Sanctions

Kevin Brennan Excerpts

Monday 28th February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

This really pertains to a number of questions that have been asked. What we are doing in building up our evidence cases about the oligarchs is sharing information with our G7 allies, so we are working together and getting that information quicker. That work is already under way. That taskforce already exists. Of course, alongside the legal services, the public relations services and the accountancy services, we will look at the insurance services that these oligarchs rely on. This is all about being able to do this quicker, because every single country has the same issue. The US takes time to build up cases against oligarchs because generally their organisations are so complex and opaque. The work that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is doing on the Economic Crime Bill will also help to make it easier for us to understand their corporate structures.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

I think all of us, particularly those of us who were Members of the House in September 2001, realise that a page has been turned in world history and a new chapter has begun that will resonate not just now but for many years. The important thing is our shared values, and the way that we respond in the months and years to come. On the specifics of the Foreign Secretary’s statement, she said that over 50% of Russian trade is denominated in dollars or sterling, but so that the House can understand the impact of our Government’s actions, how much of Russian trade is denominated in sterling?

[Elizabeth Truss]

I do not have that figure on me, but I can get it to the hon. Gentleman. The point that I was making is that the action that we have taken on clearing is in conjunction with the United States, so between us we are able to cover 50% of that trade.

FCDO Staffing

Kevin Brennan Excerpts

Thursday 16th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[James Cleverly]

My hon. Friend makes the important case that we need to ensure our aid is spent effectively. That is why we value so much the experience of our professionals not only in King Charles Street but around the globe. I assure my hon. Friend that the effective deployment of aid—ensuring that it does not fall into inappropriate hands and gets to the people who need it most—will remain a core priority for the UK. That commitment will remain undiminished and I assure my hon. Friend that I will take his comments to heart as we go through the process of ensuring that the FCDO is oriented to support the integrated review priorities.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

If, as the Minister has said several times, we are a top-tier diplomatic nation, why is a family in my Cardiff West constituency facing yet another Christmas at which their relative, my constituent Luke Symons, remains held captive in Sana’a by the Houthis, when other nations, including America, have succeeded in getting their citizens out of that same situation and that same prison? My constituent Bob Cummings, Luke’s grandfather, recently met some of the Minister’s officials and was confused by their account of what is going on. Will the Minister now commit to a meeting with the Foreign Secretary, as soon as possible, to get some real traction and attention on to this case?

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Kevin Brennan Excerpts

Tuesday 16th November 2021 Westminster Hall

[Tulip Siddiq]

I will make just a bit more progress before giving way again.

One of the things that I have been told by different Foreign Office Ministers, off and on the record, is that there are practical issues with actually paying the debt. However, if anyone has read the news this week, they will have seen that three former Foreign Secretaries have come out and said that there are ways of paying the debt without busting sanctions and without angering our western allies. For me the question is this: if we all know that the debt exists, and we have ways of paying it, what is the explanation for why we have not paid it?

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

I am extremely grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way. Earlier the right hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith) made the point about the UK’s seeming inability to get our people who are held captive overseas released. I know that she is aware of the case of Luke Symons, my constituent who is held by the Houthis. Similarly, other countries seem to have been able to get their people held by them released. Does she think that there is something wrong in the way the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is approaching these cases?

[Tulip Siddiq]

That is the frustration that Nazanin expresses every time I speak to her: that her Government are not doing enough for her as a British citizen. The people she was in jail with are going home, while she is still stuck there, missing out on her daughter’s childhood.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Kevin Brennan Excerpts

Monday 25th October 2021 Commons Chamber

[James Cleverly]

As I have said, we do not accept the notion that arbitrarily incarcerating British dual nationals should be used as a point of leverage in negotiations. The suspended negotiations taking place in Vienna are about ensuring that we do not ever see a nuclear-armed Iran. Our position on that is consistent and unwavering, and we will not allow Tehran to distract us from that course of action. Our position is straightforward and simple: the people in incarceration should be released without condition, not as part of some negotiation, but because they are not in any way responsible for the charges that have been brought against them.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

The concern behind the UQ of my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead and Kilburn (Tulip Siddiq) today and behind Mr Ratcliffe’s recent hunger strike is that the issue of British prisoners abroad is not really the top priority for the Foreign Office. I ask the Minister to review the correspondence that we have had recently in relation to the case of Luke Symons—it is related in some ways through the Iranian connection—who is incarcerated in Sana’a by the Houthis, and also the correspondence my constituent Bob Cummings has had with his Department regarding that case to see whether he really feels, when he looks at it, that it indicates that the quality of attention that is required in these cases of British prisoners improperly and illegally incarcerated overseas is really being given by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. I hope he would agree to do that and review that correspondence.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Kevin Brennan Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. In politics, I personally believe in show, not just tell. Whether it is covid, the Gavi summit and the search for a vaccine, COP26, or the work that we are doing in Yemen, which obviously involves a conflict resolution element as well as a humanitarian element, all of it demonstrates the scope for delivering greater impact in our foreign policy. Next year will be an opportunity to show a truly global Britain. The FCDO will be at the heart of those efforts to ensure that we can live up to our potential as an even stronger force for good in the world.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

I am glad that the Secretary of State mentioned Yemen. Will this merger between the Departments make it easier to solve cases such as that of my constituent, Luke Symons, who is being held by the Houthis in Yemen? Will bringing together humanitarian and foreign policy efforts in any way assist in those kinds of cases?

Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime

Kevin Brennan Excerpts

Monday 6th July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

I thank my hon. Friend and pay tribute to the work he has done not only on human rights but on transparency and anti-corruption. As I said, we will look at this. Work is already under way on the corruption element. I look forward to his contribution as we develop these proposals.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

I welcome the designation of those from Saudi Arabia responsible for the death of Jamal Khashoggi. I also welcome the fact that in the notes that the Foreign Secretary has provided, there is clear indication that non-state actors who have acquired a significant degree of control, authority and organisation over people in an area will also be held to account. As the Foreign Secretary knows, for the past few years my constituent Luke Symons has been held by the Houthis in Sana’a in Yemen, in a severe breach of his human rights. Will the Foreign Secretary commit to doing all that he can to secure his release and make sure that my constituent and his family can leave Yemen and travel to the United Kingdom?

[Dominic Raab]

I pay tribute to the hon. Gentleman’s advocacy and tireless campaigning on behalf of his constituent. Of course we want to secure his release from the Houthis. The hon. Gentleman rather smartly wove in the non-state actor element of these regimes. That is important, because this is not just about perpetrators who come from arms of the state: there are a lot of other people out there, whether from militia, armed groups, various organisations or organised crime, who are aiding and abetting and supporting these human rights abuses, and we need to target all of them.

Oral Answers to Questions

Kevin Brennan Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd April 2020 Commons Chamber

[Simon Hart]

That is an entirely reasonable observation from the hon. Gentleman. It has been an ongoing case that we have regular discussions about the communication of the issues to which he refers. To minimise confusion, it is absolutely essential that we stipulate what is devolved and what is not. Of course, in some instances that line is quite blurred, but we have such discussions every day and will continue to have them.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab) [V]]

I echo what my hon. Friend the Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney (Gerald Jones) said about those working in the health service and those who have suffered from the virus. We know that when Ministers from Wales and the other devolved nations of the UK—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

I hope that the Secretary of State can make the most of that question; the line went down.

British Citizens Abroad: FCO Help to Return Home

Kevin Brennan Excerpts

Tuesday 24th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

I shall certainly look into that particular case. The key thing for all cruise ships right now is to find a port of call where they can dock safely and to get those people a cordoned corridor to a repatriation flight as soon as possible. That has tended to be the basic two-point mechanism that has worked in getting British nationals back home, but I shall certainly look into that case.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

I also have constituents stranded in Vietnam, Australia, Bolivia and Costa Rica, but I want to ask about the travel advice the right hon. Gentleman issued yesterday. Where UK citizens abroad have an underlying health condition and feel it would be better not to travel home and are able to stay, perhaps because they are with family, for example, does his advice potentially invalidate their insurance if they choose to stay and subsequently become ill?

[Dominic Raab]

I cannot comment on individual cases, but I understand exactly the hon. Gentleman’s concern. That is why, when we have changed travel advice, we have always said that people have to take into account the circumstances and look at the pros and cons of staying put if they have accommodation, financial resilience and medical support, as opposed to returning home, depending on how quickly and easily that will be to do. Of all the various things I can do, I do not want to give medical advice.

In terms of insurance, the standard terms of insurance tend to follow the travel advice rather than the other way around. What we cannot do—there are legal reasons for this—is base our decisions on anything other than the risks to British nationals abroad.

Covid-19

Kevin Brennan Excerpts

Tuesday 17th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

I will not give legal advice or commercial advice to either the operators or the insurers, but I can tell my hon. Friend that the Transport Secretary has engaged very closely with all the different sectors to make sure that we protect the consumers—passengers—who find themselves at risk. Indeed, the Transport Secretary is nodding earnestly on that very point.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

Quite rightly, hon. Members have mentioned the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in Iran, but may I ask the Foreign Office not to lose sight of people such as Luke Symons, my constituent, who is held captive by the Houthis in Yemen at this time? Can any pressure be brought through the channel of discussions with the Iranian authorities? I welcome the new Middle East Minister to his post, and I hope that he will get into the detail of this case, as his predecessor did.

[Dominic Raab]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. Just to be clear, when we speak to any of our Iranian interlocutors, we raise every case of dual nationals—or, indeed, the British Council employee—who have been detained. Of course, that applies consistently across the board, and I know the Middle East Minister will be very happy to meet the hon. Gentleman to discuss the specific case. I will always be willing to raise it, and to try to secure the release of all our nationals and dual nationals in such terrible conditions across the world.

Oral Answers to Questions

Kevin Brennan Excerpts

Tuesday 4th February 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dr Murrison]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. There are of course a large number of projects and initiatives, many of them funded by the United Kingdom, that are aimed at promoting peace. He will be aware that we are one of the major contributors to the humanitarian situation—we hope, of course, pro tem—before we get a definitive political process that enables a viable Palestinian state to live alongside the state of Israel.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

In relation to de-escalating tensions, may I thank the Minister for having met my constituent Mr Robert Cummings, the grandfather of Luke Symons, who is being held by Houthis in Sana’a? May I convey, through him, a request for an opportunity to meet the Foreign Secretary himself to discuss the case further?

[Dr Murrison]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. We have discussed the case of Luke Symons at some length, and of course my door always remains open. We continue to do what we can in a very difficult and challenging situation with our interlocutors and partners to secure the outcome that I know the hon. Gentleman wants for Mr Cummings.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dominic Raab]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right—we have, as I mentioned, expressed our concern to Turkey about its acquisition of Russian-made weapons. That is against not just the letter, but the spirit of NATO. Equally, we value Turkey as a trusted NATO ally. It is often on the frontline of some of the greatest challenges that the alliance faces, so we are working with Turkey and all the European and North American partners to try to bring it into the fold and make sure that it is focused on NATO’s priorities.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

I think the Foreign Secretary inadvertently said that the Prime Minister was launching the COP26 plans with Richard Attenborough today, but of course he is no longer with us. He might want to take the opportunity to correct the record.

Will the Foreign Secretary consider the request I made earlier through his colleague to meet my constituent, Robert Cummings, in relation to the case of Luke Symons in Yemen?

[Dominic Raab]

I am happy to correct the record as to which Attenborough I meant. We are lucky to have had so many fantastic Attenboroughs in this country. I also repeat that we are ambitious for COP26.

Of course, I will look carefully at the case the hon. Member raises. In all these consular cases, we want to provide the most effective representation to secure people’s release and to provide the reassurance they need and comfort to the family.