International Freedom of Religion or Belief Bill

Gavin Robinson Excerpts

Committee stage
Wednesday 24th April 2024 Public Bill Committees

[Dr Lisa Cameron (East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow) (Con)]

Like many colleagues, I rise to support this Bill wholeheartedly and to thank my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton for the dedication she has shown in the role. It is extremely important that the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office supports this role—as it does—and I thank the Minister in advance as well. This role is exemplary, and people contact me from many different countries to commend the work that is being done, such as those who have been persecuted and those whose families have been persecuted. I think that it places the UK in a real leadership position in upholding article 18 of the UN charter, and it is very important internationally.

We were fortunate that my hon. Friend came to East Kilbride when she did a tour of different areas of the United Kingdom. It is one of the most memorable events that I have had the privilege to hold in my constituency. Many different faith groups came to that meeting and many people of all different faiths, as well as those of no faith, spoke with her about the importance of the role. It is an internationally important role, but we should also remember that it means so much to people in our constituencies across the United Kingdom. Those who attended that meeting in East Kilbride, at which we were privileged to host the Prime Minister’s special envoy, have given me their very best wishes for the Bill’s progress today and for the work that my hon. Friend does.

[Gavin Robinson (Belfast East) (DUP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Graham, and to be here in this Public Bill Committee, given that I was pleased to support the hon. Member for Congleton on Second Reading in one of our Friday debates on private Members’ Bills. Few people know that although some of those Bills come out of the ballot, there is an opportunity immediately after the ballot, and the hon. Lady was prepared to sleep in a tent on the third floor to ensure that she was first through the door to secure this opportunity—and she was. We are grateful to her for doing so.

Regarding the Bill, it is odd in parliamentary terms to walk into a Committee knowing that I support the Bill, that this process will completely change the Bill by removing the two substantive clauses and replacing them with a new clause, and that we will leave with the Bill still having gained unanimous support, because it is the essence of what the hon. Lady is trying to achieve through the Bill that we support. As the Democratic Unionist party’s leader in Parliament now, I wanted to be here to place on record not only our support for the Bill but our personal appreciation of the hon. Lady for the steadfast and committed way in which she has approached the issues that we are discussing over many years.

I know that the creation of a legislative underpinning for the Prime Minister’s special envoy for freedom of religion or belief was a Conservative party manifesto—a commitment of this Government. I am sorry that we have had to enter the last Session of this Parliament before we have taken the strong opportunity to finally land that legislative commitment.

The essence of the hon. Lady is that she has never made this process about herself. It is not about securing a role that she currently holds. It is about sustaining the role for future generations to impact all those who benefit from having a singular advocate in this Parliament to act on our collective behalf and on our country’s behalf to speak up for all those internationally who need that. I have reflected on many occasions that the hon. Lady is small in stature but mighty in her passion and her determination, and in the faith that underpins her drive in this regard.

My hon. Friend the Member for Strangford, who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on international freedom of religion or belief, and I am delighted, on behalf of our party, to give our full-throated support and our prayerful endeavours for the hon. Lady regarding this legislative process, which I trust will have a successful and profitable conclusion. It will be the enshrinement of a role that we all benefit from.

[Andrew Rosindell (Romford) (Con)]

My hon. Friend the Member for Congleton is a truly honourable Member of this House. She has shown courage and determination to stand up for freedom of religion, freedom of belief and freedom of speech, not only in this country but throughout the world. She has shown the vital importance of maintaining this role as a UK prime ministerial appointment and I am proud to serve on this Committee to give her my support for her Bill today.

Throughout history, the United Kingdom has been a champion of freedom: freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of worship and freedom to choose one’s own way of life. Throughout the Commonwealth, there is much work to be done. There are many countries that may have inherited our ancestry, our history and our heritage but they have not necessarily followed through in the way that they apply their laws. There is much work to be done to uphold those values of freedom, particularly freedom of religion. That is why the role should be permanent and why, from now on, all Prime Ministers should appoint someone to the role, so that there is always a person leading the fight to spread those values of freedom, including freedom of religion and belief, and all the other things that hon. Members have spoken about today.

I give my full support to my hon. Friend and I thank her for her service and her true beliefs. Many Members of this House do not stand for something clear, but I have to say that she is the one person who I have always known to do that.

--- Later in debate ---

I thank the hon. Member for North Tyneside for her support and friendship on this issue. I must confess that I would have been willing to sleep in a tent if it had been required or in the corridor alongside the Public Bill Office. Fortunately in recent years that tradition has been expunged and it is now a matter of applying electronically on certain days at a certain time—[Interruption.] I am sorry—I have completely ruined my image.

[Gavin Robinson]

I feel a bit bad because I said that the hon. Lady was prepared to do it. For fear that rumours start spreading, I am glad that she has set the record straight. I am sure Hansard will back me up on what I said. But she would have done it, of that I have no doubt.

--- Later in debate ---

[Fiona Bruce]

May I conclude by thanking all those who have been involved in working on the Bill’s passage to date? I thank in particular my private secretary, Sue Breeze, who is indispensable to my role. I just regret that it is not possible to include her name in the Bill, so that subsequent special envoys of the Prime Minister would have the benefit of her very many years of experience on freedom of religion or belief and the global respect that she carries and that I have noticed whenever she has travelled with me across the world. We are truly fortunate to have her as someone in our FCDO who has been working on this issue for very many years.

May I also thank my parliamentary office for its support? I have mentioned my chief of staff, Harriet Crompton. May I also thank Lucy Williams? I particularly thank, for her unfailingly unflappable support, the Clerk responsible for private Members’ Bills, Anne-Marie Griffiths, who is always willing, whenever one goes into her office, to be interrupted from whatever she is doing—

[Gavin Robinson]

indicated assent.

[Fiona Bruce]

I see the right hon. Member nodding. I thought it was just me! No, Ms Griffiths is always willing to be interrupted to support colleagues. I also thank, for her energetic support, the Whip, my hon. Friend, and the hon. Friend of many in this room, the Member for Castle Point (Rebecca Harris), otherwise known as the Friday Whip.

It may not surprise people to hear that I believe in providence and the Lord’s hands on these proceedings. On the subject of Lords, I am delighted that if the Bill passes through its remaining stages, the Lord Spiritual who will, fittingly, take the Bill through the other place is the Bishop of Winchester, formerly the Bishop of Truro. He will, uniquely, be ensuring that his review’s recommendation to establish permanently and in perpetuity the role of the Prime Minister’s special envoy, with sufficient resources and authority, is implemented, and I wish him all haste and good speed as he does so.

Question put and agreed to.

Bill, as amended, accordingly to be reported.