Gibraltar
Debate between David Lammy and Harriett Baldwin(1 week, 3 days ago)
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Mr Lammy
I, too, pay tribute to the work of my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin) for championing the people of Gibraltar and their issues and for ensuring that, in coming into Government, we made sure that there could not be an agreement that Gibraltar’s representatives were not content with. I should update the House that yesterday I also met the Opposition in Gibraltar, so they were fully informed of what I hoped would become a good outcome today. We will work at pace on the treaty. I cannot give my hon. Friend a timeline because of the technical legal detail that that will involve, but I will seek to update the House in the appropriate way if there are delays.
Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)
I thank the Foreign Secretary for the tone of his statement and the tributes he paid to not only his predecessors, but the officials and diplomats who have been involved in the negotiations for many years. I do not think I heard an answer to the question asked by the shadow Foreign Secretary, which was: can a British citizen flying from the UK to Gibraltar now be stopped by a Spanish official as they land? On the sovereignty clause, will he clarify whether it means that Spain has abandoned its claim altogether, or does it plan to follow the same route that Mauritius did with Diego Garcia?
Mr Lammy
On the first point, we have stuck to the political framework that was negotiated and agreed back in 2020 by the then Foreign Secretary, the former Member for Esher and Walton. I have a photograph from the agreement that was struck, of where we would be locating effectively a joint facility in the airport. There will be a second line queue, as there is in St Pancras, and there will be Spanish border guards and police situated in that second line. Of course, if there was an alert at that point—not on its own, but at that point—there would be a hand-back facility with the Gibraltar police, so they will be working alongside that Spanish team. If there was an alert, the individual would have the right to legal advice. They would be able to either return to their country of origin—let’s say the UK—or voluntarily go over to Spain to face questions. The key thing is that it is joint and alongside the work and efforts of the Gibraltar police and the Gibraltar customs and border guards.
Same-Sex Marriage in Bermuda
Debate between David Lammy and Harriett Baldwin(7 years, 4 months ago)
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Harriett Baldwin
I assure the hon. Lady that the Secretary of State considered carefully a range of different views that were communicated to him by a range of different groups. I also understand that the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in April will include a strong strand on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.
Mr David Lammy (Tottenham) (Lab)
The first slaves were brought to Bermuda in 1620: oppressed, segregated and discriminated against. That is why leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and Barack Obama have fought not just for race rights, but the rights of lesbian, gay and bisexual people. This country has been one of the world leaders on this subject, so if this is not the issue on which to refuse assent I do not know what is. The Minister has come to the Dispatch Box and, frankly, I can see the discomfort on her face. Can she get into the detail, or ask the Secretary of State to get into the detail, of the discussions with the Bermudian Government and what our representations entail? Can she at least put them in the House of Commons Library? It is a shame that we stand on the wrong side of human rights in Parliament this morning.
Harriett Baldwin
I fully accept the eloquent way in which the right hon. Gentleman makes his case. He will be very aware that the rights on which he speaks so eloquently need to be balanced against the rights of self-determination, based on a democratically elected Government. That is the judgment the Secretary of State had to make. In this case, he decided that the situation was not exceptional enough for him to use those rights.