Arctic Security

James Naish Excerpts

Monday 19th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

Let me be really clear with the hon. Member: our Five Eyes intelligence and security partnership is vital and keeps us safe. It keeps us safe every single day of the week and every single day of the year, and that is vital. It is particularly close with the United States, but it is also with Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and our security depends on sustaining and continuing that Five Eyes partnership.

[James Naish (Rushcliffe) (Lab)]

I thank the Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister for their clarity today on the future of Greenland. Does the Foreign Secretary agree with me that, while recent comments from the United States have generated understandable concern, the correct response is not panic or escalation, but calm diplomacy grounded in the clear, simple principle that Greenland’s future is a matter for the Greenlandic people? Does she also agree that the real strategic challenge in the High North remains Russia, with its militarisation and aggression, which NATO must continue to confront together as partners, not opponents, of the United States?

[Yvette Cooper]

I do agree with my hon. Friend. We need to be purposeful in our response. It is for all of us to recognise that the greatest threat to UK security, as well as to European security and North American security, does come from Russia. We have shared alliances, and the US is a close partner in strengthening our security against Russia.

Proposed Chinese Embassy

James Naish Excerpts

Monday 19th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Seema Malhotra]

Our intelligence services have been involved throughout the process and are advising on a range of measures that are being implemented to protect national security. It may be useful to mention, including for the right hon. Member for New Forest East (Sir Julian Lewis), that we have engaged with the Intelligence and Security Committee on this matter, most recently as part of a cross-HMG appearance before the Committee on 26 November.

[James Naish (Rushcliffe) (Lab)]

Does the Minister personally share any of my concerns that the proposed so-called mega-embassy risks becoming not only an excessively large diplomatic site, but a focal point for the intimidation and surveillance of Hongkongers and members of the Chinese, Uyghur and Tibetan diaspora—over 700,000 people in total—given that we know China’s track record of transnational repression, such as the million-dollar bounties on UK Hongkongers? If not, why not? If so, how is that being prioritised in the decision-making process?

[Seema Malhotra]

I will make two comments in response to my hon. Friend’s questions. First, the UK has a broad suite of powers—important powers—available to counter any foreign interference. It is extremely important that our security services and law enforcement agencies are armed with the tools they need to deter, detect and disrupt modern-day security threats. As the Security Minister announced in March last year, counter-terrorism policing is now offering training and guidance on state-threats activity to all 45 frontline territorial police forces. Secondly, on the planning application, there is clearly a security advantage if we see China replace the seven different sites and have one diplomatic footprint in London with the new embassy.

Iran: Protests

James Naish Excerpts

Monday 19th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

I do not have a great deal to add to the answer I have already given to the right hon. Member for Goole and Pocklington (David Davis), but I would say that we are under no illusions about the threat posed by the IRGC. The right hon. Member for Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge (Sir Gavin Williamson) talks about what they are doing in Iran; nobody on this side of the House has lost track of the fact that there have also been more than 20 plots in this country linked to Iran and to the IRGC. That is why it is so important to us that we have a tool focused on the particularities of a state-based threat, rather than treating them just as terrorists.

[James Naish (Rushcliffe) (Lab)]

The world has been appalled by the scenes of bloodshed. Will the Minister outline what discussions the Government are having with our G7 colleagues and European colleagues to make sure we send out a united message of condemnation and a common demand for the rights of the Iranian people to be respected?

[Mr Falconer]

I can confirm to the House that both the Foreign Secretary and I have been in extensive discussions over the last few days, and I expect those to continue this week, including at Davos.

Rights of Women and Girls: Afghanistan

James Naish Excerpts

Monday 5th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Alice Macdonald]

Absolutely. We were, of course, on the brink of eradicating polio. It exists in very few countries, and to see it surge again in countries such as Afghanistan risks so many development gains.

Can the Minister tell us how much is currently being spent on women’s rights and how much we will spend next year? Will he commit himself to protecting that funding for the future, and will he ensure that the money reaches the women’s rights organisations and women’s rights defenders on the frontline?

However, no amount of aid can address the human rights crisis in Afghanistan, and in that context I turn to my second point, about justice and accountability. Many Afghan women are calling for gender apartheid to be recognised as a crime in international law. Their call is now being taken up by a number of member states as well as international legal experts and lawyers, and I back that call. Can the Minister set out the Government’s position on recognising gender apartheid through the new “crimes against humanity” treaty that is currently under negotiation?

We have seen alarming steps taken by some member states to normalise the Taliban. Can the Minister assure the House that the UK will not normalise relationships with the Taliban? More than four years into the ban on girls’ education, can he point to improvements that have been made through our direct engagement with the Taliban? If there has been no such progress, what will be done differently?

[James Naish (Rushcliffe) (Lab)]

Earlier, my hon. Friend mentioned Fawzia Koofi, who spoke to the International Development Committee. In her evidence, she told us that

“the main Taliban agenda is women.”

Does my hon. Friend agree that that point, and the point that she is making, demonstrate why the UK Government and our international allies must stand and promote the agenda that she is describing?

[Alice Macdonald]

I entirely agree: it is a war on women, and we must make clear that we will not tolerate it.

There have been some welcome moves, including the announcement by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in January last year that he had applied to the Court for arrest warrants for two senior Taliban leaders. I am also pleased that the UK is supporting the case to hold the Taliban accountable for violations of the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women at the International Court of Justice.

Will the Minister also tell the House how we will use our role at the UN and on the Security Council to demand accountability? As a witness said at the United Nations Security Council meeting in March last year, if impunity is the disease, accountability is the only antidote.

I also make a broader plea to Members and to the media: we must keep attention on what is happening in Afghanistan. As I have said, women have told me that they feel forgotten and that the world has turned its back. We must do whatever little we can to show that we have not.

Thirdly and finally, the Minister will know that 2025 marked 20 years since the landmark agreement of resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, yet two decades on we are failing to live up to its promise. Afghanistan is a focus country for the UK, as is stated in the current national action plan for women, peace and security. We therefore have a particular responsibility for the peace and rights of women and girls in Afghanistan. Will the Minister give an update on how we are delivering that crucial plan? It is also imperative that women be at the table for any talks. We must always call for that, and we must lead by example by ensuring that all our delegations include women at the table.

The situation for women and girls in Afghanistan is devastating, but we must not give up. Afghan women certainly are not giving up. They are determined and inspiring, and despite the challenges that they face, they are still finding ways to run businesses and work on the frontlines. We cannot abandon them. We must play our role as a party—now in government—that has always championed women’s rights at home and abroad.

Middle East and North Africa

James Naish Excerpts

Monday 5th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

Alongside many of our international partners, we set out a statement covering a range of rights-based issues at the UN General Assembly Third Committee in November. Freedom of expression and freedom of religion are important rights for which we will continue to advocate across the world.

[James Naish (Rushcliffe) (Lab)]

On behalf of my constituents, I welcome the establishment of the Palestinian embassy in London today.

Syria’s long-term stability depends on protecting its long-standing diversity and preventing sectarian violence, as the Minister said. In the light of recent violence and the lack of progress this weekend in integrating the Syrian Democratic Forces in north-eastern Syria into national institutions, what would the Minister say about the progress that has been made towards building an inclusive Syria for the future?

[Mr Falconer]

It is vital that Syria is a place that is seen as safe and secure, not just by its majority but by the important minorities, which are a vital part of Syria’s fabric. My hon. Friend refers to the Kurds of north-east Syria, but there are a range of other minorities, not limited to the Alawites, the Druze and others. It is vital that the Syrian Government provide all minority communities in Syria with assurance of their place in the new Syria, and we discuss these questions regularly with the Syrian Government.

Venezuela

James Naish Excerpts

Monday 5th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

I set out already our clear position on Greenland and the importance of international law, but also the importance of working through our different alliances and being prepared to raise issues around international law and other areas both privately and publicly. We need to ensure we can pursue the UK’s interests and also our values. We do that through the discussions that will be taking place this week on Ukraine and through the pursuit of democracy and our values in Venezuela as well.

[James Naish (Rushcliffe) (Lab)]

I read this morning that a former Under Secretary of Defence for Personnel and Readiness has said that he is not aware of any plans for how the next few days will be managed by the US. May I ask the Foreign Secretary what specific reassurances she has received from US counterparts that that is not the case and that instead there is a plan in place? Will she tell us about the work that we are doing with our international partners, particularly from NATO, to ensure that support is provided?

[Yvette Cooper]

One reason I spoke to US Secretary of State Rubio yesterday was to engage on what the plans now should be going forward. Given the level of criminal gang operations in Venezuela and the different factions that there have been in the country, preventing greater instability now and ensuring that we can get that stable basis and a plan for democracy is immensely important. There is a very strong civil society, with opposition groups and so on, but they need to be enabled and supported to ensure that we can get that peaceful, democratic transition. It will be crucially important.

Oral Answers to Questions

James Naish Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

We continue to have many strong conversations with our Five Eyes partners on a range of issues around both state and terror threats. The hon. Gentleman will also know that the Government have committed to strengthening the law so that we have new proscribing tools that can apply to state threats as well as to terrorism threats. We also take immensely seriously any threat issued to our national security from Iran.

[James Naish (Rushcliffe) (Lab)]

T4. The Minister will be aware of the work of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy and other organisations like it, which seek to strengthen democratic governance around the world. As has been clear today, however, malign actors all over the world seek to erode political systems that promote democracy. What is the FCDO doing to help address the global erosion of democracy?

[Stephen Doughty]

My hon. Friend raises a crucial point. We work closely with our partners on that issue and support democratic institutions and values, including through the Westminster Foundation for Democracy. We fund election observation, champion media freedom and provide leadership in different fora, and we will set that as a key priority as incoming co-chair of the Open Government Partnership.

Council of Europe and the European Convention on Human Rights

James Naish Excerpts

Wednesday 5th November 2025 Westminster Hall

[Tony Vaughan (Folkestone and Hythe) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Stourbridge (Cat Eccles) for securing this important debate. The ECHR has delivered extraordinary victories for British people. When Jeanette Smith and Graeme Grady were discharged from the armed forces simply for being gay, the English courts rejected their challenge, but the Strasbourg Court unanimously upheld their rights. Today the armed forces welcome all people regardless of sexual orientation.

The ECHR has protected children wrongfully taken into care; workers have won the right to express their faith and mental health patients have gained proper legal safeguards. Those are not abstract legal victories—they are real, and have changed people’s lives for the better. Yet many voices, including that of the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), who is no longer in his place, paint the ECHR as our enemy and as a barrier to border control. They could not be more wrong. The truth is that we need the ECHR to manage our borders.

A common rights framework means that our European partners will work with us to tackle organised people smuggling and to protect our national security. We had the UK-France deal this summer, Bulgaria is intercepting smuggling boats at the EU border, and Germany is reforming its criminal laws to confront these shared challenges. Even Rwanda said that it will not work with us unless we observe human rights. Let us not forget that it was the failed Brexit project that destroyed the Dublin regulation, leaving us without any EU returns agreement. We then saw the number of dangerous crossings soar.

The ECHR did not stop the UK from removing 34,000 people with no right to be here in 2024, which was the highest number since 2017. Under 1% of foreign national offenders successfully appeal deportation on human rights grounds; since 1980, as my hon. Friend the Member for Stourbridge said, the Strasbourg Court found against the UK on deportation cases just a handful of times, only four of which concerned family life. The Reform and Tory policy of ECHR withdrawal is simply Brexit 2.0 and isolationism. It will not secure our borders. It will not solve anything.

[James Naish (Rushcliffe) (Lab)]

My hon. and learned Friend has listed a number of very good examples of what has been achieved as a result of the ECHR. Does he agree that we need to work together to highlight its benefits, as opposed to seeking to tear it down or tear it apart?

[David Mundell (in the Chair)]

Can the hon. and learned Gentleman conclude in 30 seconds, because there is no additional time for interventions?

Conflict in Sudan

James Naish Excerpts

Wednesday 5th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

I thank the Father of the House and my constituency neighbour for his question. His questions in this Chamber often surprise me. I am very much alive to the issues he has raised. I was in Algiers two weeks ago, I think, and met young men of exactly the profile he described—men who had sought to leave Mali and had got stuck somewhere on their way to the UK. The conditions they find themselves in are much more brutal than those that the cruel human traffickers tell them they can expect when they leave their home country, and many of them wish to return. I will have to check, but I think we have supported 6,000 men and women in Algeria who have returned to their country, rather than attempted an onward journey to Europe, and possibly eventually the UK. This is vital work. In our efforts to smash the gangs and stop the boats, we must, as the Father of the House says, look right back to the places of origin, which include some of the places we are talking about today.

[James Naish (Rushcliffe) (Lab)]

It is estimated that 11.7 million civilians have been forcibly displaced. Of those, 840,000 are in Chad, which of course has its own issues. What support is being provided to Chad and neighbouring countries that are housing refugees from Sudan?

Sudan: Government Support

James Naish Excerpts

Tuesday 4th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Tessa Munt (Wells and Mendip Hills) (LD)]

rose—

[James Naish (Rushcliffe) (Lab)]

rose—

[Seema Malhotra]

I am conscious of time and will continue my speech, although I may be able to give way in due course.

On humanitarian aid, the UK remains one of the largest donors to Sudan, and the Prime Minister has made it clear that funding to Sudan will be protected for the next three years. At the London Sudan conference in April, we also announced £120 million in new funding to reach more than 650,000 people with food, cash, water, sanitation and nutritional support this year. In May, Baroness Chapman announced a further £36 million for Sudanese refugees in Chad to help to ease the regional burden of displacement, and UK aid has already reached 2.5 million people since the conflict began. Last year alone, we treated more than 98,000 children for malnutrition, gave 744,000 people access to clean water, and supported 71,000 victims of international humanitarian law violations with cash assistance.