National Security

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Thursday 14th May 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dan Jarvis]

My hon. Friend has been a diligent representative of his constituency, and I know that he takes these matters incredibly seriously. I hope that he understands this Government’s commitment to tackling antisemitism. He mentioned that in his constituency he has members of the UK Hong Kong community, so let me briefly say a word about them. Any foreign state-directed crime against an individual in the UK will never be tolerated, and the attempt to intimidate and harass members of the Hong Kong community is absolutely unacceptable. Hongkongers play an incredibly important role in our public life. I give him and them an absolute assurance that we will do everything we can to protect them.

My hon. Friend asked specifically about forthcoming legislation. He will understand that we take a range of measures to guard against the threat we face from malign actors and hostile states. It is a priority to introduce this legislation as soon as we are able. I will take it through Parliament, and we intend to fast-track it. I intend to bring it forward in the near future.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

Proscription of the IRGC is long overdue, and I welcome the Government’s commitment to taking the necessary legal action to ensure that happens, but the Minister will be aware that I raised with him a year ago the fact that 13 charities based in this country have been banned in Arab countries. They are directly linked to Tehran: they take their orders from Tehran and get their funding from Tehran. Equally, there are assets across London, in both finance and property, that are directly linked to the IRGC and the theocracy in Iran. All of that is used to undermine the Jewish way of life in this country, so will he now take the necessary action? Why is the ambassador from Tehran still here? Why is the Iranian embassy still open? Why are these charities still operating in open defiance of what is necessary for proper order in this country?

[Dan Jarvis]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his points, and for his acknowledgment of our intention to introduce legislation that would allow the UK Government to proscribe state-backed entities. He will know that a range of measures have already been leveraged against the IRGC, which is sanctioned in its entirety. I think it was back in November last year that I announced a range of measures to defend against the threat that we undoubtedly face from Iran.

The hon. Gentleman’s point about charities is entirely reasonable. We work across Government, including with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Charity Commission, to tackle the kinds of behaviours he describes. He makes a reasonable point; I will take it away, and come back to him with a further update on the work we are doing. Good work is under way. I hope that he gets a sense, not just from the statement but from the various interactions and exchanges we have had over many months, of how seriously we take these issues. If he wants to discuss them with me further, I would be happy to.