Mindanao Earthquake

Baroness Sugg Excerpts

Wednesday 10th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lemos (Lab)]

I pay tribute to my noble friend for the work that he has done in the Philippines over many years, particularly in the Bangsamoro region. He has been involved for more than a decade, I think, and that has been a remarkable commitment where he has achieved and contributed to real change.

The UK has provided humanitarian assistance in recent years to support the Philippines Government’s response to the major natural disasters that have impacted the country. My noble friend is right to say that these are often climate-related. The Philippines is one of the countries that are most vulnerable to climate-related disasters, and we have been strong supporters of it. We also have a modern development partnership with the Philippines.

[Baroness Sugg (Con)]

My Lords, are the Government having discussions about deploying emergency response teams to assist on the ground, such as the excellent Hazardous Area Response Team or UK-Med, which have been trained in providing life-saving assistance in these cases?

[Lord Lemos (Lab)]

As I say, we have not as yet been asked to provide support, and we are strong supporters of the response of the Philippines Government. I make that it clear that we are close partners of the Government of the Philippines and we would mobilise the resources that the noble Baroness mentioned if they were felt to be necessary. There is no resistance at all at our end.