Actions of Iranian Regime: UK Response

Debate between Hamish Falconer and Gareth Snell

Monday 7th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Gareth Snell (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

We are potentially moving to a point where proscription of the IRGC needs to be looked at considerably more strongly as a mechanism for dealing with the transnational repression that Iran is getting away with. The murder of Mahsa Amini in 2022 saw a wave of Iranian dissidents attempting to rise up against their own regime, demonstrating the bravery that so many people in this country would applaud. Those people, who then had to flee, now find themselves at the mercy of Iranian operatives here and in our allied countries. I welcome the Minister’s commitment to preventing transnational repression, but can he say more specifically about what is happening to support Iranian dissidents in the UK and those who are still seeking to demonstrate the horrors of Iran in our allied countries in the middle east?

[Mr Falconer]

I do not want anyone in the House to be under any illusions about the seriousness with which we take the IRGC’s activities. That is why we commissioned the Jonathan Hall review. That is why it is on the enhanced tier of FIRS—the foreign influence registration scheme. That is why it is fully sanctioned. That is why we have continued to impose sanctions in response to Iranian aggression. I know well the threat that Iran poses not just to British nationals but to journalists as well, as my hon. Friend eloquently points out. I have met many of those journalists. I am appalled that some of those threats are being made here in the UK. I will not comment too much on law enforcement and intelligence activity, but I have been clear with the Iranian ambassador that the full force of the law and all our capabilities will be focused on those who seek to harm people here.

Kashmir: Increasing Tension

Debate between Hamish Falconer and Gareth Snell

Tuesday 29th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

My hon. Friend reflects the strength of feeling in her constituency, as in so many of the constituencies represented in this House. We will continue to play our full diplomatic role, and we welcome the efforts of my hon. Friend and many colleagues across this House in engaging right across the spectrum of their constituencies.

[Gareth Snell (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Kashmiri community in Stoke-on-Trent will have condemned the appalling atrocities taking place last Tuesday, but that condemnation will have quickly turned to fear and anxiety about what it means for their friends and loved ones in both the India and Pakistan-administered sides of Kashmir.

I have listened carefully to the Minister’s answers on the Government’s position that this is now an issue for India and Kashmir to resolve alone, and I welcome the actions the Government are taking to reduce tensions. However, in the long term, a peaceful settlement for this community will need help and need international facilitation, per UN resolutions 39 and 47. Self-determination for the people of Kashmir is going to take more than warm words from Ministers. Can the Minister therefore set out what actions he will take through the UN and his counterparts in other countries to ensure that we start to move down the path of peace quickly?

[Mr Falconer]

My hon. Friend is a doughty advocate for his constituents in voicing their concerns. The long-standing position of the United Kingdom is that it is for India and Pakistan to find a lasting resolution to the situation in Kashmir, taking into account the wishes of the Kashmiri people. It is not for us to prescribe a solution.