Topical Questions

Question

If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities. The Foreign Secretary is in Egypt at COP27, continuing UK leadership on net zero transition and helping vulnerable countries adapt to climate shocks. Since last oral questions, the UK has worked with international partners and allies on all threats to peace and security.

Question

My right hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson) has built up a fantastic relationship with the Ukrainian President, and I thank him for his lead. Has his advice and expertise been sought as we work to continue this excellent relationship into the future?

Question

I hope the whole House will join me in congratulating Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on his recent victory in the Brazilian presidential election. As we know, Brazil is home to the lungs of the planet, the Amazon rainforest, but because the previous Administration in Brazil turned a blind eye to deforestation, it has been systematically destroyed. Does the Minister agree that now is the time to support Labour's call for an international law of ecocide, to criminalise the widespread destruction of the environment?

Question

Not content with being the world's largest state sponsor of international terrorism, Iran is using its same terror enforcer, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, to brutally repress its own people. It is also now arming and training the Russian army in its barbaric invasion of Ukraine. So in the same vein as my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman), may I ask whether the Minister thinks it is now time to proscribe the IRGC?

Question

Does the Minister agree that given everything we put into Afghanistan over the past 20 years or so, we have a particular responsibility not to look away, not least given that 6 million Afghans are living on the brink of famine?

Question

Images of thousands of peaceful protestors in Iran, young and old, male and female, of all religions and beliefs, are heartwarming for those who choose democracy and civil liberties and despise authoritarianism. What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that the Iranian regime will bow to the demands of liberty and freedom of the great Persian people?

Question

Afghans are starving, women's rights are in reverse and the economy is in freefall. The United Nations has warned that if insufficient action is taken now to treat the causes of the crisis, not just the symptoms, next year's humanitarian funding needs could double to $10 billion. So what is the Minister doing to convene international action to unlock Afghanistan's economy and secure a long-term solution for millions of Afghans on the brink of crisis?

Question

When Kabul fell, the Government rightly undertook to assist in the relocation of courageous Afghan judges who had taken a key role in the fight against the Taliban. Since then, however, a High Court decision has ruled against the operation of the latest resettlement schemes and there is concern that the level of support initially given is drying up. Will the Minister meet me to discuss, with members of British judiciary, schemes and ways by which we might improve and revise the system?

Question

For the 30th consecutive year, the United Nations voted overwhelmingly to condemn the US embargo and sanctions on Cuba. Today, I am raising again my concern about the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. They are protectors of the Iranian clerical fascist regime. Will the Minister go back to his Department and tell the officials to get on with banning the IRGC?

Question

Crown dependencies and overseas territories are an important part of the Commonwealth. The UK Commonwealth Parliamentary Association provides essential services to these regions but there are gaps. Will my right hon. Friend meet me to discuss how we can tackle that, because those territories and countries deserve the best?

Question

Given the importance of tourism to the Cuban economy, can the Minister or the Foreign Secretary indicate what steps are being taken to restore direct flights between the UK and Cuba?

Question

This is a heartbreaking case that has been going on since 2018. Will the Minister meet me and other Members of this House who have similar child abduction cases in Poland, and will he please raise this case with his Polish counterpart?

Question

Can the Minister tell us how much of the £10 million funding announced for flood relief efforts is being used to ensure that women who have lost everything can at least have access to maternal health services?

Question

What consideration have the Government given to opening two new high commissions in the two newest Commonwealth countries, Gabon and Togo?

Question

Given that democracy is a continuous process and not a single event, does the Minister accept that Westminster's continued denial of Scottish democracy makes a laughing stock of UK foreign policy, and is it oligarchy or tyranny, when an argument for both could easily be mounted?

Question

May I attend the meeting that the Minister is going to have about judges, so that the plight of Afghan interpreters and others who helped our forces can also be considered?

Question

Will the Minister commit to publishing a breakdown for this financial year of how the UK's in-country refugee costs are being spent based on the DAC eligible costs guidelines?

Question

Will my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating Benjamin Netanyahu on his recent election victory in Israel and in wishing for Bibi to form a broad-based coalition across Israel, so that there is a proper stable Government for our key ally?

Question

Pakistan and Somalia are at the extreme ends of the climate crisis and face dire humanitarian consequences. Can those on the Government Benches tell me how cutting international aid will help them to help those countries—and do they have no shame?

Question

As my right hon. Friend the Member for Warley has just pointed out, the IRGC has led and organised the brutal crackdown on protesters in Iran. What do those fascist thugs have to do to get themselves designated a terrorist organisation?

Question

Last week I had the immense pleasure of visiting Japan with the British Council. I put on record my sincere thanks to the ambassador Julia Longbottom, Matthew Knowles and the entire British Council team in Japan. I got to see first-hand the brilliant work that the British Council does in Japan, educating people in our English language and using our arts and culture for the greatest good. What more can the Government do to support the British Council, not just in Japan, but across the world?

Question

I was contacted by a constituent from Devon whose sister died in east Africa while working for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation. Joanna Toole was serving humanity and our environment when Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 crashed near Addis Ababa. Will the Minister commit to lobbying the Ethiopian Government to release the air accident report so that an inquest in the UK can proceed?

Question

What assessment have the Government made of the role of far-right parties in Israel's new Government, as they are Netanyahu's principal coalition partner? Will UK Ministers be meeting representatives of those far-right parties?

Question

What does the Minister for Development think are the biggest challenges to the effective use of the aid budget: the fact that it is facing further cuts, the fact that so much of it is being double counted against Defence expenditure or the fact that, as the Chair of the Select Committee said, it is being increasingly spent in the UK?