Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Freddie van Mierlo Excerpts

Tuesday 10th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

As I have said, we have worked with 26 partners on a statement on humanitarian issues, with five partners today on sanctions, and as one of three leaders. We will join our friends and allies at the two-state solution conference next week, and I can assure my hon. Friend that we will continue to work with friends and allies in a variety of formats to press these points.

[Freddie van Mierlo (Henley and Thame) (LD)]

I pay tribute to the work of my Oxfordshire neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran), for her work to try to get Palestine recognised. She has brought forward Bills in this House for many years to that effect. I also extend my thoughts to all UK Palestinians living here who fear for their families in Gaza.

Has the Minister tonight heard the House’s wish to recognise Palestinian statehood, and will he outline the steps the Government are taking to make sure that baby formula gets through as aid into the strip? Mothers are unable to feed their children, and it is terrifying to watch on TV. I hope he will press on that matter in particular.

[Mr Falconer]

I of course hear the voice of all parliamentarians who have spoken today, and on the many other occasions when we have had to discuss these issues. Like other Members, the hon. Gentleman presses me on one of many lifesaving items that are not currently going into the strip in the volumes required. They include medical provision, baby food, and the basic nutrition to deal with the famine that the IPC—Integrated Food Security Phase Classification—report warns all those in Gaza are at risk of. There is an urgent need for all such items to get in, and I assure him that we press that point.

Oral Answers to Questions

Freddie van Mierlo Excerpts

Tuesday 25th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Anneliese Dodds]

I am grateful to the right hon. Lady for her question, and for her passion for the protection of women and girls. Protecting them, and, indeed, religious and ethnic minorities, has been at the core of the UK’s engagement with the Syrian authorities. It was at the core of the interventions I made at the conference on Syria that I attended in Paris just a few days ago, and it is also very important in relation to the changes to sanctions that my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary set out.

[Freddie van Mierlo (Henley and Thame) (LD)]

8. What steps he is taking to increase diplomatic co-operation with his European counterparts.

[The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Stephen Doughty)]

The Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary, the Minister for the Cabinet Office and I are engaging extensively with European counterparts, including through the Prime Minister’s attendance of a European Council meeting for the first time since Brexit. We are working closely with European allies, and are calling for increased defence spending and support for Ukraine. This deeper engagement has already delivered results on growth and security, including a landmark defence and migration agreement with Germany.

[Freddie van Mierlo]

The Thames valley is one of the most important economic zones in this country. At a recent meeting that I held with the business leaders of the Thames Valley chamber of commerce, the overwhelming message was that Brexit has been a disaster for business, and that Boris Johnson and the Tories did them dirty. Will the Minister commit to correcting that wrong, and start negotiations to join a European Union customs union?

[Stephen Doughty]

We have been very clear that we do not seek to rejoin the customs union, but our co-operation is already delivering results, particularly in relation to growth and business. We recently secured a £250 million Czech investment in Rolls-Royce small modular nuclear reactors, and a further £600 million investment by Polish firm InPost in its UK operations, and as I have said, we have also signed deals on migration with Serbia, Kosovo, Slovenia and Slovakia.