Oral Answers to Questions

Ashley Fox Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

I am grateful for the cross-party support in the Chamber on the issue of Ukraine. We have done a lot to lower the oil price cap, which I think has been essential. We, alongside the last Government, have the largest package of sanctions anywhere in the world against Putin’s war machine. I cannot comment from the Dispatch Box on further sanctions, but the right hon. Lady will see an announcement very shortly.

[Sir Ashley Fox (Bridgwater) (Con)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Mr David Lammy)]

Yesterday I updated the House on the unimaginably bleak situation in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. I shared the latest on Iran’s dangerous nuclear programme, and my right hon. Friend the Defence Secretary set out Britain’s unwavering support for Ukraine. May I also mention the tragic earthquake in Kunar province in Afghanistan? We have announced a package of support for those who have been killed.

[Sir Ashley Fox]

The Foreign Secretary wants to pay a huge amount of taxpayers’ money to Mauritius to lease back a military base that we already own. Why is he afraid of holding a vote on this policy?

[Mr Lammy]

I know that the hon. Gentleman has not been in Parliament very long, but he will see that there is a Second Reading next week, and of course there will be a vote.

Gibraltar

Ashley Fox Excerpts

Thursday 12th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s work in this area. He will recognise that Gibraltar, as an overseas territory, is at the strong end of tackling issues of illicit finance and is paving the way. There is more work to do on this issue and particularly on beneficial ownership. I intend to take this forward, working alongside our new envoy in this area, Baroness Hodge, and culminating, I hope, in an event in London next year.

[Sir Ashley Fox (Bridgwater) (Con)]

Gibraltar is British and its citizens are British by choice. I was proud to represent Gibraltar for 10 years when I served in the European Parliament. Can the Minister confirm that once the full text is available, he will allow time for both this House and the Gibraltar Parliament to scrutinise the deal before it is ratified?

[Mr Lammy]

I do not want to speak for the Chief Minister, but I know that he was expecting for there to be the appropriate scrutiny of the Bill in the Gibraltar parliamentary system. Of course, as we would expect, this has garnered a lot of attention in Gibraltar. I have given my undertaking to the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, my right hon. Friend the Member for Islington South and Finsbury (Emily Thornberry). I recognise that this is an important last aspect of our decision to leave the European Union and that it needs the appropriate parliamentary scrutiny.

Chagos Islands

Ashley Fox Excerpts

Wednesday 13th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Doughty]

The hon. Gentleman will surely know that the convention is that we deal with one Administration at a time. We have very positive and warm engagement with President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Vance’s incoming Administration. We look forward to discussing these matters with them, and we will engage with the United States in the usual way. We are absolutely clear that this treaty is in the UK-US national security interests. It meets the security concerns, and it puts the base on a secure footing into the next century.

[Sir Ashley Fox (Bridgwater) (Con)]

Can the Minister explain why the Government rushed into this deal so that it could be completed just before the Mauritian election? Is it proper for the British Government to give diplomatic kudos to a party in a foreign election?

[Stephen Doughty]

I completely reject those comments. Given that the previous Government spent over two years engaging in multiple rounds of negotiations in preparing the basis on which we got a deal done, the idea that we rushed into something is simply not true. It was not done in a rush. We are getting the job done, and keeping our national security and our interests secure.