Contributions
1,991 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDAfghanistan: FCDO UpdateWe want to be a safe haven for those fleeing persecution, but we also want to encourage people to take legal and lawful routes, and that is why we have set them out. We do not…06 Sept 2021HANSARDAfghanistan: FCDO UpdateMy hon. Friend nails it: we do not intend to recognise the Taliban. The UK Government do not as a matter of practice recognise Governments, and the reason why is that that allows…06 Sept 2021HANSARDAfghanistan: FCDO UpdateI do not think that is quite right: we have been willing to look at British Council cases, although of course this depends on the level of association. More generally, if the hon.…06 Sept 2021HANSARDAfghanistan: FCDO UpdateIt is difficult to assess and judge that with any precision, but one thing is clear: the Taliban have proved a very effective military force. The question is whether they can turn…06 Sept 2021HANSARDAfghanistan: FCDO UpdateThat is probably more the Home Secretary’s domain than mine, but we will of course want to assess very carefully with all our key partners and all the sources at our disposal the…06 Sept 2021HANSARDAfghanistan: FCDO UpdateMy right hon. Friend makes an excellent point. We are going to have to test this; this is one of the early tests. The evidence from the period of the evacuation suggests, given…06 Sept 2021HANSARDAfghanistan: FCDO UpdateIn terms of the eligibility of dependants, the Taliban have not gone into that level of granular detail, but if there is a clear case of a British national and immediate…06 Sept 2021HANSARDAfghanistan: FCDO UpdateThe truth is that all the points my hon. Friend made are relevant considerations. Ideally, we would want the UN to co-ordinate as that would give it independence and objectivity.…06 Sept 2021HANSARDAfghanistan: FCDO UpdateOf course, we are advising and working very closely with the Home Office on the new resettlement scheme and the eligibility criteria, in the way that the hon. Gentleman described.…06 Sept 2021HANSARDAfghanistan: FCDO UpdateNo one could fail to be moved by the heart-rending scenes at Kabul airport—the one my hon. Friend described and others. We will of course look at what we can do in relation to…06 Sept 2021HANSARDAfghanistan: FCDO UpdateThe hon. Lady is absolutely right. Of course, if there is a stock of cases that are good to go because those checks have already been done, we want to make sure that we are ready…06 Sept 2021HANSARDAfghanistan: FCDO UpdateMy hon. Friend is absolutely right. Not only are they included, but among the broadly 500 special cases that have been evacuated out of Afghanistan, there have been a significant…06 Sept 2021HANSARDAfghanistan: FCDO UpdateThe hon. Gentleman referred to the risk report that the management board received in July. That is a standard monthly report that goes to senior officials. It did not contain any…06 Sept 2021HANSARDAfghanistan: FCDO UpdateI explained why there was a backlog of emails; it was partly due to the surge of new contact that we received in the narrowing window of the evacuation and the decision…06 Sept 2021HANSARDAfghanistan: FCDO UpdateI am afraid that the hon. Lady is not quite right. Most of those countries have closed their borders. We have spoken to all of them, pressing for a third-country facility to get…06 Sept 2021HANSARDAfghanistan: FCDO UpdateOf course, those fleeing persecution or in fear for their life because of not just ethnicity but religious belief will be part of the considerations for the resettlement scheme.…06 Sept 2021HANSARDAfghanistan: FCDO UpdateWith your permission, Mr Speaker, I will update the House on the UK’s international response to the situation in Afghanistan. As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister set out,…06 Sept 2021HANSARDAfghanistan: FCDO UpdateI thank the hon. Lady for what she said about the efforts of our UK forces and the cross-Whitehall teams who have delivered the biggest evacuation in living memory. She asked for…06 Sept 2021HANSARDAfghanistan: FCDO UpdateI thank the hon. Gentleman for his remarks; he asks perfectly reasonable questions. On the correspondence, I have already set out for the House how we are dealing with that. I…06 Sept 2021HANSARDAfghanistan: FCDO UpdateI thank my right hon. Friend and pay tribute to his time as a Foreign Office Minister. He is right; we are already consulting the UN. The Prime Minister has spoken to the UN…06 Sept 2021