Refugee Movements: Lebanon

Baroness Morris of Bolton Excerpts

Thursday 19th March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Robathan (Con)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Morris of Bolton (Con)]

My Lords—

[Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)]

We have plenty of time. It is the turn of the Cross Benches.

[Lord Lemos (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for that question. He is right to say that we are working with our allies and partners. As he knows, we are long-standing supporters of the sovereignty of Lebanon, and we welcome the commitments made by the Lebanese Government, including banning Hezbollah’s military activities. The UK has provided over £850 million in official development assistance in Lebanon since 2011, going back through several Governments, right back to the coalition Government. This includes humanitarian and development assistance to Syrian refugees and the Lebanese community hosting them—in response to the right reverend Prelate’s question—as well as support to the Lebanese security services. I can say more if noble Lords want to ask me about international co-operation to move forward on the Strait of Hormuz.

[Baroness Morris of Bolton (Con)]

My Lords, the Palestinian refugee camps have been particularly affected by the military action. I have visited Shatila and Ain al-Hilweh in Lebanon, and life was pretty fragile at the best of times. I understand that the Lebanese Government are doing all they can to help the people affected, but some of the Palestinian and Syrian refugees are unable to access all that the Government are doing. With the money the Government are very generously giving to help, is anything specifically being done at this moment, in very difficult circumstances, to help the Palestinian refugees who started off with very little?

[Lord Lemos (Lab)]

I recognise the picture the noble Baroness paints. I am very happy to find out more, and to take that back to the Foreign Office to see if we can learn more about the specific questions she raises about the refugee camps. As far as the humanitarian situation in Lebanon is concerned, the crossings are still open and commercial flights are still running—at least, they were when I last heard. I am very happy to come back on the specific point about the Palestinian refugee camps.