Labour pushes for hostage release and IRGC proscription amid Israel-Hamas war

Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy MP

Labour’s shadow foreign secretary and LFI parliamentary supporter David Lammy MP used one of his questions to ask: “George Mitchell, the great American peacemaker, said that diplomacy was “700 days of failure and one day of success”. Labour recognises the hard, quiet diplomacy required to secure the release of hostages and eventually long-term peace, but in this bloody war we cannot afford 700 days without success. Overnight, we saw reports of the possible release of 50 hostages, only to learn that those talks had stumbled. Can the Foreign Secretary update the House on the progress to secure the release of all the 200 hostages so cruelly taken by Hamas terrorists?”

Labour’s shadow minister for the Middle East and LFI parliamentary supporter Wayne David MP, asked: “Following on from the question of the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran), I emphasise that Labour has been calling on the Government for many months to proscribe the IRGC. Evidence is emerging of Iranian involvement in the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel. We also understand that the United States has called on the United Kingdom to follow its example. I therefore press the Foreign Secretary: when will the Government act, by using either existing terrorism legislation or a new process of proscription directed at the IRGC?”

LFI parliamentary supporter Fabian Hamilton MP, a Labour shadow Foreign Office minister, asked: “I am sure the whole House will want to join me in congratulating Narges Mohammadi on being awarded the Nobel peace prize for her outstanding work to raise awareness of the struggle for women’s rights and equality in Iran. Will the Minister publicly support the brave women who are campaigning against the forced hijab laws in Iran, and once again, will he commit to proscribing the woman-hating regime that is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps?”

You can read and the full session here, here and here.