Lord in Waiting/Government Whip (Lord Lemos) (Lab)

I thank both noble Lords for their comments on the Statement made by my right honourable friend. I will try to deal with some of the questions that they raised; if I am not able to, I will follow up in writing. Let me start with Iran. We are obviously concerned by the recent escalation and rise in tension. We absolutely encourage the US and Iran to continue with talks and to focus on de-escalation. I think that everyone in the House would agree with that. I note the observation made by the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, about humanitarian aid not getting through the Strait of Hormuz. I am concerned about that and I promise to look into it further. The Strait of Hormuz must be reopened for trade, and indeed for humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan and elsewhere. The UK is working with the French on the multinational military mission to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, but we cannot do that—the noble Lord, Lord Callanan, asked me about this—until there is a sustainable ceasefire and we know exactly what is required. We are at the forefront of bringing together international co-operation to ensure that, once there is a ceasefire and the Strait of Hormuz is reopened, it stays open, with our support. The noble Lord asked about proscription and so on. We are following the recommendations of Jonathan Hall KC. The noble Lord will know that the National Security (State Threats) Bill has been introduced in the other place. We are determined to address state threats from proxies; it is absolutely essential for our national security and the safety of our communities. This House will have the opportunity to discuss the Bill very soon with my noble friend Lord Hanson. We hope, as the Home Secretary said yesterday, that it will be brought to the statute books shortly. It will give the Government powers similar to terrorism powers to act against state threats from proxies. We take that very seriously indeed. The Government entirely agree with the noble Lord, Lord Callanan, that Iran must not have a nuclear weapon. We do not think that this war is the way to deliver that outcome, but we will continue to work with our allies and partners to focus on that. We do not want to see proliferation under any circumstances. The noble Lord, Lord Callanan, asked me to reaffirm the UK’s long-standing support for the Lebanese Government and the Lebanese armed forces. I am happy to do that. We will look specifically at what more help we can give them. I do not have time to talk at great length about Lebanon, but the situation in Lebanon is terrible. I answered a question from the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, not so long ago about this. We regard Israeli strikes as reckless and disproportionate. The Lebanese Government are the legitimate authority in Lebanon and we will continue to support them and their armed forces. Hezbollah attacks on Israel must stop and Hezbollah must demilitarise. We are committed to that. Turning now to Gaza, words almost fail me, frankly, to describe how extreme and serious the humanitarian crisis is there, and words rarely fail me. There are 1.9 million people displaced; there is a water and sanitation crisis; there is a public health crisis; there are families without shelter; and there are children without food. I know noble Lords know these things, but it is really important for us to understand what is going on. I do not have time to go through a long list of what is needed, but it is essential that food, medicine and fuel get through to Gaza as soon as possible. The problem is not that aid is not available—we have food rotting in warehouses. The problem is not that funding is not available. The problem is access. These crossings must reopen, they must stay open and the aid must get through. The noble Lord, Lord Callanan, asked me about UNRWA. As the noble Lord knows, there have been a lot of concerns about UNRWA, and the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, has raised them with me in the past. UNRWA now has Christian Saunders in charge and it has a reform programme, which we want to see taken forward. The reality—I am sorry, as I know this is a difficult dilemma—is that UNRWA is providing life-saving basic services on the ground. In order to get those services delivered, we have to continue to work with UNRWA. On Palestinian governance, Hamas decommissioning has not started, and we want to see that happen as soon as possible. I am happy to say more about the support that we are giving to the Palestinian Authority following our historic recognition of the Palestine state and the two-state solution, but Hamas decommissioning is essential for making progress with Palestinian recognition. The noble Lord, Lord Purvis, asked about sanctions in relation to settlements on the West Bank. We have just announced a fourth round of sanctions, as my right honourable friend said in the other place. Our sanctions regime on West Bank settlers is stronger than that of any other country. He knows I am not going to give a running commentary on future sanctions, but we will use our sanction powers. As he knows, we have used them extensively in relation to the West Bank, including on members of the Israeli Cabinet in a personal capacity. I want to say one other important thing which has been mentioned about the West Bank: the Government do not want to see UK companies involved in work in the West Bank. My right honourable friend has tightened the guidance and we shall keep that under review. We do not, under any circumstances, want UK companies involved in settlement building in the West Bank. The Prime Minister issued a joint statement on 22 May, specifically on E1, saying that we do not want UK companies involved in that. Further, we have been in touch with the Charity Commission about charities that purport to support West Bank settlers and, in relation to my earlier comments, those that are involved with the Iranian regime. We want to see the Charity Commission doing more in relation to those purported charities, and we are working with it on that. I am happy to repeat what my noble friend Lady Chapman said in relation to Israel’s right to self-defence—of course we understand and support that. We have not forgotten what happened on 7 October, and we have made it clear that attacks on Israel from Hezbollah, Hamas, Iran or any proxies should stop. We are friends and allies of Israel and we will continue to be so. We do not support movements for disinvestment and all the rest of it. We are concerned about antisemitism, which the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, mentioned. We have provided £80 million to the Community Security Trust, but I am not complacent, and I do not think anyone in the Government or your Lordships’ House is complacent, about this. We have to do more. We have to bring different bits of the Government together to work more closely on antisemitism. We are not where we want to be. That is partly to do with what is going on in the international arena, but we must address these issues domestically as well. In that context, I entirely endorse the remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, about community cohesion. On Sudan—very briefly, because I am now nearly out of time—we indeed endorse the Quad process and, as the noble Lord knows, we are part of that process and want to see the kind of government that he recommended and talked about.