Contributions
1,991 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDTopical QuestionsI share the hon. Lady’s view about the importance of scrutiny. We have made clear our commitment to not just maintaining but strengthening the Independent Commission for Aid…13 Oct 2020HANSARDTopical QuestionsI pay tribute to my right hon. Friend for all the work that he has done in this area. We will of course look very carefully at the case he raises, and I understand the point that…13 Oct 2020HANSARDTopical QuestionsWe have a European Council this week. The scope and the prospects for a deal are there. I am hopeful that we can close the gap, but ultimately it will require the same good will,…13 Oct 2020HANSARDTopical QuestionsWe did indeed change the arrangements, exactly as I undertook to the family and to the House. We also issued a written ministerial statement, which set out the terms. When the…13 Oct 2020HANSARDTopical QuestionsI reassure my hon. Friend that the raison d’être of the merger is to bring together our aid clout and heft with our diplomatic reach and muscle. If he looks at the visit I made to…13 Oct 2020HANSARDTopical QuestionsI suspect the hon. Lady will know that the UK has a long practice, under successive Governments, of not commenting on voting in UN elections that are conducted by secret ballot— […13 Oct 2020HANSARDPresident of BelarusI thank my hon. Friend. He makes a powerful point about the agility and the autonomy that we have with our new Magnitsky sanctions regime, and also some of the latitude we will…13 Oct 2020HANSARDASEAN Countries: UK RelationsI visited Vietnam last month, where we held the first UK-ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ meeting, discussing collaboration on covid, the green economic recovery, and the UK’s application…13 Oct 2020HANSARD Belarus: Presidential ElectionsWe have made it clear that we do not accept the illegitimate election that took place. We will watch carefully. The consistent practice of the UK has been to recognise states…24 Sept 2020HANSARD Belarus: Presidential ElectionsI can reassure my hon. Friend that if the EU adopts sanctions—we hope that it will, and that they will be ambitious—we would continue them after the end of the transition period,…24 Sept 2020HANSARD Belarus: Presidential ElectionsI can reassure the hon. Member that in all the discussions I have had, he is the only person to have made that point.24 Sept 2020HANSARD Belarus: Presidential ElectionsAs I have set out in my statement, we want to provide support not just for journalists, but for civil society. It is always the journalists who tend to be the first ones that…24 Sept 2020HANSARD Belarus: Presidential ElectionsNo.24 Sept 2020HANSARD Belarus: Presidential ElectionsMy hon. Friend is right, and not just in relation to the UK monitors, but in relation to the OSCE election monitors. It is important that the light we are shining on Belarus via…24 Sept 2020HANSARD Belarus: Presidential ElectionsI thank the hon. Lady and welcome the Liberal Democrats’ support for these measures. We of course want to apply the Magnitsky sanctions as effectively as possible. I think part of…24 Sept 2020HANSARD Belarus: Presidential ElectionsI admire the hon. Gentleman’s passion for justice and human rights. I am not sure that the relationship between Lukashenko and President Putin is quite the way he describes. I…24 Sept 2020HANSARD Belarus: Presidential ElectionsI pay tribute to my hon. Friend for his stalwart work—from his membership of the Joint Committee on Human Rights to his special envoy role—as a champion for human rights and…24 Sept 2020HANSARD Belarus: Presidential ElectionsThat is exactly what we will do. We want to get to the bottom of it, which is why we have triggered the OSCE’s Moscow mechanism. We want to hold those responsible to account, and…24 Sept 2020HANSARD Belarus: Presidential ElectionsWe are shocked, as the hon. Gentleman is, by the severity and brazenness of the violence that has been carried out in front of the media, and the reports that we have seen are as…24 Sept 2020HANSARD Belarus: Presidential ElectionsI pay tribute to the work of my right hon. Friend and Members from across the House in the Council of Europe, which is an important institution. It does not get the same media or…24 Sept 2020