Human Rights in Kashmir
Allison Gardner Excerpts(2 weeks, 6 days ago)
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Imran Hussain
I will give way, but I ask hon. Members to be extremely brief in their interventions because I have a substantial contribution to make.
Imran Hussain
I will take the intervention from my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Dr Gardner), who may make a similar point.
Dr Gardner
My hon. Friend is correct. I recently met constituents in my office who are deeply concerned about the internet blackout. They are unable to find out if their families are okay and have told me some horrendous stories, including—this is unverified—that a two-year-old child has been shot. Their major concerns are the food shortages and lack of medicines that can go in. Does my hon. Friend agree that the blockades must stop immediately so that children can survive?
Imran Hussain
I thank both my hon. Friends, and I absolutely agree with them. They will know that, as chair of the APPG on Kashmir, I co-ordinated a letter to the Foreign Secretary calling for urgent diplomatic engagement to address those very issues and tabled an early-day motion that now has the combined support of over 70 parliamentarians across the House, so I am grateful to all my colleagues. We have met Ministers and convened emergency parliamentary meetings through the APPG because this House cannot simply look away.
We have all seen deeply concerning reports of continued bloodshed, arbitrary arrests, restrictions on communication and a breakdown in dialogue with representatives of grassroots groups. More recently, we have seen reports suggesting restrictions on the movement of food and medical supplies into parts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Those reports are profoundly concerning.
We have also seen reports that those seeking to act as peaceful arbitrators, including senior Pakistani politicians, have been prevented from entering Azad Kashmir. That cannot help to de-escalate the situation. Groups such as the Joint Awami Action Committee have for many months sought to pursue peaceful negotiations around long-standing civic governance and economic concerns. There was a commitment that those issues would be resolved through dialogue.
Criminalising grassroots movements can never be a solution. Most of their reasonable demands were negotiated and met. There remain a number of outstanding issues, most importantly the 12 refugee seats. Of course, there will be strongly held views on all sides of that issue, but whatever view one takes, ordinary Kashmiris should not be made to pay the price for a failure to return to peaceful table talks.
It is deeply unfortunate that the situation has deteriorated to this point. I say to the Governments of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir, and to the Joint Awami Action Committee, that the answer must be dialogue, restraint and peaceful negotiations. I welcome the efforts made in recent days by political figures and others who have called for an immediate return to negotiations. Those seeking to lower the temperature deserve the full support of this House.
Tahir Ali (Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Harris, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bradford East (Imran Hussain) for securing this important debate.
I speak today not only as a British Kashmiri but as someone who was born in Kashmir. Having left that part of the world when I was just a few months old, it is now not unusual for me to hear about what is going on, in the main, across Kashmir. Let us be in no doubt: the disruption and disputes in Azad Jammu and Kashmir have no equivalence or bear any comparison with what is happening in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
The principal enemy of the Kashmiri people’s basic rights and dignity remains the extremist BJP Government in New Delhi. Last November, 10 United Nations-appointed human rights experts condemned India’s arbitrary arrests, torture and lynchings of Kashmiris over the past couple of years. Those experts highlighted reports of house demolitions and other tactics of collective punishment being used against Kashmiri Muslims. Even the Indian Supreme Court, which has been complicit in the oppression of the Kashmiri people many times, ruled against such actions in 2024.
However, Modi’s thugs do not care about their own law, let alone international law and morality. Day after day, families find that their sons are missing, and then they find them dead in canals or ditches. These unexplained disappearances are later ruled by the authorities to be suspected suicides. Day after day, there is new torture, of old and young alike, including children. No one is spared. It is all too obvious what is happening.
The Indian state tries to hide away all its crimes by suspending over 8,000 social media accounts, including the accounts of independent journalists, and imposing media blackouts. However, the truth still comes out. For as long as the Kashmiri people are oppressed by the extremist BJP regime, we will continue to call them out. However, every time that we raise this issue, the Government read out the usual script that this is a bilateral matter between Pakistan and India. Kashmir has never been a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan; it never has been and never will be. It is a mess that was left by a British Labour Government in 1948, but we now have another Labour Government that can right that wrong. Now is the time to step up.
What is happening in Azad Jammu and Kashmir? A 38-point plan or list of demands was put to the Government; 36 have been met. There is a dispute over two points, one of them being the 12 appointed seats that purportedly represent Kashmiri migrants. The only way to resolve this issue is through peaceful negotiations and talks, which can happen only if we have flexibility on both sides. Actually, there are three sides involved: the Pakistani Government; the Government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir; and the Awami Action Committee. Someone needs to co-ordinate and facilitate talks between them, and the British Government can play their part.
We object to the direct shooting of innocent civilians, at least 18 of whom have lost their lives. The internet blackout needs to end and the internet needs to be restored, so that families can stay connected. Most important, however, the people who voice their concerns in this country often find that they are targeted, in the form of their families being harassed in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. That has to stop. Those families are tortured, harassed and then made to read out public statements. That is a violation of all international law and it cannot be allowed to continue.
Dr Gardner
Some of my constituents have been labelled terrorists because they have spoken out and are now unable to travel to visit their families, even if the blockade should end. Does my hon. Friend agree that that type of draconian abuse of the law must stop and that my constituents should not be labelled as terrorists just for speaking out?
Tahir Ali
I absolutely agree. No one’s views, no matter how harsh or difficult they may sound, should be used as a means of torture or a means of distracting them from the agenda by making their families in Azad Jammu and Kashmir feel the brunt of what is being said here.
None of us can agree with what the authorities are doing in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. They are blockading baby milk, food and internet access. That blockade must be lifted and talks have to resume. That is the only way we will find a peaceful settlement to the saga that has been rolling out for the past few weeks in Azad Kashmir.
Middle East: Economic Response
Allison Gardner Excerpts(2 months ago)
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Rachel Reeves
I know that, as Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, the right hon. Gentleman will play a key role in scrutinising what the Government are doing. The reduction of more than a third in the rate of duty on red diesel will have an immediate and important impact on the costs for farmers. I also appreciate the fact that his party, like the Government, did not support the conflict in the middle east and recognised that it was a mistake that would have an impact on businesses here at home. That is why we are doing everything within our power to reopen the strait of Hormuz, to ease these pressures on consumers and businesses, including farmers, but also in the meantime to diversify supply and open up new refining facilities in the UK, to help businesses, including farmers, during these challenging times.
Dr Allison Gardner (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)
The Potteries welcome this statement. I have been working with local companies, the TUC, GMB and research organisations to develop proposals to support the ceramics industry to innovate, improve energy efficiency and decarbonise. I have previously called on the Government to release an industrial energy innovation fund for energy-intensive industries, with Government grants to explore process efficiency and new technologies, as well as vouchers to access shared pilot facilities. Could the Chancellor clarify whether part of the £120 million of funding announced today could be used by ceramics companies to access and invest in innovations such as AI-enabled process optimisation and energy technologies, to help reduce energy bills?
Rachel Reeves
I thank my hon. Friend and all the MPs involved in helping to put together this scheme of support for ceramics. Like her, I welcome the work of the TUC and GMB in this. Innovation and ensuring that the industry is sustainable and competitive for the future is absolutely essential. This is not just a sticking-plaster policy; it is about setting up the industry for the future, including investment in innovation and R&D and also the diversification of energy supplies.
Staffordshire: Cultural Contribution
Allison Gardner Excerpts(1 year, 2 months ago)
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This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Dr Allison Gardner (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Furniss. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford, Eccleshall and the villages (Leigh Ingham) for securing the debate.
In my constituency of Stoke-on-Trent South and the villages, we are proud of our heritage. My constituency links the city of Stoke-on-Trent with the rural villages of north Staffordshire. Staffordshire’s cultural contribution cannot be truly understood without recognising the leadership role that Stoke-on-Trent has played, not just as the beating heart of the county’s industrial past, but as a city of craft, creativity and resilience that is still shaping culture across the region and beyond.
Stoke-on-Trent is a city forged in clay and coal. Our pottery industry ships British products all over the world, and our famous tableware names have been household staples for centuries: from Duchess China, Wedgwood and Aynsley China, which sits in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Gareth Snell), to the mills in the villages of Moddershall and Checkley, which ground flint and bone for the Potteries, the cultural links between town and country in my constituency reveal deep ties.
In Longton in my constituency, our iconic potbanks now form beautiful heritage sites; with the right investment, they could be repurposed as community spaces. Obviously, I must mention Gladstone Pottery museum, a working monument to our industrial history and now home to “The Great Pottery Throw Down”. Urban Wilderness is reviving and regenerating Longton town centre with art, and also runs the Longton Pig Walk parade, which I recently led as a white swan. Today, Launch It Stoke-on-Trent has opened in Longton town hall. It will help entrepreneurs and young makers and creators continue to harness Longton’s creative energy.
In 2024, Stoke-on-Trent was awarded world craft city status, a sign that our city is recognised globally for its pottery. That is why today I ask the Minister to support our ambition for Stoke-on-Trent to be recognised as a UNESCO creative city for craft—or for design; there are options. Only one city in the midlands holds that prestigious title, and Stoke-on-Trent is uniquely placed to join it. UNESCO recognises cities that put culture and creativity at the heart of local development; with greater local powers and investment, Stoke-on-Trent can lead Staffordshire’s cultural and economic renewal.
I must also mention that our cultural legacy includes Belstaff, the Longton-born fashion house, and the famous Shelley’s Laserdome nightclub, which helped to define an era of British dance music in the late ’80s and early ’90s; it would be remiss of me not to mention Lemmy and Robbie as well. Thank you to everyone for listening to me—I will cut my speech short there because I am running out of time.
Oral Answers to Questions
Allison Gardner Excerpts(1 year, 3 months ago)
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James Murray
I think that was a question about business rates reform. As the right hon. Lady will know, we published a discussion paper on transforming business rates. I am sure that the right hon. Lady will have read and responded to that, so I will look out for her consultation response in what we have received. Transforming businesses rates is about ensuring that we make the business rates system fit for the future to support investment and business growth right across the UK.
Dr Allison Gardner (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)
Darren Jones
Yes, and I congratulate my hon. Friend on championing jobs and businesses in her constituency. As she knows, the Prime Minister and the Chancellor have confirmed that defence spending will increase to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 and that a minimum of 10% of the Ministry of Defence equipment budget will now be spent on novel technologies such as drones and artificial intelligence, which will create highly skilled jobs and drive benefits to the wider economy, including in her constituency of Stoke-on-Trent South.
Oral Answers to Questions
Allison Gardner Excerpts(1 year, 4 months ago)
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James Murray
The Chancellor set out our Budget, and I set out during debates on the Finance Bill and related legislation exactly how we will implement the changes announced at the Budget. In the case of employer national insurance contributions, there are defined ways in which public sector organisations are reimbursed. The changes do not apply to hospices, as they are largely charities or are not directly part of the public sector. I also point him to the £100 million of extra investment that we have announced in improving hospices.
Dr Allison Gardner (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)
Does the Minister agree that investment in the fifty500 midlands growth corridor will provide an excellent opportunity to deliver this Labour Government’s mission for growth and opportunity for all?
Darren Jones
I join my hon. Friend in celebrating investment in her region. Our growth mission is one in which each part of the country will benefit, and we look forward to working further with her.
Oral Answers to Questions
Allison Gardner Excerpts(1 year, 6 months ago)
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Mr Speaker
No, we have Gareth Davies up next. We are in complete chaos—[Laughter.] We have the wrong names coming in. What has confused everybody is the fact that Question 3 was withdrawn. Everybody is a question behind. Right, I call the shadow Minister next.
Helen Morgan (North Shropshire) (LD)
Dr Allison Gardner (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)
David Williams (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Lab)
Rachel Reeves
At the Budget, we introduced sustainable transport settlements, with £650 million of funding for local transport, and confirmed an extension of the UK shared prosperity fund, providing £900 million to local authorities to invest in local growth. We also announced money in the Budget for some trailblazer projects to help those furthest from the labour market back into work. On the specific issues around transport in her constituency, I am very happy to set up a meeting for her with the relevant Minister.
Dr Gardner
The A50/500 growth corridor, a significant transport corridor in my constituency of Stoke-on-Trent South, enjoys an extraordinary concentration of advanced manufacturing, including anchor companies such as JCB and Michelin. With modest targeted investment in transport, energy and digital infrastructure, this vital corridor could generate £12 billion in gross value added and create 18,000 jobs. Will the Chancellor meet me to discuss the targeted investment needed to develop a detailed growth plan for this vital industrial artery and help deliver it on this Government’s mission for growth?