The Leader of the House of Commons (): With permission, Madam
Deputy Speaker, I will make a short business statement about an
addition to this week’s business. Following the announcement by
my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary that the Government
intend to proscribe Hizb ut-Tahrir under the
Terrorism Act 2000, the business on Thursday will now be:
Thursday 18 January—A motion to approve the draft Terrorism Act
2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order 2024, followed
by a debate on a motion on the loan charge, followed by a debate
on a motion on HS2 compensation. The subjects for these debates
were determined by the Backbench Business Committee.
I will announce further business in the usual way on
Thursday.
Madam Deputy Speaker ( )
I call the shadow Leader of the House.
(Manchester Central)
(Lab/Co-op)
I thank the Leader of the House for updating the House on the
business for Thursday, and for advance sight of it. It is good to
see her announcing a change in business as a statement, rather
than a point of order, and I know that Members will appreciate
that proper approach.
There have long been serious concerns about the activities of
Hizb ut-Tahrir, which have been exacerbated in
the light of Hamas’s barbaric terrorist attack on Israel on 7
October. It is right that the Government have looked at the
evidence and intelligence on the threat posed by the group, and
Labour supports the decision to proscribe it.
I also welcome the fact that urgent time has been found to debate
the order this week. Those who incite violence and promote or
glorify terrorism have no place on Britain’s streets. In that
context, what progress has been made on proscribing the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, either via a
statutory instrument, as the Government are using this week for
Hizb ut-Tahrir, or by a new process to deal with
hostile state actors for which there is wide cross-party support
in this House?
Finally, I have to say that when I was first notified of an
emergency business statement today, I did wonder whether the
Government were having a rethink about their Safety of Rwanda
(Asylum and Immigration) Bill in the face of the usual infighting
and chaos. Can the Leader of the House take this opportunity to
confirm that, whether the Bill is or is not amended in Committee
today or tomorrow, there will still be, as programmed, Third
Reading at the end of tomorrow’s business? There has been some
suggestion that the Government may still table their own
amendments and push Third Reading back to another day. Would that
not be further proof of the Prime Minister’s weakness and the
fact that, when it comes to governing, they are just making it up
as they go along?
First, I thank the hon. Lady for her support for the statutory
instrument that we are bringing forward. The Home Office has
taken its time to consider the matter, but it is very clear that
the activities the group is involved in fall into that category.
They need to be dealt with swiftly, which is why we brought
forward the SI at the first available opportunity.
The hon. Lady talks about the point of order I made last week.
She will fully appreciate that this is a different situation. I
am making a business statement today because we are changing the
business that was previously announced. Last week, I was simply
giving Members advance notice of forthcoming business, because if
I had waited until our exchanges on Thursday, it would have meant
an unsatisfactory amount of time for right hon. and hon. Members
to prepare amendments.
I will certainly ensure that the Home Secretary has heard the
hon. Lady’s query about the Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps. Its activities are not restricted to what is
happening overseas; it is engaged in activities on British soil
against British citizens. I know that there is a great deal of
interest in that in all parts of the House.
As the hon. Lady will know, the progress of the Rwanda Bill is
subject to the House, and I shall make further business
announcements in the usual way.
(Rayleigh and Wickford)
(Con)
As a member of the Defence Committee, I know that it is an open
secret that Iran is paymaster to, and helps to train, Hamas,
Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels in Yemen—there is no doubt about
that throughout the international intelligence community. I
warmly welcome the decision to proscribe Hizb
ut-Tahrir. However, given what I have just said, and
given the action that we have taken against the Houthi rebels in
order to maintain freedom of navigation on the seas, can the
Leader of the House foresee any circumstances in which she could
return to the House in the near future to make a similar
announcement about proscribing the IRGC?
I thank my right hon. Friend for his very helpful question. I
know that this is an issue of great concern to many Members. He
will appreciate that the Home Secretary and the Government will
want to make any future announcements in a timely way while also
considering all the effects that such a course of action might
bring about, not least to our ships and their insurance, but I
shall ensure that the Home Secretary has heard what he has
said.
Madam Deputy Speaker ( )
Does the Scottish National party spokesperson wish to ask a
question?
(Edinburgh North and Leith)
(SNP)
indicated dissent.
Madam Deputy Speaker
I call .
(Cardiff West) (Lab)
Given that the Chair of the Backbench Business Committee is not
present and that the announcement has an impact on Thursday’s
Backbench business, can the Leader of the House give us any
information about the timing of the debate? Will there be a
timetable motion, as there would be if the business were taken in
a Committee upstairs—probably allowing an hour and a half in
normal circumstances—and why has the Leader of the House decided
that it should be taken on the Floor of the House rather than
upstairs?
I apologise to the Backbench Business Committee—I know that this
will eat into its time on Thursday—but this is an important
matter that we want to deal with swiftly, and we therefore felt
that it was appropriate for it to be dealt with on the Floor of
the House.
(West
Dunbartonshire) (SNP)
I thank the Leader of the House for the statement and welcome the
intention to hold the debate on Thursday. In response to the
right hon. Member for Rayleigh and Wickford (Mr Francois)—a
fellow member of the Defence Committee—the Leader of the House
said that the Home Secretary would come back to the House “in a
timely way”. As the right hon. Member highlighted, the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps supplies the Houthis, especially with
drone materials, and it was also committing international action
last night in northern Iraq. Rather than talking of a “timely
way,” many of us in the Defence Committee would say, “Time’s up.”
I wonder whether the Leader of the House could reinforce to the
Home Secretary the fact that across the House there is a clamour
to proscribe the IRGC at the soonest
opportunity.
I thank the hon. Gentleman for that helpful question. I will
ensure that the Home Secretary has heard what he has said. The
actions that he has described are not new; I think that, on
average, that organisation has been behind about 500 attacks
during any recent year against international shipping and people
going about their daily business, and, as I have said, it is also
engaged in activities in the UK. As a member of the Defence
Committee, the hon. Gentleman will know of some the issues that
surround this decision, but I am sure that if and when the Home
Secretary makes his decision, he will want the House to be
alerted at the earliest opportunity.
(Strangford) (DUP)
I welcome the statement and clarification of the business for
Thursday. The Leader of the House will be aware of the high
levels of terrorism and the severe threat to people in Northern
Ireland from the Real IRA and the New IRA. There is surely a
connection between such terrorist groups in Northern Ireland and
those who have sympathy towards the Hamas terrorists—is it not
wonderful how terrorists across the world come together to murder
innocent people?
With regard to the business on Thursday, may I ask the Leader of
the House—ever mindful of the fact that only certain things can
be said in the House—if it might be possible to indicate whether
the threat from the Real IRA and the connection with the
proscribed Hamas can be clarified evidentially, and if so, what
measures will be taken to reinforce the action of stepping down
hard on the Real IRA and the New IRA?
I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising this important matter. As
he will know, it is not a matter for me in connection with the
business of the House, but he has characteristically made the
point that he wished to make and put it on the record, and I
shall ensure that the Home Secretary has heard it.
