Latest news with #UKInquiry
Bloomberg
09-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Fujitsu Shares Slump as UK Demands Post Office Compensation Plan
Fujitsu Ltd. shares dropped the most since April in Tokyo after the chair of a UK public inquiry called for the firm to release a compensation plan for victims of the Post Office scandal by the end of October. Shares of the Japanese electronics maker lost as much as 4.2% in morning trade, the most since April 11, dragging down the Nikkei 225 benchmark.
The Guardian
05-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Critics of UK role in Gaza war consider setting up independent tribunal
Critics of the UK's role in the Gaza war are considering setting up an independent tribunal if, as expected, Labour blocks a bill tabled by Jeremy Corbyn backing an official inquiry. Government whips are expected to object to the former Labour party leader's bill in the Commons on Friday, leaving him with few practical options for his legislation to pass. The Middle East minister, Hamish Falconer, said the government saw no need for an inquiry, but 22 NGOs working on issues in the region are supporting Corbyn's call. The Islington North MP is arguing that a host of issues regarding the UK's involvement in what he regards as a genocide by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have not been properly aired in Westminster, except through brief replies by ministers in written or oral questions. The NGOs led by Action Aid said: 'In light of reports of atrocities committed by the Israeli government in Gaza and reports of the UK's collaboration with Israeli military operations, it is increasingly urgent to confirm whether the UK has contributed to any violations of international humanitarian law through economic or political cooperation with the Israeli government since October 2023, including the sale, supply or use of weapons, surveillance aircraft and Royal Air Force bases.' They said establishing an independent public inquiry would provide an evidence-based determination of whether the UK's actions upheld international law. The possible inquiry comes in the week that the UK courts threw out a 20-month legal battle to force the government to end indirect sales of F-35 parts to Israel for use in Gaza. The judges ruled it was not for the courts to make sensitive political judgments regarding whether the risk of curtailing the supply of F-35s for use by Nato outweighed the danger that the IDF with UK weaponry was acting unlawfully in Gaza. Corbyn's inquiry would investigate what the UK did to press Lockheed Martin, the US main F-35 contractor, to give an undertaking that UK-supplied parts would not go to Israel, an issue that was largely covered in a closed court session from which reporters and some barristers are excluded. In written answers the defence minister Maria Eagle said: 'If the UK government were to withdraw from the F-35 global spares pool, it would effectively be withdrawing from the F-35 programme, meaning that the UK would not be able to operate its F-35 fleet of aircraft.' The court case, although a comprehensive defeat for human rights advocates, helped shine a light on how decisions to suspend UK arms sales are made under current arms control laws. The case revealed that due to the lack of definitive evidence ministers had concluded only one IDF military action in Gaza breached international humanitarian law. The Foreign Office had subcontracted examination of 412 incidents, but Falconer told MPs: 'We have not been able to reach a determination in relation to the conduct of hostilities due to the lack of sufficient, verifiable evidence.' Corbyn has also been pursuing information about RAF flights – of which there have been at least 538 – from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus over the eastern Mediterranean including Gaza since October 2023. The UK insists these flights have purely been to help locate hostages, and not to assist the IDF in pursuing Hamas. It also says the flights have been unarmed. He would like an inquiry to prise open more details of the UK-Israeli military cooperation agreement signed in December 2020. The Ministry of Defence, in a written answer, said the 'agreement incorporates a range of defence engagement activity, including defence education', adding that it was 'not possible to release this agreement as it is held at a higher classification'.
The Guardian
04-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Critics of UK role in Gaza war consider setting up independent tribunal
Critics of the UK's role in the Gaza war are considering setting up an independent tribunal if, as expected, Labour blocks a bill tabled by Jeremy Corbyn backing an official inquiry. Government whips are expected to object to the former Labour party leader's bill in the Commons on Friday, leaving him with few practical options for his legislation to pass. The Middle East minister, Hamish Falconer, said the government saw no need for an inquiry, but 22 NGOs working on issues in the region are supporting Corbyn's call. The Islington North MP is arguing that a host of issues regarding the UK's involvement in what he regards as a genocide by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have not been properly aired in Westminster, except through brief replies by ministers in written or oral questions. The NGOs led by Action Aid said: 'In light of reports of atrocities committed by the Israeli government in Gaza and reports of the UK's collaboration with Israeli military operations, it is increasingly urgent to confirm whether the UK has contributed to any violations of international humanitarian law through economic or political cooperation with the Israeli government since October 2023, including the sale, supply or use of weapons, surveillance aircraft and Royal Air Force bases.' They said establishing an independent public inquiry would provide an evidence-based determination of whether the UK's actions upheld international law. The possible inquiry comes in the week that the UK courts threw out a 20-month legal battle to force the government to end indirect sales of F-35 parts to Israel for use in Gaza. The judges ruled it was not for the courts to make sensitive political judgments regarding whether the risk of curtailing the supply of F-35s for use by Nato outweighed the danger that the IDF with UK weaponry was acting unlawfully in Gaza. Corbyn's inquiry would investigate what the UK did to press Lockheed Martin, the US main F-35 contractor, to give an undertaking that UK-supplied parts would not go to Israel, an issue that was largely covered in a closed court session from which reporters and some barristers are excluded. In written answers the defence minister Maria Eagle said: 'If the UK government were to withdraw from the F-35 global spares pool, it would effectively be withdrawing from the F-35 programme, meaning that the UK would not be able to operate its F-35 fleet of aircraft.' The court case, although a comprehensive defeat for human rights advocates, helped shine a light on how decisions to suspend UK arms sales are made under current arms control laws. The case revealed that due to the lack of definitive evidence ministers had concluded only one IDF military action in Gaza breached international humanitarian law. The Foreign Office had subcontracted examination of 412 incidents, but Falconer told MPs: 'We have not been able to reach a determination in relation to the conduct of hostilities due to the lack of sufficient, verifiable evidence.' Corbyn has also been pursuing information about RAF flights – of which there have been at least 538 – from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus over the eastern Mediterranean including Gaza since October 2023. The UK insists these flights have purely been to help locate hostages, and not to assist the IDF in pursuing Hamas. It also says the flights have been unarmed. He would like an inquiry to prise open more details of the UK-Israeli military cooperation agreement signed in December 2020. The Ministry of Defence, in a written answer, said the 'agreement incorporates a range of defence engagement activity, including defence education', adding that it was 'not possible to release this agreement as it is held at a higher classification'.
Telegraph
04-06-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Rebel Labour MPs back Corbyn over Gaza
Labour rebels have backed Jeremy Corbyn over a campaign to launch an inquiry into the UK's involvement in the war in Gaza. Eight of the party's MPs have joined its former leader to call for a Chilcot-style hearing, held to examine Britain's involvement in the 2003 war in Iraq, into the role of the UK Government in the conflict. Mr Corbyn, who now sits as an independent MP, said history was 'repeating itself' and that Britain had 'played a highly influential role in Israel's military operations'. He made the call in a parliamentary motion, backed by figures including veteran Labour MPs Diane Abbott and Jon Trickett, demanding a 'comprehensive inquiry with the legal power to establish the truth'. Only around 35 members of the Commons and the Lords have signed the motion, making it extremely unlikely to pass. However, it demonstrates the continued frustration among some backbenchers about what they perceive as an insufficiently tough stance on the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, in the war. Israel is under growing pressure from the international community to end its war against Hamas, which was launched after the terror group massacred around 1,200 Israelis on Oct 7 2023. Last month, David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, suspended trade negotiations with Israel in protest at the expansion of its military's ground operation in Gaza, which he called 'an affront to the values of British people'. In a speech to MPs, he said Israel's 'egregious' policies in Gaza and the West Bank were 'damaging' Britain's relationship with the country. Some Labour MPs have demanded a complete arms embargo, an idea ruled out by Mr Lammy in the past, as well as sanctions on Mr Netanyahu and his ministers. More than 40 MPs have signed a letter urging the Foreign Secretary to address allegations that the UK has continued to export military equipment to Israel, despite suspending some arms export licences. A Foreign Office spokesman said that the 'relevant licences for the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] that might be used to commit or facilitate violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza' had been suspended. They added that the 'vast majority' of the remaining licences for Israel were for 'civilian purposes or re-export', other than the F-35 fighter jet programme 'due to its strategic role in Nato and wider implications for international peace and security'. New military tactics by Israeli forces involving massive air strikes, along with food and aid shortages, have sapped goodwill from European allies. Mr Corbyn said an inquiry was needed to 'establish exactly what decisions have been taken, how these decisions have been made, and what consequences they have had'. His motion added: 'Many people believe that the Government has taken decisions that have implicated officials in the gravest breaches of international law '.
