Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Llinos Medi and Hamish Falconer(2 weeks, 2 days ago)
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Llinos Medi (Ynys Môn) (PC)
Holyhead Towing in my constituency has vessels in the middle east, specifically in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE. The company is keeping its crew updated to the best of its knowledge. What official advice or guidance is available for UK maritime operators working in the region?
Mr Falconer
As I have said before, travel advice is the surest and most regularly updated advice for British nationals in the region. We changed the travel advice yesterday for Qatar, as my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary announced in the House. We hope, as he has said this morning, that there will now be greater stability in the region, that the ceasefire will hold, and that British nationals in the region will not be so concerned. Travel advice is the best place to look.
Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories
Debate between Llinos Medi and Hamish Falconer(1 month ago)
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Mr Falconer
I make it a habit not to confirm the schedules of my ministerial colleagues. Of course, it is the Minister for Europe—who has responsibility for the overall licensing regime—who has appeared before my right hon. Friend’s Committee. Let me be clear to the House: there is no effort to conceal our position on arms licences. We have set it out to this House on a number of occasions. The Minister for Trade, my right hon. Friend the Member for Lothian East (Mr Alexander), set out some of the numbers on Monday. We have taken exceptional measures to try to show more transparency than is usual about the arms licensing regime. We are having that discussion not just in this place, but in the courts. There is no effort on the part of this Government to be anything other than transparent—not only with this House, but with the Israeli Government themselves—about the nature of our decisions.
Llinos Medi (Ynys Môn) (PC)
We can all see that a genocide is happening in Gaza, and it is about time that this Government called it out for what it is. We are witnessing the systematic dismantling of Gaza’s healthcare system, and the Red Cross has described the situation as “hell on Earth”. What are this Government doing to prevent Gaza’s healthcare system from being decimated further, and to re-establish hospitals and lifesaving medical services?
Mr Falconer
The truth is that while the aid blockade remains in place, there is very little that any outside partner can do to ensure proper health services in Gaza—I will not mislead the House by suggesting that there is. The aid that has come in from the GHF is far too little and far too geographically concentrated to be able to provide the kind of provision to which Gazans are entitled and that they should have, and it is a clear necessity under international humanitarian law.
Gaza: Israeli Military Operations
Debate between Llinos Medi and Hamish Falconer(3 months, 1 week 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.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Mr Falconer
I have already commented on the question of recognition. I assure my hon. Friend that we are not providing parts for bombs. We have set out the provisions on arms suspension. There is a question about the global supply chain for F-35 parts where those parts are going indirectly to Israel, on which I have elaborated in the House on a number of occasions. That remains our position.
Llinos Medi (Ynys Môn) (PC)
Nearly 24,000 women and children have been killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023. In the light of evidence submitted to the UN Human Rights Council showing Israel’s use of starvation as a method of war, the denial of human rights and humanitarian assistance, and a concerted policy of destroying Gaza’s healthcare system, will the Government take immediate and tangible steps to demonstrate the UK’s commitment to upholding international law by ceasing provision of military support to Israel, suspending all export licences and imposing a two-way arms embargo?
Mr Falconer
I set out our position on arms suspensions earlier in this urgent question.