Middle East
Debate between David Lammy and Laura Kyrke-Smith(1 week ago)
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Mr Lammy
The right hon. Gentleman brings to bear his tremendous experience of these issues, which has been built up over many years and many different roles in Government and beyond. He is right to focus on the fact that Hamas cannot play a role, but he probably agrees with me. I never believed, as some in the Israeli Government did, that they could eradiate Hamas solely by military force. What eradicates extremism is diplomacy, a political solution and a political horizon that pulls the rug from under the terrorists. That is why it is hugely important that the UK now plays its full role in reaching a political solution and a political horizon that brings about peace, not another generation of militant young men with terrorism and pain in their hearts.
Laura Kyrke-Smith (Aylesbury) (Lab)
I thank the Foreign Secretary for his statement. I have dared to feel some hope that this ceasefire could be the beginning of the end of Israel’s 15 months of pain and suffering since the appalling Hamas attacks, and the end of 15 months in which the entire population of Gaza has wondered day in, day out whether they will survive another day of bombing.
The humanitarian situation is dire. Staff at the Al-Awda hospital, the only partially functioning hospital in the north of Gaza, report that they have been entirely cut off from aid supplies. The long-awaited and so far failed flood of aid is absolutely necessary, but the success of aid efforts must be measured not just by how many trucks get in, essential as that is, but by how many lives are ultimately protected and saved. What urgent measures is the Foreign Secretary taking to ensure that that is the case?
Mr Lammy
Half a million people in Gaza have received essential healthcare as a result of UK funding, and it was very important to support UK-Med when we came into office. Over 600,000 young people in Gaza have received food as a result of our efforts, but there is a tremendous amount to do, as my hon. Friend knows. The threat to UNRWA could thwart these efforts in the coming days. It is about how we get the number of truckloads up, how we deliver security for the Gazan people and how people can return to their homes, which is now the hope. But she will understand that many of them are returning to rubble. Actually, they are returning to camps in the surrounds of their homes, and they will need aid and support for many, many years, and probably for decades to come.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between David Lammy and Laura Kyrke-Smith(1 month, 4 weeks ago)
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Laura Kyrke-Smith (Aylesbury) (Lab)
The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Mr David Lammy)
I was proud to join Ministers across Government to show UK leadership on the climate and nature crisis at COP29. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced our ambitious 2035 emissions reduction target, and I reaffirmed our commitment to the global south through £11.6 billion in climate finance.
Mr Lammy
It was important that our Prime Minister was the only G7 Prime Minister to attend COP. My hon. Friend will recall that, last year, the Prime Minister at the time did not attend. It is hugely important that we reach the £300 billion for climate finance, which will help the global south get to clean energy. We hope that our global clean power alliance will be able to work with them, as they now have the money to do it.
Laura Kyrke-Smith
The world’s forests are the lungs of the earth, but we are losing them at an alarming rate. An area the size of Azerbaijan, where COP29 was hosted, is destroyed every year. Will the Foreign Secretary explain what the Government are doing to preserve the world’s forests and to support those who protect them?
Mr Lammy
I was very pleased to speak at COP on the issue of forests and to join inspirational indigenous leaders on that subject. That is why we found £3 billion for nature, of which £1.5 billion is dedicated to work on forests.
Middle East
Debate between David Lammy and Laura Kyrke-Smith(2 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Mr Lammy
The right hon. Gentleman is right: this story began on 7 October, and it is important for us to keep it in mind that Hamas is a proxy funded and supported by Iran, that Hezbollah is a proxy funded and supported by Iran, and that the Houthis, who are currently causing huge disruption in the Red sea, are also funded and supported by Iran. We should also keep it in mind that Iran is a regime that perpetrates all sort of atrocities on its own people. It suppresses freedom of speech, it suppresses women—the list goes on. The right hon. Gentleman is entirely right to place Iran at the centre, as the major threat to the region.
Laura Kyrke-Smith (Aylesbury) (Lab)
On Saturday, the UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator said:
“The entire population of North Gaza is at risk of dying.”
She also said:
“ What Israeli forces are doing in besieged North Gaza cannot be allowed to continue.”
Does the Foreign Secretary agree, and what representations has he made to the Israeli Government to that effect?
Mr Lammy
I reminded the Israeli Government that 42,000 people have now been killed; that more than 90% of the population have been displaced, many of them repeatedly since 2023; that as we head towards winter we have been unable to ensure effective and safe distribution of aid across Gaza; that we need to increase the volumes of the types of goods that are reaching Gaza, and we must stop restricting the aid flows; and that there is a responsibility under international humanitarian law to protect a civilian population, to minimise harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure, and to ensure that aid workers can go about their business free and unfettered.
British Indian Ocean Territory: Negotiations
Debate between David Lammy and Laura Kyrke-Smith(3 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Laura Kyrke-Smith (Aylesbury) (Lab)
When the former Foreign Secretary, the right hon. Member for Braintree (Mr Cleverly), was leading negotiations with Mauritius, he said:
“Our primary objective is to ensure the continued effective operation of our defence facility on Diego Garcia.”—[Official Report, 13 June 2023; Vol. 734, c. 151.]
This Government have now delivered that. On that basis, should the Conservatives not be welcoming the agreement?
Mr Lammy
My hon. Friend is completely right, but she knows that the Conservatives have got a leadership contest on, and this is a bit of a beauty parade. That is why they are stepping away from a negotiation that they began, had 11 rounds on and failed to deliver on.
Middle East Update
Debate between David Lammy and Laura Kyrke-Smith(4 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Mr Lammy
We have one of the most robust export licensing regimes in the world. The process requires us to make an assessment of the clear risk in the theatre of conflict, which in this case is Gaza. We therefore made an assessment of the licences that could be used in Gaza, and I made this announcement today. Notwithstanding the concerns around international humanitarian law in that theatre of action, the hon. Gentleman should recognise the real threats that Israel faces from Lebanese Hezbollah, recognise what the Houthis are doing in the Red sea—in just the last few days, we saw a terrible attack on a Greek oil tanker—and recognise the long-standing relationship that this country has with Israel, particularly as regards the intelligence and military co-operation that keeps much of the middle east and the world safe. On that basis, my remarks are measured, and I defend that.
Laura Kyrke-Smith (Aylesbury) (Lab)
I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s decision to suspend certain arms sales to Israel. I also appreciate his acknowledgment that Israel could do much more to allow aid to reach people in Gaza. What further conversations has he had with the Israeli Government to ask them to ensure that aid workers can do their vital work safely and effectively, and that aid can get to those who desperately need it?
Mr Lammy
I have raised the issue of aid workers, and the tremendous loss of aid workers’ lives in this conflict, directly in all my meetings with the Israeli Government. Another issue sits alongside this: the issue of deconfliction. In any war, there are rules, and one of the rules is that aid workers should be able to get medical supplies and aid to the civilians who need it. There have been real issues with deconfliction zones, and the number of aid workers and UN workers who have died in this conflict, and my hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise that.