Speeches by Falconer.

“The hon. Gentleman will understand why I will not comment on those issues from the Dispatch Box.”

“I welcome and commend the hon. Member’s efforts on freedom of religious belief, not just in Hong Kong but across the world. We have raised the circumstances of Mr Lai’s detention and will continue to do so. The UK will not stop pressing for consular access in that case, and indeed in all other cases where consular acce…”

“In each case, different things are likely to make progress. I am very conscious of my own experience—I negotiated the release of British nationals with the Taliban over a long period. I am sure that in that case publicity would have made the release more complex. It will vary case by case, and I am sure the Minister re…”

“It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Western. I will try to keep my remarks brief in order to be able to hand back to my hon. Friend the Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Rachel Blake). I will make some progress through the cases that have been raised, as well as the general policy, and then …”

“I will not give way again. The hon. Member’s question—“Surely, we must not wait for a formal determination?”—is incredibly important. I want to reassure hon. Members that we do not wait. Where there have been provisional measures issued in the ICJ case, we have both abided by those measures ourselves and called on thos…”

“Ms Jardine has reminded me that I have one minute left, so I will answer the question and then conclude. Goods from illegally occupied settlements come under different trading provisions than those from green-line Israel. That is a question for His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs that we keep under regular review. As the…”

“I understand the complexities of these questions. I recognise that the judge has not yet opined in the judicial proceedings to which the hon. Member refers. Once the judge has done so, we will all be in a position to consider his findings. I have set out the Government’s position, as I think the hon. Member said, at so…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Jardine. I am grateful to the hon. Member for North Herefordshire (Ellie Chowns) for securing the debate. As she alluded to, we have had many exchanges on events in Israel and Palestine. Let me start by setting out a little of the legal position in relation to the 1…”

“I was not at the event and I cannot speak to who was invited or why, but obviously I speak to Dr Zomlot on a regular basis. He is personally affected by the crisis in Gaza and across the Occupied Palestinian Territories. There is no doubt in the Government about the depth of human suffering that is being experienced ea…”

“I will make a little progress, and then of course I will. More than 75 years after it was created, we remain fully committed to the responsibilities set out in the genocide convention. As the hon. Member knows, the long-standing policy of the UK Government is that any formal determination as to whether genocide has occ…”

“I am of course very happy to consider the recommendations of the Committee. We do have extrajudicial—I will be careful on the legalities of it, but as I understand it, British courts can look into crimes of genocide outside the UK where a UK national is involved. If the recommendation of the Committee is that that shou…”

“Let me make a little progress, and then I will be happy to. Let me set out what the Government are doing. We have called on the Government of Israel repeatedly to comply fully with their international obligations. We do so in private, with Ministers, and in public, through co-ordinated public statements with partners. …”

“I want to clarify about the advisory opinion, which we are still considering—it was long in the making and has broad implications—that the UK agrees with the central position that the hon. Member describes, which is that settlements are illegal and should cease. That is not a novel element of the advisory opinion for t…”

“I am about to hand over to the hon. Member. Our commitment to international law is firm. It applies everywhere without exception, and our record reflects that.”

“I understand that the hon. Member does not like the answers that she has been provided with, but they have remained consistent, because our position is consistent. I can assure her that, armed with the full legal advice of the Government, I am confident that the Government are complying with the genocide convention. Sh…”

“With permission, Madam Deputy Speaker, I want to update the House on our response to Thursday’s devastating Air India plane crash. I know the whole House joins me and you in offering heartfelt condolences to all those who have lost loved ones in this tragedy. The images of those boarding the flight are heartbreaking. F…”

“I confirm to my hon. Friend that we will, of course, keep our consular response under review, as events develop. I can also confirm that there remains close co-ordination between the Foreign Office and the Department for Transport. The Foreign Secretary, the Secretary of State for Transport and I were all in the first …”

“I thank the shadow Foreign Secretary for the tone of her questions. She rightly points to the scale of this; it is the single largest loss of British life in an aviation accident since 9/11, and one of the single largest losses of British national life overseas in one incident in a long time. Ten years ago this month, …”

“I understand the force and the emotion behind my hon. Friend’s question. I have spoken to families about the obvious agonies of the process of identification. I will look into the circumstance that he describes. He mentioned the Indian High Commission, to whom I pass on my thanks for its hard work, particularly in rapi…”

“For families who have chosen to remain in the UK, a family liaison officer has been appointed by their relevant police force and should have been in contact over the weekend. I invite any right hon. or hon. Members who think there are gaps in that to get in touch with me, but hopefully every affected family will have n…”