Israel and Palestine

Debate between Ed Miliband and Andrew Pakes

Tuesday 8th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Ed Miliband]

Absolutely. I say this with some sorrow: it has been obvious that there has been collusion for a long time and the collusion has been allowed to continue. That is the view of former Israeli Prime Ministers and, frankly, former Israeli generals who have spoken out on the issue. I continue to urge the Government of Israel to deal with that.

[Andrew Pakes (Peterborough) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is 29 years this week since I first visited Israel and the west bank, and I have been a supporter of peace ever since. May I start by putting on the record my tribute to all the victims, from all sides, who have suffered during this period, not least those who suffered at the hands of Hamas and the 20,000 children who have perished in Gaza?

Although self-defence is important, it is not a green light to ethnic cleansing or to illegal occupation. We need international law, as was set out by the Foreign Secretary. I welcome the statement and the fact that he is joined on the Front Bench by my hon. Friend the Member for Luton North (Sarah Owen), who is a great campaigner on this issue. While international law is threatened by many actors around the world, what more can we do to support not just justice but the institutions of international justice?

[Ed Miliband]

I, too, pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Luton North (Sarah Owen). I say more widely that my hon. Friend the Member for Peterborough (Andrew Pakes) is right: we need to work with our international partners—at this time of all times—to uphold international law in Gaza, in the west bank and elsewhere.

Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage

Debate between Ed Miliband and Andrew Pakes

Monday 7th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Ed Miliband]

I respect the right hon. Gentleman’s question, although I do not agree. First, this is a long-term investment in the country’s future, and I think the Chancellor is far-sighted in recognising its importance. Secondly, there are hard-to-abate industries that, without carbon capture, will find it very hard to enter a decarbonised world. We have to protect those industries, but I agree that, where industries can decarbonise without CCS, of course we want them to do so.

[Andrew Pakes (Peterborough) (Lab)]

I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement, and I congratulate the trade unions, communities and campaigners that have campaigned for this for so long. His leadership stands in stark contrast with the asset-stripping of jobs, hopes and investment that we have seen in too many of our industrial heartlands. Does he agree that carbon capture is about not just net zero or boosting cluster areas, but boosting jobs, skills and futures in the supply chain in communities such as mine in Peterborough and across the country?

[Ed Miliband]

My hon. Friend always speaks with great eloquence on these issues, and he is completely right. When we talk about the transition to clean energy creating the jobs of the future, and about it being the greatest economic opportunity of the 21st century, we have to show that it can actually happen. The problem with the last Government is that, although they used that rhetoric at times, they never actually delivered. Today, we are showing the difference.

Clean Energy Superpower Mission

Debate between Ed Miliband and Andrew Pakes

Thursday 18th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Edward Miliband]

The hon. Gentleman nods his head. I will be honest with him: we are not going to give community veto. The last Government did not give it either. There are nationally significant projects that the Government have to make decisions on. Obviously, we have to take into account the views of local communities, but the whole point of decision making on the nationally significant infrastructure programme is that we look at the needs of the nation as well. That is why community benefit is important. If we ask local communities to host clean energy infrastructure, sometimes they will not want it, or sometimes a minority will not want it—I am not making presumptions in this case—and then we should ensure that those communities benefit from it.

[Andrew Pakes (Peterborough) (Lab)]

I welcome the Secretary of State and his team to the Chamber. It is a privilege to make my first contribution in this House on such an ambitious plan. It is ambitious not just on net zero, the climate crisis and energy security, but on jobs and opportunities for young people in places such as mine. In my constituency, Peterborough college is already building a green technology centre to develop new green apprenticeships, and we have plans for a clean energy transition centre. Will the Secretary of State put on record his commitment to working with trade unions, communities, colleges and others, so that we can move from blue-collar to green-collar apprenticeships, and give young people an opportunity to succeed in life as we meet our climate and energy needs?

[Edward Miliband]

I welcome my hon. Friend to his place. He raises the important question of how we ensure—this issue will be familiar to Members across the House—that we not only have the capacity to generate jobs in clean energy but can meet the skills needs of the country in order to fill them. This is frankly something on which we need to do a lot better as a country. My Department—I will talk about this in the next few weeks—will take on more of a function around looking at the skills needs of the clean energy economy, working with the Department for Education on how we meet them. He raises a crucial point in that context.