Contributions
1,897 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDParliamentary Assembly of the Council of EuropeThat is quite right. I hope that I chose my words sufficiently carefully in my previous answer. Perhaps the term “appropriate action” is where I should have placed a little more…03 Dec 2024HANSARDParliamentary Assembly of the Council of EuropeMy Lords, the Prime Minister announced the new UK delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe via Written Ministerial Statement on 14 November. We value the…03 Dec 2024HANSARDIsrael-Gaza Conflict: Arrest WarrantsMy noble friend is correct in that the warrants are for war crimes of starvation, intentional attacks on civilians and other inhumane acts. I point out to noble Lords that the…26 Nov 2024HANSARDInternational Aid Workers: Israel and the Occupied Palestinian TerritoriesMy Lords, I am honestly not interested in having a big discussion about blame at this stage. Some 40% of the population of Gaza are under 15. I do not think that it is wrong to…26 Nov 2024HANSARDIsrael-Gaza Conflict: Arrest WarrantsThat is right. The issue is that this has never happened. We have never had a serving Head of State subject to an ICC warrant visit the UK. We have had situations under European…26 Nov 2024HANSARDIsrael-Gaza Conflict: Arrest WarrantsI do not think I batted it away. I gave an accurate description of the Government’s position. It is not unprecedented for two pieces of law to cut across each other. The right way…26 Nov 2024HANSARDInternational Aid Workers: Israel and the Occupied Palestinian TerritoriesThe noble Baroness is right to highlight what has been happening to health workers and aid workers. Almost 1,000 health workers and around 300 aid workers have been killed since…26 Nov 2024HANSARDInternational Aid Workers: Israel and the Occupied Palestinian TerritoriesThe right reverend Prelate is right to raise this question. We work using every channel we can and every lever available to us, and in a way that we hope maximises the chance of…26 Nov 2024HANSARDInternational Aid Workers: Israel and the Occupied Palestinian TerritoriesMy Lords, we are concerned by reports of humanitarian agencies being unable to do their jobs because of visa restrictions. As the Prime Minister has said, there can be no more…26 Nov 2024HANSARDInternational Aid Workers: Israel and the Occupied Palestinian TerritoriesThe noble Lord is completely right that this is the moment when we need out-of-the-box thinking, and we are looking at every available avenue. We have been working with the…26 Nov 2024HANSARDInternational Aid Workers: Israel and the Occupied Palestinian TerritoriesMy Lords, we are using all our diplomatic efforts to get aid into Gaza, because the situation is becoming urgent as we approach winter. Some 1.9 million displaced people are…26 Nov 2024HANSARDInternational Aid Workers: Israel and the Occupied Palestinian TerritoriesMy Lords, as I have already said, we have concerns. Our priorities for humanitarian action in Gaza are to protect the civilian population with an immediate effort to prepare them…26 Nov 2024HANSARDInternational Aid Workers: Israel and the Occupied Palestinian TerritoriesMy Lords, I think that our attempts to influence the Israeli Government in this regard should have nothing to do with the ICC ruling. We are making arguments about saving lives,…26 Nov 2024HANSARDInternational Aid Workers: Israel and the Occupied Palestinian TerritoriesMy Lords, as we have discussed at length previously, we have a fairly well-established way of looking at arms licensing. I am confident that the decisions that have been made in…26 Nov 2024HANSARDIsrael-Gaza Conflict: Arrest WarrantsOn both questions, I am afraid that I disagree with the noble Lord. That is not how we view the ICC. We respect the ICC and our obligations as a signatory to it. As for the…26 Nov 2024HANSARDIsrael-Gaza Conflict: Arrest WarrantsMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Wolfson of Tredegar, for his point, and I have seen the letter he wrote to the Attorney-General. It raises an important point and a question…26 Nov 2024HANSARDIsrael-Gaza Conflict: Arrest WarrantsMy Lords, we will comply with our obligations under our membership of the ICC. My understanding is slightly different from the noble Lord’s in that, as of now, the warrants are…26 Nov 2024HANSARDIsrael-Gaza Conflict: Arrest WarrantsThe helpfulness or otherwise is not really at question. The ICC is independent of the United Kingdom Government, and rightly so. We will comply with our obligations as a member of…26 Nov 2024HANSARDInternational Aid Workers: Israel and the Occupied Palestinian TerritoriesMy Lords, I am very careful about the use of the word “genocide”. It is not a word that should be bandied around by any politician. Genocide is for a court to determine. That has…26 Nov 2024HANSARDInternational Aid Workers: Israel and the Occupied Palestinian TerritoriesAs the noble Lord should know—perhaps his noble friend might like to remind him—UNRWA is the only viable way to get aid into Gaza at the scale that is needed now. We understand…26 Nov 2024