Lord Cryer
Main Page: Lord Cryer (Labour - Life peer)
Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)
I completely agree with the noble Lord on accountability, and we have used our position on the Human Rights Council to further that and to get missions in place to gather the facts that are needed. I will of course read what he suggests on transnational repression; it is incredibly important, and I will make sure that I do that. I have not looked at the Charity Commission issue that he raised, but I will commit to doing so. I welcome the suggestion around Wilton Park; it is a very useful opportunity to get people together in a closed environment to have the kind of conversations that can make a real difference to these situations.
Lord Cryer (Lab)
My Lords, the impression has been created that government policy has changed and that we are about to ban the IRGC or will do so at some point in the near future. Is that the case, or is it not, because some of us are starting to get a bit fed up with raising this?
Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)
I appreciate the frustration that my noble friend feels and I would never seek to make him feel that way—I have known him for a long time and I know how he can get. All I can do is restate the position. We commissioned the review by Jonathan Hall, and we accept fully his recommendations, which are that we need a change to our legal framework in order to do that which the noble Lord wants to see happen. We are committed to doing that, because we need to do that first, and we have made that commitment. If he wishes to continue to push with urgency on that, it would not be an unhelpful role for him to play and I know that it is one that he will do well.