Belfast: Violent Disorder

Debate between Dan Jarvis and Liam Conlon

Wednesday 10th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dan Jarvis]

The right hon. Gentleman made an excellent point at the beginning of his remarks about the activities we have seen not being British. I completely agree with his analysis of the situation, and I hope he acknowledges my very long-standing interest in, and affection for, his part of the United Kingdom. Lots of right hon. and hon. Members feel a huge sense of determination to support him and his colleagues in the important work they are doing.

The right hon. Gentleman raised a number of other points, and he will understand that I am joined on the Front Bench by the Minister for Migration and Citizenship, who was also listening very carefully. Of course, when a situation such as the one we have seen in recent days occurs, the Department will want to look very carefully at the circumstances of that case. In general terms, some of the metrics relating to some of the right hon. Gentleman’s points are heading in the right direction, not least initial decisions on asylum being up by 71%. The Government are determined to make sure we are processing claims much more quickly and effectively than was the case previously. However, we will give further consideration to his points and should he wish to discuss them, I would be very happy to do so.

[Liam Conlon (Beckenham and Penge) (Lab)]

I echo the statement from the Minister and the remarks of my hon. Friend the Member for Belfast South and Mid Down (Claire Hanna), who spoke so well and with such clarity. This was a horrific attack, and I join others in extending my sympathies to the victim. I also commend the bravery of Maitiu Mág Tighearnán and those who ran towards danger to disarm the attacker, and the PSNI and emergency services for their swift response. However, it was disappointing—but not surprising—to see the usual suspects using this as an opportunity to divide, point-score and help whip up violence and disorder online, which then played out on the streets of Belfast. Will the Minister join me in condemning those who have done so, and does he agree that it demonstrates the need for urgent action against the online platforms that facilitate and spread this hate?

[Dan Jarvis]

I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for his question, not least because I know that he also has a very long-standing affection for Northern Ireland, and I join him in praising the bravery of all those involved in the actions we saw a couple of nights ago. He is also right to raise significant concerns, which link to the point I made earlier about words having consequences. While the usual suspects, as he describes them, will come forward to try to derive some kind of political advantage from circumstances such as these, I genuinely believe that the majority of the public expect us to act in a sensible, consensual way—to address the problems about which people are rightly angry, but to do so in a way that brings people together rather than driving them apart.

National Resilience

Debate between Dan Jarvis and Liam Conlon

Wednesday 10th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Security (Dan Jarvis)]

I begin by paying tribute to the hon. and gallant Member for Exmouth and Exeter East (David Reed) for his previous service, including in the special forces support group. I also thank him for bringing this vital matter to the House, as this debate is central to our national security and our duty to the public. He made a number of helpful and important points. I completely understand why he mentioned the importance of the national conversation, and he can expect to hear much more about that shortly. He was also right to draw a comparison with other countries, and I am proud that many of the UK’s resilience structures and capabilities serve as examples of best practice. For example, the National Situation Centre, established under the previous Government, is highly regarded internationally, and the UK Resilience Academy, which I visited just the other day, is an important part of the skills and engagement offer.

[Liam Conlon (Beckenham and Penge) (Lab)]

The Crystal Palace transmitting station in my constituency is such an iconic feature of our south London skyline that people often refer to it as Crystal Paris. It is also vital communications infrastructure. Will the Minister join me in recognising it not only for its everyday role in broadcasting television and radio to millions across our capital and beyond, but also for the contribution that such infrastructure makes to our national resilience in times of crisis and emergency, when trusted, reliable communications matter more than ever? Will he also join me in thanking the engineers, technicians, operators and all the staff who maintain and run that critical national infrastructure, often behind the scenes, ensuring that the public stay informed, connected and safe?

[Dan Jarvis]

I am happy to join my hon. Friend in paying tribute to the work done at the Crystal Palace transmitting station. As he knows better than I, it is an iconic feature of south London, so I am happy to take the opportunity to thank all those involved for their work ensuring that the public stay informed, connected and safe. While I am on that subject, let me also thank all those who work at Emley Moor in West Yorkshire who do similar work. I was privileged to meet them just the other day.

Let me return to the remarks by the hon. Member for Exmouth and Exeter East about international comparisons. There are many similarities with our international partners, but as he will acknowledge, each nation’s approach is influenced by its history, geography, and societal approach to resilience.

Building on the good work of the previous Government, we have set out our strategic vision on resilience. Take for example our work following the covid-19 inquiry: we considered the findings and made deliberate updates to our resilience plans, including strengthening our relationships with the devolved Governments through the four nations ministerial group.

As I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will also recognise, successive Governments have for more than 20 years anchored the national security risk assessment as the foundation of their approach to the complex resilience landscape. That landscape continues to evolve and the risks that we face today are volatile, varied and interconnected. They include cyber-attacks, threats to energy security, global supply chain pressures and, of course, armed conflict. I am pleased to be able to talk about the Government’s approach to those areas, but first let me say something in response to the hon. Gentleman about accountability.

Under the lead Department model, each risk is owned by a single Department, ensuring those with the relevant expertise are responsible for the work to keep us protected against that particular risk. To support that, the Government will publish a refreshed expectation set for lead Departments. That will clarify how they are expected to deliver their responsibilities, as well as the role of other Departments in supporting them.

The Government have also taken steps to clarify accountability and enhance our readiness for the highest impact whole-of-system crises. We have explicitly embedded the leadership role of the Cabinet Office in our central crisis management doctrine, the Amber Book, and we have strengthened governance on risk planning and mapped key cascading impacts of catastrophic risk to ensure a true whole-of-Government response, so if a catastrophe should happen, no Department can be in any doubt about its role.

Let us take a national power outage as an example. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero remains the lead Department across the whole risk cycle, from assessment to recovery, and continues to lead on the Government’s relationship with the energy sector. The role of the Cabinet Office is to step in to help lead the response, given the significant cross-cutting impacts that a national power outage would bring. That central co-ordination function allows all responding Departments to respond to their impacted areas, with the Cabinet Office providing situational reporting of the whole-system impacts of the risk. That way, the Government collectively understands and is prepared for the risks that the UK faces.

The Cabinet Office also leads on the overall response to severe weather. This is underpinned by the severe weather resilience network, where crucial inputs from the Met Office, which I know the hon. Gentleman will be very familiar with, are shared with individual Departments that lead on the response planning and resilience of the sectors that they represent. That ensures that when the weather turns, our response is unified, rapid and robust.

Our work is not just about how we plan for responding to emergencies; we have informed our understanding of their impact as well. We know that emergencies impact people unequally, and to address that we have developed the risk vulnerability tool and provided further guidance to local resilience forums, so that they can better identify and support those who are most vulnerable.

The UK Government are proud to be a part of an international community in which we can both learn from others and share our learnings, but I would not want anyone listening to think that planning and response is all down to Departments. Local resilience forums are a critical part of our resilience system. In fact, the stronger LRF trailblazers programme moves beyond legacy structures to build a local network that is agile, accountable and capable of protecting citizens at the neighbourhood level. The resilience action plan envisages a whole-of-society approach, redefining national resilience as a shared mission where citizens, communities, civil society, businesses and the public sector all play a vital and active role.

Finally, building a truly resilient society requires a fundamental cultural shift in the way that emergency preparedness is thought about. That includes being clear about the risks that we face and the actions that we can all take to improve our collective resilience.