Global Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Sanctions Regulations 2026
Lord Young of Acton Excerpts(5 days, 20 hours ago)
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Lord Young of Acton (Con)
My Lords, I declare my interest as the general secretary of the Free Speech Union, a director of the British Friends of Israel and the editor-in-chief and majority owner of the Daily Sceptic.
Sanctions should target wrongdoing, not lawful disagreement. No academic or journalist should fear sanctions and losing access to their bank account for challenging the Government’s account of a conflict. Yet these regulations risk blurring that distinction through broad, undefined references to “promotion”, “support” and “association”. The risk is particularly acute if the Government intend to rely on notoriously unreliable UN reporting on Israel. What happens to the academic who challenges such a report, or the journalist who exposes its flaws? As the publisher of the Daily Sceptic, would I be at risk of designation for publishing such an exposé?
Will the Minister confirm that lawful journalism, academic inquiry and political argument will not by themselves justify designation under these regulations? Will he also confirm that the Government will not rely on contested UN findings as evidence for designation without first testing them independently?