Latest news with #David Lammy
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Prime Minister says UK will ‘work ever more closely' with Germany
Sir Keir Starmer has hailed the 'closeness' of the UK and Germany, as the two nations signed a treaty that is set to free up school exchange visits and passport e-gates. The Prime Minister and German chancellor Friedrich Merz signed the deal – to be known as the Kensington Treaty – at the V&A Museum on London, as Sir Keir said they will look to 'work ever more closely' on issues such as trade and security. The agreement was also signed by Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his German counterpart Johann Wadephul. Speaking at the ceremony, the Prime Minister told Mr Merz: 'It's a privilege to have you here today, particularly to sign this Kensington Treaty, which is a very special treaty, because it's the first of its kind ever, if you can believe it, between our two countries.' Sir Keir described it as 'evidence of the closeness of our relationship as it stands today' as well as a 'statement of intent, a statement of our ambition to work ever more closely together'. As part of Thursday's deal, Berlin has agreed to allow some arriving UK passengers to use passport e-gates. The move will initially be available for frequent travellers and is due to be in place by the end of August. The treaty also includes the UK and Germany agreeing to establish a taskforce aimed at paving the way for direct train services between the countries. It is hoped services could begin within the next decade. Mr Merz also delivered remarks after the signing of the treaty. According to a translation of what the German chancellor said, the treaty has also reached an agreement on school exchange visits. It comes as part of a wider visit by Mr Merz as Downing Street looks to boost ties on defence and tackling people smuggling, after Germany committed last year to make facilitating the smuggling of migrants to the UK a criminal offence. Mr Merz is expected to commit to adopting the law change by the end of the year. Downing Street has described the move as a 'significant step'. Asked if Sir Keir was frustrated by the slow pace of change in Germany, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said that people smuggling is 'an international issue that requires international solutions'. 'And over the last year, you've seen the Prime Minister working tirelessly to reset relationships across Europe, and you've seen a number of examples of the progress of that, not least with the French last week,' he added. 'This is a significant step that will give law enforcement and prosecutors the tools they need to address this scandal of small boats which are destined to cross the Channel being stored and concealed in Germany.' After the signing ceremony, the two leaders then travelled to Downing Street for a further meeting. Mr Merz said he had been 'surprised' to learn that the agreement was the first UK-Germany treaty since the Second World War. 'We had you in the European Union and we thought that was enough,' he said. 'But we are now learning that it's not enough so we have to do more on that.'
Arab News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
UK foreign secretary suggests Israeli minister could face sanctions over Gaza camp plans
LONDON: The UK foreign secretary has suggested that Israel's defense minister could be sanctioned over plans to relocate Gaza's population into a camp in the south of the territory. Israel Katz told Israeli media last week that he wanted to establish what he described as a 'humanitarian city' amid the ruins of Rafah to initially house 600,000 people. Those entering the camp would be screened to ensure they were not Hamas members, and would not be allowed to leave. The aim would be to move the entire population of Gaza — more than 2 million people — inside the zone. The plans have been widely condemned, with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees describing the proposed site as a 'concentration camp' that would deprive Palestinians of their homeland. UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy told the International Development Committee on Wednesday that he condemned the 'unconscionable' plans in the strongest terms. Asked whether he would consider sanctions against Katz similar to those imposed by the UK against Israel's far-right government ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich last month, Lammy said he could not comment on sanctions that are under consideration. 'But you have heard my statement about what has been said by minister Katz and you will have heard my statements previously about ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir and then the subsequent decision that I took. 'No defense minister should be talking about effectively holding people, unable to leave, presumably, in the manner in which he described,' Lammy added. The UK government is coming under increased pressure, including from within its own ranks, to take further action against Israel amid daily reports of atrocities in Gaza. Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday said he was 'appalled' by further reports of civilians being killed in the enclave, 'particularly when they are trying to access aid.' Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by gunfire in recent weeks as they attempted to access aid distributed by the widely criticized Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is run by the US and Israel. 'Each of those incidents does need to be fully and transparently investigated,' Starmer said. But the prime minister has been accused by his own MPs of not taking a sufficiently tough stance against Israel for its actions in Gaza, where more than 58,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in 2023. Labour MP Imran Hussain angrily asked Starmer in parliament on Wednesday 'how many more horrors must we witness' before the prime minister imposes against Israel the same scale of sanctions that the UK has placed on Russia for its Ukraine invasion. "Israel is killing Palestinian children as they queue for food. That is a war crime. "How many more horrors must be witnessed before the Prime Minister acts?" Labour's Imran Hussain at PMQs — PoliticsJOE (@PoliticsJOE_UK) July 16, 2025 Last week, almost 60 Labour MPs sent a letter to Lammy responding to Katz's Gaza plans in which they demanded the UK immediately recognize Palestine as a state, The Guardian reported. 'By not recognizing (Palestine) as a state, we undermine our own policy of a two-state solution and set an expectation that the status quo can continue and see the effective erasure and annexation of Palestinian territory,' the MPs warned. Asked again on Wednesday whether the UK would recognize Palestinian statehood, Lammy insisted the 'symbolic' action needed to be 'part of a process,' including the agreement of a ceasefire. During a state visit to the UK last week, French President Emmanuel Macron urged Starmer to recognize Palestine in tandem with France. He said the move would initiate a political momentum which is 'the only path to peace.' France has suggested it will go ahead with recognition during an international UN conference on a two-state solution later this month. It is co-hosting the event with Saudi Arabia at the UN headquarters in New York with the aim of adopting concrete measures toward implementation of a two-state solution.
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Our Médecins Sans Frontières staff are being killed in Gaza. Why are UK ministers enabling that?
Our colleague Abdullah Hammad was killed last week by Israeli forces as he waited to collect flour from an aid truck in Khan Younis. He is the 12th Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) colleague to have been killed in Gaza since October 2023. The Israeli-US food distribution scheme forces people in Gaza to choose between starvation and risking their life for minimal supplies. With more than 500 people killed and nearly 4,000 wounded while seeking food, this scheme has had the effect of luring desperate people in with aid, only for them to be slaughtered by the Israeli armed forces. This is part of the genocide that is being committed in Gaza. And the UK government is complicit. At the beginning of April, we at MSF UK wrote to the foreign secretary, David Lammy, detailing our first-hand observations in Gaza. We described the massive influxes of wounded patients and dead bodies being received by MSF teams in medical facilities across Gaza on 18 March, as Israeli forces unleashed attacks of unprecedented intensity, shattering the short-lived ceasefire. We explained that MSF medical staff and their patients had already had to evacuate 17 health facilities and had endured a massive number of violent incidents, including airstrikes damaging and destroying hospitals and health facilities, tanks opening fire on humanitarian shelters, ground offensives being conducted in medical facilities, and humanitarian convoys and ambulances being fired upon by the Israeli military. We noted that not a single hospital in Gaza was currently fully functional, and that about half of them were no longer functioning at all. And we described the complete siege imposed by the Israeli authorities on Gaza. We noted that this evidence was consistent with the description of ethnic cleansing and genocide provided by legal experts and human rights organisations. We requested a meeting to brief the foreign secretary further and to hear what concrete actions the UK planned, to hold Israel to account for its atrocities against the Palestinian people. We did not receive a response. So on 7 May, MSF wrote an open letter to the prime minister describing the use of starvation and collective punishment as weapons of war by the Israeli government against an entire population. We implored the UK government to uphold its obligations as a permanent member of the UN security council to act under international humanitarian law to protect all civilians in Gaza. We also called on the UK government to publicly condemn the Israeli government for the atrocities it is inflicting on the people of Gaza. We warned that failure to take immediate action and to adopt a clear position on these extensively documented and flagrant war crimes and breaches of international law would leave the UK government at high risk of charges of complicity. We did not receive a response. In fact, since 1 November 2023 we have repeatedly contacted the government to provide evidence of atrocities directly witnessed and experienced by our hundreds of colleagues in Gaza, to remind the UK of its power and its obligation to act, and to request an urgent high-level meeting. We never received clear acknowledgment of the evidence that we have provided, nor have we ever been offered that meeting. We can only conclude that the UK government just does not want to admit what everybody else can see: that genocide is being committed in Gaza, and it is being committed with the military, diplomatic and material support of the UK. Eventually, on 23 June, we did receive a letter from the parliamentary under-secretary of state for the Middle East, Hamish Falconer. It was woefully inadequate and did not address any of our points. It said only: 'We need further action from the Israeli government now to lift all restrictions on aid, to enable the UN and aid partners to do their work, and to ensure that food and other critical supplies can reach people safely.' But aid will not stop a genocide. We also need the Israeli government to stop the ethnic cleansing, the war crimes and the crimes against humanity, and to abide by international law and the advice of the international court of justice (ICJ). Since October 2023, the entire population of the Gaza Strip has been subjected to relentless bombardment by the Israeli armed forces. Gaza's healthcare system has been destroyed, and medical workers, including our MSF colleagues, are systematically targeted by the Israeli military. Due to the siege imposed by Israel and the obstruction of humanitarian aid, more than 2 million people are currently on the brink of starvation as part of a calculated strategy aimed at eradicating Palestinian society. The UK government must acknowledge and respect the rulings of the ICJ, and abide by international law and the advisory of the ICJ regarding the plausibility of genocide. MSF has a responsibility to act with moral clarity and humanitarian consistency in the face of mass atrocities. The same should apply to the UK government. Dr Natalie Roberts is the executive director of Médecins Sans Frontières UK
Sky News
12-07-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
Dozens of MPs call for UK government to recognise Palestine as state
Nearly 60 Labour MPs have called on David Lammy and the Foreign Office to immediately recognise Palestine as a state. A mix of centrist and left-wing MPs, including some committee chairs, wrote to the foreign secretary this week to say "by not recognising [Palestine] as a state, we undermine our own policy of a two-state solution and set an expectation that the status quo can continue and see the effective erasure and annexation of Palestinian territory". The 59 MPs suggest the government pursue five different measures to prevent the Israeli government from carrying out its Rafah plan, adding that they believed Gaza was being "ethnically cleansed" - a claim vehemently denied by Israel. The letter was organised by Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East group. It states that the Israeli plan, which would see the "population transfer to the southern tip of Gaza in preparation for deportation outside the strip", is an accurate description, but that they believe a clearer way to describe it is the "ethnic cleansing of Gaza". Israeli officials have said they want to separate the civilian population from Hamas, which still controls parts of Gaza and holds dozens of hostages abducted in the October 7 attack that triggered the war 21 months ago. Emmanuel Macron discussed recognising Palestine as a state at a joint news conference with Sir Keir Starmer on Thursday - the same day the letter was signed. The French president said: "Today, working together in order to recognise the state of Palestine and to initiate this political momentum is the only path to peace." While France has not yet recognised a Palestinian state yet, Norway, Ireland and Spain coordinated their recognition last year. The letter demands ministers take five different measures to: • Recognise the state of Palestine • Continue support for the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) • Secure the release of hostages • Press for the full and unhindered resumption of humanitarian aid • Fully review and place restrictions on trade with and financial support of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank The government says it is already providing funding for the UNRWA and working to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas, but immediate recognition of Palestinian statehood will be a much more controversial move. Sky News understands this is the second time MPs have formally called on the government to immediately recognise the state of Palestine, with previous letters signed by some parliamentary aides and even junior ministers. Ministers have indicated their plan to recognise Palestine would be "at a time that is most conducive to the peace process" without further clarity of when that might be. They have also indicated that it would not be suitable to speculate about future sanctions, as this could reduce their impact.
Zawya
11-07-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Oman-UK FMs discuss cooperation, regional stability
Muscat – Oman's Foreign Minister, H E Sayyid Badr bin Hamad al Busaidi, held a telephone conversation today with the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, H.E. David Lammy. During the call, the two ministers reviewed the deep-rooted strategic partnership between Oman and the UK, reaffirming the strength of bilateral relations and their shared commitment to enhancing cooperation across multiple domains. The discussion included follow-ups on joint investment and development programmes and touched on ways to deepen economic collaboration. The ministers also exchanged views on key regional and international issues, including the Iran nuclear file and efforts to revive the diplomatic path and political negotiations. Both sides expressed concern over escalating tensions and reiterated the importance of prioritising diplomacy to preserve regional and international security. On the situation in Gaza, the two diplomats condemned the ongoing violence and stressed the urgency of sustained international efforts to halt the war, facilitate humanitarian aid, and support peace initiatives across the Middle East. .
