Arctic Security

Ben Lake Excerpts

Monday 19th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

I welcome my hon. Friend’s framing of this around the interests of our young people and the values of shared co-operation. It is co-operation with allies that makes us stronger.

[Ben Lake (Ceredigion Preseli) (PC)]

I commend the Government for standing firm with our European allies in supporting the principle that the future of Greenland is a matter for her people and her people alone. I know that the Government will make every diplomatic effort to avoid the imposition of these punitive tariffs, but if they were to be imposed upon us, will it be the policy of the Government to pursue a co-ordinated approach with our European allies in any countermeasures that may prove necessary?

[Yvette Cooper]

At all stages, we have discussions and co-ordination with our allies, but the Prime Minister made it clear this morning that our focus has to be on preventing a trade war and additional tariffs being introduced, and on building a constructive approach to our shared security.

UK-France Relations

Ben Lake Excerpts

Wednesday 14th January 2026 Westminster Hall

[Chris Murray]

My hon. Friend makes a really important point. The immigration system needs reform and needs to meet the public’s expectations, but that must happen in a way that works for the economy and works for families and individuals, taking cognisance of the fact that these are people’s lives. I believe that is possible within the parameters that the Home Secretary has set out, but we will need to see the detail of that policy. Like my hon. Friend, I will be watching closely to see whether it meets the objective she has just set.

Our relationship with France will be critical in managing the public’s expectations on immigration, but it goes even further than that because, beyond the domestic political imperative of getting a grip on immigration, both our countries face a bigger challenge—a dysfunctional immigration system fuels anger and distrust, and that fuels the populist right, both in Britain and in France. As two countries facing that challenge, it is important that we work together to tackle it to make sure we deal with the rise of populism.

The French relationship is also critical in some of the Government’s economic objectives, not just because France is our fifth biggest trading partner and our third largest services-sector market, or because more than £100 billion of trade is done with France every year or even because London is the fourth biggest French city—and the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Chelsea and Fulham (Ben Coleman) must be one of the Frenchiest—but even thinking about just our energy sector illustrates a vignette of our relationship with France.

The transition to clean energy is the defining economic public policy challenge of our age. France is one of the biggest investors in Britain’s nuclear sector. EDF Energy is central to the delivery of Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C. French engineering, finance and expertise will be indispensable to achieving this Government’s clean energy mission, so the relationship is critical, but it actually goes further than that. It is not just commercial or economic; it is radical.

Britain and France were among the first countries to industrialise. We were also major colonial powers, and our global footprint still shapes the world today with the Francophonie and the Commonwealth. That gives us a shared responsibility to lead on climate change, not only to decarbonise our economies, but to show that a prosperous net-zero society is possible.

I have something else to say about the future of the relationship. There are those of us who will want to look back nostalgically to the days that we sat together in the European Union, and many people lament the Brexit vote. Some of them are outside singing in Parliament Square, but nostalgia is a poor basis for foreign policy. Hankering for a golden past that never really existed is not the way to move forward. I would argue that that was one of the fundamental problems behind Brexit. What matters is not the architecture of the institutions but the reality of the co-operation, so I strongly welcome the Government’s progress in resetting relationships with the EU, particularly on dynamic alignment on food and energy; working together on shared objectives such as migration, Ukraine and the geopolitical challenges that we face; and building the relationships between people, which several Members have raised.

[Ben Lake (Ceredigion Preseli) (PC)]

I am loath to interrupt such an excellent speech, but does the hon. Member agree that, as Members of Parliament, we all have a role to play in forging those relationships with our contemporaries in the Assemblée Nationale? I also congratulate him, in that vein, on becoming a vice-chair of the all-party parliamentary group.

[Chris Murray]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that relationships between political leaders are critical to developing relationships between nations, and I look forward to the work we will be doing on the APPG in that regard.

I welcome the return of the Erasmus+ and youth experience schemes. I studied in France under Erasmus and it changed my life. It has been heartbreaking that my own young constituents have not had that opportunity, and I am really pleased that the Government are now restoring that. As my hon. Friends mentioned, programmes such as the Franco-British Young Leaders—whose cohort I am part of this year—do vital work in building networks of trust across politics, business and civil society. Later this year, as a result of the state visit, we will have a huge cultural Franco-British moment when the Bayeux tapestry comes to the British Museum—it will probably be its exhibition of the decade.

This relationship is not abstract; it is human, cultural, strategic and economic all at once. It is one of the country’s closest relationships—

Venezuela

Ben Lake Excerpts

Monday 5th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

I have been in touch with the US Secretary of State about our position on Greenland, and the Prime Minister made it extremely clear today. We have made it clear to the House that we feel strongly that it is important that Greenland is part of Denmark and that the future of Greenland is for the people of Greenland and nobody else.

[Ben Lake (Ceredigion Preseli) (PC)]

Like the Foreign Secretary, I shed no tears for the fall of the Maduro regime. However, I have fears about the precedent set by President Trump’s actions over the weekend. What is the Foreign Secretary’s assessment for global stability if dictators and despots across the world take a very simple lesson from the US’s actions this weekend—that might is right?

[Yvette Cooper]

What we have seen in Maduro is a dictator who is no longer running his country, and the hon. Gentleman and I will, rightly, not shed any tears for that. It is important, however, that we uphold international law, the rules-based order and our values. Those values include recognising democracy and sovereignty for the Venezuelan people, which, frankly, have not been respected by the Maduro regime over many years.

Sudan: Humanitarian Situation

Ben Lake Excerpts

Monday 15th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Chris Elmore]

We are alarmed by the use of drones to attack civilians. We are particularly concerned about the recent attack, which my hon. Friend mentioned and to which I referred in my opening remarks, that killed peacekeepers and may have involved drones. Our export controls on arms are strict and include military drones, and we are working as best we can to ensure that external actors refrain from fuelling the conflict and work together to secure peace, and particularly to try to introduce mitigations on the use of drones. We continue to work on all possible options in the multilateral space as the penholder at the UN.

[Ben Lake (Ceredigion Preseli) (PC)]

I am pleased to hear the Minister confirm that the Government are supporting the work of the International Criminal Court’s investigations of the commanders implicated in the atrocities. Will he reassure us that the Government will waste no time in bringing further sanctions against individuals when charges are brought, and encourage international partners to do likewise?

[Chris Elmore]

As I have mentioned, we do not provide a running commentary on individual sanctions, but I assure the hon. Gentleman and the House that we will keep this matter under constant review.

Gaza and Sudan

Ben Lake Excerpts

Tuesday 18th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

I will happily look into the particular case of the constituent that my hon. Friend raises, but there is an urgent need to get humanitarian aid in and to provide safety for those who face the most horrendous circumstances at the moment. She is right that in a situation such as this, with such terrible conflict, families get separated and need the support to reunite.

[Ben Lake (Ceredigion Preseli) (PC)]

I echo the Foreign Secretary’s horror at the slaughter in El Fasher, and I share her concern that further atrocities will take place unless the international community can secure decisive intervention. With that in mind, what response has there been to Friday’s resolution from the warring parties? How do the Government, in conjunction with their international partners, intend to apply pressure on the parties to comply with not only the resolution, but international law?

[Yvette Cooper]

I say bluntly that the response from the warring parties has been wholly inadequate. Both sides still refuse to deliver the ceasefire that we urgently need or even a humanitarian truce to let aid get in. Words have been put forward, but it is still completely inadequate, given the scale of the humanitarian crisis we face. We will need continued pressure on all warring parties to act.

Gaza and Hamas

Ben Lake Excerpts

Wednesday 29th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

As I said earlier, I will not provide extensive commentary on reports, but clearly safety and security for Gazans will involve Palestinian authorities able to ensure law and order. Those who have been living in Gaza have suffered terribly; there has been widespread looting and violence. I am sure many will pore over the question of who those factions and criminals are and who is supporting them. The key thing now is that security needs to return to Gaza, and that security cannot be provided by the masked Hamas gunmen that the shadow Foreign Secretary rightly referred to at the outset, so that work continues.

[Ben Lake (Ceredigion Preseli) (PC)]

The Minister has rightly emphasised the importance of securing the swift and urgent supply of aid to all those in need in Gaza, but he has also mentioned that some of the crossings remain disrupted or fully closed. What reasons have been given for the continued delay in reopening all the crossings?

[Mr Falconer]

There has been some public reporting of Israeli concerns about the Allenby bridge, particularly after the violence there. Rafah is a subject that we have discussed many times in this House, and it remains an absolutely critical artery. It is true to say that in both the Allenby crossing and Rafah there will need to be agreement between both countries. I hope that agreement can be secured quickly, that Israel removes the restrictions in place, and that we see the free flow of aid through those crossings very shortly.

Sudan

Ben Lake Excerpts

Wednesday 16th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Catherine West]

I thank my hon. Friend for his extensive work in civil society on these sorts of issues. The current position is for us to engage extensively through diplomatic means to encourage all parties to come to the table. We are very aware of the complexity of this particular conflict and the fact that it is not just two sides within the region, but a lot of other players. We are uniquely positioned with our role on the United Nations Security Council and with our other partners; for instance, we do a lot with the League of Arab States and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. We are using our diplomatic efforts double time at the moment, but I do hear what my hon. Friend says.

[Ben Lake (Ceredigion Preseli) (PC)]

Given that certain UN initiatives and efforts to address this humanitarian catastrophe have encountered a degree of reluctance, if not opposition, from states such as Russia, I was pleased to hear the Minister say that the Government are working closely with regional partners. Will she elaborate on the work that is being done to support countries such as Egypt and multilateral organisations like the African Union to address this humanitarian crisis and, if not to broker a ceasefire, to ensure the unblocking of humanitarian aid?

[Catherine West]

I thank the hon. Member for his long-standing interest in development. I know that he will be pleased to hear that the participants with whom we worked at the London conference continue to be our partners in this endeavour. They include Egypt, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, South Sudan, Chad, Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda. Within my own brief as the Indo-Pacific Minister, I am able to talk about terrible conflicts such as those in Sudan and Myanmar with like-minded people, including with those in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which also cares deeply about their brothers in Sudan and Myanmar. We must redouble our efforts to have on our agenda in future diplomatic interventions those terrible ongoing conflicts that are not enjoying the spotlight of public attention.

Middle East

Ben Lake Excerpts

Monday 23rd June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for asking that question and to be able to give that reassurance about our highest levels of force protection for all our wonderful personnel, many of whom I have met, who are in the region.

[Ben Lake (Ceredigion Preseli) (PC)]

I thank the Foreign Secretary for his statement and also for emphasising the importance of restraint and de-escalation at this perilous moment. What steps is he taking to try to align and co-ordinate his diplomatic efforts with those of our European and G7 allies, in the hope of presenting a united diplomatic front?

[Mr Lammy]

I have of course spoken to our G7 allies over the past two weeks. I have spoken to our partners in the region, in the Levant as well as in the Gulf particularly, and I will continue to do all I can. Obviously, NATO in the coming days will be another forum in which we can reach a common path towards diplomacy.

Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Ben Lake Excerpts

Tuesday 20th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

My hon. Friend is right to bring to mind, as other hon. Members have done, the children, the babies and the words of Tom Fletcher. I reassure her that when the Prime Minister sat in his office with Prime Minister Mustafa of the Palestinian Authority, he raised the children of the occupied territories. We keep that in mind in our actions, and it has guided us today.

[Ben Lake (Ceredigion Preseli) (PC)]

I thank the Foreign Secretary for his statement, and for reiterating the Government’s commitment to take further concrete action in concert with international allies should the Israeli Government fail to cease their military offensive and, indeed, lift restrictions on humanitarian aid. Given the immediacy of the crisis and warnings that up to 14,000 children are at risk of starvation, could the Foreign Secretary please reassure the House that those further concrete steps will be taken at such a time as to prevent the mass starvation of innocent children?

[Mr Lammy]

As I said before, and as the Prime Minister’s statement indicates, we will take further concrete action if necessary. It is my sincere hope that we will not need to take that action because Prime Minister Netanyahu will heed what those within his country and the international community are saying.

India-Pakistan: Escalation

Ben Lake Excerpts

Wednesday 7th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

I agree with my hon. Friend that de-escalation is vital, and it is to that end that our efforts are dedicated.

[Ben Lake (Ceredigion Preseli) (PC)]

I commend the Minister and the Foreign Secretary for their efforts to maintain dialogue with both countries and, in conjunction with international allies, to de-escalate the situation. Given the urgency for de-escalation, is there a reason why this matter cannot be taken to the UN Security Council for a more urgent discussion than is currently planned?

[Mr Falconer]

The agenda of the UN Security Council is agreed in New York, and when we are in a position to update the House on what that agenda looks like, we will of course do so.