Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dominic Raab and Gagan Mohindra

Tuesday 5th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

Again, an Opposition Front Bencher is denigrating the important—albeit incremental—reforms that we are making for victims. In fact, a victims law is currently subject to pre-legislative scrutiny and it will be introduced. We are increasing the victims surcharge by 20% and are changing the way that the Crown Prosecution Service communicates. Since the last Labour Government, we have quadrupled the amount of funding that goes to victims services, and we have rolled out section 28. She is right to say that we have prioritised rape and serious sexual violence. [Interruption.] We will get on to that. In fact, the reality is that the number of rape convictions has increased by two thirds over the past year. We have also taken action through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 on domestic abuse, which the hon. Lady voted against.

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

T2.   I recently had the pleasure of visiting HMP The Mount in my constituency, where I learned about its excellent work to provide inmates with practical work skills for life after prison. What steps is my right hon. Friend taking to ensure that when individuals leave prison, they are given the tools and skills to successfully rehabilitate themselves back into society—as they are at HMP The Mount—and get back into work, and not to fall back into a life of crime?

[Dominic Raab]

I have fond memories of playing Sunday league football in my younger years in The Mount prison against the offenders. They won fairly convincingly—something tells me that they were not out on the Saturday night in the way that my team was.

My hon. Friend asks a serious question: what are we doing? In the past year, we have seen a 67% increase in offenders leaving prison being in work within six months. That is a big step change and we are restless to go further. We are doing that with the roll-out of employment advisory boards—I am very grateful to James Timpson for driving that forward—employment hubs in prison, and critically, the drugs strategy, which will stop offenders languishing on methadone, at which point they are no good for anything.

Belarus: Interception of Aircraft

Debate between Dominic Raab and Gagan Mohindra

Monday 24th May 2021 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right, which is why we have taken the actions we need to take in relation to flights to and from the UK, and why we have called for an urgent meeting of the ICAO Council to address these issues in the most appropriate forum. However, let us face it: this also represents a threat to international security. That is why we have raised the issue in the United Nations Security Council.

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s statement and thank my hon. Friend the Member for Henley (John Howell) for the excellent work he is doing in the Council of Europe. Does the Foreign Secretary agree that Lukashenko must accept that his recent actions are a step too far and that the only way forward for Belarus is for the dictator to halt his campaign of oppression, release political prisoners and hold free and fair elections with international observers?

[Dominic Raab]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right; I agree with that list. Ultimately, it is difficult to see how Belarus, under the Lukashenko regime, can take any steps out of its pariah status unless those things happen, including free and fair elections, which would inevitably lead to a change of leadership.

Counter-Daesh Update

Debate between Dominic Raab and Gagan Mohindra

Thursday 4th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

The hon. Gentleman raises a really important point. Of course, the UK is a member of the global alliance standing up for freedom of religious belief, both in Syria—I have mentioned the steps that we are taking to address the persecution of minorities—and in Iraq. The opportunity is there to work with the Iraqi Government in a different way and we take that very seriously, not just because we feel that we have a moral duty to do it, but because we think that that is the sustainable future for a cohesive Iraq that is fit and prosperous for all its people.

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con) [V]]

I thank the Foreign Secretary for his statement and I associate myself with the comments made about the excellent work of our armed forces in keeping us safe. Does my right hon. Friend agree that operations against Daesh, including Operation Shader, represent the best of international co-operation?

[Dominic Raab]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and it is important that we have a team effort in the struggle against Daesh, partly because of the severity of the threat that it poses and partly because of the amorphous nature in which it can appear. It is therefore important to have cohesive international collaboration and this is a very good example of that.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Debate between Dominic Raab and Gagan Mohindra

Wednesday 2nd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

My hon. Friend is right, and I pay tribute to the work she did as Minister for Asia. She has seen at first hand why this is so important. Covid actually reinforced the case: the ministerial groups that brought together all aspects of international decision making in relation to covid, from repatriation of nationals through to the purchase of PPE and the search for a vaccine, showed how effectively we could work when we worked closely together and the gap in the absence of integration, which is what the merger will deliver today.

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

The UK can be proud of the impact our overseas aid has on some of the poorest people in the world, and I know that this will continue under my right hon. Friend. Does he agree that today’s merger is an opportunity for the UK to have an every greater impact and influence on the world stage as we make the most of the global Britain agenda and the recovery from the coronavirus?

[Dominic Raab]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Given that London is a centre for dispute resolution, given our diplomatic expertise in conflict resolution and given the role of aid and development in conflict stabilisation, there is a really strong case for bringing all those elements together in a concerted and coherent way so that we can be an even stronger force for good in the world.

Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime

Debate between Dominic Raab and Gagan Mohindra

Monday 6th July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

I thank the hon. Lady for her question. I hope that she will be reassured to see that the designations include those in relation to human rights abuses against the Rohingya. I do not know about the specific case that she is referring to, but if she would like to write to me, I am very willing to take a look at it.

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

May I too welcome the global human rights sanctions regime as proposed by the Foreign Secretary? Will he outline to the House whether this sanctions regime ensures that the UK continues to uphold the necessity of freedom of religion and belief around the world?

[Dominic Raab]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. The regime focuses on the most serious human rights abuses—those against the right to life, the prohibition against torture, and the prohibition against slave labour and forced labour—but of course many of those abuses can be directed at journalists and those practising their religion, and if he looks at the designations that we have made today, he will find that that is true even in relation to the first wave.

Hong Kong National Security Legislation: UK Response

Debate between Dominic Raab and Gagan Mohindra

Tuesday 2nd June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

I can give the hon. Gentleman that reassurance. Of course, the climate for NGOs, and for anyone speaking out in an independent forum, whether in the media or otherwise, has massively closed down. That is not just wrong as a matter of principle and the values that we share in the House. It is wrong as a matter of the joint declaration, but also as a matter of China’s view of Hong Kong’s future, reflected in Chinese law, and in particular the Basic Law.

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

I thank my right hon. Friend for his statement. Does he agree that the national security law proposed by Beijing undermines the one country, two systems framework? Will he assure me that the UK will continue to be robust to stop the creeping violations of Hong Kong rights and continue to work with our international friends and colleagues?

[Dominic Raab]

I can absolutely give my hon. Friend that assurance. Of course, we are dealing with a major economic power that relies on all its economic and political leverage and, indeed, other means, to bring different countries and Governments to its way of thinking or just to quieten them down. Our approach—as I have described, based on principle and international law—is therefore the most likely to be effective in building up that groundswell of support that has the best chance of changing China’s behaviour.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dominic Raab and Gagan Mohindra

Tuesday 4th February 2020 Commons Chamber

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

NATO protects nearly 1 billion people across 30 countries. It is the most successful alliance in history, and we are proud to be a leading member.

[Gagan Mohindra]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that NATO is the cornerstone of UK and Euro-Atlantic security? Will he support all efforts to increase burden sharing across the alliance?

[Dominic Raab]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Non-US defence investment has increased by £130 billion between 2016 and 2020. It is expected to rise further, by £400 billion, by 2024, and that is progress, but allies need to increase their defence spending in the way that he described. Of course, the UK is one of nine NATO allies meeting its 2% commitment, including a 20% increase in investment in new capabilities.