Israel: Arms Exports

Lord Singh of Wimbledon Excerpts

Tuesday 25th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

I must reiterate that my noble friend Lady Chapman was absolutely correct to say that, under the criteria, the Government were required to suspend certain licences. The decision not to suspend the F35 licences was a departure from the criteria, and Ministers anticipated such a course when the criteria were introduced.

However, our international obligations remain binding on the UK under international law, regardless of whether the SELC are being applied. So, for example, our actions to depart from the SELC and continue the export of items for the F35 programme still have to comply with the Arms Trade Treaty. Article 7 of that treaty requires a balancing exercise, considering factors including the risk of serious violation of international humanitarian law and whether exports

“would contribute to or undermine peace and security”.

Exports are prohibited under this article unless the risk of negative consequences is overriding.

Finally, the Government have been clear about the international humanitarian risks in this case, but also that F35 licences cannot be suspended without serious prejudice to the entire programme and, therefore, to international peace and security. Thus, the exemption of F35 licences was a case-specific decision based on specific factors, while the suspension of other licences was mandated by the criteria.

[Lord Singh of Wimbledon (CB)]

My Lords, the United Nations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and others have all condemned Israeli brutality and genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. The International Criminal Court has declared Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, guilty of war crimes and issued a warrant for his arrest. Will the Minister agree that, in continuing to supply arms to Israel, however diplomatically we put it, we are complicit in the genocide of Palestinian men, women and innocent children?

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

Ultimately, these are matters for the courts to determine, not the Government. However, the clear risk of serious breaches of international humanitarian law has led us to suspend those licences. I will say one further thing: Prime Minister Netanyahu has not been found guilty of any breaches up until this date.

Employment Gap: Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, and White, Workforce

Lord Singh of Wimbledon Excerpts

Thursday 29th June 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Johnson of Lainston (Con)]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness for her comment. As this House will be aware, a deep consultation was undertaken to see what would be the most effective way to ensure that those gaps were narrowed. Since 2012, the gap has narrowed from 5.1% to 2.3% in median hourly pay, but it has very much been felt that, because of the complexities of measuring ethnicity pay gap differentials, particularly in smaller companies of 500 employees or fewer, it would produce data that would not be valid and helpful. Instead, we have introduced a series of voluntary measures and a great deal of training and guidance, which we believe will have the intended outcomes.

[Lord Singh of Wimbledon (CB)]

My Lords, prejudice in society should be tackled not simply for economic reasons but because it is wrong. We all like to believe that it is those people out there who have prejudices and it is not in us. The reality is that prejudice—wariness of difference—is ingrained in us all, in our very genes. But we have to tackle irrational prejudice based on the assumption that people of different colour or who look different are inherently different and inferior to us. What steps are the Government taking to make sure that that irrational prejudice is tackled in schools and universities, particularly in religious education, to emphasise what Sikhs constantly repeat about the oneness of the human family?

[Lord Johnson of Lainston (Con)]

I greatly appreciate the noble Lord’s comments. Clearly, this is a government priority. Continuing on the theme of the original Question, we have developed a number of different action plans, including a work panel process to assess how we can, for example, give more support to employers on ensuring inclusivity. I am pleased to say that we committed to launching that inclusion at work panel and the first meeting is today.