Strait of Hormuz

Earl of Kinnoull Excerpts

Wednesday 18th March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

My noble friend is right about UN Article 51. That has been used for our activities in the region, not just most recently, but against the Houthis, the Iranian proxies in Yemen. To be clear, the use of our bases in Fairford and Diego Garcia that he refers to are about defensive action. We have been very clear about that and that is consistent with our use of Article 51.

[The Earl of Kinnoull (CB)]

My Lords, one of the precursors to the reopening of the commercial shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz would be the availability of reasonably priced insurance—and lots of it. The main marine insurance markets for the world are based in London. What discussions are the Government having with those markets to understand what has to be done so that those markets can reopen and allow the insurance side of shipping to take place? I declare my interest in the insurance world.

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I thank the noble Earl. He is right and we are having active conversations with Lloyd’s of London to make sure that shipping is insurable as the strait reopens. At the moment, though, you could have all the insurance you want—if it is not safe, it is not safe. We need to make sure that that is established, but it is important. Even if the strait reopens, if you cannot insure what you are doing, that makes life pretty impossible, so we have to make sure that we have a solution on insurance.