Oral Answers to Questions

Marion Fellows Excerpts

Tuesday 12th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

No, I am not saying that. I am saying that the current judgment of the British Government is that Israel has both the capacity and the intent to abide within international humanitarian law. It is an issue that we keep under review, as the hon. Gentleman will understand.

[Marion Fellows (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Mr Andrew Mitchell)]

On the question of Britain’s priorities in Ukraine, Gaza and across the world, the Government are delivering. At the Munich security conference, the G20 in Brazil and the United Nations, the Foreign Secretary has argued for standing by Ukraine as the invasion enters its third year. On Gaza, we are pressing with partners for a humanitarian pause and increased aid flows to Palestinian civilians. We have expanded the blue belt, defended shipping in the Red sea and launched an innovative development partnership with Qatar. The international development White Paper is being implemented across Government and has been widely welcomed around the world.

[Marion Fellows]

Following recent events in Ukraine, what steps have been taken to speed up the process of releasing funds from the sale of Chelsea football club to support all victims of the war in Ukraine, wherever they are in the world?

[Mr Mitchell]

The hon. Lady is quite right that releasing those funds is taking far too long. There are significant complications addressing the release, which involve the European Union and Portugal, as well as Britian. I can tell her, however, that there is renewed energy in the Foreign Office to try to bring this matter to a head as swiftly as possible.

Gaza: Al-Ahli Arab Hospital Explosion

Marion Fellows Excerpts

Wednesday 18th October 2023 Commons Chamber

[James Cleverly]

We have spoken to Israel and countries in the region about the humanitarian need, which is why we put forward the additional money that the Prime Minister announced on Monday. Of course, we do not want those innocent Palestinians caught in Gaza, who are suffering because of the actions of Hamas, to suffer any more than is absolutely necessary. We will continue working with the international community on humanitarian support and with Israel on the preservation of civilian life.

[Marion Fellows (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP)]

I keep hearing the words of my mother in my brain, and I have done for the last week: “Twa wrangs dinnae make a right.” Hamas are an indefensible organisation in any right person’s books, but the fact that they will not do right does not mean that the UK Government should not demand and work hard towards a ceasefire, and make sure that humanitarian aid gets into Gaza. I thinking repeatedly, as do many others, of helpless children. I am a mother and a grandmother, and that is what I think about every night. Will the Foreign Secretary please make every effort not just to have money set aside but to tell us how he will get humanitarian aid into Gaza City and help those who are suffering in Israel as well?

Sudan Update

Marion Fellows Excerpts

Thursday 27th April 2023 Commons Chamber

[James Cleverly]

My hon. Friend makes an incredibly important point. One challenge is that our travel advice must enhance the safety of British nationals overseas and not inadvertently put them at greater risk. There is often a lag between our finding out information, broadcasting it and its being acted on. One of the things that we have seen—not directly because of the advice that the UK has given, but the advice that other Governments have given—is that inadvertently people have been called into more dangerous circumstances and come under attack. We have to give general advice. We have given the advice that we have the airhead operating in Wadi Saeedna, and we have officials at Port Sudan and at the border crossing points of nearby countries. We cannot recommend safe routes. We cannot advise at that level of granularity because that advice may be out of date and therefore counterproductive by the time it is acted on.

[Marion Fellows (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP)]

Can the Foreign Secretary confirm what is happening to those visiting Sudan on refugee travel documents? To echo what the hon. Member for Newport East (Jessica Morden) said, how long does he estimate it will take to process those people who were waiting for papers from the consulate in Sudan?

[James Cleverly]

Ultimately, the processing of visas is a Home Office function. We are working closely with the Home Office, but I am not able to give her those details. The prioritisation that we have broadcast is to discharge our duty to support British nationals and their immediate dependants. I will of course make sure that my Home Office colleagues are aware of the hon. Lady’s question.

Commonwealth Day

Marion Fellows Excerpts

Tuesday 21st March 2023 Westminster Hall

[Marion Fellows (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Gray, and to follow the hon. Member for Stockport (Navendu Mishra). I do miss the right hon. Member for Basingstoke (Dame Maria Miller), but the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend East (Sir James Duddridge) has stepped admirably into her shoes. I hope they were flat ones.

This year, Commonwealth Day took place on Monday last week. It marked a week of activities and celebrations around the theme of forging a sustainable and peaceful common future, serving as a reminder of the deep ties and shared goals between Commonwealth nations. I think we can all agree with that. The Commonwealth still has a long way to go in adapting to a more socially conscious and multipolar world; however, that must be done in the spirit of equality and mutual benefit.

The Commonwealth must make progress on the charter adopted in 2013. It was full of aspirations for justice, democracy and human rights, and we all want to see those things. The UK Government should formally acknowledge complicity in and make amends for the UK’s role in the slave trade and the legacy of colonial atrocities around the world. Scotland is doing that. Work is going on in schools, but more needs to be done across the UK.

There are many deep ties between the UK and the Commonwealth. Despite that, 90% of pensioners affected by the frozen pensions policy live in Commonwealth countries. I am using this debate as an opportunity to highlight the unfair treatment of British pensioners, including veterans and former public servants, and Commonwealth citizens who have contributed to this country, only to be abandoned and forgotten as they face financial hardship. I am grateful to endfrozenpensions.org and the all-party parliamentary group on frozen British pensions for the briefing that I received. I have been talking about this matter since I arrived in Parliament in 2015, and I will continue to do so at every opportunity.

An example of a pensioner affected by the frozen pensions scandal is Anne Puckridge, a 98-year-old world war two veteran who receives a state pension of just £72.50 a week after moving to Canada to be closer to her family. In the coming months, she will be excluded once again from the annual uprating, bringing the total she has lost during her retirement to £41,000. Research by the APPG on frozen British pensions found that half of frozen pensioners receive £65 per week or less, and more than 50% struggle financially because of their frozen pension.

The UK owes a debt of gratitude to the Windrush generation, but the story of Monica Philip, who moved to the UK from Antigua, tells a different story. She worked for 37 years in the UK, including as a civil servant for the City of London social services and the Ministry of Defence. She returned to Antigua to care for her ailing mother and, as a result, receives a frozen UK state pension of just £74 per week.

Reverend Maxwell left for England from Antigua in 1957. He worked in the UK on the railways. Eunice Hughes worked as an NHS Nurse. The couple moved to Jamaica following a pastoral calling, and the UK Government encouraged the Reverend Maxwell to top up his British pension voluntarily by £3,000 to ensure he had made the full contribution. When they lived in Jamaica, the couple received their full pension uprating every year. However, they have since moved to Antigua, where their pensions are now frozen.

Commonwealth countries such as Canada are ready and willing to work with the UK Government to end this injustice. The Canadian Government’s most recent request to negotiate a new reciprocal social security agreement was just last year—the fourth time since 2013—yet the UK Government continually refuse to engage on the issue, leaving nearly half a million British pensioners to face a retirement of poverty.

All UK pensioners with national insurance contributions are entitled to a British state pension regardless of where they live. However, nearly half a million UK pensioners overseas are excluded from annual payment upratings because they live in the wrong country. That means their pension is frozen at the level it was at when they left the UK or first withdrew their pension, and it is falling in real value year on year. Government inaction to address the issue is a stark failure to protect our most vulnerable and is leaving our own citizens in poverty. All it takes to end this injustice—

[James Gray (in the Chair)]

Order. I am reluctant to interrupt the hon. Lady. She is making a most interesting speech, but it is quite wide of the subject we are discussing, which is Commonwealth Day. The Minister might find it difficult to reply on a matter that is not her responsibility. The hon. Lady might like to return to the subject of Commonwealth Day and the role of the Commonwealth.

[Marion Fellows]

Mr Gray, if I tell you that 90% of people with frozen pensions live in the Commonwealth, may I continue from that point?

[James Gray (in the Chair)]

The subject of the debate is Commonwealth Day and the role of the Commonwealth, rather than people who happen to live in a Commonwealth country. It might be sensible to return to the main topic under discussion.

[Marion Fellows]

I respect your advice as Chair, Mr Gray. I will not continue on this; I believe I have made my point forcefully. I ask the Minister to listen carefully to what I said, because this is an injustice that must end.

Belarus: Interception of Aircraft

Marion Fellows Excerpts

Monday 24th May 2021 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

I totally agree with my hon. Friend. We raised precisely this kind of systematic attack at the G7 Foreign Ministers meeting, and we will continue to do so.

[Marion Fellows (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP) [V]]

While we have a long-standing position of challenging the results of Lukashenko’s fraudulent election win last year, we have to be honest and say that this case is a departure from these entrenched disagreements and represents a direct attack on the citizens of our EU allies and on international law. Given that plain reality, it is right that sanctions up to and including the freezing of Belarusian state funds are effected, but what new measures will the Government consider for granting asylum to those supressed by the Lukashenko regime?

[Dominic Raab]

Asylum has been raised already. The criteria in the asylum regime are reflective of international law and are fit for purpose. The evidence of this regime’s despicable actions means that those who want to apply for asylum in this country are able to do so and will get the fair hearing and due process that our system allows.

Uyghur Slave Labour: Xinjiang

Marion Fellows Excerpts

Wednesday 16th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Adams]

My hon. Friend is right to raise this again. We welcome the Chief Rabbi’s intervention, and we share his serious concerns about the violations that are being perpetrated against Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang. I can assure my hon. Friend that we are playing a leading role internationally in holding China to account for these violations. We have led or co-ordinated multiple joint statements on this issue. This groundswell of international concern does send a powerful message, and I can assure him that it is increasing the pressure on the Chinese authorities to change course.

[Marion Fellows (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP) [V]]

As future post-Brexit trade deals are negotiated, can the Minister confirm that the UK will not back down on its moral and ethical principles to secure any economic gains and that China agreeing to put an end to violations of its citizens’ human rights is an unmoveable precondition to the UK signing such a deal?

[Nigel Adams]

The hon. Lady raises a really important point. We have a high level of ambition for our trade and investment partnership with China. We want to work with China to increase trade and investment flows, to make sure that our companies can get market access and to set a mutual ambition for a future relationship, but as we strive for that positive future relationship, we will not sacrifice either our values or our security.

Jonathan Taylor: SBM Offshore

Marion Fellows Excerpts

Monday 9th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Wendy Morton]

As I am sure you will understand, Mr Speaker, for the purposes of this UQ, I am very much focusing on the case of Mr Taylor and the support we are giving to him and the allegations he has made that his arrest is linked to whistleblowing activities. I assure my hon. Friend that we take this matter incredibly seriously.

[Marion Fellows (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP) [V]]

The right hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May) recently scorned the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster’s claims that the UK can operate more effectively to safeguard British people from outside the EU post Brexit. This is contrary to the remarks that the president of the Police Superintendents Association made in today’s Independent newspaper. Can the Minister provide this House with an update on the security talks taking place in the UK-EU negotiations, given that they will affect each and every one of us in fewer than seven weeks’ time?

[Wendy Morton]

The hon. Lady is trying to draw me into a debate about EU negotiations. It would be wrong of me to get drawn into that today, but we have left the EU, and the end of the transition period will be at the end of this year.

Xinjiang: Uyghurs

Marion Fellows Excerpts

Monday 29th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Marion Fellows (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP) [V]]

The actions of China would today be considered one of the most serious threats to human rights in any state anywhere in the world. Hongkongers are facing intervention, against international law. Millions are imprisoned for their ethnicity, and these reports of forced sterilisation—if proven to be true—now show the full extent of China’s disregard for human rights. Given the question marks over that country, how can this Government, in good conscience, pursue a commercial agreement with Huawei—a company with direct ties to the Communist party of China?

[Nigel Adams]

I thank the hon. Lady for her question. We have always been very clear-eyed about the challenge posed by Huawei. She will be aware that, following the US announcement of additional sanctions against that company, the National Cyber Security Centre has been looking carefully at any impact that it could have on the UK’s networks. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has received that advice and will respond in due course. She is right to raise serious concerns about the human rights situation in Xinjiang.

Imprisonment of Catalan Leaders

Marion Fellows Excerpts

Tuesday 15th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Christopher Pincher]

I think the hon. Gentleman, with whom I have an occasional drinking friendship, did himself a disservice in the way he has just comported himself. If the situation—the passionate situation—in Catalonia and in its cities is to be de-escalated and the situation is not to be further inflamed, I do not think that commentary such as that helps, frankly. I would call on all parties in Spain—all those who wish to protest and all the agencies that are responsible for good governance and order in Spain—to treat themselves and each other fairly and soberly so that this particular problem and this great challenge can be dealt with democratically and peaceably within the rule of the Spanish law.

[Marion Fellows (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP)]

I am appalled by some of the words coming out of the Minister today. In Catalonia, people get hit, beaten and forcibly removed from places for simply standing up for their human rights, and this Government refuse to condemn that? I find that inexcusable. Estic amb Catalunya!

[Christopher Pincher]

Of course the British Government deplore any form of oppression, but we also deplore any form of riotous behaviour that undermines the rule of law and threatens public property or public safety. I would encourage all sides to desist, to calm down and to make sure that they address this question, which is a question for Spain, quietly, soberly and peaceably. As far as any support goes, of course the British Government support that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Marion Fellows Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

We are late, but if colleagues were in a caring, sharing mood, and were prepared to consider each other, we could get through a little more.

[Marion Fellows (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP)]

10. If he will take steps to promote human rights and self-determination for Catalonia in Spain.

[The Minister for Europe and the Americas (Sir Alan Duncan)]

Thank you so much, Mr Speaker; I am ever grateful.

As I have previously made clear to the House, the situation in Catalonia is a matter for Spain. We remain clear that questions related to the issue of Catalan independence should be resolved within the proper constitutional and legal channels of Spain.

[Marion Fellows]

It is everyone’s responsibility—including this Government’s—to uphold human rights. Far from becoming the major global player that Brexiteers imagine, the UK appears more and more irrelevant on the world stage. Is it the case that the UK Government are not seeking to uphold self-determination for Catalonia because they need Spain’s help in further Brexit negotiations?

[Sir Alan Duncan]

No, it is because we uphold the rule of law, as we have discussed earlier in questions. We uphold the rule of law here with Scotland and we uphold it in Spain with regards to Catalonia. Certain accusations that Spain somehow has political prisoners are absurd. It does not have political prisoners; it has prisoners who happen to be political.