Contributions
2,005 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsYes, I can. In that regard, I want to associate myself with the remarks of the former Prime Minister and state once again that the right to self-determination governs our…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean TerritoryOn 3 October the United Kingdom and the Republic of Mauritius reached an historic agreement on the exercise of sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory/Chagos…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsYes to the hon. Gentleman’s question. We will come forward with plans in due course.07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsI am hugely grateful to my hon. Friend, because the Commonwealth matters to those on the Government Benches. It used to matter to those on the Opposition Benches. As we head to…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsDid the right hon. Gentleman raise this when he was part of the last Government, and did he make it a resignation issue? No, he did not, because he knows that we inherited this,…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsIt was precisely to put the base on a secure footing, because of that global uncertainty, that this deal was the right deal.07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsMr Speaker, I am very grateful for your instructions at the beginning of this statement. With permission, I will make a statement on the conclusion of negotiations on the exercise…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsOn Thursday 3 October, my right hon. and learned Friend the Prime Minister and Mauritian Prime Minister Jugnauth made an historic announcement: after two years of negotiations and…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsIf Members oppose the deal, which of the alternatives do they prefer? Doing this deal on our terms was the sole way to maintain the full and effective operation of the base into…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsIt takes some brass neck to criticise this Government for delivering what the last Government tried and failed to do. It was the last Government that opened these negotiations in…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsI reassure my right hon. Friend that we will of course do everything we can, and have done everything we can—including combating illegal fishing—to better secure the environment.…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsI thank the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for raising the plight of the Chagossians. The way in which they were treated in the 1960s was wrong and is a matter of immense regret,…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsI am grateful to the Chair of the Defence Committee. In relation to the global south, he will have seen that the Government of India welcomed the agreement, and that India…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsI think the hon. Gentleman knows better than that, having chaired the all-party parliamentary group on Mauritius. He knows that these discussions began under the last Government;…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsI am very grateful to my hon. Friend for that question, and of course I agree with him wholeheartedly.07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsThe right hon. Gentleman has immense experience in this House. As Members of this House know, sometimes one is able to strike up friendships across the Floor—we are fellow Spurs…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsI know how my hon. Friend has championed these issues for many years, and I reassure him that this was an issue of intense discussion under the last Government and under this…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsThe hon. Gentleman is not new to this House. We will follow the usual processes, as he would expect.07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsI am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his question. Let me reassure him that we have sought to take views across the US political establishment, but I do say to him that to get…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsI am grateful to my hon. Friend, who chairs the all-party group on Gibraltar. We unequivocally support the right of both Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands to self-determination.…07 Oct 2024