Middle East

Harriett Baldwin Excerpts

Monday 21st July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

As the Foreign Secretary follows the diplomatic path, will he ensure that in the discussions of the two-state solution, it is borne in mind that not only does the state of Palestine exist, but that Israel’s neighbours do need to recognise Israel’s right to exist?

[Mr Lammy]

Yes, I will.

Sudan

Harriett Baldwin Excerpts

Wednesday 16th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Catherine West]

My hon. Friend is a doughty campaigner on behalf of her constituents in Westminster and the City. I encourage her and her staff to use the MP hotline, because that is the best way of getting through in order to get consular advice and to reassure our communities in the diaspora of Sudan.

[Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Sir Andrew Mitchell) for securing this urgent question on the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. I welcome the leadership steps that the UK Government are taking, but will the Minister tell the House what conversations are being had with both the African Union and the United Nations about the possibility of surging peacekeepers into Sudan to protect civilians?

[Catherine West]

I thank the hon. Lady for her leadership role in the previous Parliament as the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Sudan and South Sudan and as International Development Minister.

There are a number of partners; she has mentioned some of them. The participants at the London Sudan conference included Egypt, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, South Sudan, Chad, Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda, and of course the like-mindeds: Norway, Canada, the USA and Switzerland. It was a perfect moment and the hon. Lady asks how we can continue that. We will redouble our efforts to work with the multilaterals such as the UN and the League of Arab States. There is quite a lot on their agenda at the moment, but it is very important that Sudan is not brought down the agenda just because it is in Africa. That is a fear, which is why it is so good to see the reporting in the Financial Times, The Guardian, and many of our other mainstream newspapers, to keep it in the spotlight. We will ensure that we work bilaterally with the countries we work with in normal times, and on a multilateral level to maintain our leadership role.

Middle East

Harriett Baldwin Excerpts

Monday 23rd June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

I am very grateful to my hon. Friend, who is learned in these matters and will have strong views. We are seeking de-escalation and pursuing diplomacy, and we are doing that according to the rules-based order and our belief in the international architecture that was set up on the backs of men and women who lost their lives and gave so much in the second world war.

[Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

The Foreign Secretary has referred a number of times to the diplomatic off-ramp. Will he confirm to the House that the diplomatic off-ramp—the request of the United Kingdom to Iran—is that the regime changes its stance and finally recognises the right of our ally, Israel, to exist?

[Mr Lammy]

I can. Of course the regime should recognise the right of Israel to exist, and it should work with the United States and the E3, particularly, to ensure that it is putting whatever has been developed beyond use.

Gibraltar

Harriett Baldwin Excerpts

Thursday 12th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

I, too, pay tribute to the work of my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin) for championing the people of Gibraltar and their issues and for ensuring that, in coming into Government, we made sure that there could not be an agreement that Gibraltar’s representatives were not content with. I should update the House that yesterday I also met the Opposition in Gibraltar, so they were fully informed of what I hoped would become a good outcome today. We will work at pace on the treaty. I cannot give my hon. Friend a timeline because of the technical legal detail that that will involve, but I will seek to update the House in the appropriate way if there are delays.

[Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

I thank the Foreign Secretary for the tone of his statement and the tributes he paid to not only his predecessors, but the officials and diplomats who have been involved in the negotiations for many years. I do not think I heard an answer to the question asked by the shadow Foreign Secretary, which was: can a British citizen flying from the UK to Gibraltar now be stopped by a Spanish official as they land? On the sovereignty clause, will he clarify whether it means that Spain has abandoned its claim altogether, or does it plan to follow the same route that Mauritius did with Diego Garcia?

[Mr Lammy]

On the first point, we have stuck to the political framework that was negotiated and agreed back in 2020 by the then Foreign Secretary, the former Member for Esher and Walton. I have a photograph from the agreement that was struck, of where we would be locating effectively a joint facility in the airport. There will be a second line queue, as there is in St Pancras, and there will be Spanish border guards and police situated in that second line. Of course, if there was an alert at that point—not on its own, but at that point—there would be a hand-back facility with the Gibraltar police, so they will be working alongside that Spanish team. If there was an alert, the individual would have the right to legal advice. They would be able to either return to their country of origin—let’s say the UK—or voluntarily go over to Spain to face questions. The key thing is that it is joint and alongside the work and efforts of the Gibraltar police and the Gibraltar customs and border guards.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Harriett Baldwin Excerpts

Monday 31st March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Doughty]

We and the United States played a crucial role in the western Balkans, particularly in achieving the Dayton peace agreement itself. We continue to be committed to that. As I said, there has been strong unity among the Quint, and it is important that the United States and Europe work together on these issues. There has been a legacy of 30 years of relative stability—I say “relative” because there have been deep threats to it at different points—and we need that to continue for the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I am sure we are all committed to that.

[Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

Further to the question from my right hon. Friend the Member for Maldon (Sir John Whittingdale), and knowing how much the Minister values soft power, can he reassure the House that there will be no further cuts to the British Council or the World Service in the Balkans on his watch?

[Stephen Doughty]

I will come back to the hon. Lady on her specific points about British Council and the BBC World Service funding, but I have mentioned our wider development spending in the region. While we are having to make very difficult decisions at the moment, it is worth reflecting on the fact that through around £50 million this year from the integrated security fund and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office official development assistance, we have continued to empower women and girls, strengthen democracy, build resilience to domestic and state threats, and promote peacebuilding and transitional justice. We have been engaged across a range of different areas in the development and soft power space to contribute to peace and stability in the western Balkans, and in Bosnia and Herzegovina specifically.

Myanmar Earthquake

Harriett Baldwin Excerpts

Monday 31st March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Catherine West]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that suggestion. He is correct that USAID has been frozen, but it was encouraging to see over the weekend an announcement by the US Government that $2 million will immediately be put towards dealing with this dreadful earthquake. That is a hopeful sign that we can work together on this emergency. On the BBC World Service, the hon. Gentleman is right to say that often the radio is the only thing that people are able to access and it gives them so much hope. With his permission, I will write to him specifically on the exact position of the BBC World Service in Myanmar.

[Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

Many, many compassionate people across West Worcestershire and the whole of the United Kingdom will be wanting to know what they can do to help in this situation, so will the Minister give us some further information on how UK taxpayers may donate and whether there will be an aid match?

[Catherine West]

I thank the hon. Lady for her suggestions. She is right that so many people will be thinking, “How can I do my bit for the people of Myanmar?” As I mentioned to my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds Central and Headingley (Alex Sobel), details will be available as soon as the Disasters Emergency Committee—the joint appeal across all the different bodies—comes forward, which will be within the week, because of course the earthquake happened just on Thursday night and Friday morning. I want to say very clearly from the Dispatch Box that the DEC is a proper brand that can be trusted by our constituents, because it is very important that people do not give money online through Facebook and other platforms if they are not sure of them. As soon as the announcement is ready, we will work very carefully with international partners about where those donations can go.

Chagos Islands

Harriett Baldwin Excerpts

Wednesday 5th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Doughty]

As I have said, I am not going to give a running commentary on the discussions. What I will say is that the full details are being shared with the current US Administration, and it was absolutely right that they had the chance to consider them. We are always being accused of rushing, but this has been going on for more than two years. There have been lengthy rounds of discussions and lengthy rounds of negotiations, mostly under the previous Government, but it is absolutely right that the new US Administration have time to consider the deal and to be provided with the details, particularly around security issues, so that they can be absolutely sure about the security of the base and its operation into the future, which is in their interests and ours.

[Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

It is outrageous that we only know the detailed speculation about this deal because of the briefing from the Mauritian Prime Minister to his Members of Parliament. It is outrageous that the amount of money being talked about now is £18 billion, which is enough to pay for the winter fuel allowance for all our pensioners for the next 12 years. The Minister will not tell this House the actual quantum of money that he is discussing with Mauritius. Can he put it on the record now, and can he tell us out of which departmental budget it needs to be paid?

[Stephen Doughty]

I can tell the hon. Lady that the figure that she pulled out is categorically untrue. She had the answer in her question: she said “speculation”. There is a huge amount of speculation, and I would take the vast majority of it with a pinch of salt.

Gaza and Humanitarian Aid

Harriett Baldwin Excerpts

Thursday 10th October 2024 Westminster Hall

[Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Vaz. This afternoon has been an opportunity to hear voices from across the United Kingdom. I congratulate the hon. Member for Birmingham Perry Barr (Ayoub Khan) on securing the debate. We have heard voices not only from Birmingham, but from London and across the English home counties. We have heard strong Scottish voices, and we have heard from Durham and York. In the interests of time, I will not list every constituency from which we heard passionately and expressively that the Palestinians face a devastating humanitarian crisis, but the UK should continue to play a leading role in alleviating that suffering.

This week of all weeks, however, we must remind ourselves that on 7 October Israel suffered an appalling attack—a modern-day pogrom. It was the worst loss of Jewish life since the second world war, a horrific display of antisemitism and a brutal reminder of the existential threats that Israel must contend with. We must always state that Israel has the right to defend itself in accordance with international humanitarian law.

As we have heard, so many innocent civilians are suffering not only in Israel, but in Gaza and now Lebanon. This conflict must come to a sustainable end as quickly as possible, starting with the immediate and unconditional release of the remaining hostages captive in Gaza, including the British citizen Emily Damari. Can I ask the Minister—a former hostage negotiator himself—for an update on the Government’s efforts to secure her release and the release of the other hostages who are in such awful jeopardy?

The previous UK Government trebled our aid commitment in the last financial year and facilitated aid flows into Gaza by land, sea and air. In the interests of time, I will not list them all; I will focus on the 11 airdrops delivered directly to Gaza through a temporary marine corridor that was supported by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and the funding of field hospitals to treat thousands of patients. Can the Minister confirm that these efforts continue under the new Government?

During the previous Government, Israel committed to increasing the amount of aid getting into Gaza, including by allowing the delivery of humanitarian aid through Ashdod and Erez, extending the opening hours of Kerem Shalom, increasing the total number of aid trucks to at least 500 a day, and allowing more types of aid, including fuel for bakeries and hospitals. We welcome the recent pause for polio vaccinations and wish to put on record our gratitude to the World Health Organisation, the British Red Cross, the World Food Programme and UNICEF staff, who are doing vital humanitarian work and should be commended.

As we have heard today, aid workers are not a target. Protecting humanitarian actors must be a priority, and guaranteed deconfliction for aid convoys and other humanitarian work is essential. We should also take this opportunity to pay tribute to all of the brave aid workers in Gaza and our fellow citizens James Kirby, John Chapman and James Henderson who were killed delivering aid in Gaza earlier this year.

Can we have an update from the Minister on the work that the Government are doing to advance on these key areas? What steps have they taken to help to increase the amount of aid getting over the border into Gaza? What additional aid, supplies and humanitarian support has the UK sent? What action have the Government taken to make the case for the protection of the humanitarian personnel on the ground distributing that aid?

In the interests of time, I will skip over the situation with UNRWA, but I want to hear an update from the Minister on the implementation of the Colonna recommendations and the UK Government’s scrutiny of it. As we heard earlier this week from the Leader of the Opposition, the situation in the middle east is grave. There is no equivalence between Iran’s terrorist proxies and Israel. Israel has a right to defend itself, and we support it in those goals, but too many innocent civilian lives have been lost and irreparably changed by this conflict. The UK should continue to carefully support them through our humanitarian aid commitments, and I look forward to the Minister reporting to us on the progress made.

Oral Answers to Questions

Harriett Baldwin Excerpts

Tuesday 30th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the shadow Minister.

[Dame Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

May I start by congratulating the Minister on his appointment? I know how hard he worked on this brief in opposition. He will know that the longer those Russian sanctions are in place, the more creative Russia becomes at circumventing them. What steps do he and the Foreign Secretary plan to take to end the UK’s indirect import of Russian crude oil via the three refineries at Jamnagar, Vadinar and New Mangalore? Did the Foreign Secretary discuss that issue when he travelled to see our Commonwealth friends in India last week?

[Stephen Doughty]

It is a pleasure to see the hon. Lady in her position and to have worked with her many times on these issues in the past, across these Benches and in other formats. As the Foreign Secretary and I have already outlined, we took robust action against Russia’s shadow fleet, alongside allies at the European Political Community. We will continue to explore further options to strengthen our sanctions, including in the energy sector, and the Foreign Secretary did indeed raise the issue at his meetings in Mangalore.

Sudan

Harriett Baldwin Excerpts

Monday 24th April 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

I thank the hon. Lady for her comment. I do indeed recall what she said last week. I will refer the matter that she has raised to the Home Office, but I can assure her that no one will be sent home to Sudan at the moment.

[Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

May I add my thanks to all those involved in this crisis?

Last week, I thought that the Minister rather swerved my question when I asked how much the overseas development assistance budget had been reduced in Sudan, so I looked online and saw that, starting at the beginning of the 2021-22 financial year, it had virtually disappeared. Does the Minister, who was in the same Lobby as me when we voted on 0.7%, continue to believe that spending in these fragile and conflict-afflicted countries is a really powerful way of preventing conflict across the region?

[Mr Mitchell]

I would never purposefully try to swerve my hon. Friend’s questions. She and I were indeed in the same Lobby, and I just point out to her that collective responsibility, as I have mentioned to the House previously, is not retrospective. In respect of the funding in Sudan, she will know that the one area of the budget where there is a degree of flexibility, even in these straitened times, is in the humanitarian area. Clearly, what is happening in Sudan now will inform the decisions that we make in that respect.