Last Tuesday we saw two very important issues raised in the House.
First, an Urgent Question was asked of the Home Secretary, requesting an update on the awful terrorist incident in Liverpool on Remembrance Sunday. Remembrance Sunday is a time to commemorate the lives lost in the World Wars and other conflicts and is an important reminder of the human cost of war. For this reason, I sought to highlight the impact this incident will have had on veterans, for whom this day will have already been emotional. I asked what support the Government intended to provide them in the immediate aftermath of the incident, which may have triggered PTSD or other mental health conditions.
You can read a transcript of my question in Hansard, or watch it on ParliamentTV.
Later, a Westminster Hall debate was held on the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who remains detained in Iran. The family’s MP, Tulip Siddiq, submitted for the debate as part of her long running campaign of support for Nazanin, which I know is appreciated by many.
The debate was heavily oversubscribed, and so while I did not have the opportunity to give a full speech, I was grateful to the Member for Hampstead and Kilburn, Tulip, for giving way so that I could make a short intervention.
I raised the issue of upcoming nuclear negotiations, and the risk that Nazanin and Anoosheh Ashoori’s cases will be used as leverage. These negotiations will be complex, and we cannot allow these cases to become entangled within them.
You can read a transcript of my intervention in Hansard, or watch the debate on ParliamentTV.