Gaza: Humanitarian Obligations

Brian Leishman Excerpts

Monday 24th November 2025 Westminster Hall

[Brian Leishman (Alloa and Grangemouth) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to have you in the Chair, Ms Butler. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Irene Campbell) for introducing this debate, and I thank hon. Members for their interesting, and sometimes heartbreaking, contributions this evening.

Once upon a time, a third of the globe was pink, signifying lands that were part of the British empire. Of course, some will say that empire was a civilising force—a moral and noble mission, even—but there are others, like me, who say that those who defend imperialism are attempting to justify the exploitation of people and resources, and airbrushing from history the violence committed with the aim of expanding British capitalist influence across the globe.

To analyse accurately the current dire humanitarian situation in Palestine, it is only right to acknowledge, first, Britain’s historical role in the region; secondly, Britain’s current role; and thirdly, ongoing imperialism and its indivisible relationship with capitalism. Britain owes a historical debt to the Palestinian people. With the Balfour declaration, the British mandate of 1922 to 1948, and the confiscation of land and the suppression of freedom and human rights that followed, Britain paved the way for today’s apartheid living conditions. Now, our current role is to perpetuate and normalise the ongoing occupation and colonisation of Palestine. I am afraid that Britain cannot truthfully say that we are fulfilling our humanitarian obligations when we continue to sell arms to a state that commits genocide.

We are in the scandalous position where we train IDF soldiers—soldiers of an army that commits war crimes. We will not tell our people what we are facilitating from RAF Akrotiri, hiding behind the veil of national security and secrecy. The military support we continue to give Israel makes a mockery of our humanitarian obligations. By continuing to trade with Netanyahu’s murderous regime, we serve to boost their economy. Netanyahu’s Government have, by design, crippled the Palestinian economy by impacting its ability to trade, thus making Palestinians reliant on Israel for goods, for produce and ultimately for survival. Israel consistently uses economic terrorism as a tool of subjugation. The reality is that there is a concerted effort to normalise Palestinians’ reliance on Israel as the provider of life-saving aid while making it near impossible for Palestinians to be self-sufficient.

As well as that collective punishment of Palestinians, another goal of the broader plan is to impose capitalism through the imperial project that the Israeli Government promote, wilfully aided by western democracies. Let us look at what has happened to Palestinian agriculture. Israel has seized farmland, killed crops, destroyed livestock, stopped farmers from trading and prevented their produce from reaching markets by erecting roadblocks. That has led to mass unemployment as farms have become unsustainable. It has reduced agriculture to around 4% of Palestine’s GDP; once it was 52%. By continuing to trade with Israel, we are complicit in the ongoing colonisation of Palestine, and in making Palestinians reliant on Israel.

What of education as a method of improving Palestinians’ life chances? We are fortunate in this country to consider such education a right, not a privilege. A fortnight ago, I was in the west bank. I heard about the slow strangulation of education. Israel continues to segregate Palestinian education by way of armed checkpoints: roadblocks that stop children and students from going to school, college or university in the west bank. Meanwhile, in Gaza, school often consists of teachers taking classes in tents, which are used as makeshift classrooms because schools have been relentlessly bombed. In trying to fragment and ultimately eradicate education, Israel is trying to suppress Palestinian national identity and suppress the ability of people to organise and resist the occupation of their land. By allowing that to happen, Britain and others are not fulfilling humanitarian obligations.

We all know that there are players in the international community who will always strive to maintain a capitalist and imperialist agenda at the expense of humanitarian needs. The stark truth is that Britain is both complicit in and guilty of that. Parliamentarians often try to convince themselves and others that Britain is doing everything that it can, that we are on the side of humanity, and that we are decent people, part of a civilised society. But I am sorry, if anyone really thinks that Britain is achieving that—actually doing what is right, and doing everything that we possibly can—then they are either blind or an obedient fool.

Oral Answers to Questions

Brian Leishman Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd September 2025 Commons Chamber

[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.

[Brian Leishman (Alloa and Grangemouth) (Ind)]

T2. For Palestinians, if suffering decades of oppression and apartheid, thousands being killed, and millions confined in an ever-reducing area as their homes are stolen and communities are destroyed was not bad enough, now the American President is devising a plan to carve up what is left of Palestinian territory for prime real estate. Will the Foreign Secretary categorically say at the Dispatch Box today that under no circumstances will the UK support this reprehensible plan to ethnically cleanse Palestine and create a “Gaza Riviera”, a “Trump Gaza” or whatever this grotesque plan is?

[Mr Lammy]

I say to my hon. Friend that we have been clear right throughout this crisis that Palestinian territory must not be reduced in the conduct of this war, and we do not support the forced displacement of people. Palestinian civilians must be permitted to return to their communities and rebuild their lives.

West Bank: Forced Displacement

Brian Leishman Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd July 2025 Westminster Hall

[Brian Leishman (Alloa and Grangemouth) (Lab)]

It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mr Turner. Thanks go to my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow North (Martin Rhodes) for securing this vital debate.

Sixty-one years ago, Tony Benn wrote:

“Of all the weaknesses that beset those in authority, blindness to reality is always the most crippling and usually the most inexcusable.”

In that article, Mr Benn was calling for international sanctions against the apartheid regime in South Africa. The weakness he wrote of back then is applicable to those in authority in the UK today, because words of condemnation have not stopped the displacement, segregation and apartheid being suffered by Palestinians.

Mr Turner, imagine soldiers, tanks and bulldozers rolling into your constituency, destroying buildings, essential infrastructure, schools and medical facilities. Imagine being forced out of the house you call home and fences going up around what was your community. For Palestinians in the west bank, who live under occupation and are seeing their community seized by state-backed Israeli settlers, that is their reality.

Since 7 October 2023, the west bank has experienced an average of four documented incidents of settler violence per day. Settler expansion and violence is, I repeat, a state-backed initiative, the goal of which is the erasure of Palestinian land from the map. It is total absorption—does the Minister not see that as being Netanyahu’s ultimate aim and driving force? I hope the Minister answers that question, because all the evidence points to it being the systematic removal of Palestinians from their land. It is not just hamlets, villages and towns that have been destroyed; even the refugee camps at Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarem have been attacked, as mentioned by other hon. Members.

I say to the Minister and other Members: when it comes to displacement, death and the building of 22 new illegal settlements in the west bank, do not be blind to reality, as Tony Benn said. Netanyahu and his murderous regime are not stopping. They will not stop—not when the international community are allowing war crimes to happen.

Will the Government agree to an independent public inquiry, as per the ten-minute rule Bill introduced by the right hon. Member for Islington North (Jeremy Corbyn), which will come back to the House on Friday and has widespread political and public support? The British public, Palestinians in the west bank and Gaza, and the wider Palestinian diaspora all deserve answers.

Oral Answers to Questions

Brian Leishman Excerpts

Tuesday 24th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Catherine West]

We are committed to supporting women in all that we do. We are supporting, for example, 200,000 displaced children with education interventions in Sudan and reaching Sudanese refugee populations in six countries through £14 million of funding for Education Cannot Wait, which the right hon. Member may know from her time as a Minister—was that one of the programmes she cut? UK support through the international finance facility for education will unlock up to $1 billion in additional and affordable education. Our equality impact assessment will be published shortly so that she can analyse the exact pounds and pence.

[Brian Leishman (Alloa and Grangemouth) (Lab)]

7. What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Government’s policy on arms trade with Israel.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Mr Hamish Falconer)]

The UK operates one of the most robust export control regimes in the world. One of our first acts in government was to review and suspend export licences that could be used by the Israel Defence Forces in Gaza. We have successfully implemented that suspension and have continued to refuse relevant licence applications. All export licences are kept under careful and continual review, and we can suspend, refuse or revoke licences as required.

[Brian Leishman]

The war criminals of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Government are carrying out the most vile human rights abuse and genocide. At the same time, the UK carries out the training of Israeli military personnel and facilitates almost daily spy flights that provide intelligence, and there is continued exporting of military equipment to Israel. With all that, will the Government support an independent public inquiry into UK involvement in Israeli military operations in Gaza?

[Mr Falconer]

It is important to be focused on the facts at issue. We do not support spy flights; we have a limited presence to try and find hostages in Gaza, for reasons that the whole House would understand and support. There are fewer than 10 IDF personnel receiving any training in the UK, and that training is academic and non-military in nature. We are not arming Israel’s war in Gaza. We categorically do not export any bombs or ammunition for use in military operations in Gaza.

My hon. Friend asks about an independent inquiry. The Government welcome scrutiny and I welcome my time in this Chamber. On the questions at issue on arms sales, including on the F-35 programme, there is a judicial review on which we will hear findings shortly. There is plenty of scrutiny of this Government.

Middle East

Brian Leishman Excerpts

Monday 23rd June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

I refer the hon. Gentleman to paragraph 2.13 of the ministerial code.

[Brian Leishman (Alloa and Grangemouth) (Lab)]

With his 25 years of parliamentary service, the Foreign Secretary will no doubt remember when Tony Blair told us that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and was a grave threat to international security. Of course, we then followed America into an illegal war in the middle east, and if the Prime Minister were to go down that same road, he would be wrong too. Is it not overdue that the Government follow an independent and, as Robin Cook memorably said, ethical foreign policy—one created here and not in Washington DC?

[Mr Lammy]

My hon. Friend allows me to put on record what a privilege it has been to serve and work as Foreign Secretary alongside a Prime Minister of such tremendous principle and legal learning, who entirely understands his obligations and what good government looks like, and is absolutely steadfast in his belief in the international rules-based order.

USAID Funding Pause

Brian Leishman Excerpts

Tuesday 10th June 2025 Westminster Hall

[Brian Leishman (Alloa and Grangemouth) (Lab)]

Good morning, Mrs Hobhouse; it is a privilege to have you in the Chair. I thank the hon. Member for Melksham and Devizes (Brian Mathew) for bringing this important debate to Westminster Hall today.

Internationalism is at the heart of the Labour movement. When it comes to solidarity with the oppressed and victims of injustice, truly there are no borders. I want to touch on some recurring themes. The first is the ongoing dominance of Washington DC in our foreign policy. There is no doubt that the US continues to heavily influence our international approach. The American President challenged European nations to increase their defence spending at the same time as he cut USAID. The British people we serve deserve better than our nation’s meek obedience to Washington DC. Human rights, upholding and following international law, and using what global influence we have for peace and security should be at the forefront of our thinking and action.

The ripple effect of outside influence impacts our domestic policy as well as our foreign policy. A politician talking about “tough choices” almost always means that the poorest, the disadvantaged and the most vulnerable are at the wrong end of whatever the decisions are, whether at home or abroad. Domestically, the proposed cuts to welfare mean that disabled people are facing a life of forever poverty. With reductions in benefits and cost of living increases, on top of the added financial pressures involved in being disabled, it is accurate to say that, for many, the cuts would be lethal.

A deadly fate also awaits people in some of the most dangerous, volatile and destitute countries that rely on our overseas aid just to survive. Human rights and humanitarian law are essential for global security, and those essentials are under serious threat.

[Helen Maguire]

On global security, the Mines Advisory Group, a leading mine NGO, has been forced to shut down its operations in Azerbaijan, Burkina Faso and Mauritania and scale back in Iraq, Senegal, South Sudan and Sri Lanka because of USAID cuts. This is not the moment to retreat. Does the hon. Member agree that the UK must ensure sustained funding for humanitarian mine action to keep civilians safe and support post-conflict recovery?

[Brian Leishman]

Yes, the hon. Member has my absolute agreement.

In all honesty, the UK is contributing to the growing danger that I described. We continue to sell arms to human rights-abusing states and further compound that awful act by cutting overseas development aid, which prevents conflict, builds peace, increases global security and saves and transforms lives. I utterly reject the narrative that for defence spending to be increased, overseas development aid has to be cut. Pushing that type of politics is an example of dividing people, sowing discord and creating disharmony and suspicion—creating a society that is dog eat dog and to hell with your neighbour.

Cutting overseas aid is not only immoral but a completely false economy, because our security at home is made stronger when the security of others is guaranteed abroad. For example, on International Women’s Day earlier this year, Liberation organised for women from Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Gaza and Western Sahara to come to Westminster. Those women shared personal stories of hunger, illness, sexual exploitation and intimidation, and persecution. Our overseas aid helps to provide safety from those awful circumstances. I think we all agree that all politics is personal—with nothing more so than the stories those women shared with parliamentarians that evening.

Before finishing, I want to touch again on what I said about internationalism. The fight against inequality must be tackled here and across the world. Austerity and cuts, whether at home or abroad, should be rejected. Our Foreign Office must have a coherent, joined-up approach. It is our country’s duty to respond to the world’s crises, make humanitarian aid available, and promote peace and global security. My only ask of the Minister is that she take that message back to the Secretary of State.

--- Later in debate ---

[David Taylor]

I will not, because I want to make a point; I find the moralising tone of my hon. Friend the Member for Alloa and Grangemouth (Brian Leishman) a bit much. The reason the last Government were able to do what they did—slashing the aid budget, abolishing the Department for International Development and wrecking the economy—was that we have never had a weaker Opposition than we did when the hard left was sadly in charge of my party. Putin was emboldened, in part, by the hard left’s constant appeasement and apologism for the things he was doing, their downplaying of the use of chemical weapons in Syria and their suggestion that we send the sample from Salisbury back to Putin to test whether or not he was responsible.

[Brian Leishman]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

Gaza: UK Assessment

Brian Leishman Excerpts

Wednesday 14th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

I can assure the House that my focus is on the matters that we have discussed this afternoon. They are urgent and immediate, and they crowd out all other priorities.

[Brian Leishman (Alloa and Grangemouth) (Lab)]

The truth is that there is no need for any organisation to tell the public that what is happening is genocide. After all, we have seen the attempted extermination of the Palestinian people televised live for over a year now. I put it to the Minister that this Government will be remembered as having been complicit in, and accomplices to, the war crime being committed by Israel. What actually has to happen before our Government will take meaningful action in the name of humanity and decency?

[Mr Falconer]

On the very first day I became a Minister, we restored funding to UNRWA, and within weeks we had taken the far-reaching actions that I have described in relation to arms sales. I understand the force of the question, and I understand the feeling of our constituents throughout the country, in my constituency of Lincoln and elsewhere, but let us not pretend that this Government have taken the same steps as the previous Government. We took a series of steps, and we took them quickly and decisively.

I am not suggesting to the hon. Member that what we have done is enough—no one could hear this discussion and think it is enough; no one could have listened to the UN Security Council yesterday afternoon and think it is enough. But there is a difference between saying that there is more to be done and saying that nothing has been done.

Gaza: Israeli Military Operations

Brian Leishman Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

We will continue to work with our partners who are party to the Arab initiative, and indeed our partners in the United Nations Security Council, where we have called sessions and issued statements. We will continue to work along those lines in the way that my hon. Friend would expect.

[Brian Leishman (Alloa and Grangemouth) (Lab)]

I have a simple question, and am looking for a very simple answer. Do the Government recognise Israel’s plan for large-scale forced evacuations in Gaza as ethnic cleansing? If not, why not?

[Mr Falconer]

We continue to oppose forced displacement in Gaza.

Oral Answers to Questions

Brian Leishman Excerpts

Tuesday 1st April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

I can confirm that we say regularly to our Israeli counterparts, and indeed to all others in the region, that the only route out of these horrors is a two-state solution, an outcome that provides for the safety, security and dignity of both peoples. We are talking with our partners about what might be done to try to ensure aid gets into Gaza through whatever means are at our disposal, but at the core, Israel must relax the restrictions and allow aid into Gaza. That is the way to get the scale of aid that is required into the strip. During the ceasefire, we saw a massive increase in aid, and that is what we want to do.

[Brian Leishman (Alloa and Grangemouth) (Lab)]

With continued aerial bombardments impacting the flow of aid into Gaza, will the Foreign Secretary confirm whether UK-made F-35 parts have been used to enable air strikes in Gaza since 18 March?

[Mr Falconer]

To clarify my previous answer, the Foreign Secretary spoke to Foreign Minister Sa’ar on 5 March, not 21 March.

In response to the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Alloa and Grangemouth (Brian Leishman), we will continue to press these issues with the Israeli Government. It is clear to the House that we have not succeeded, over these long months, in ensuring the level of aid into Gaza that we would like to see, or had the protections for humanitarian workers that we want to see. Deconfliction, with humanitarian aid workers, is a vital part of ensuring their security, and we are pressing the Israelis to do so.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Brian Leishman Excerpts

Wednesday 5th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Brian Leishman (Alloa and Grangemouth) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Rotherham (Sarah Champion) for securing the debate.

The enormity of the challenges facing the world right now can seem somewhat overwhelming. We are all, at varying speeds, suffering from the existential threat of climate change. We live in a global economy that is stacked in favour of the few, to the detriment of the many. These issues are driving forces for the volatile, unstable world we live in today. Our Government’s attitude to the international community and how we tackle our own domestic issue of increasing inequality should, therefore, be shaped by the principles of human rights, compassion and social justice—the very principles our party and our wider movement were founded on.

To cut overseas aid is a moral failing. Foreign aid should not be considered as an expense to be cut. It is an investment in global stability, security and a commitment to making the world a better place. As with all cuts, whether domestic or foreign, it will be the poorest, the most disadvantaged and the most vulnerable people who will be hardest hit.

Tomorrow, we have the International Women’s Day debate. Women and girls in conflict-ridden areas such as Sudan, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria and Gaza absolutely need our help. Cutting aid in those regions is not just short-sighted. It will abandon and consign millions to persecution, famine, illness and death.

The Government claim the cut is necessary to fund an increase in defence spending, but framing things in that way is, frankly, wrong. Cutting international development, as many hon. Members have mentioned today, does not strengthen our security—actually, it weakens it. Aid is a strategic investment in our long-term national interest. We have seen the United States slash its foreign aid budget. AIDS and HIV clinics in Ukraine, Uganda, Liberia and South Africa are running out of medicine. In Sudan, 80% of emergency food kitchens have been shut down. People will starve because of the American decision. Let us not make that same mistake.

International leadership is desperately needed, arguably now more than ever. The UK cutting overseas aid damages our credibility and diminishes our role on the world stage. Let us lead by example, not retreat into isolation. Let us reaffirm our commitment to being a force for good: a nation that stands up for its values, its security and, frankly, our global responsibilities. I implore the Minister and the wider leadership to restore the UK’s overseas development aid budget.