Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Visit

Lord Goodman of Wycombe Excerpts

Tuesday 29th April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

These issues are raised. I do not think anybody is trying to pretend that the Palestinian Authority are functioning as a normal Government would like to—how could they? We are not naive about this. The point is, if not the Palestinian Authority, then who? If you believe in a two-state solution, there will need to be some form of governance at some point—we hope in the near future. The assessment of this Government, His Majesty’s Opposition, the Liberal Democrats and many others in both Houses is that working to build a relationship with the Palestinian Authority—to increase their capacity and make them into the competent Government that we want them to be—is the best option that we have at this stage.

[Lord Goodman of Wycombe (Con)]

This visit took place against a background of considerable domestic tension over events in the Middle East, sometimes, though not invariably or even mostly, between British Jews and British Muslims. Can the Minister tell us what discussions she has had with her colleagues in the Communities Department about the means of easing those tensions? If I may add a rider, what discussions has she had with the department about tensions between our Indian-origin communities and Pakistan-origin communities over the very serious situation relating to Kashmir?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

That is a really important question. I speak regularly about this issue to our Faith Minister in the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government , my noble friend Lord Khan. It is a sad fact that we see international events played out on our streets, in our schools and in communities in this country. Whereas debate and free speech are completely legitimate, we are concerned about some of the more abusive behaviour and victimisation that has taken place, and the rise in Islamophobia and antisemitism. We work very closely across departments to make sure that we are doing what we need to do. It is not something that we used to see quite as much as we do today, and we see it played out in our politics, for reasons that we can all try our best to understand. It is very important that the noble Lord raised that and reminds us about it.