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HANSARD Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillLet me begin my remarks by once again paying tribute to the heroic Chagossian community who have joined us once again for this debate and have been here for a good four hours. In…20 Oct 2025HANSARD UkraineI am grateful to the Foreign Secretary for giving me advance sight of her statement. I would also like to welcome her to her place in her new role. We meet again at the Dispatch…15 Oct 2025HANSARDQatar: Israeli StrikeThis is clearly a very, very serious moment for the middle east. No one in this House wants to see a spiral of escalation of hostilities. Both Israel and Qatar are important and…10 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillI will return to that point in a minute. On top of what else is wrong with this surrender deal, it is a fundamental betrayal of the British Chagossian community, whose rights have…09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillI beg to move an amendment, to leave out from “That” to the end of the question and add: “this House declines to give a Second Reading to the Diego Garcia Military Base and…09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillLet me be clear: I was not a member of the previous Government, but the hon. Member knows perfectly well that no one on the Conservative Benches has any authority to publish…09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillExactly right. On top of that, there is the whole issue of the liabilities, costs and everything else that goes with it. The hon. Gentleman makes a fundamental, important point.09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillAbsolutely right. Of course, this Government do not like speaking about inflation for all the macro-economic reasons we know about. Inflation under this Government continues to…09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillHaving led Five Eyes for our country—I am very proud to have done so—it is a matter of great concern that the deal has been backed by Iran, China and Russia. I say to the hon.…09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillI will give way once again to the hon. Member for Halesowen (Alex Ballinger).09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillI met our Five Eyes partners at the weekend and I can tell the hon. Gentleman that they are not paying for this deal and they are not gloating about it. They see it very much as a…09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillThey have not gone on the record to say that they have. I have already made it quite clear why it is not in our interest. It tells us something about Labour’s priorities that…09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillFor the benefit of the House and everyone, to provide absolute clarity again, it was the Conservative Foreign Secretary who ended all discussions on this matter. I say it again:…09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillNo, sit down. In all respect to Lord Cameron, I think the Labour party should apologise for the gross misrepresentation that has taken place. Speaking of Foreign Secretaries, it…09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillI will now give way to the hon. Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Lillian Jones).09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillI will not. I know that the hon. Gentleman will speak later. I turn to the British Chagossians. As well as undermining our security and defence interests and ripping off British…09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillMy hon. Friend makes a good point. I have not heard our Five Eyes allies speak about it being a good way of effectively securing any national interest whatsoever—the concept of…09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillMy right hon. Friend is absolutely right. There is something fundamental here about the negotiations—I think the Minister alluded to this earlier on. The Government were…09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillI will be absolutely crystal clear for the benefit of this House and for Hansard , too: there was no deal whatsoever. The Government can put out as much fake news as they wish and…09 Sept 2025HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillMy hon. Friend is absolutely right. It speaks volumes about the priorities that this Labour Government—socialist to the core in how they like to spend public money—are focused on.…09 Sept 2025