Contributions
1,897 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillMy Lords, with the leave of the House, I shall now repeat in the form of a Statement the Answer given by my honourable friend the Minister of State for Europe, North America and…26 Jan 2026HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillI do not think they are wrong. The problem, however, is that that option was unlikely to be available to us indefinitely. We needed to find a solution that was legally secure and…26 Jan 2026HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillI do not know of any treaty that can be rewritten unilaterally. As for the words of my honourable friend Stephen Doughty, I will let him know that this House considers its role as…26 Jan 2026HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillWe talk with our allies and partners on this constantly, and we continue to talk to our friends in the United States because they are integral to this agreement.26 Jan 2026HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillI do not know about it being perfectly obvious. There were many things said last week that it is probably best we do not treat as emblematic or representative of the nature of the…26 Jan 2026HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillI am glad that the noble Lord opposite has finally reread my contributions in this place from, I think, November, when I talked about an exchange of notes that would be needed…26 Jan 2026HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillIt is my understanding that the situation with regard to the 1966 treaty has certainly been understood by my Government, and, I am assuming—I cannot see that it would not have…26 Jan 2026HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillI thank my noble friend, the chair of the ISC, for drawing that to our attention. I was not aware that that accusation had been made, but of course it is completely untrue and…26 Jan 2026HANSARDDiego Garcia: Comments by the President of the United StatesNo. The noble Lord is completely wrong in his assertion about the motivation for doing this deal. This is about keeping this country and its citizens safe. That will always be the…22 Jan 2026HANSARDDiego Garcia: Comments by the President of the United StatesMy Lords, the Diego Garcia military base is essential to the security of the UK and our allies and to keeping British people safe. As we have repeatedly made clear, the agreement…22 Jan 2026HANSARDDiego Garcia: Comments by the President of the United StatesIn all seriousness, we are speaking intensively, as noble Lords would expect, with our friends and allies in the United States. It is our understanding—and the United States’…22 Jan 2026HANSARDDiego Garcia: Comments by the President of the United StatesAs I have explained on I do not know how many occasions, this is a joint initiative. It is about securing a base for the United Kingdom and the United States, which we believe to…22 Jan 2026HANSARDDiego Garcia: Comments by the President of the United StatesAny country could help withhold any service relating to the operability of the base at any time because the legal jeopardy in which it stood was sustained, and it would be their…22 Jan 2026HANSARDDiego Garcia: Comments by the President of the United StatesIt is £3.4 billion. The reason why there has been a dispute over this is that some people do not understand inflation. These numbers have been calculated in the normal way, as…22 Jan 2026HANSARDDiego Garcia: Comments by the President of the United StatesThat is correct. The relationship that we have with the United States on security, defence and intelligence sharing is the deepest such relationship that has ever existed on this…22 Jan 2026HANSARDDiego Garcia: Comments by the President of the United StatesI know the noble Lord does not always want me to be nice to him on the Floor of the House, but I must say that the Liberal Democrats, much as they have had their issues with this…22 Jan 2026HANSARDDiego Garcia: Comments by the President of the United StatesI do not know what I have done that is not statesmanlike, but our intention is to have those conversations with the United States and come to an agreed position, and that has…22 Jan 2026HANSARDDiego Garcia: Comments by the President of the United StatesWe are talking through our allies in NATO with the United States, because we agree with them about how vital Arctic security is, and that does involve Greenland. But the right way…22 Jan 2026HANSARDAtrocity CrimesMy Lords, I begin as everybody else has done, by thanking the noble Lord, Lord Alton of Liverpool. I know he does not need this, but I will just say how much I respect and value…20 Jan 2026HANSARDGreenland: Proposed US TariffsI appreciate that the noble Baroness takes a strong personal interest, for reasons that I understand, in what happens in Denmark and Greenland. I do not think it helps anybody to…19 Jan 2026