Oral Answers to Questions
Robin Swann Excerpts(2 weeks, 3 days ago)
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Mr Falconer
On 27 November, the UK, France, Germany and Italy collectively condemned the massive increase in settler violence against Palestinian civilians in the west bank. The pace of settlement building in the west bank continues unabated, as my hon. Friend knows well because she has been engaged on these issues for some time. Israel must stop settlement expansion, and it must crack down on settler violence, which has reached record levels. This Government have introduced three waves of sanctions focused on settlements, including against Mr Ben-Gvir.
Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)
In an earlier answer, the Foreign Secretary said that trade relations between China and the UK were “in our national interest”. To that extent, can I ask what conversations her Department had with Invest Northern Ireland prior to its signing a co-operation framework memorandum of understanding with the China Chamber of Commerce in the UK?
Seema Malhotra
This Government support UK businesses to do business with China while being open-eyed to any risks.
China Audit
Robin Swann Excerpts(5 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)
The audit received responses from the devolved Governments. Last month, the Northern Ireland Finance Minister met the Chinese consul general in Belfast. The meeting was described as a formal diplomatic engagement with views exchanged on deepening co-operation. Significantly, there were no press interviews, publicly released minutes or full attendee list; no specific sectors or agreements were referenced. Northern Ireland’s foreign policy is not devolved, so does the Foreign Secretary know what was discussed or agreed? Does he think he should know and will he ask? As a response to the audit, did the Northern Ireland Executive include what was discussed in that meeting or previous meetings between the Chinese Government and the First and Deputy First Ministers?
Mr Lammy
The hon. Gentleman has put his views on the record, and I will consult my officials about what he has revealed.
Middle East
Robin Swann Excerpts(5 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Mr Lammy
It is important that we de-escalate at this time and that diplomacy prevails, and of course it is important that we work with our allies for every contingency. I am not in the business of talking up fears of an oil price shock; I am working to reassure the British people that we are doing all we can to see that that eventuality does not come to pass.
Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)
This House has agreed that Iran must never have a nuclear weapon, but former Russian premier Dmitry Medvedev has said that a number of countries will now be considering supplying nuclear warheads to Iran. What is the Foreign Secretary’s assessment of that statement, and what are the Government doing to prevent it?
Mr Lammy
It would be wrong for me to go into detail about that, but of course it has come to my attention. I also put on record my grave concerns about the reports that Iran’s Parliament is preparing to withdraw from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which would further isolate Iran.
Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories
Robin Swann Excerpts(6 months, 1 week ago)
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Mr Falconer
I know how strongly my hon. Friend feels about these questions, and how strongly Luton feels about them—as do so many in Lincoln, Burnley and elsewhere. I will take that message.
Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)
A two-state solution requires all sides to see it as achievable, desirable and sustainable, so what practical steps have the Government taken with international partners to rebuild and support the Palestinian Authority, and how will they ensure that Hamas have no role in Palestinian governance, as the Minister said in his statement?
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
Robin Swann Excerpts(7 months ago)
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Sir Jeremy Wright
I understand my right hon. Friend’s point, but I am not sure I entirely agree with him. I think some of the procedural problems I am describing would have existed even with the previous iteration of the Bill, but certainly they are there in its current iteration. At this Report stage, I am seeking to fix the problem that arises from the difficulty for the three qualified individuals who will constitute these panels to express a considered judgment. If we are to have added value in the panel stage of this process, we surely have to enable the panel to make good judgments. Good judgments come from the capacity to assess all the relevant evidence. The Bill, as it stands, makes it very hard for the panel to have access to all that evidence in every case, but perhaps especially in those cases where the additional safeguard is most needed.
Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)
On the right hon. and learned Gentleman’s point about the panel, the Royal College of Psychiatrists said in point 5 of its concerns:
“It is not clear what a psychiatrist’s role on a…panel would be”.
Sir Jeremy Wright
The hon. Gentleman makes a fair point. I think we can expect that the psychiatrist on the panel will subject the requirement on mental capacity, in particular, to some considerable professional scrutiny, but nobody on the panel, whatever their professional competence may be, is capable of doing the job properly if they do not have access to the necessary evidence, so we must make sure they do.
The fact that the panel may sit in public is not a sufficient answer to the problem that I am raising. First, that is because there will be many panels considering many cases, and we cannot expect those who have evidence of coercion, for example, to watch the lists in case the person they know happens to appear in them—when, of course, they have no expectation that they will.
Secondly, the panel will not sit in public in every case. Paragraph 6 of schedule 2 says:
“Panels are to determine referrals in public”.
That is the clear presumption, and it is welcome, but paragraph 6(2) says:
“The chair of a panel may, at the request of the person to whom a referral relates, decide that the panel is to sit in private.”
I can see nothing in the Bill about any grounds on which the panel chair may refuse such a request, so it will occasionally, or perhaps often, be the case that the panel will sit in private, and no one will know what it is doing.
The next issue is the way a panel will go about making the judgments it needs to make, which brings me to amendment 48. As we all know, most judicial and quasi-judicial hearings in this country are conducted on an adversarial basis. That is, by the way, a reference not to the tone of proceedings but to the presentation of both sides of an argument so that the tribunal can reach the right conclusion. That is what our judges and lawyers are used to. That matters here because this quasi-judicial stage in the process of seeking assistance to die is being offered as important reassurance that things will be done safely, but that reassurance cannot be offered if panels are asked to adopt a process for which they are ill-equipped. That is not a criticism of those who will sit on the panels.
I accept that, under the Bill as it stands, a panel may hear from and question any other person beyond the person seeking the certificate and the relevant doctors, but as I have sought to address in amendment 47, as things stand those other persons will in all likelihood not know about the panel’s proceedings and therefore will not come forward of their own initiative with the evidence. The panel would have to go out and find them, and how exactly is it to do that? How does the panel know who may have relevant evidence to give, and with what resources will it seek them out?
The position on what resources will be available more generally for the process under the Bill remains unclear, but the impact assessment suggests that panels will be expected to deal with two cases a day. That suggests that they will spend somewhere between three and four hours on each. That is not much latitude for further investigation.
Amendment 48 proposes that the commissioner should notify a designated authority—the Secretary of State can choose the appropriate one—of an application for a certificate. That authority would then supply to the panel an advocate with the responsibility to raise arguments against the grant of the certificate, which the panel would not otherwise hear. I think that is important, because it would ensure that there was another participant in the panel process who could at least help the panel by prompting consideration of concerns, reservations or grounds for further inquiry before decisions were made.
My amendment 49 is about what happens once a panel has reached its conclusion. Clause 16 provides for a person seeking a certificate to be able to ask for reconsideration of a panel’s refusal to grant one, but of course the Bill currently provides no equivalent right to challenge the decision to someone who believes that a panel should not have granted a certificate. Anyone in that position would need to resort to judicial review, which is complex and expensive.
Sanctions
Robin Swann Excerpts(7 months ago)
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Stephen Doughty
I thank all right hon. and hon. Members who have contributed to this debate. The measures introduced by this statutory instrument show how the UK continues to use its powers to apply further pressure on Putin, which, crucially, is to help secure an enduring peace and show that we remain fully behind Ukraine. I really welcome the strong support there always is across this House, from almost everybody—I note that one party is absent again. We have strong support, and although we may have disagreements with the Official Opposition across the Dispatch Boxes, but on Ukraine there has been absolute unity. I am glad that that has continued, and I thank them for that, and indeed the Liberal Democrats and other parties, too.
Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)
On the regulations, does the Minister agree that work also needs to be done on the shadow oil fleet, which is out there supplying money and support to Putin?
Stephen Doughty
The hon. Gentleman might have missed it earlier on, but I outlined the significant work that we have done on that, including targeting hundreds of vessels, which is having a real impact. I will come to that impact in a moment.
The shadow Minister, the right hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Wendy Morton), asked a number of specific questions. She asked about third-country circumvention and the measures we are taking diplomatically—
Oral Answers to Questions
Robin Swann Excerpts(9 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Mr Lammy
I was very pleased yesterday to announce one of this country’s biggest ever sanctions packages, which will bear down further on Russia’s shadow fleet. I remind my hon. Friend that interest rates are running at 21% in Russia and inflation is running at 9%. We are doing a lot to take off the table money that Putin uses to fund his war machine.
Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)
In January, a Minister in the Foreign Office said that they would challenge the Northern Ireland Executive to be more robust in their reporting of international affairs and meetings. At the start of this month, the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister met again with the Chinese consul, but still no details of that meeting or previous meetings have been reported or shared. Has that challenge been made, and what was the response?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Catherine West)
We regularly engage with Northern Ireland on all matters of foreign policy. However, this Chinese consular matter is not something that Ministers can discuss at the Dispatch Box.
Ukraine
Robin Swann Excerpts(9 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Mr Lammy
Those are important issues that I know preoccupy my hon. Friends in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. They are looking further at those issues and at what more we can do.
Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)
The Prime Minister said this morning that Russia does not hold all the cards. I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s announcement of further sanctions. Will he work at national and international level to ensure that President Putin does not get a new hand that allows him to proceed with bluff, bluster and bullying that could bring the Ukrainian people to their knees—something that we have not seen to date? Will he assure the House that the Government stand resolutely with the people of Ukraine?
UK-Ukraine 100-year Partnership
Robin Swann Excerpts(10 months, 4 weeks ago)
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Mr Lammy
I simply say to the hon. Gentleman that this is the most sensitive of times. We all recognise that this is a critical year for Ukraine, and further funds will need to be found. I am pleased to see that the $50 billion loan through the G7 will eventually be getting into Ukrainian coffers, but there is more to do, and the conversations are live at this point in time.
Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)
It has been reported—indeed, it was mentioned by the shadow Minister, the right hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Wendy Morton)—that Putin has deployed North Korean troops in Ukraine. What is the Government’s response to what is now an axis of operations against Ukraine?
Mr Lammy
This is incredibly dangerous, as we see the Euro-Atlantic theatre and the Indo-Pacific theatre coalesce. It is important to emphasise that our assessment is that those troops are being used in Kursk. We see that, we recognise it and we will use all means necessary to deal with that issue with the tools we have as best we can in the coming days.
Oral Answers to Questions
Robin Swann Excerpts(11 months ago)
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Mr Lammy
The sanctions are the first of their kind, and we hope that other allies will follow us in going after the enablers of the gangs and with the ability to issue travel bans, freeze assets and do all we can to disrupt this illegal trade. But I emphasise that alongside the sanctions are the new joint unit in the Department; the huge amount of work we have done on returns, which are important and which are up by 23% across the country; and the work we do upstream with the official development assistance funding of £84 million announced as we came into government back in July.
Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)
The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Stephen Doughty)
I first would like to offer my deep condolences to all those affected by the dreadful wildfires we have seen in California and, indeed, in relation to the terror attacks we saw in Las Vegas and New Orleans, where tragically we also lost a British national. I know the thoughts of the whole House are with the United States at this difficult time.
The 250th anniversary of US independence will be a significant moment to recognise the work of generations of Americans and Britons over a quarter of a millennium to build the special relationship. We have come a long way since 1776, and I am excited by the ambitious US plans to mark the occasion, and I look forward to celebrating our partnership and our special relationship in 2026.
Robin Swann
I join the Minister in his opening comments. The 250th anniversary of the declaration of independence presents a unique opportunity to promote cultural and historical links between Northern Ireland and the United States, because at least five signatories of the declaration have direct Ulster links. The declaration itself was printed by an Ulster Scot—John Dunlap from Strabane. The great seal of the United States was designed by Charles Thomson from Upperlands, and 17 of the US Presidents can claim Ulster Scots roots. However, the Government’s introduction of an electronic travel authorisation scheme will have a devastating impact on tourism—
Mr Speaker
Order. The anniversary will have passed if we don’t get to the end—come on.