Britain in the World

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Monday 13th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

I thank my hon. Friend and pay tribute to him for his extraordinary work and dedication to implementing the Truro conclusions. I confirm that we absolutely want to protect not just individual freedom of expression, but the rights of religious groups as well as the right for people to exercise their faith and conscience. One of the issues that I discussed with Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne in Canada on Thursday was a new global award for media freedoms that we have announced to recognise those who defend journalists and keep the flame of freedom alive in the darkest corners of the world. That is not just because we want to protect them individually, but because transparency and getting the stories out and holding regimes, and often, non-Government actors to account can happen only if we get the facts. Journalists do an incredibly brave job in getting those facts into the public domain.

Once we have left the EU and regained control of our sanctions rules, the Government will implement the Magnitsky provisions of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018. That will give us a powerful new tool to hold the perpetrators of the worst human rights abuses to account.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

[Dominic Raab]

I will, for the last time.

[Bob Blackman]

In the Conservative manifesto, three conflict zones were specifically mentioned: Israel and the middle east, Sri Lanka and Cyprus. Will my right hon. Friend give us a further illustration of what action the Foreign Office will take in those three regions to help to end those conflicts and bring perpetrators of war crimes to justice?

[Dominic Raab]

My hon. Friend is right: those three areas remain a priority. There is a huge amount of diplomatic work. We talk to our international partners, including not only our traditional partners—the Europeans, Americans and Canadians—but those in the regions of the different conflicts, about not just the importance of getting peace, but the kind of reconciliation that can come only with some accountability for the worst human rights abuses. Bringing into effect the Magnitsky regime is our opportunity to build and reinforce that at home.

--- Later in debate ---

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine (Andrew Bowie)—the true voice of Scotland in this House.

This is the first time I have had the opportunity to address the House since the general election, and I would like to thank the people of Harrow East for electing me for the fourth time, once again with an increased vote share—this time 54.4%—and a majority of 8,170, which in London terms is quite a windfall, I can assure hon. Members. The election result was very clear. In my constituency, the 2016 referendum result was 50:50 between leave and remain, but the people of Harrow East split into three portions. The Brexiteers said, “Why haven’t you delivered it?” The people who voted remain said, “We don’t want it”, but most of them said, “We accept the democratic will of the people—get on and deliver it”. I promised that if we got a working majority I would support the Government to deliver on Brexit, and I am delighted that just last week we delivered on the first measure in the Gracious Speech.

My constituency is one of great religious adherence: 75% of the population at the last census said that religion was an important part of their lives, as against the UK average of 25%. I have 24 churches, including the only Greek Orthodox church built in this country for 100 years; three synagogues; two Jain temples and one more being assembled; I have a Buddhist centre across the road; a Sikh centre across the road; an Islamic centre; and a Sri Lankan mosque. I can truly say that we have representatives from every country in the world and every religion on the planet and that every language under the sun is spoken in my constituency. Naturally, then, I have to be involved in a every single area of world policy, which is one reason why I was keen to speak in this debate.

As we leave the EU and set out our stall as a world player, it is important that we remember and unite not only with the United States—that has been mentioned—but with our Commonwealth partners in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. One thing that has struck me as I have gone around the world either on holiday or on trips, is that the people of New Zealand, Canada and Australia all say the same thing: “Why did you turn your backs on us and become Eurocentric?” We now need to look outwards—not pull up the drawbridge but look internationally and reunite with those countries.

Today, however, I want to concentrate more on the new Commonwealth—namely our relations with India and other countries on the Indian subcontinent. Already, even before trying to do a trade deal with India, India is the third-biggest investor in the UK and we are the third-biggest in India, so we start from a strong base. India has been trying to do a trade deal with the EU for more than 22 years, without success, so I hope that the Department for International Trade will take up the opportunity to increase trade and investment with India very quickly. I was delighted when the Prime Minister confirmed that we would not get involved in matters sovereign to India, so when we talk about Jammu and Kashmir, we must understand that it is a matter of internal affairs for India—and actually the illegal occupation of Kashmir by Pakistan should end immediately, in my view.

We also need to encourage students from India to come to this country to be educated and then to return to India so that we enhance our understanding and capability across the world. Far too often now, Indian students would prefer to go to the United States, Australia or other parts of the world. The UK is no longer their No. 1 choice. We need to restore that position straightaway.

In our manifesto, we mentioned three places in the world where conflict needed to be dealt with. In Sri Lanka still, many years after the bloody civil war ended, those in power are alleged to have committed war crimes. It is time that we called those people out and called them to account, so that peace and tranquillity can be restored to that country and all the peoples of Sri Lanka can live in peace and harmony.

We must also mention the plight of the Rohingya, which I do not believe has been referred to in this evening’s debate so far. In Bangladesh, there are 1.5 million Rohingya refugees, whose living conditions are not so dreadful now, because the people of Bangladesh have helped them. We must do our bit, through our international aid budget, to ease the plight of the Rohingya and enable them to return home to Myanmar safely and securely.

We also mentioned Cyprus, another country divided, this time by an illegal invasion by Turkey. It is time that we took to the international stage and demanded that those differences be resolved and Cyprus be reunited as one country. We have a specific interest in Cyprus because of our long history there and because of our airbases, which are important to the security of this country.

I turn to our relations with Israel, which has the 10th biggest economy in the world and some superb science, and where we have opportunities for even greater trade. I am delighted that we will ensure that local authorities attempting to boycott Israel will be denied the right to do so. It is absolutely wrong that public bodies should attempt, in some shape or form, to boycott democracies, particularly the only true democracy in the middle east. It is in our long-term security interests to form a security alliance not only with the United States, Canada and Australia, but with India, Israel and France, so that we can secure the free world.

[Mr Steve Baker]

My hon. Friend is making a powerful case, but I cannot help wondering whether, in calling for that alliance, he wants to use the United Nations. If he does, how does he reconcile the United Nations resolutions relating to Kashmir with what he said earlier about Kashmir?

[Bob Blackman]

My hon. Friend and I have shared platforms before on this issue. I look forward to the United Nations resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir being observed to the letter, and the first resolution said that Pakistan should end its illegal occupation of Kashmir. Once that is done, we can look forward to the demilitarisation of Jammu and Kashmir and the restoration of security for the entirety of that great princely state.

I want to mention a couple of other things while I am on my feet. We have discussed Iran today in an urgent question, but it is quite clear that we should be supporting the National Council of Resistance of Iran, in order to lead to regime change in Iran, and we should see the restoration of Maryam Rajavi as the President of Iran. I was at university when the Shah of Iran fled and the new regime came in. I remember that there was lots of optimism, but now the suppression of human rights and the export of terrorism across the world by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has to be called to account. We need to see regime change and people given the opportunity to restore the previous position.

Finally, on some domestic issues, I am disappointed to see no mention in the Gracious Speech of removing caste as a protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010. Its inclusion is unnecessary, divisive and ill-informed. The measure was introduced under the last Labour Government, and we have made various promises, at various times, to remove it. Now we have a majority in this House, we should take that opportunity. This measure affects people from the Indian subcontinent regardless of their religion, and it has been very divisive. We have had the consultation; it is now time to remove it.

We also need to think about a number of housing and community issues. Getting the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 on to the statute book was one of my proudest moments as a Member of Parliament. The Act enabled tens of thousands of people who were threatened with homelessness to get help, so that they were not forced to sleep rough. Far too many people are still forced to sleep rough on our streets, and that is a national scandal that we must resolve.

I look forward to the abolition of the Vagrancy Act, which has existed since 1824. It is time we removed it from the statute book and replaced it with proper provisions to help people to put a roof over their heads, rather than arresting those people and putting them in prison cells just because they have nowhere to live. I will push strongly for Housing First to become a policy to help homeless people put that roof over their heads, but also to give them a level of support and ensure that, under the Homelessness Reduction Act, if local authorities are failing to do their duty, we use the statutory means to force them to do so. We put that in the Act quite deliberately—I see that my hon. Friend the Member for Nuneaton (Mr Jones), who was a Minister at the time, is sitting on the Front Bench—and I think that it may be time for the Secretary of State to consider imposing those measures on local authorities that have failed to carry out their duty.

Let me end by congratulating you, Mr Deputy Speaker, on being elected to the Chair. As for those who are making their maiden speeches, let me tell them about the occasion on which I made my own maiden speech. On the first day I sat through the whole debate, only to be told at 9.30 pm, “Very sorry, but time has run out and you cannot make your speech.” On the second day I sat through the debate again, only to be told, “Sorry, but you cannot make your maiden speech.” Only on the third day did I manage to do so, by which time the subject of the debate had moved on to some area of Home Office policy. I had thrown away my original speech, so I made my maiden speech without notes. I subsequently received a complimentary message from the Prime Minister, saying, “What an excellent maiden speech, all made without any notes!” Little did he know the reason why there were no notes. Anyway, I congratulate those who have made their maiden speeches, and also those who will make theirs over the next few days.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

A maiden speech —Rob Roberts.