Oral Answers to Questions

Hamish Falconer Excerpts

Tuesday 28th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Andrew George (St Ives) (LD)]

6. What steps she is taking to promote a Palestinian state.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Mr Hamish Falconer)]

The UK’s commitment to a two-state solution remains steadfast. The UK has provided £116 million of aid to the Palestinian people this year. I was proud that, on 21 September, the Prime Minister announced the UK’s recognition of the state of Palestine. That was to protect the viability of the two-state solution and support a path towards lasting peace. Meanwhile, the UK Government are continuing to provide technical and financial support to the Palestinian Authority as they build a viable and effective state of Palestine. In July, we announced £7 million in technical support to strengthen governance, accountability and civic space in Palestine. I and the Foreign Secretary remain in touch with our Palestinian counterparts.

[Andrew George]

Slow as it was, that is welcome indeed, but will the Government go beyond suspending new trade deals and actively review existing trade deals with Israel, including both goods and services originating from the illegal settlements, to ensure that UK trade policy does not undermine the prospect of Palestinian statehood?

[Mr Falconer]

The Foreign Secretary has already been clear about the importance of a single, effective Palestinian state, which of course includes the west bank. The hon. Member has heard from me on a number of occasions about the different trading standards for both Israel itself and the occupied territories. We of course keep these questions under close review, but the whole House will appreciate that our focus now needs to be on ensuring that the ceasefire holds as we move into the 20-point plan and towards the two-state solution that we all want to see.

[Uma Kumaran (Stratford and Bow) (Lab)]

We all welcome a ceasefire and the recognition of a Palestinian state, but we must now support the Palestinian people. The head of the United Nations humanitarian affairs team has said that driving through Gaza City is like

“going through the ruins of Hiroshima”.

The people of Gaza who have endured this hellish war and survived now face a humanitarian disaster. They urgently need aid, and the UK, along with many other countries, stands ready to provide it. The block to this aid, as so frequently has been the case, is the Israeli authorities. What steps are the Government taking to ensure that Israel stops blocking this urgently needed aid and humanitarian supplies, and to get them to the people who are desperately in need?

[Mr Falconer]

I want to update the House on this very important question. We are seeing a greater flow of aid into Gaza. That is, of course, supremely welcome, and something that we have long awaited, but it is not yet at the level we would wish to see. There are still restrictions on that aid going in, and, as the Foreign Secretary has been clear on, vital crossings remain unopened. We continue to engage with all our partners on this, and I and the Foreign Secretary will be travelling to the region this weekend to pursue that work.

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[Caroline Voaden (South Devon) (LD)]

16. What diplomatic steps she is taking to help ensure that humanitarian aid can reach people in Gaza.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Mr Hamish Falconer)]

Alongside our international partners, the UK is working to get aid into Gaza on the scale needed to ease the desperate humanitarian crisis that is taking place. In recent days, the Foreign Secretary has spoken with Tom Fletcher of the United Nations, Egyptian Foreign Minister Abdelatty and Israeli Foreign Minister Sa’ar about the importance of opening more crossings and removing all restrictions on aid. We are ready to play our full part in providing that aid. We have announced £74 million of humanitarian funding already this year, including the £20 million announced at the peace summit in Egypt.

[Paul Davies]

I fully support the Minister in welcoming the US-brokered ceasefire, which has enabled the delivery of much-needed humanitarian aid into Gaza. As the Minister is aware, the UN and its partners have significantly scaled up their operations providing essential supplies, such as food, water, medical aid and fuel. However, given that border closures and ongoing political tensions continue to obstruct the flow of assistance, what steps are the Government taking to ensure unimpeded humanitarian access, and to prevent aid being used as a tool of political leverage?

[Mr Falconer]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Following the US-led ceasefire agreement and the UN’s work, more trucks are starting to cross the border, but that needs to be scaled up much more rapidly, and we need the Rafah crossing fully opened, alongside other aid routes. We need international non-governmental organisations in, and able to operate in Gaza unimpeded. Civilians in Gaza cannot wait.

[Caroline Voaden]

The Norwegian Refugee Council says that, between 10 and 21 October, 99 requests by international NGOs to deliver aid to Gaza were rejected by Israel on the grounds that the organisations were “not authorised” to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, yet these trusted agencies have operated there for decades. Can the Minister tell the people of Gaza who are living in makeshift shelters, and who are hungry and thirsty, what the UK Government are actually doing to compel the Israeli authorities to immediately allow aid deliveries into Gaza?

[Mr Falconer]

We need to see the agreement implemented in full. The Foreign Secretary has raised this particular case with the Foreign Minister of Israel. We will continue to press for the full flow of aid that needs to go in. The hon. Member rightly asked me what I say to the people of Gaza. I say that we understand the urgency, and that the aid needs to be in there now. We will continue to press those points on the phone, and when we both go to the region this weekend.

[Jack Rankin (Windsor) (Con)]

12. How much and what proportion of the funding due to be allocated to Mauritius as part of the agreement concerning the Chagos archipelago will come from her Department’s budget.

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[John Slinger (Rugby) (Lab)]

T3. I declare an interest as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on the Kurdistan region in Iraq, and as I led a delegation there. The 2005 federal Iraqi constitution agreed in a popular vote to underpin Kurdish rights. We were told that Baghdad deliberately withholds salary payments to public employees in the region. The Foreign Secretary visited Erbil when she was Home Secretary, and knows how important this part of Iraq is to our security. Does she agree that we need our Kurdish ally to be strong and respected in a federal Iraq, and that a better relationship there would enable vital reform, for the benefit of that region and, indeed, our own country?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Mr Hamish Falconer)]

The relationship between Baghdad, Erbil and Sulaymaniyah is of vital importance. I continue to discuss these issues with the Iraqi Foreign Minister, and Iraqi Kurdish politicians as well. We will continue to do so, and I look forward to visiting the region shortly.

[Pippa Heylings (South Cambridgeshire) (LD)]

T4. The UN Secretary General has warned that it is now inevitable that we will fail to keep global warming under 1.5°C, with the threat of devastating consequences, like the loss of the Amazon rainforest and its role in climate regulation. While the Conservatives and Reform continue to sabotage climate action, it is good to know that the Prime Minister will be going to COP30, but will the Foreign Secretary commit to making no further cuts to our international aid budget, so that we can contribute to the Tropical Forest Forever Facility fund?

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[Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

T7. On Saturday, I joined CAFOD and my constituents Karl, Harry and Jo on a deadlift challenge. We—and yes, Mr Speaker, that includes me—collectively lifted more than 100 tonnes, the equivalent of five aid planes to Gaza. CAFOD also works in the west bank, where Palestinians are being treated as second-class citizens living under military, not civil, law. What diplomatic actions is the Department taking to ensure an end to violence against Palestinians and to improve their rights while a two-state solution is negotiated?

[Mr Falconer]

The initiatives that the hon. Member took with CAFOD rightly highlight the importance of rubble movement in Gaza, which is an enormous logistical challenge. That was one of the reasons I convened the Gaza reconstruction conference in Wilton Park. She rightly raises the very important question of rights in the west bank. We have contributed and will continue to contribute to efforts locally to ensure that those resident in the west bank can exercise their rights, and we will continue to raise the wider issues around annexation.

[Ms Diane Abbott (Hackney North and Stoke Newington) (Ind)]

The Foreign Secretary will be aware that Hurricane Melissa is of huge concern internationally, to those who have friends and family on holiday in Jamaica and to those of us of Jamaican heritage here in Britain. Will she give an assurance that in the horrific aftermath of Melissa, we will give every possible help and support to the people of Jamaica?

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[Mr Falconer]

It is an important question. We have condemned rocket attacks into Israel throughout—both before and after 7 October. The nature of the rockets from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad makes it harder to have a clear and indisputable number, but I will try to assist the hon. Gentleman on some of the other rockets. I believe that Iranian attacks since 7 October have included 600 rockets, killing 29 Israelis, and that Houthi attacks, which have targeted Israeli civilians, have included 100 ballistic missiles and drones.

[Lauren Edwards (Rochester and Strood) (Lab)]

I recently met the family of Davinder Singh Thandi, who died in suspicious circumstances in India. This has obviously been a distressing time for my constituents, and unfortunately they have struggled to get timely advice and support from the Foreign Office. I thank the Minister for her recent letter, but will she meet me to discuss their case and how the Department can develop a victims code to better support families like Mr Thandi’s?

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[Dame Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch) (Lab/Co-op)]

Karim Ennarah is an internationally recognised human rights activist who has been subjected to a travel ban by Egypt and has been stuck there since 2020. What is the Foreign Office doing—or what can it do—to ensure that he is able to come to the UK to join his wife in my constituency?

[Mr Falconer]

I am familiar with the case and have met the man in question and my hon. Friend’s constituent. I am happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss it further. I am travelling to Egypt this weekend and will continue to be in these sorts of discussions.

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

Cuts to spending in Afghanistan inevitably impact women and children disproportionately. They are more likely to be employed by NGOs forced to make cuts and more likely to need assistance. Does the Minister agree that we need to ringfence and protect funding to Afghanistan?

[Mr Falconer]

We have to be clear about who is driving the oppression of Afghan women and girls. The Taliban have put further restrictions on women and girls. They have taken further steps, including restricting the internet, that undermine the viability of Afghanistan’s economy at a fundamental level. But I assure the House that we continue to allocate significant funding to Afghanistan, with £151 million this year. That is a small decrease from last year, but I assure the hon. Member, who I know remains committed to these issues, that we remain very much focused on them.

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[Peter Prinsley (Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket) (Lab)]

Mr Yaxley-Lennon, aka T. Robinson, has been fêted in Israel at the invitation of a Government Minister, while the hon. Member for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, aka Dr Peter Prinsley—a British Jew, a member of the Board of Deputies and a vocal supporter of the Israeli people in Parliament—has been banned. What does the Minister think can be usefully done to rectify that?

[Mr Falconer]

My hon. Friend is an incredibly thoughtful, long-standing commentator on these issues. Both he and his family have made a great contribution to UK-Israeli relations. It was an act of great foolishness to prevent him from entering Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We called on the Israeli Government at the time, as we did in previous such instances. We cannot prevent the Israeli Government from making decisions that are not in their interests, but that was clearly one of them.

[Sir Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)]

The Government’s position seems to be that communist China can and does pose a wide range of serious threats to the United Kingdom but is not a threat itself. How can that possibly make sense?

[Louise Haigh (Sheffield Heeley) (Lab)]

Despite a ceasefire being in place for almost a year, Israeli forces struck UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon just this weekend. What work are the Government doing with the Lebanese Government and in particular the Lebanese armed forces to shore up our crucial ally in the region?

[Mr Falconer]

Lebanon is a crucial ally. I will travel there shortly and intend to go to the area affected. It is vital that Lebanon’s borders, in both the east and the south, are secure. That is vital for their security, as well as for ours.

[Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin) (Con)]

British national Jimmy Lai is currently in solitary confinement in a prison in Hong Kong. He has been there for five years. He is 78 years of age, he is in ill health and his trial will come to an end very soon. Ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit, what representations has the Foreign Secretary made to the White House to ensure that when President Trump meets President Xi, the case of Jimmy Lai will be raised, as it has been in the last 36 hours by a cross-party group of 38 US Senators?