Falkland Islands

Lord Swire Excerpts

Monday 7th September 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for his welcome and for his support for our position. I reiterate again how important it is that there is a clear message from this House itself, so I welcome the political consensus that we have seen this afternoon and thank the noble Lord for his kind words.

[Lord Swire (Con)]

I also join in the congratulations to the noble Baroness on her recent appointment to the Front Bench. It is extremely important that, whatever we say in this country, we say it together. I think the remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Dubs, were unfortunate and an attempt to rewrite history. That is not what happened last time.

Would the noble Baroness consider calling in the Argentinian ambassador? I am all for not ratcheting this up, because it is purely electoral posturing by the President of Argentina, but would she take this opportunity to call in the Argentinian ambassador to make these points again: that the future of the Falkland Islands depends on the people of the Falkland Islands? As they remain British and wish to remain British, they will enjoy the full protection of this country and everything that that may mean.

At the same time, would she remind those who suggest that this is a transplanted population that there have been many generations of people living on those islands: far longer, perhaps, than the ancestors of the President of Argentina have been living in Argentina, having arrived from Calabria in 1926?

[Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for his welcome. The message that will be heard today from this House reiterates our position. Our position is clear: the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands is non-negotiable as far as the UK Government are concerned. That is a clear message. I have every confidence that that message will have been heard.

Nepal: Flooding

Lord Swire Excerpts

Tuesday 1st September 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wood of Anfield (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for the welcome, and I very much look forward to working with him. I also take the opportunity, based on the noble Lord’s remarks on our Foreign Office staff, to thank them personally for the amount of work that they are doing. They are working round the clock to support British nationals and their families in incredibly confusing and difficult conditions. I pay tribute to them and thank them for that.

On the crisis reserve, I would love to establish a cross-party consensus. It is a matter of public record that the Government have made tough decisions on ODA. I am pleased to say that the response of the UK Government in the past week on Nepal has been full and comprehensive. It is in partnership and observes all the principles that a good crisis response should. Yes, there are financial challenges, and I am sure that we will return to those. Of course, there are issues that arise from the budget decisions that have been made, but I am pleased to say that the UK Government’s crisis response has so far been exemplary and of huge help to the Nepalese Government.

[Lord Swire (Con)]

My Lords, we all welcome what the Government are doing in terms of responding to the tragedy that has unfolded over the last few weeks in Nepal. Could the Minister take back to his colleagues in the FCDO the question of Bhutan? It shares many of the same characteristics as Nepal, but we have no permanent diplomatic representation in Bhutan, and it sometimes gets overlooked. When they are undertaking these studies, particularly around preventing these things and the early warning equipment that Bhutan has very little of, could he please discuss these matters with his colleagues?

[Lord Wood of Anfield (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for that. It is an extremely important point. Sadly, this will not be the last incident of this sort, and there are lots of countries that share geographical, climate and economic features that we can learn from. Cross-referencing the successes and shortcomings of how the world has responded to this is an important issue across countries, including Bhutan.

Gaza: Humanitarian Situation

Lord Swire Excerpts

Thursday 30th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I could not agree more. We are doing what we can. As my noble friend says, this is not something that you just fix. It is a trauma that can be felt through many years—indeed, through generations. UK support has meant that more than half a million people have received essential healthcare, 647,000 have received food and 284,000 have improved access to water, sanitation and hygiene. As we have said today, whether or not UNRWA is able to continue will in large part determine whether some of that work can happen in the future.

[Lord Swire (Con)]

My Lords, is it not time to remind ourselves of the obligation that this country made through the Balfour Declaration? It stated clearly that

“nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine”.

Does the Minister agree that that includes the population of the West Bank and Gaza? Will she update the House on the noises coming from Washington about the possible emptying of Gaza into neighbouring countries—namely, Jordan—and does she agree that not a penny of British taxpayers’ money should be spent on the reconstruction of Gaza if it is to be forcibly emptied of its Palestinian population?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

The noble Lord might be getting ahead of where I was planning on going today, but I have been very clear on our view of the importance of Gazans being able to return to their homes should they wish. That is our position and, I think, something that the noble Lord will probably agree with.