Oral Answers to Questions

Mike Reader Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Doughty]

I have been very clear about just how seriously we take the activity from different states in the cyber domain, and its significance is growing. As I have pointed out, we are working closely with international partners. The hon. Gentleman will understand that I will not go into the detail of all our work on that, but I commend the work of our National Cyber Security Centre with businesses, individuals and this place to ensure that our resilience is in place. We will continue to work with international partners to counter these threats.

[Mike Reader (Northampton South) (Lab)]

3. What diplomatic steps she is taking with international partners to help tackle modern slavery and unethical labour practices in global supply chains.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Seema Malhotra)]

Modern slavery refers to horrific situations in which individuals are exploited through coercion, threats, deception, forced labour and human trafficking. We are determined collectively to do all we can to end it. That is why we work through a range of multilateral bodies, such as the United Nations, the G7 and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, to prevent exploitation and eradicate all forms of modern slavery. We convened international partners earlier this year to agree how we can work better together to address modern slavery in global supply chains and a guiding set of principles for doing so.

[Mike Reader]

As the chair of the international trade and investment all-party parliamentary group, I have heard at first hand how new technology is making it easier to track supply-chain risks. What is the Minister doing to support better monitoring and data sharing with our international partners to ensure that we can identify forced labour use at source in countries that support the UK economy?

[Seema Malhotra]

My hon. Friend is right to raise that issue. We are clear that no company in the UK should have forced labour in its supply chain. We work with our partners to promote the role that new technologies can play in reducing forced labour risks in supply chains. That includes developing an interactive tool to identify child labour risks in agricultural commodity supply chains, using satellite data to improve working conditions in south Asia’s brick industry, and creating AI-powered chatbots that can provide vulnerable workers with rights-based guidance.

Hamas Attacks: First Anniversary

Mike Reader Excerpts

Monday 7th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Jon Pearce]

I very much thank my hon. Friend for her intervention. I, too, have spoken to Mandy, and she was clear that her daughter is a British citizen. There are four other individuals being held hostage who are connected to Britain, and they also need to come home as soon as possible.

I want to touch on some of the other groups from that day: the group of pensioners on a day trip in the Dead sea who were gunned down in Sderot after their minivan developed a flat tyre; the young partygoers massacred at the Supernova music festival, some of whom, like many women elsewhere that day, were subjected to

“unspeakable violence perpetrated with shocking brutality”,

according to the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict; and the 12-year-old British-Israeli twins Yanni and Liel, who were murdered alongside their great aunt and their grandfather at Kibbutz Be’eri. So little of Liel’s body was recovered that some of her toys were buried instead. Liel and Yanni were two of the 15 Britons murdered on 7 October.

[Mike Reader (Northampton South) (Lab)]

I will never forget the smell of smoke that hung in the air when I visited that kibbutz in March this year. It will stay with me forever, as will the feeling of isolation as I stood at the site of the Nova festival. The silence was broken only by families mourning. I hope my hon. Friend will agree with me that while today we have heard calls for ceasefires and aid, what is most important in this debate is that we continue to call for the hostages to be returned to their families.

[Jon Pearce]

The clarion call from this Parliament is “Bring them home.” Hamas were indiscriminate in their killing and in those that they dragged back to their terror tunnels in Gaza. They range from nine-month-old Kfir Bibas and four-year-old brother Ariel to 85-year-old Shlomo Mansour. Shlomo survived the 1941 Farhud pogrom in Iraq and emigrated to Israel at the age of 13. On 7 October, Shlomo was kidnapped from his home at the small, quiet kibbutz of Kissufim.

Last month I met Shlomo’s granddaughter, Noam. I also met Eviatar David’s mother, Galia, and brother, Ilay. On 7 October, 23-year-old Eviatar was seized at the Supernova festival. His family and friends hold weekly dance and jam sessions in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square to raise awareness of his continuing plight. I also met Sharone Lifshitz, the daughter of 85-year-old Yocheved and 84-year-old Oded. On 7 October the couple were taken from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz. Yocheved was freed after two weeks, but Oded remains in captivity. Oded has spent his life campaigning for peace and Palestinian rights.