Israel and Gaza

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Andrew Mitchell

Monday 20th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

Of course. We are appalled by the scale of the death and destruction that has taken place, and what we say about protecting journalists—which this House has always championed, never more so than when my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Jeremy Hunt) was Foreign Secretary—applies equally well.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

I have listened very carefully to the Deputy Foreign Secretary, and I have to say that I find his arguments wanting. It matters that the ICC thinks that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the actions of senior Hamas officials amount to war crimes; it matters that the ICC thinks that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the operations authorised by Prime Minister Netanyahu and his Defence Minister also amount to war crimes. Given that the ICC prosecutor believes he has acted within the Rome statute and that the UK is a state party to the ICC, will the United Kingdom uphold any application in this territory if requested by the office of the prosecutor?

[Mr Mitchell]

The hon. Gentleman is premature in seeking to ask the Government to exercise any such judgment. As I said earlier in this statement, now is not the time to make these decisions. We need to wait for the pre-trial chamber to consider the evidence and then reach a judgment.

War in Gaza

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Andrew Mitchell

Tuesday 7th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

The decisions on weapons licences are not made across the Floor of the House, nor are they made on the basis of emotion. They are made on the basis of the rules clearly set down. They are governed by the advice that we receive from lawyers, and we act in accordance with that advice.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

The 1.4 million displaced people kettled in the south of the Gaza strip, precisely where they were told to go, are now facing mass starvation—a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding before our eyes. The Rafah offensive cannot and must not be allowed to happen. The Deputy Foreign Secretary says that he is yet to see a plan, credible or not. But a plan clearly exists if the Israeli authorities are asking 100,000 people to move. Given that he has not been clear to the House on consequences or advice from officials, if there is a breach of international law, at which point are the British Government also complicit?

[Mr Mitchell]

The Government have made it clear that all countries, and Israel in this conflict, must abide by international humanitarian law. The hon. Member will be well aware that there are consequences for not abiding by international humanitarian law. Britain stands by its own international commitments in that respect, and expects others to do likewise.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Andrew Mitchell

Tuesday 30th April 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is interesting to note that 85% of plastic pollution in the Pacific and Indian oceans comes from just six rivers, and therefore an international treaty really matters. The point he makes is a good one, and it is at the centre of negotiations, which the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Taunton Deane (Rebecca Pow), was talking about last week in Ottawa.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

I refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. The Deputy Foreign Secretary will be aware that over 90% of the UK’s biodiversity is within the overseas territories. I was privileged last summer to visit St Helena in the Atlantic ocean, where I was amazed by the natural biodiversity both on the island and in the seas around it. What more help are the British Government giving to the overseas territories Governments to ensure that their biodiversity can be enhanced and maintained?

[Mr Mitchell]

I am glad that the hon. Gentleman has had a chance to visit St Helena—as have I in the past. It is one of the most remarkable places on Earth. On the issue of cleaning up the ocean and plastics, I can tell him that the UK is a founding member of the high ambition coalition to end plastic pollution, which is a group of 60 countries whose central aim is to stop plastic flowing into the environment by 2040. The overseas territories are not suppliers of plastic but they are receivers of a lot of it, and that is why this is so important.

Israel and Gaza

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Andrew Mitchell

Tuesday 19th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

The hon. Lady says that people are starving in Gaza. Everyone agrees that that is the case. The issue is what we can constructively do to bring about an end to the very worrying starvation figures that have been revealed this week. We are doing and will continue to do everything we can. I have set out at some length to the House the various different ways in which we are trying to achieve that.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

I will follow on from the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Halifax (Holly Lynch), which went to the heart of the situation. My constituents are heartbroken by the images that they are being sent from Gaza of children dying of hunger, and they want to know why the world is largely doing nothing to help them. I believe in the rules-based system, which is under enormous strain right now from a variety of different quarters. International law matters, and we must show leadership when it comes to the rulings of international institutions such as the ICJ. What is Britain doing to ensure that Israel and other parties hold to the rule of international law and the judgments of the ICJ?

[Mr Mitchell]

The hon. Gentleman says that his constituents are heartbroken by what is happening; we are all heartbroken by what is happening. The issue is what we do about it. I have set out throughout the course of the last hour a number of ways in which Britain is showing real leadership in trying to address the humanitarian situation and to ensure that negotiations to get the hostages out are successful. We will, along with our allies, continue to bend every sinew to ensure that everything that can be done is done.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Andrew Mitchell

Tuesday 12th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

We are very clear that we seek to document atrocities so that people can be held to account, no matter how long it takes. I set out earlier the additional funding specifically to help women who have been the subject of appalling sexual violence. I am grateful to the hon. Lady and the International Development Committee for their visit to the region. On the issue that she raises, the British Government’s position is that there can be no impunity.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

The utter tragedy in the middle east is that innocent civilians on both sides are paying the price for failed politics and extremism. To take the Minister back to his answer to the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, if he accepts that Israel has the capacity to meet international law, he is saying, is he not, that Israel is in breach of it?

[Mr Mitchell]

No, I am not saying that. I am saying that the current judgment of the British Government is that Israel has both the capacity and the intent to abide within international humanitarian law. It is an issue that we keep under review, as the hon. Gentleman will understand.

Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Andrew Mitchell

Monday 29th January 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

We are considering whether we should join with the United Arab Emirates, which is lifting people out of Gaza, particularly children, and giving them support in the UAE. The hon. Gentleman will also know that we have deployed an emergency medical team who are looking at the situation there, and we would, if it was appropriate, deploy a field hospital—indeed, we would deploy it into Gaza, if that was practical and appropriate. On the critical subject of trying to ensure that we help all those who are hurt and wounded, particularly children, he may rest assured that we are looking at all aspects of that.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

We talk about statistics as though they are not human lives: 26,000 men, women and children killed, 1.9 million people displaced, and a human catastrophe engulfing the people of Gaza. The five-point plan is great. We know what needs to be done. The fighting has to stop, the aid has to get in, the hostages need to be released, and we need to rebuild both the civilian infrastructure and hope for the Palestinians. However, there is one roadblock to a Palestinian state, and that is Prime Minister Netanyahu and the allies around him in government. They do not want Judea and Samaria to be handed over to the Palestinians for their state; they want the resettlement of Gaza. During his visit to see the Prime Minister of Israel, did the Foreign Secretary tell Mr Netanyahu that his views on the creation of a state of Palestine and on a second Nakba are not just unacceptable and wrong but abhorrent?

[Mr Mitchell]

The hon. Gentleman made the point about numbers as statistics, but those numbers speak for themselves—there will be no one in the House who does not reflect upon the catastrophe that has engulfed Gaza. He went on to set out a very eloquent road map for moving forward and for progress. He asks about the Foreign Secretary’s discussion with Prime Minister Netanyahu. I think that that is a matter for either Prime Minister Netanyahu or the Foreign Secretary to reveal, but I can assure him that the Foreign Secretary would have been his usual robust self in setting out the position of the British Government. In respect of Prime Minister Netanyahu being the blockage, as the hon. Gentleman put it, to the ceasefire and to progress, I would point out to him that Hamas have made it clear that they are not interested in a ceasefire; what they want is a repeat of the appalling events that took place on 7 October.

Israel and Palestine

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Andrew Mitchell

Monday 8th January 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

It is difficult for me to comment on a specific case but, if the hon. Gentleman wishes to discuss it with me after this urgent question, I would be happy to see him. He will know that 300 British nationals have been able to leave, thanks not least to the hard work of the brilliant young men and women who are working in the emergency centre at the Foreign Office in London. A small number remain, but we are working literally night and day to make sure we do everything we can to look after our citizens and their relations.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

The Minister mentioned Oslo in response to my right hon. Friend the Member for East Ham (Sir Stephen Timms). The sad truth is that Prime Minister Netanyahu never really supported Oslo and a two-state solution, and Hamas definitely do not. The two have thrived off each other’s absolutist positions over the past few decades. For those of us who do believe in Oslo, in the peace process and in two states for two peoples, what happens next really matters. The Minister says he wants to secure better arrangements for the Palestinian Authority after the fighting ends. What does he mean by that?

[Mr Mitchell]

The Foreign Secretary has engaged with both the Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Minister and President Abbas. Britain wants to support the Palestinian Authority in further developing the sinews of statehood that will be required if there is to be a two-state solution, as I hope there will be one day.

I very much agree with the analysis in the first part of the hon. Gentleman’s question, and it is now for Britain and other countries to do everything we can to develop those abilities within the Palestinian Authority so that they can properly exercise power, governance and representation in Gaza in due course.

Israel and Gaza

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Andrew Mitchell

Tuesday 19th December 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

That is why the Government are working towards a sustainable ceasefire. In the meantime, we are anxious to secure the necessary pauses so that aid can get into Gaza as speedily as possible.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

I thank the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran) for securing this urgent question and you, Mr Speaker, for granting it. My heart goes out to her family and everybody else caught up in this dreadful conflict.

I welcome the words of the Foreign Secretary calling for a sustainable ceasefire, which must see all the hostages released and fighting on both sides end. We need to get the aid in. Will the Minister say more about how we will permanently end this cycle of violence? How do we get a two-state solution?

[Mr Mitchell]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his comments. He is right that we are not calling for a ceasefire and hoping that somehow it becomes more permanent. What we are doing is calling for a sustainable ceasefire that allows us to move towards the political track, which will then deliver what he is calling for.

Occupied Palestinian Territories: Humanitarian Situation

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Andrew Mitchell

Wednesday 8th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

Because we are strongly supportive of Israel’s right to self-defence—we have been absolutely clear about that throughout these dreadful circumstances, as have the Opposition—we are able to have clear and firm discussions with the Prime Minister of Israel, and that is what we do.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

I abhor the loss of all innocent civilian life. Dead innocent Israeli men, women and children and dead innocent Palestinian men, women and children have this in common: they are innocent civilians, and they are dead. This vicious cycle of killing must stop. As we are here to talk about the humanitarian situation, I remind the House that the Prime Minister told us before Prorogation that he would use British logistical capacity to get hundreds of aid lorries a day—rather than the tens that were crossing at the time—across the Rafah crossing. By when do we expect that target to be met?

[Mr Mitchell]

The hon. Gentleman speaks for everyone in the House when he abhors the loss of life among innocent civilians. On the humanitarian situation, he has referred to what the Prime Minister said before Prorogation. What the Prime Minister said is absolutely correct: Britain has not only been supplying humanitarian provisions into el-Arish so that they can go through Rafah when circumstances permit but has provided heavy lift materials so that others, as well as us, can move those supplies towards Rafah when they are able to get through. What the Prime Minister told the House is what everyone, not just Britain, is trying to achieve.

Afghanistan: Ban on Women Aid Workers

Debate between Andrew Gwynne and Andrew Mitchell

Thursday 19th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

The right hon. Gentleman knows a great deal about such matters and he is absolutely right. When he describes it as “medieval misogyny”, he has, once again, put his finger on an accurate point.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

The Minister knows that the actions of the Taliban are taking Afghanistan back, step by step, to the barbarism of the recent past, and it is women who are the victims of that barbarism and brutality. The ban on women working in NGOs in Afghanistan has a major impact on Afghan women aid workers, who are often the sole breadwinners for their families and are being left destitute. What flexibility are the Government, as a donor, giving to those aid organisations to be able to keep those women on the payroll?