Gaza—famine conditions and polio among them—in the short time we have today. I was in Gaza in April this year, six months into the horrific humanitarian catastrophe that continues now. What I witnessed then was haunting, and it is so much worse in Gaza today. I wish to raise two main issues. First, there are alarming reports in the Israeli media that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is considering a proposal from Smotrich and Ben Gvir, the far-right members of his Cabinet, which would effectively prevent aid agencies, including the UN, from operating or distributing aid in Gaza. Instead, it would hand all such responsibility to the Israeli military, reportedly including the running of field hospitals. There are many reasons why that would be unacceptable. In January this year, the International Court of Justice ordered “immediate and effective” measures to protect Palestinians in Gaza from the risk of genocide by ensuring sufficient humanitarian assistance and enabling access to basic services. Despite that, the number of aid trucks that entered Gaza last month was the lowest we have seen since the start of the year. This is not an accident; the aid is deliberately obstructed by the Israeli Government. In April, I saw the queues of hundreds of trucks filled with aid stuck at crossings into Gaza. The aid is there—it is simply not allowed to enter Gaza in the quantities needed, nor are aid workers allowed to safely distribute it. The fact that more than 300 aid workers and almost 1,000 healthcare workers have been killed in the last year is testament to that. When I left Gaza, I also visited warehouses full of aid items rejected by the Israeli authorities. I checked the list this morning, preparing for this debate. It included: wooden and metal crutches, wheelchairs, green sleeping bags, commodes, solar lamps, first-aid kits, an anaesthesia machine, generators, a bag of UNICEF footballs, bleach, and pots and pans. I could go on. The idea that a Government and military who do this should be allowed to take operational control of a humanitarian aid effort is unconscionable. I ask the Minister to be clear today that our Government oppose this, and to raise the subject with the Israelis. There is no excuse for the Israeli Government’s denial of Palestinian’s access to humanitarian aid. It is a violation of international law. Secondly, the situation for civilians across Gaza is a living nightmare. Worst of all is the situation for civilians in the north, who have been trapped for over a year now. Months ago, civilians there were eating grass and animal feed to try to survive, and it is so much worse now. I want to raise alarm at the Israeli military’s most recent forced displacement orders for civilians in the north of Gaza being told to move south. This includes orders to evacuate critically ill patients and healthcare workers from the Al-Awda, Indonesian and Kamal Adwan hospitals. This morning I saw footage of intubated children and babies in incubators in the paediatric intensive care unit at Kamal Adwan hospital; they cannot evacuate, and even if they could, there is nowhere safe to go. Does the Minister agree that this military action is intolerable, unacceptable and must end? Our new Government have taken important first steps on UNRWA, arms and the ICC. There is much more to do. It is true that the Palestinians of Gaza need a ceasefire and access to aid, and aid workers need to be able to work safely, but Palestinians do not just need aid. They have the same rights to safety, freedom and dignity as everyone else, and we in this House would do well to remember that.

• 19 Jul 2024 · Israel and Gaza · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s announcement on UNRWA, whose work I know well. It saves lives in the face of unbearable horror, and we must be careful about believing any misinformation about its work. Earlier this year, in one of the only hospitals still functioning in Gaza, I met a mother whose child had been injured by an Israeli airstrike. With almost 40,000 killed, she asked me to tell the world what was being done to the Palestinians of Gaza. She assumed that we did not know, because if we knew, surely we would have acted to stop it. Does the Foreign Secretary agree that, as well as an immediate and lasting ceasefire, accountability is essential in upholding international law, and that the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice are doing vital work on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories that must be supported and acted on? Will he meet me to discuss those issues?