Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
Ceidwadwyr Peer
My Lords, I have the honour to present to your Lordships a message from His Majesty the King, signed by his own hand. The message is as follows: “I have received with great satisfaction the dutiful and loyal expression of your thanks for the Speech with which I opened the present Session of Parliament”.
My Lords, I have the honour to notify your Lordships that His Majesty the King, having been informed that your Lordships have elected Lord Forsyth of Drumlean to be Lord Speaker, has pleasure in confirming your Lordships’ choice of him as your Speaker.
My Lords, it is a privilege to have been taken off the subs’ bench to conclude this debate for the Opposition. I will start where many others have, by welcoming the noble Baroness, Lady Anderson, and the noble Lord, Lord Coaker, to their places on the Government Bench. They have both proved themselves in this House and in the other place, and it is in all our interests that they succeed in...
My Lords, Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act has increased violence and discrimination against LGBT+ people. The UK has made its opposition clear to all levels of the Ugandan Government. On 3 April, the Ugandan Constitutional Court struck down some provisions. However, the legislation remains, including the death penalty for so-called aggravated homosexuality. The Deputy Foreign Secretary met...
I will start with the last point: I entirely agree with the noble Lord, and I thank him for all the work he has done on this and many other related issues. This is an appalling situation for minorities in Uganda and is part of a pattern that, unfortunately, we are seeing across many sub-Saharan African countries. No one in Uganda can be under any illusions about the UK’s position on this....
The noble Lord has done so much work in this area, and of course we agree with him. The problem with this kind of legislation is that it deters people from seeking the medical help that they need for what is now a curable disease, maybe to the point where it is not curable for them because they have been put off seeking the support they need. The UK will continue, through its ODA programme,...
I thank my noble friend. We will work with any Government of Uganda; they are important allies and members of the Commonwealth, and they are doing important work elsewhere in Africa for peace and security. However, it is only through having a good, friendly relationship with a country like that that we can state how appalled we are at legislation such as this. Obviously, we want to promote...
I think I can reassure the noble Lord. I met with our high commissioner to Uganda this week, and she gave me details of many of the projects we are doing with civil society organisations. For example, some of our overseas development assistance money goes to fund grass-roots efforts to shift attitudes on gender-based violence. There are many other things that we are doing. He is right that...
The FCDO recognises the importance of organisations like Human Rights Watch and the work that they do. Our High Commissioner in Rwanda has spoken with the individual concerned and, along with other international partners, discussed the incident with the Rwandan government. The Monitoring Committee, agreed as part of the UK-Rwanda Treaty, will have the power to set its own priority areas for...
The UK Government is aware that the Court of Appeal in Kano has reduced the sentence of Mubarak Bala, from 24 years to five. The UK Government continues to raise Mr Bala's case with the Nigerian authorities. In August 2023, the British High Commissioner handed over a letter from Fiona Bruce MP, the Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief, on Mubarak Bala's case, to the...
On 19th April, the UK called an open briefing on the situation in Sudan at the UN Security Council, where we reiterated our calls for the warring parties to facilitate unimpeded cross-border and crossline humanitarian access. However, the continued lack of humanitarian access across Sudan makes it extremely difficult for humanitarian organisations to provide the necessary levels of...
Malawi, like its Southern African neighbours, faces particularly high food shortages this year partly because of the El Nino drought. The UK has just made a £3 million contribution to the World Food Programme, primarily to import and distribute around 3,000 tonnes of food and provide cash transfers, reaching around 300,000 of the least food secure. This contribution compliments on-going...
The UK has committed up to £85 million in additional funding to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Of this, up to £50 million will be used to support low- and middle-income countries improve access to essential antimicrobial drugs; up to £25 million will be used to support action on AMR in the Caribbean; and up to £10 million will support a new independent science panel for AMR. It is...
The UK Government condemns the abduction and continued captivity of children by Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa (ISWA) in North East Nigeria. This includes the 2014 kidnapping of the Chibok schoolgirls, around 90 of whom are understood still to be missing. At the second UK-Nigeria Security and Defence Partnership (SDP) dialogue in February, the UK strengthened its commitment to...
The UK condemns in the strongest terms atrocities being committed across Sudan, including in Darfur. Reports of ongoing attacks on innocent civilians including by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are abhorrent and must stop immediately. As part of our diplomatic efforts to achieve peace in Sudan, we speak to all parties. We have used our exchanges with the warring parties to strongly condemn...
The UK continues to work with a wide range of countries and bodies, including Gulf and African partners, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the African Union and the UN, to achieve a ceasefire, and a sustained and meaningful peace process that leads to the resumption of civilian rule in Sudan. The UK uses its position as penholder on Sudan at the UN Security Council (UNSC) to...
