Business of the House

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Thursday 28th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Chair of the Backbench Business Committee.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the Leader of the House’s native city on Saturday night, and I thank her club for the hospitality of allowing us to score four goals with none in return. By the way, that makes a net aggregate of seven to nil across our visits to Manchester.

On behalf of the Backbench Business Committee, I thank the Leader of the House for announcing the business for the Chamber. In addition, if we are granted Thursday 19 December, that will be a full day’s debate on the Christmas recess Adjournment. In Westminster Hall next Tuesday we will debate the domestic production of critical minerals, and on Thursday we will debate pelvic mesh and the Cumberlege review, and then there will be a further debate on the financial sustainability of higher education. In addition, Mr Speaker, with your agreement, on Tuesday 10 December there will be a debate on rare autoimmune rheumatic disease.

Right now, the spiritual leader of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness—it runs Bhaktivedanta Manor in Elstree, the largest Hindu temple in this country—is under arrest in Bangladesh, and Hindus across Bangladesh are being subjected to death, with their houses and temples being burnt. There was today an attempt in Bangladesh’s High Court to rule that ISKCON should be banned from the country, which is a direct attack on Hindus. There is now a threat from India to take action, and we have a responsibility because we enabled Bangladesh to be free and independent. Whatever the change of Government has been in Bangladesh, it cannot be acceptable that religious minorities are persecuted in this way. So far we have had only a written statement from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Could the Leader of the House arrange an oral statement on the Floor of the House so that we can bring to the world’s attention what is going on in Bangladesh?

[Lucy Powell]

I thank the hon. Member for that, and I hope he had a good time in Manchester. I do not know whether he was there for the football, but I was at the Man City game on Saturday—the less said about that, the better. If he is looking for the allocation of time for future business, he should please not mention the Tottenham game to me ever again, thank you very much.

The hon. Member raises an important matter, which was also raised with me on a previous occasion by the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon). We have such a debate today, albeit about Pakistan, and he is absolutely right to highlight these issues. We support freedom of religion or belief everywhere, and that includes in Bangladesh. I will certainly ask Foreign Office Ministers to look at coming forward with a statement about what is happening to Hindus in Bangladesh.