Speeches by Smith.

“Yes, that is right.”

“Not a general debate—it would be nice to table a motion. I would have to refine it slightly, but the motion would be along the lines that all Government Ministers, as a matter of Government policy, should raise all issues concerning British nationals who are detained abroad at risk of human rights abuses. I think that …”

“Yes, that is what I am saying. That is what I want, to include a motion.”

“Yes, she is. Is she in the wrong column?”

“That was just a typo.”

“Our bid for a Backbench business debate is about foreign nationals or detained British nationals at risk of human rights violations abroad. We reckon there are now at least 100 UK nationals being tortured or ill-treated abroad each year. In 2023, the FCDO received 188 new allegations of torture and mistreatment from Br…”

“Some of the names of the people who are held are in the Foreign Office, but we are going on reports that even the Foreign Office has accepted, which is that these people are detained. We know a number of them. Certainly, were the Committee to grant this debate, we would have every intention of contacting families and t…”

“There is no target deadline publicly. It is just a reality that happens every day. We will take whatever you can give us really.”

“The right hon. Gentleman knows that I have the highest respect for him, even if we have occasionally clashed across the Floor. I ask him this simple question. In China today, one shipyard building naval vessels is out-building the whole of the United States’ naval capability—and it has many hundreds. Given that, and th…”

“This debate is well overdue because the original UN resolution, which is often and deliberately misrepresented by the Chinese Government as to the settlement of China’s claim of Taiwan’s status as a part of China, has never been brought forward or resolved at the UN. It seems that far too many countries pay service to …”

“May I return the right hon. Gentleman to the specific issue of Iran? We used to agree with each other on this matter a great deal when he was in opposition, so, if he does not mind, I will probe him a bit further. Back in 2023, the right hon. Gentleman and the Opposition rightly called for Iran not just to be sanctione…”

“(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs if he will make a statement on his recent visit to China, on China’s reported human rights abuses in Xinjiang, on the case of Jimmy Lai and on sanctions on British parliamentarians.”

“I thank you for granting this urgent question, Mr Speaker. China is even now carrying out military exercises threatening Taiwan and threatening to blockade it, which would damage all our economies, yet I see in the Foreign Office’s readout after the visit to China that there was absolutely no discussion of that issue. …”

“7. What his Department’s timetable is for announcing the outcome of its review of the new hospital programme in relation to the proposed redevelopment of Whipps Cross hospital.”

“The Secretary of State knows that we have campaigned together for the redevelopment of Whipps Cross hospital, and whether that is delivered by a Labour or Conservative Government makes no difference to me. I want to drag him to the reality of a specific point about the hospital: it was granted £1.2 million towards unde…”

“Can I say to the right hon. Gentleman that even when I was on the Government Benches, I was opposed to what my Government were doing, even when they were only going to go halfway? He supported my position then; why has he now turned around? The one point I want to make to the right hon. Gentleman and his colleagues on …”

“I ask this question on the basis that I am sanctioned by the Chinese Government for having raised the evidence of genocide and slave labour in Xinjiang. We know that the vast majority of polysilicon is now produced in Xinjiang using slave labour. Will the Secretary of State give the undertaking that, as required under …”

“I congratulate the right hon. Lady on her new position. Before the election was called, we had succeeded in a cross-party campaign to make cuckooing a criminal offence in the Criminal Justice Bill, which then sadly fell. I notice that in the crime and policing Bill, there is no mention at all of cuckooing. Does she sup…”