Israel and Palestine

Vikki Slade Excerpts

Monday 14th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

During his statement to the House last week, the Foreign Secretary said that

“we will never have stability in the middle east without a two-state solution.”—[Official Report, 8 September 2026; Vol. 790, c. 884.]

That line touched me, as when I was invited to go on a visit to Israel and Palestine more than a decade ago, the very same words were used to explain why that visit was so important, and why understanding the relationship between the two places and the fears and threats they both faced was so important. On my visit, way back then, I saw the withholding of water from Rawabi; settlers encroaching on the hillsides of the west bank; the way that families whose children had played together were gradually pulled in different directions as the time for national service approached; and the difference between the day-to-day lives of the people of Ramallah and the people of Tel Aviv, and the tension between the two populations. Like every schoolchild in that country, I visited Yad Vashem and learned about the horrors that came before the Holocaust—the dehumanising of Jewish people in Europe, and how antisemitism can manifest itself in the most unusual ways. What I saw will never leave me, but it did leave me convinced that a two-state solution is the only way.

Fast forward to 2023 and the horror of the atrocities inflicted on the people of Israel by Hamas. Every person who took part in the murder, torture and kidnapping of people on kibbutzim or at the music festival, or simply going about their lives, must be held to account. But although the pain of the Israeli people and the Jewish diaspora cannot be overestimated, it does not justify what followed in the following two years: the killing of 70,000 people, including 20,000 children, and the destruction of everything that is Gaza. What has happened since the official ceasefire, with the continued attacks, the violence and intimidation in the west bank and the attempt to take more land, cannot be ignored. We must not turn a blind eye as Prime Minister Netanyahu attempts to destroy Gaza.

That is why I was pleased that the UK recognised the state of Palestine, and why I am relieved that the Foreign Secretary has taken further measures to show that the UK is prepared to stand up for what most of my residents believe. However, I know that this causes nervousness in some parts of our community, and I recognise that people are worried that this suggests the UK is no longer a friend of Israel. To that, I say that when a friend is attacking their neighbour, stealing their land and hurting their children, a friend holds them to account. But we must make sure that our Jewish communities in this country and the Jewish people in Israel who do not support this are not blamed for what the Government in Israel are doing.

I know that some residents want us to go even further, and I hear their calls. For now, I believe the Government are close to getting the balance right, but we are in a fluid situation, and I hope for reassurance that if the Government in Israel continue with their actions and do not hear our calls for change, or those of countries such as Canada and France, we will keep everything on the table. Importantly, I also hope that as we head towards winter, the children in Gaza will be protected from famine and from the cold. We must not go quiet on the humanitarian front.

There is, however, one area that I struggle to reconcile, which I raise on behalf of my constituents who have been caught up with it—I am surprised I am the only person to have mentioned it in this debate—and that is proscription. I am not sure what my parliamentary privilege allows me to say, so I am going to choose my words extremely carefully, but I cannot be the only hon. Member who struggles to see masked people intimidating our towns and abusing our rescue crews being treated as activists, when elderly or silently seated people holding placards that name a group find themselves not only arrested, but treated as terrorists. I should stress that I absolutely condemn the breaking and entering of property, criminal damage and all other offences, but they are already crimes. I also know that protesters who insist on naming a proscribed group probably know the consequences, and that among those decent people hide cowards, racists and people who are just there for the thrill.

As we move forward in our position, though, I wonder whether we should ask if this is still proportionate, particularly as some companies are starting to take action against people who are wearing badges for Palestine. They do not worry about the badge for Ukraine that I am wearing. I do not make apologies for those who break the law, but I do ask the Government to reflect—and I am using my words carefully here. Given that they have now recognised the state of Palestine and have taken action in support of Palestine, maybe it is time to review the proscription of the group wearing those exact same words, but in a different order.

Israel and Palestine

Vikki Slade Excerpts

Tuesday 8th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Ed Miliband]

My hon. Friend speaks with great expertise on these issues, and she is absolutely right. We are going to act in our national interest on the basis of our values. That is not just our right but our duty as a country.

[Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

I join the thanks to the Government for these actions, but am deeply concerned about the fear that the shadow Foreign Secretary’s comments may have caused. The Foreign Secretary made it clear that this is action against the settlements; he confirmed the continued trade within green-line Israel. Will he assure our constituents that life-saving drugs made in Israel—mainly around the Tel Aviv central area and not in illegal settlements—are not at threat, and that the supply chains for medications will not be affected by this very welcome action?

[Ed Miliband]

I am glad that the hon. Lady asked that question. She is absolutely right, and I can answer with an emphatic yes.

Oral Answers to Questions

Vikki Slade Excerpts

Tuesday 1st September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Kirsty McNeill]

We are committed to peatland restoration, which is critical to tackling the climate and nature crisis and meeting our Environment Act targets, as my hon. Friend laid out. The UK supports international peatland conservation through programmes such as the Darwin Initiative. Darwin projects are, for example, helping communities in Peru and Indonesia to manage peatland ecosystems sustainably. Many tropical forests are also part of peatland ecosystems, and the UK has a long-standing portfolio of work supporting them. Of course, the Department continues to work closely with DEFRA to protect and restore important ecosystems.

[Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

After a horrendous summer of wildfires and the catastrophe in Nepal and Tibet, it is clear that if we are going to solve these problems, we need to act globally but think locally. It is really important that the public trust the information they receive on climate change. Will the FCDO work with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that the public are educated, and will it consider funding a national programme of public information, or perhaps screenings of the “People’s Emergency Briefing”, so that we can all understand more about the situation?

[Kirsty McNeill]

I could not agree with the hon. Lady more. It is very important that people trust the information they receive. She will have noticed the alert that was sent out across England, which was a sign of how seriously this Government take their commitment to communicate with the public responsibly.

Israel: E1 Zone Expansion

Vikki Slade Excerpts

Wednesday 1st July 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

I do not think I can go further in response to my hon. Friend than I have already. We have been clear at the highest possible level, in the voice of our Prime Minister, about the seriousness with which we take this issue, the breadth of concern that we have and the consequences that are likely to follow. I cannot spell out those consequences for reasons I have already alluded to, but I reassure him that we treat this with the seriousness that it deserves.

[Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

Yesterday, a group of us met with non-governmental organisations and heard about how the settlers are physically surrounding Palestinian homes and schools, with properties built on every side of homes, schools and sports pitches, making it impossible for children to get to and from school. In one case, we were told that the only way to reach a school was via the back stairs of a residential property. All the settlements are illegal and we must focus on the building of E1 to prevent expansion. In an election year, the UK has an additional influence on Israelis who also abhor this illegality and violence, so will the Minister consider a full travel ban on all settlers to show that there are real consequences for illegal activity?

[Mr Falconer]

I have spoken myself to schoolgirls impeded in their day-to-day lives. We have taken four waves of sanctions sanctions against settlers, recognising the severity of the situation, and I have been clear that while the situation continues to get worse, we will continue to act.

Oral Answers to Questions

Vikki Slade Excerpts

Tuesday 16th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Seema Malhotra]

The hon. Lady raises an important concern. We are concerned by reporting from the UN special rapporteurs that large-scale environmental projects in Tibet risk the forced displacement of Tibetans from their ancestral villages. It is important that we keep these issues on our radar.

[Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

2. What recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the UK's relationship with the US.

[The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Yvette Cooper)]

I stand and look at the shield to Jo Cox above us today, and I add my personal tribute to Jo. She was a fellow West Yorkshire MP and a passionate and committed internationalist, as well as somebody who brought communities together here at home. We think of Jo’s family and especially of her sister Kim who is keeping Jo’s legacy alive.

The US is our deepest security and intelligence ally, our biggest trading partner and our top export market, and I saw again the strength of our people-to-people relationship when I joined His Majesty the King on the state visit to mark 250 years since the declaration of independence.

[Vikki Slade]

I regret that I never had the chance to meet Jo Cox, but the Secretary of State is right: her sister is doing her very proud.

As well as being the year in which the current US President was born, 1946 was the year in which the UK-US special relationship was formally cemented in Winston Churchill’s “Sinews of Peace” speech, and was credited by Russian historians with marking the start of the cold war. That war ended in the 1980s, but the relationship between western allies and Russia is distinctly chilly again, with threats appearing close to our shores even this weekend.

I welcome the progress on an Iranian ceasefire, but over the three months for which the US and Israel have been at war with Iran, the conflict has made many people rich, and it has been reported that Russian revenue from oil and petroleum has increased by 39%. Given that the actions of the United States appear to be helping Russia rather than supporting Ukraine and NATO, does the Foreign Secretary share my concern that that is causing further damage to a special relationship that has endured for 80 years?

[Yvette Cooper]

The Prime Minister is discussing the importance of support for Ukraine at the G7 today, and the G7 has had meetings with President Zelensky about the importance of maintaining the economic pressure on Russia. The hon. Lady is right to highlight the risk that Russia will become a beneficiary from the conflict in Iran. It is crucial that we ensure that that is not the case and also maintain that pressure, which we are working with the US to do.

Lebanon: Israel Defence Forces Operations

Vikki Slade Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

I recognise my hon. Friend’s engagement in and commitment to these issues. I just gently say back to him that I have met the children displaced by this escalation. We have taken urgent steps to very significantly increase the support that is being provided to them. We have done everything we can privately and publicly, in the way I have described in the Chamber over the course of the afternoon, to try to ensure that there is a genuine, meaningful ceasefire that holds and does not lead to the loss of life, whether children or otherwise. We will continue to do that.

We have changed very significantly our posture towards Lebanon in the last few months. As I said earlier, we are now one of the largest humanitarian donors. I have myself handed over equipment to the Lebanese to try to ensure that they can control the south. That is not to say that progress has been uniform. In fact, it is very clear, as my hon. Friend will have heard and as I am acknowledging, how much worse the situation has got, but we will continue to play our full role here, at the United Nations and with our counterparts in the region to try to bring about a genuine and meaningful ceasefire.

[Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

Israeli Minister Ben-Gvir said in the last few days on social media:

“Electricity must be cut off to Lebanon, the Zahrani River must be seized, and intensive fighting must be resumed”.

Last week, he said of Dahieh,

“flatten, flatten, and flatten again”,

and that the suburbs must be targeted. The indiscriminate targeting of Lebanese people shows what the Israelis are really trying to do. Does the Minister agree that the time has finally come for a full ban on all arms to Israel?

Equality Act 2010: Code of Practice

Vikki Slade Excerpts

Monday 1st June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Seema Malhotra]

It is important to clarify that we continue to have engagement, and my hon. Friend may want to raise some of those matters with the EHRC. What we have said about challenging is that, prior to this debate, people have been able to sensitively say when somebody is walking into the wrong toilet, and to raise that. If there is a concern that goes beyond that, they should alert a member of staff. We expect that there will be training within organisations, and that organisations will see themselves as having a responsibility to ensure they are providing an inclusive service to all. As we continue to move forward with this debate, it is important that that training takes place, so that issues are dealt with sensitively and that individuals and organisations do not feel that either they do not have a way of asking, or it is not being handled in a proportionate way.

[Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

One of my constituents described this code of conduct as “trans apartheid”. Another said that it was “state-sponsored repression”. Let us flip it, because we always talk about trans women; let us talk about trans men. If the rules say that somebody cannot enter a toilet of the gender that they were not born, a trans man is no longer allowed to go into a men’s toilet, but they also may not be allowed to go into a ladies’ toilet—their sex at birth—because at that point, they might become a threatening prospect for some people. They often are exceptionally well built young people, and a woman can say that they feel uncomfortable about that person in their toilets. Where are the human rights and privacy of the trans person in all this? I am concerned that we have missed the very group of people who are most affected.

[Seema Malhotra]

The draft code says that if someone has concerns about users of the opposite sex, or those perceived to be of the opposite sex, and raises those concerns with a service provider, the service provider can ask those users to confirm their sex, but that this should be done sensitively and with their privacy protected. It also outlines that staff should be equipped to handle such sensitive situations. If someone still wants to engage someone whom they believe to be in the wrong space, we would expect them to do so in a way that does not compromise anyone’s safety. Women should not have to face intrusive questioning simply because they do not conform to feminine stereotypes, and the draft code is explicit that service providers must handle any such queries sensitively and proportionately. Everyone must have access to the services that they need.

Oral Answers to Questions

Vikki Slade Excerpts

Tuesday 21st April 2026 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

Israel’s security needs to be protected, and so does the security of Gulf countries that have been attacked as part of this conflict. We need security right across the region. The hon. Gentleman says that we hope the strait will soon be open. We have proposed that, as an immediate confidence-building measure, the Iranians should agree to the International Maritime Organisation’s proposal to start moving the stranded ships and the stranded seafarers. It could get on with that right now, even while negotiations are continuing. We need to get those ships moving and those seafarers home. That is what the IMO has proposed, and we have been building international support to pursue that as an immediate step.

[Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

The difficulty of ships passing through the strait is leading to fears across all sectors and supply chains, including food production, so the price of food is at risk as well as the price of oil. Increasingly offensive and bizarre social media posts by President Trump are bound to be making diplomatic efforts more difficult, and make us worry whether anything he says can be taken seriously. What steps is the Foreign Secretary taking to ensure that all parties are coming to the table in good faith?

[Yvette Cooper]

I met Pakistan’s Foreign Minister in the last few days, and the hon. Lady will know that Pakistan is leading the mediation work as part of this effort. I have also spoken frequently to the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and we have been engaging with a whole series of countries. Over the last few days, I have met more than a dozen Foreign Ministers and counterparts to ensure that everyone is pressing the same messages as part of this process. We need the ceasefire extended and a swift resolution, but we must have the strait opened and we must have no tolls. Proposals for tolls have been circulating, but that would be deeply damaging and would go against the law of the sea.

Strait of Hormuz

Vikki Slade Excerpts

Monday 16th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

The US President has suggested that the future of NATO may depend on countries falling into line with him, and supporting him on reopening this shipping channel. Does the Minister believe that it is acceptable for that type of pressure to be applied to sovereign nations, when there is still no evidence that this war has a legal basis, or that there is a plan for it?

[Stephen Doughty]

This country remains absolutely committed to NATO—we have a NATO-first policy—and the President has made very clear his commitment to article 5 and to NATO; that is not in any doubt. As I have said, we continue to engage with allies, including European partners, on viable and credible options for reopening the strait of Hormuz, but I will not go into further details at this time.

Oral Answers to Questions

Vikki Slade Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Chris Elmore]

Improving road safety is a global challenge. Every year, 1.2 million people die on the roads—it is the biggest killer of young people. I thank my hon. Friend for bringing this to the House’s attention. Through the Department of Health and Social Care, the UK contributes £12.5 million to the Global Road Safety Facility and is represented on its partnership council, and we continue to work on this truly important issue.

[Vikki Slade (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)]

T10. Last week, the BBC reported the death of Palestinian child Jad Jadallah, shot in a west bank refugee camp while Israeli soldiers watched him bleed to death. Violence against children is increasing around the world, including in Ukraine, Sudan and now Iran. What diplomatic action is the Foreign Secretary taking to prevent child death and protect surviving children from the lifelong trauma of war?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Mr Hamish Falconer)]

We have spoken many times about the risks to children in the west bank and Gaza. It is a priority for this Government. We raise it regularly with our Israeli counterparts, and I am familiar with the report the hon. Lady references.