Liam Byrne

Liam Byrne

Labour — Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North

Speaking in the House of Commons on 11 September 2025

Debate

Points of Order

Contribution

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. You rightly expect the Executive to provide timely information to this House. On 13 August I wrote to the Secretaries of State for Defence, for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and for Business and Trade to ask for important information about the legality of F-35 exports. We want that information ahead of a ministerial appearance before the Business and Trade Sub-Committee on Economic Security, Arms and Export Controls on Monday. This is important, because the Al-Haq judgment handed down by the courts on 30 June made it very clear that under our constitution, the acutely sensitive and political issue of the legality of exports is a matter for the Executive—who are democratically accountable to Parliament and ultimately the electorate—and not for the courts. We have not had that information yet, and the hearing is on Monday. What steps can you advise me to take to get the information that the Committee needs?

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