Middle East

Debate between David Lammy and Patricia Ferguson

Monday 1st September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

The whole House will have heard what the hon. Member said, and she will have heard what I have said on a previous situation. I would ask her to look closely at what this Government have been doing—our leadership globally relative to other near partners. I think the decision we made a few weeks ago, and the provisions we set for how we would recognise and the judgments we will make as we head to UNGA, are particularly important.

[Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow West) (Lab)]

I thank the Foreign Secretary very much for the action taken by him and his colleagues to enable the safe passage of scholars to the UK, a number of whom hope to come to the University of Glasgow. I am also grateful for the work being done to evacuate critically injured children. The Foreign Secretary has enumerated the number of children who have already died of famine—119, with 132,000 under-fives also at risk of starvation in the next year. But we have already seen 17,000 children killed as a result of the conflict. I refuse to call it a war because it is not a war; there is one side that has arms and another side that does not have an equality of arms. The Foreign Secretary previously said that he would never rule out anything that could be helpful in this regard. I understand why he will not commit to further sanctions at the Dispatch Box, but can he assure the House that he has not ruled out further sanctions, or any other actions that might be helpful, both in the run-up to the UN meeting and beyond?

[Mr Lammy]

I thank my hon. Friend for what she says in relation to children. Of course, there are not just the children who have died as a result of famine, which is horrific, but many thousands of children who are malnourished. Anyone who knows anything about education and children will know that if you malnourish children, you affect outcomes for them as they get older and move towards adulthood. That is why this is so horrific and disastrous for the consequences of peace and the outcomes that we want to see. I have heard what she said about sanctions.

Middle East

Debate between David Lammy and Patricia Ferguson

Monday 21st July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

I can reassure my hon. Friend that I spoke to the UN about this last week. We are working with the UN, and I was pleased that the World Food Programme was able to get some extra trucks in. We will continue to work closely with the UN, because we believe that it must be a fundamental part of the system that distributes aid to the people of Gaza.

[Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow West) (Lab)]

I thank my right hon. Friend for his statement, and I note the agreement reached with the 30 other nations. However, as we know, Israel has already rejected it. It seems to me that Israel is becoming more and more emboldened by the lack of concrete action by the international community. While people starve or are killed while queuing for food, and while those sheltering in the Caritas Jerusalem shelter were bombed at the weekend, it really does begin to look as though there is genocide unfolding before our eyes. I realise that the Foreign Secretary will want to take a legalistic view of that, but to those of us looking at it from a moral and logical point of view, there can be no other words for it. Although I understand and I agree with the Foreign Secretary that recognising the state of Palestine will not bring this to an end, it would at least give the people of Palestine something to cling on to and some hope, so can we please not discount the opportunities to raise that issue, but advocate for it and declare that we regard Palestine as a state?

[Mr Lammy]

In my experience, my hon. Friend chooses her words carefully, and the whole House will have heard what she has said this afternoon. I reassure her that, in my discussions with the Jordanians, the Saudi Arabians, the Qataris, the Emiratis and the Egyptians, and indeed with Prime Minister Mustafa, we of course discuss the recognition issue, as we have been doing with our French colleagues.

Iran-Israel Conflict

Debate between David Lammy and Patricia Ferguson

Monday 16th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

The UK of course provides military courses for our allies, but we always emphasise, in all those courses, the critical importance of international humanitarian law. It is important that we work with our allies to meet the amazing standards of our own armed services, and I am sure the hon. Gentleman would not want us to depart from that.

[Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow West) (Lab)]

I thank my right hon. Friend for his statement and for making so clear what the UK Government’s actions are. However, it is very clear that the suffering in Palestine will continue, if not accelerate, given the situation pertaining in the middle east, so what action can be taken to try to ensure that aid gets into that beleaguered area? Also, what efforts can be made to ensure that the recognition of Palestine is kept firmly on the diplomatic table?

[Mr Lammy]

My hon. Friend will know that recognition has certainly been an issue that many colleagues around the world have been speaking about just in the last few weeks. I reassure her that I was discussing the aid issues just today with a hostage family who are worried, of course, about the aid available to those who remain under the ground in Gaza.

Conflict in Gaza

Debate between David Lammy and Patricia Ferguson

Thursday 20th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising this issue. We continue to work with UN colleagues to ensure that aid workers are protected, just as we continue to work with our EU colleagues on that. We condemn the tremendous loss of life in the worst conflict for aid workers, and we continue to call for justice, particularly for those killed in the World Central Kitchen, and for a proper investigatory process in Israel that sees accountability for such acts.

[Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow West) (Lab)]

I thank the Foreign Secretary for today’s statement, and for all the work that he and his team have been doing over so many months to try to find a resolution. The actions of Hamas are both brutal and unacceptable, but for a democratically elected Government to bombard innocent civilians, and to deprive them of food, water and medical supplies, is totally reprehensible. The Foreign Secretary is quite right to say that words are the language of diplomacy, but sometimes symbols matter too. Given the fear that Israel’s ground invasion is an attempt to separate the north from the south, leading to annexation, is it not time to recognise the state of Palestine and show that we stand with the people of Palestine?

[Mr Lammy]

I thank my hon. Friend, and I recognise the strength of feeling in the House about wanting to see, alongside Israel, a home for the Palestinian people that is safe and secure. However, as I have said to her before, we keep this issue under review, and we work with close allies such as France on these issues. My own judgment is that the moment will be right when there is a process that actually leads to two states. I had hoped that, as a result of the ceasefire back in January and our getting to phases 2 and 3, we were getting close to that process, and I will do everything I can to get us back to that place in the coming days.

Middle East

Debate between David Lammy and Patricia Ferguson

Monday 28th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

These are legal terms, and they must be determined by international courts. I agree with the hon. Gentleman that those terms were largely used when millions of people lost their lives in crises such as Rwanda and the Holocaust of the second world war. The way that people are now using those terms undermines their seriousness.

[Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow West) (Lab)]

I thank my right hon. Friend for his statement, which is very welcome. Given how we expect the Knesset to vote today to make it very difficult, if not impossible, for UNRWA to operate, with the consequence that humanitarian aid will not get into Gaza, is that not the point at which we have to consider serious sanctions against the proponents of such action?

[Mr Lammy]

My hon. Friend asks a very serious question. As I said earlier, Foreign Minister Katz was at pains to tell me that the Knesset enacting this decision does not necessarily mean that it will be implemented by the Israeli Government. Yes, the truth is that UNRWA being brought to its knees would be a very serious event indeed.