Women’s Representation in Peace Processes

Lord Purvis of Tweed Excerpts

Tuesday 30th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I met the female Minister from Yemen just yesterday. The noble Baroness is right that women in Yemen are suffering terribly and yes, we do work to provide support. I will get back to the noble Baroness on specific programmes and exactly how that is done, because I do not want to mislead, but the point the noble Baroness makes about women in leadership is exactly right.

[Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)]

My Lords, in March, the Commons International Development Committee reported on its inquiry into women, peace and security. It said that

“our report finds that the Government has failed to deliver on policy commitments relating to the inclusion of women, girls and marginalised groups in meaningful participation and conflict prevention”.

Paragraph 4 states:

“We find that the Government continues to reduce funding and resourcing towards WPS … despite the devastating impacts this has on women and girls”.


The Minister was right: the need is greater. So, why are a Labour Government cutting the very thing that is needed for women, girls, peace and security?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

We have protected the £7 million that we spend centrally on women, peace and security. That is just a fact. I do not know what time period the report was referring to. It was published in March, but obviously it is retrospective. There is less money to spend as part of our aid budget, that is true. We have had to make some hard decisions. But even though we have had to make trade-offs and difficult choices, without a doubt, we have protected our central spending on this issue, for good reason.