Conflict in Sudan

Debate between Hamish Falconer and Navendu Mishra

Wednesday 5th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

It is vital that external weaponry does not flow into Sudan at this time. I would not wish to characterise my earlier remarks to the Liberal Democrat spokesperson, the hon. Member for Bicester and Woodstock (Calum Miller), as dismissing his concerns; it was an effort to be precise about what we are talking about. The articles in question are a seat belt, a target practice item and components of an engine. The engine components may have been licensed at a previous time, but since then those licences would not apply for getting the components into Sudan. We need to be clear that these are neither bombs nor bullets, and nor are they items that are likely to be irreplaceable.

We are looking carefully at those reports, but given the tone of some of the commentary in this House, I want us to be absolutely clear what we are talking about. Our arms export licensing regime is one of the strongest in the world. I recognise the strength of concern in the House, but we have a duty to be precise about what we are talking about. These are not arms as the public would understand them. It is right that the hon. Member for North Herefordshire (Dr Chowns) raises questions about the engine components, and we are looking carefully at the reports about when they may have been transferred, but let us be under no illusion: the components for that engine are unlikely to be making a substantial contribution to the absolutely devastating violence that we are seeing.

[Navendu Mishra (Stockport) (Lab)]

Some 3.5 million children under five years of age are suffering from acute malnutrition. In January 2025, the former Biden Administration said that it judged that

“the RSF and allied militias have committed genocide in Sudan.”

Do the British Government share the opinion of the former Biden Administration?

[Mr Falconer]

As the House will know, genocide determinations are, in the view of the British Government, a question for the competent courts. That does not in any way take away from the horror of what we see and the reports that we receive, including the World Health Organisation reports from early last week, which are absolutely horrifying about the scale of the violence taking place in Sudan.

Air India Plane Crash

Debate between Hamish Falconer and Navendu Mishra

Monday 16th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Navendu Mishra (Stockport) (Lab)]

All hon. Members will have the victims in their thoughts and prayers. I thank the firefighters, the first responders and the emergency service workers who helped at the crash. On Saturday, a vigil was held at the Mahatma Gandhi statue at Manchester cathedral. I was one of the speakers, along with my hon. Friends the Members for Manchester Rusholme (Afzal Khan) and for Bolton West (Phil Brickell). We had prayers from a local Hindu priest, an imam, a member of the Sikh community and the dean of the cathedral.

The Minister mentioned the British high commissioner in India, Her Excellency Lindy Cameron, who is doing an important job. Can the Minister assure me that the high commissioner’s team in Delhi, and that of the deputy high commissioner in Ahmedabad, will have all the support and resources that they need to make sure that the victims and the families are supported?

[Mr Falconer]

I have spoken to our high commissioner and the team on the ground this afternoon to ensure that we have adequate resources in place, including in the places where British nationals and their families might be congregating, to ensure that we can provide the best possible support to families affected.

Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Debate between Hamish Falconer and Navendu Mishra

Tuesday 10th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question and the tone in which he asks it. I will not set out hypothetical circumstances under which we may take further sanction action from this Dispatch Box, but I reaffirm that the question and issue in these sanctions is the breach of Palestinian human rights. That is the basis on which we will consider further sanctions.

[Navendu Mishra (Stockport) (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for this important statement, but the reality is that 93% of children in Gaza—around 930,000—face the critical risk of famine. He has outlined what the Government have been doing in the past few months and continue to do, but will he tell us what more the British Government could do to ensure that food and medicine reach people who are starving?