Mr Hamish Falconer

Middle East

I can offer my hon. Friend that assurance.

Middle East

I am reluctant to pass comment on the deliberations of other legislatures. The hon. Member referred to a number of European Union countries; as I am sure he knows, they have not taken steps on trade, as that is a European Union competence. They are discussing whether they might review their association agreement with Israel, but they have not yet done so. I am not in a competition, but I think any reasonable observer would say that the UK has gone further than the EU on these matters.

Middle East

I thank my hon. Friend for the question, and for welcoming me to her constituency recently to discuss this. We will continue to take every step we can in recognition of the seriousness of the situation.

Middle East

I can reassure my hon. Friend that we are selling no bombs and no bullets that could be used against the Palestinians.

Voted NO on: Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill: Reasoned Amendment to Second Reading

Hamish Falconer voted NO on 'Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill: Reasoned Amendment to Second Reading' (68-242, defeated)

Middle East

Well, I have laid out the steps that we have taken so far. Let me turn to the question of my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool Wavertree (Paula Barker). She focused in particular on sexual violence, which is about the most appalling of crimes, but if she will permit me, I want to talk a bit about the wider situation in relation to justice and accountability. British aid workers have been killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza. There is a reasonable expectation from the House, and indeed from acros

Voted NO on: Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill: Reasoned Amendment to Second Reading

Hamish Falconer voted NO on 'Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill: Reasoned Amendment to Second Reading' (68-242, defeated)

Middle East

I would take the point with more force if we were not today seeing our European partners looking to imitate things that we did some considerable time ago. I recognise the depth of feeling, which I share, about the suffering in Palestine and across the region, but it is simply not correct to suggest that the Government have done nothing. We have set out the action we have taken in relation to sanctions, arms exports and a range of other issues.

Middle East

Yesterday, I heard from Palestinian children about the struggles that they face. I have taken steps at every stage to try to ensure that they get help and assistance, and that they can exercise their rights in relation to both their education and the dreadful situation that I described in my statement. I reject my hon. Friend’s characterisation of my action and that of the Government; we take this with the seriousness that it requires. The condemnation that I have heard from across the House is

Imprisonment of Craig and Lindsay Foreman in Iran

I think I probably have to take turns, so I will give way to the hon. Lady and then to my hon. and learned Friend.

Imprisonment of Craig and Lindsay Foreman in Iran

I will try to make a little progress before I take the intervention from my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe. I am always reluctant, when at the Dispatch Box, to compare our diplomacy with that of our friends, partners and allies, but I say gently to the hon. Lady that the French case to which I think she is referring involved four years of detention in conditions that no one would want to see Craig and Lindsay in. I understand the point that she is making, but compari

Imprisonment of Craig and Lindsay Foreman in Iran

I can confirm to my hon. and learned Friend and to the House that we are progressing the appointment of an envoy. One of the issues we have sought to navigate in the appointment of an envoy is that the Government and I recognise the responsibilities that the Foreign Secretary and I have to this House and to other Members, who will wish to represent their constituents appropriately in public, just as we are doing as we speak. There is therefore a balance to be struck in appointing an envoy with t

Middle East

I thank my hon. Friend for the question. I can hear the frustration from colleagues, which I often hear when I indicate that further action may be possible but will not trail it before the Government take it. That is for long—

Middle East

But not finished, indeed. I am sure the Minister for Trade would be keen to emphasise how much heavy lifting has been required over recent months and years to get it over the line. I will not enter into a hypothetical discussion about the approach that has been taken since 2015 to try to ensure that Iran did not have the degree of highly enriched uranium that it now has, and how that could have been avoided, because that is the situation we now face. We must have a serious diplomatic process tha

Middle East

I am grateful to the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee for her question, which, as she says, she has put to me before. First, it is important to emphasise that we continue to take steps to ensure that international law is adhered to, and that those principles underline our response both to events in Isael-Palestine and across the wider middle east. I know the House is impatient for a fuller answer in relation to the advisory opinion, even though most of the substantive elements of policy I

Middle East

I want to be clear about British leadership on those questions. As I said in the statement, before all of the events that the hon. Member describes with Mr Ben-Gvir, I had already sanctioned him from the Dispatch Box. We did so in advance of most of our key friends and allies. As I was walking to the Chamber today, I saw that some of our European friends are now considering doing what we did in August of last year. We have taken action both in company and alone, given the significance of events

Middle East

I think I addressed those questions earlier, but let me reassure my hon. Friend that we continue to treat the situation with the seriousness that it deserves. I am not going to trail further announcements from the Dispatch Box, but we obviously keep all these matters under close review.

Middle East

I have sought to set out the action we are taking in relation to Israel and Palestine, both our publicly announced steps and the diplomatic work going on behind the scenes, and I have tried to do the same in relation to Iran. We are in no doubt about the seriousness of the situation, and we will continue to use our full diplomatic weight to try to improve it.

Middle East

I thank my hon. Friend for his kind words, and I am glad for the opportunity to thank the excellent officials in the Foreign Office and the Department for Business and Trade. I am glad to see that the Minister for Trade has just come back into the Chamber; he played an essential role in ensuring that the free trade agreement was concluded, and we are very grateful to him. To my hon. Friend’s question about the gulf, we work incredibly closely with our gulf partners, and we were very glad to host

Middle East

I could not agree more with my hon. Friends. The actions of the Israeli Government are nothing to do with British Jewry. I was so pleased and honoured to be with members of the community on Monday, and made that very point to them. There is no excuse of any kind for antisemitism; Israel has absolutely nothing to do with it.