Air India Plane Crash
Danny Beales Excerpts(4 days, 12 hours ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Falconer
I understand the force and the emotion behind my hon. Friend’s question. I have spoken to families about the obvious agonies of the process of identification. I will look into the circumstance that he describes. He mentioned the Indian High Commission, to whom I pass on my thanks for its hard work, particularly in rapidly facilitating visas for family members to be able to go out to see their loved ones.
Danny Beales (Uxbridge and South Ruislip) (Lab)
My constituency has a significant Indian community, and there has been collective grief and dismay at this tragic event. I am sure that members of the community will welcome the Minister’s condolences, as do I, for the families affected, both here in the UK and in India. I welcome the Minister’s statement and his confirmation of support on the ground for the affected families, but will he keep the consulate’s resources under review, both in capacity and locations of support, as events unfold? I welcome the confirmation that British crash investigators are on site to provide support, but will the Minister confirm that he is in close dialogue with the Department for Transport to ensure all UK resources and expertise in this area are available and can be deployed, to get the families the answers that they deserve so much?
Mr Falconer
I confirm to my hon. Friend that we will, of course, keep our consular response under review, as events develop. I can also confirm that there remains close co-ordination between the Foreign Office and the Department for Transport. The Foreign Secretary, the Secretary of State for Transport and I were all in the first ministerial Cobra in response to the incident, and I know the Transport Secretary continues to have a close engagement in these issues.
Kashmir: Increasing Tension
Danny Beales Excerpts(1 month, 3 weeks ago)
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
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Mr Falconer
If my hon. Friend would like a statement, he can stay for 45 minutes and he will get another one from me. We have been in direct contact with both India and Pakistan, and we will continue to do so.
Danny Beales (Uxbridge and South Ruislip) (Lab)
I thank the Minister for his condolences and for his strong condemnation of this horrific terror attack. In recent days, I have been contacted by hundreds of families in my constituency who have been horrified by these events. It is clear that the awful terror attack in Kashmir has sent shockwaves through the British Indian community and the global Hindu community more broadly. My constituents have spoken overwhelmingly of justice, and understandably so. We all want to see peace and de-escalation, but understanding that people will be held to account for these horrific crimes is vital to getting there.
I would just like to press the Minister a little more to be clear that the UK Government, when they stand with India, are doing all they can to identify the parties responsible for these events and those who support and fund them, so that they can be held to account and justice can be found.
Oral Answers to Questions
Danny Beales Excerpts(5 months ago)
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Mr Falconer
We continue to work closely with the American Administration, and we look forward to doing so with the new Administration. It is regrettably true that Iran’s nuclear programme has never been more advanced, and it threatens international peace and security. We remain determined that Iran must never develop a nuclear weapon, and we remain committed to a diplomatic solution to achieve that.
Danny Beales (Uxbridge and South Ruislip) (Lab)
Anna Dixon (Shipley) (Lab)
The Minister for Development (Anneliese Dodds)
The scale of humanitarian suffering in Gaza is catastrophic and unacceptable. The UK condemns Israel’s restrictions on aid in the strongest terms. This is a man-made crisis, and Israel must act immediately to address it.
Danny Beales
The aid agencies I have spoken to are particularly concerned about access to medical facilities and critical shortages of medical supplies in Gaza, particularly northern Gaza. In the light of that, what steps are the Government taking to get additional medical supplies to Gaza for both Palestinians and Israeli hostages in desperate humanitarian situations?
Anneliese Dodds
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising this incredibly important issue. In December, I saw for myself in Jordan how medical aid had been blocked from entering Gaza. As I have said before, the position that the UK Government have articulated at every possible juncture is that restrictions on lifesaving aid must end. The UK continues to provide core healthcare relief items, and has provided 76,000 wound care kits, 1.3 million items of medicine, and critical funding for UK-Med to run its field hospitals in Gaza.