Oral Answers to Questions

Dominic Raab Excerpts

Tuesday 20th July 2021 Commons Chamber

[Aaron Bell (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Con)]

What recent assessment he has made of the effect of the National Security Law on the people of Hong Kong.

[The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and First Secretary of State (Dominic Raab)]

The national security law in Hong Kong is not being used for its original avowed purpose, which according to Beijing was to target

“a tiny number of criminals who…endanger national security”.

Instead, it is being used to stifle the freedoms of the people of Hong Kong and undermine the joint declaration.

[Aaron Bell]

I welcome the continuing success of the new visa relief for holders of British national overseas status; it reflects the UK’s historic and moral commitment to the people of Hong Kong in the face of the new national security law, which continues to be used to crack down on freedom of expression, as we have just seen from the recent closure of Apple Daily. Will my right hon. Friend confirm what steps he is taking to ensure that those Hongkongers will be welcomed to Britain and able to integrate into our local communities?

[Dominic Raab]

I think that this is the most big-hearted offer that the UK has made since the Indian Ugandans fled Idi Amin. My hon. Friend is right that it is not just about offering safe haven; the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has announced a £43 million dedicated support package to ensure that BNOs can integrate and thrive in our country.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Foreign Secretary.

[Lisa Nandy (Wigan) (Lab) [V]]

We have watched as the situation has deteriorated in Hong Kong and as genocide is committed in Xinjiang. The Foreign Secretary has issued statements and introduced sanctions while clinging to the absurd prospect of boarding a plane to Beijing next year to participate in a public relations coup for the Chinese Government. He is asking the royal family and senior politicians to stand by while journalists are rounded up, pro-democracy protesters are arrested and 1 million Uyghurs are incarcerated in detention camps. In October, before he was overruled by the Chancellor and the Prime Minister, he said that there comes a point where sport and politics cannot be separated. When is that point?

[Dominic Raab]

The hon. Lady knows that the participation of any national team in the Olympics is a matter for the British Olympic Association, which is required, as a matter of law under the International Olympic Committee regulations, to take those decisions independently. We have led the international response on Xinjiang, and also on Hong Kong. Of course, as we have said, we will consider the level of Government representation at the winter Olympics in due course.

[Lisa Nandy]

While the Foreign Secretary continues to duck the question, the Chinese Government have raised the stakes. Yesterday, he admitted that China was responsible for the Microsoft Exchange hack, which saw businesses’ data stolen and hackers demanding millions of pounds in ransom. He said that the Chinese Government

“can expect to be held to account”.

He might want to have a word with the Treasury, because just two weeks ago, at Mansion House, the Chancellor said that it was time to realise

“the potential of a fast-growing financial services market with total assets worth £40 trillion”.

While the Foreign Secretary is imposing sanctions, the Chancellor is cashing cheques. How does the Foreign Secretary expect to be taken seriously in Beijing if he is not even taken seriously around his own Cabinet table?

[Dominic Raab]

I thank the hon. Lady, but she is wrong on two counts. It was yesterday that the UK, along with our EU, NATO and US allies and Canada, Australia and New Zealand, publicly attributed the Microsoft Exchange server attacks to the Chinese; it was not then that they took place. She is also wrong in her characterisation of the Mansion House speech. Of course, we have made it clear right across Government that we will hold the Chinese Government to account on human rights, but also on cyber-attacks or other nefarious activities, while also seeking a constructive relationship.

[Anthony Mangnall (Totnes) (Con)]

What steps he has taken to deploy personnel from the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict initiative UK team of experts to Ethiopia.

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[Simon Baynes (Clwyd South) (Con)]

What diplomatic steps the Government are taking to support the distribution of covid-19 vaccines throughout the world.

[The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and First Secretary of State (Dominic Raab)]

Through our investment in the development of the AstraZeneca vaccine, our finance for COVAX and our commitment of 100 million vaccine doses from surplus domestic supply, the UK is a global leader in our support for vaccinating the poorest around the world.

[Jacob Young]

Lebanon has been hit by a succession of crises in recent months, not least the massive explosion in the port of Beirut last year, a deepening economic crisis, and rising political instability. Can the Foreign Secretary assure me that his Department is doing everything it can to support the people of Lebanon with their vaccine deployment so that Lebanese people do not have to endure shortages of covid-19 vaccines on top of the hardship that they are already enduring?

[Dominic Raab]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. He will recall that, last year, as that terrible disaster took place, we committed $2 million in extra support for medical equipment. In relation to vaccines, in March, Lebanon received its first doses from COVAX: 33,600 AZ vaccines. The UK, through our £90 million commitment, got the AstraZeneca vaccine at cost price to the world, and the vast majority of COVAX doses—some 98%—that will have reached Lebanon have been the AZ vaccine. That demonstrates the value that the UK is providing not just with the domestic roll-out but abroad as well.

[John Lamont]

The UK has amassed one of the largest vaccine portfolios in the world. This has been hugely successful and has allowed all of us to get a jab. In which parts of the world does the Foreign Secretary envisage using our surplus to best effect?

[Dominic Raab]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. At the G7, by making it clear that we would donate 100 million doses from surplus domestic supply by the end of June 2022, we also leveraged 1 billion doses from other countries. We are committing 80% to COVAX, which will be distributed according to its criteria, and a further 20% on a strategic basis. Allocations will be announced in due course.

[Simon Baynes]

Will my right hon. Friend join me in praising the employees of Wockhardt in my constituency of Clwyd South for the indispensable role they have played in our vaccine manufacturing process? It has allowed us not only to roll out doses swiftly and effectively in the UK, but to support countries across the rest of the world that have been badly hit by the covid pandemic.

[Dominic Raab]

My hon. Friend can be rightly very proud of the role his constituents have played. It is not only Wockhardt employees, but the wider AstraZeneca collaboration with Government and the £90 million of support that the Government put in for research and development and for getting capacity up that have meant that we not only have this world-beating domestic vaccine roll-out, but have supplied 98% of the vaccine to the poorest and most vulnerable countries around the world delivered by COVAX.

[Preet Kaur Gill (Birmingham, Edgbaston) (Lab/Co-op)]

Less than 1% of sub-Saharan Africa has been fully vaccinated, leaving the Prime Minister’s claim that he would vaccinate the entire world hanging by a thread and his credibility in tatters. Having sneaked out cuts to the aid budget, which his Government have now made permanent, he has made the UK the third lowest donor in the G7, and in the middle of a pandemic, this Foreign Secretary has presided over the largest drop in humanitarian aid of any major donor country, apart from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. It is clear that the Foreign Secretary’s claim that the UK’s reputation has not been diminished under his watch is unfounded in reality. What does he say in response to the damning comments last week of the former President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf? He said that this Government’s cuts will have

“a negative impact on millions of people in less wealthy nations”.

If this Government have a conscience, they will want to know how many lives have and will be lost as a result of these cuts. I urge him to publish the impact assessments immediately so that more lives can be saved, but will he do it?

[Dominic Raab]

What I would say to the hon. Lady is that Labour promised it would hit 0.7% in 1974. That was the year in which I was born. Labour has never once hit 0.7%. It only twice hit 0.5%, so we will take no lectures from the Labour party when we are the third biggest G7 donor when it comes to aid.

[Alex Sobel (Leeds North West) (Lab/Co-op)]

When he plans to make a decision on whether the UK will support the International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace.

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[Sarah Jones (Croydon Central) (Lab)]

If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and First Secretary of State (Dominic Raab)]

The UK has led international efforts to press China to grant urgent and unfettered access to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

[Sarah Jones]

Is the Foreign Secretary concerned about the deliberate erosion of trust in America’s electoral system—in particular, what is playing out in Arizona—and what lessons should be learned here, where, as in America, there is no evidence of electoral fraud on anything other than a minuscule scale? Does he really think the Elections Bill is going to help or hinder our democracy?

[Dominic Raab]

We obviously follow attacks on any democracy—particularly, as we have talked about, through misinformation or cyber-crime—very carefully. Ultimately, we work in collaboration with partners such as the US and we will take our lead from them.

[Mr Speaker]

Let us go to the Chair of the Select Committee, Tom Tugendhat.

[Tom Tugendhat (Tonbridge and Malling) (Con) [V]]

Mr Speaker, thank you very much for calling me. The line from Kent is pretty terrible, I am afraid, but that is a complaint for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

Today, on Eid al-Adha, will the Foreign Secretary join me in welcoming the number of Muslim communities in the UK who have come from abroad to make their lives here, but will he also reach out to Muslim communities around the world and ask them to stand with the people of Xinjiang, who this year will not be celebrating—as, indeed, they have not been celebrating for many years—under the rule of the Chinese Communist party and the authoritarian dictatorship that it has caused?

[Dominic Raab]

I thank my hon. Friend, and he is absolutely right. We celebrate the role of all communities and all religions in this country: they make Britain what it is. He is absolutely right to say—I regularly raise it with my colleagues and opposite numbers overseas—that particularly in Muslim-majority countries it seems there is not quite as much concern as in the UK and other western, non-Muslim-majority countries about human rights abuses. This is an actor-agnostic issue; it is merely about treatment—persecution—based on religion, creed or ethnicity. We call on all countries to uphold those basic values, but particularly those most directly affected with the victims in Xinjiang.

[Catherine West (Hornsey and Wood Green) (Lab) [V]]

Last week, the Government finally gave the EU ambassador the legal recognition they so arrogantly denied him earlier this year, and last month we saw the Government’s needlessly antagonistic approach towards our European partners overshadow the G7 summit and consequently hamper international efforts to tackle pressing global challenges. Does the Foreign Secretary now accept that this was a mistake that has undermined our relationship with Europe, and will he commit to treating our European partners as equals to ensure that we can work together on common concerns such as security, freedom of speech, covid and climate change?

[Dominic Raab]

Particularly after the Harry Dunn case, and what we learned about the risk of finding gaps in immunity—including long-standing gaps that date back to the last Labour Government—I will make no apologies for being very careful with EU representation, which falls somewhere between a normal international organisation and a sovereign Government’s mission. We must ensure that privileges and immunities are tailored to their functional need, and that we do not find ourselves with a gap. That means that we can hold people to account for ordinary crimes, as the public would expect. Frankly, given the various voices from the Labour Front Bench who have raised the case of Harry Dunn, I am utterly surprised that the hon. Lady would not expect us to take such a rigorous approach.

[Mark Fletcher (Bolsover) (Con)]

I have been in correspondence with the Minister for European Neighbourhood and the Americas with respect to a complex constituency case. What help can FCDO officials give to constituents who have favourable court orders in both this country and another jurisdiction to repatriate a child to the UK, but who face constant battles and hurdles to do so?

--- Later in debate ---

[Richard Thomson (Gordon) (SNP) [V]]

Earlier this month the FCDO published its human rights and democracy report, which lists in total 31 human rights priority countries. The UK Government currently grant licences to sell arms to 23 out of those 31 countries. How can the granting of those licences be reconciled with any meaningful commitment on the part of the UK Government to improve the human rights of those who live in those countries?

[Dominic Raab]

We take our responsibilities on those issues very seriously. We have one of the most stringent export control regimes in the world, and we regularly review it. At the same time, with our introduction for the first time ever in this country of an autonomous human rights sanction regime, the so-called Sergei Magnitsky sanctions regime, we have shown that from Xinjiang to the murder of Khashoggi and the persecution of the Rohingya in Myanmar, we will not hesitate to hold those who violate serious fundamental rights to account.

[Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North) (Lab) [V]]

The Minister for Middle East and North Africa indicated earlier that the Government have yet to consider joining the International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, because they are awaiting further information. Why are the Government not showing more initiative in working with the US to drive that? Our chief negotiator in Northern Ireland held a similar initiative, the International Fund for Ireland, to be the great unsung hero of the peace process. Does the Minister agree that the middle east need be no different?

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[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab) [V]]

The Foreign Office is funding projects exploring why modern slavery is taking place in Malaysian factories. The Foreign Secretary need not look far; he can just ask the Health Secretary, because the Department of Health and Social Care has purchased more than 760 million rubber gloves for the NHS from Malaysian factories accused of using slave labour during the pandemic. Can the Foreign Secretary tell me—perhaps this time I will get an answer, unlike when I have asked a number of his colleagues this question—why, if the Foreign Office views this as a serious problem, his colleagues in the Department of Huealth and Social Care do not?

[Dominic Raab]

We scrutinise very carefully any allegations—the hon. Gentleman has called them allegations—of human rights abuses. I can tell him about the supply of rubber gloves from Malaysia. At the peak of the pandemic, when we were seeking personal protective equipment for our NHS staff on the frontline, in care homes, we of course looked at all possible suppliers, including Malaysia, which is one of the biggest global suppliers of rubber gloves.

[Chris Green (Bolton West) (Con)]

Following the G7 summit, with its focus on vaccinations and their global roll-out, does my hon. Friend agree that the challenges of antimicrobial resistance are at least as great and therefore need a similar focus in terms of research, manufacturing and distribution?

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[Paul Holmes (Eastleigh) (Con)]

  This month marks six years since the joint comprehensive plan of action nuclear deal was signed, yet Iran has faced no consequences for its flagrant violations of the deal. Does my right hon. Friend share my concern that Iran has failed to live up to its nuclear commitments, and will he confirm that nothing is off the table, including the reimposition of sanctions?

[Dominic Raab]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to point to the continued systemic non-compliance by Iran with its JCPOA commitments. Of course, Iran is still subject to wide-ranging sanctions. We strongly urge Iran to halt all its activities in violation of the JCPOA and, in line with the new US position, come back to the table and make sure that we can conclude a return to the JCPOA. I would just say that we do not believe that those negotiations can remain open-ended forever.

[Rachel Hopkins (Luton South) (Lab) [V]]

Eid Mubarak to Muslims celebrating both in Luton South and around the world, but for those living in Palestine, their Eid al-Adha celebrations will not be peaceful or safe. Does the Secretary of State agree that attempts to get a meaningful peace process back up and running are made harder by the building of settlements and the eviction of Palestinians, which entrench division and are illegal under international law?

[Dominic Raab]

I totally agree with the hon. Lady. I have been out to both Israel and the west bank twice. We are a stalwart supporter of Israel, but we also, not least because of our principled approach to international law, make it clear, whether on the evictions, the demolitions in Jerusalem or the broader question of settlement building, that they are not just contrary to international law but entirely counterproductive to the peace set-up we need to see for a durable two-state solution for both Israelis and Palestinians.

[Sally-Ann Hart (Hastings and Rye) (Con)]

  Does my right hon. Friend agree that one of the best possible investments the UK can make with its aid budget is in the education of girls globally? Will he outline the steps he is taking to further that aim at the Global Partnership for Education next week? [Interruption.]

[Dominic Raab]

Labour Members are talking about cuts. We have just made the biggest ever donation to the Global Partnership for Education, a 15% increase on last time. As a result, at the G7 we corralled one of the biggest G7 sets of donations—close to $3 billion. We are hosting, with our Kenyan friends, the Global Education summit in the next few days. The point is that, through the leadership of our official development assistance contribution and our diplomatic leadership, we are bringing the world together in pursuit of two targets: 40 million more girls receiving 12 years quality education, and 20 million more girls literate by the age of 10.

[Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab) [V]]

  It is cheering to see the new US Administration repairing relations that the previous President damaged. Will we take a leaf out of our closest ally’s book and recognise the 2 million dead under the Ottoman empire from 1915 to 1923 as Armenian genocide, as Biden and dozens of other states worldwide have done? Can we also commit to playing our part to resolve current disputes with Azerbaijan?

[Dominic Raab]

Our position on the Armenian genocide is unchanged, but certainly in relation to the other disputes the hon. Lady mentioned, we of course work with the international community to try to alleviate the plight of those on all sides who are suffering.

[Alicia Kearns (Rutland and Melton) (Con) [V]]

The situation in Tigray is truly horrifying, and the Prime Minister of Ethiopia sparked fears of further mass atrocities by saying that the “weeds” of Tigray will be crushed. What steps is the UK taking to urgently de-escalate the conflict, and map out Ethiopian and Eritrean forces perpetrating atrocities so that they can be held accountable? Will the new conflict centre look at what further steps, such as Magnitsky sanctions, can be taken to alleviate the crisis?