Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy gives a press conference in Abuja on 4 November, 2024 (AFP/Kola Sulaimon)
Scottish National Party MP Chris Law accuses David Lammy of exposing UK to ‘significant risk’
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy has been warned that the UK as a state, “alongside individual ministers and government officials as individuals”, is at “significant risk of future legal action for complicity in acts of genocide”.
In a letter to Lammy on Monday, seen by Middle East Eye, Scottish National Party MP Chris Law accused the foreign secretary of failing to “demonstrate any responsibility of the UK government to prevent genocide”.
“Do you accept that the UK’s obligations [under the Genocide Convention] should have been triggered from the moment the government became aware of a serious and imminent risk that genocide could be perpetrated,” Law asks in the letter.
The Scottish politician goes on to accuse the foreign secretary of appearing to “diminish the very definition of genocide”, after Lammy suggested last month in parliament that Israel’s actions in Gaza do not constitute genocide because fewer than millions of people have been killed.
Lammy said that terms like genocide “were largely used when millions of people lost their lives in crises like Rwanda, the Second World War, the Holocaust, and the way that they are used now undermines the seriousness of that term.”
King Charles III reads the King’s Speech, as Queen Camilla sits beside him during the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords, London, July 17, 2024
THE SNP has vowed to “sabotage” Labour’s “watered-down” House of Lords reforms with a deluge of amendments.
Labour’s House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill, aiming to exclude the last remaining 92 hereditary peers from the legislature, faces its third reading in the House of Commons today.
But SNP MP Pete Wishart has tabled amendments ranging from abolishing the institution altogether to making peers’ £342 daily allowance liable for income tax.
Pointing to the “egregious example” of £18,808 paid to private healthcare tycoon Lord Hameed of Hampstead last year, despite him playing no role and failing to vote even once, Mr Wishart argues that taxing the £20 million paid out in allowances last year could generate over £9m — enough to restore Winter Fuel Payments to more than 22,000 pensioners in Scotland.
Urging Scottish Labour MPs to “at least” back him on taxing allowances, Mr Wishart commented: “That’s the only viable option for anyone who believes in democracy.
…
“The Labour Party has repeatedly broken its promise to abolish the House of Lords for more than a century and, frankly, this embarrassingly limited Bill is 114 years too little, too late.
“The undemocratic House of Lords is an archaic institution of the kind you’d find in a banana republic and it’s second only in size to the Congress of China costing taxpayers more than £200m a year.
Original article republished from MEMO under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Flag of Scotland [Getty]
The Scottish government announced Monday that it had suspended all meetings with Israeli ambassadors until “real progress” is made towards peace in the Gaza Strip and unimpeded access is granted to humanitarian assistance to the enclave, Anadolu Agency reports.
In a statement, External Affairs Secretary, Angus Robertson, said the Scottish government would not accept any invitation for a further meeting with Israel until there was real progress on the Gaza conflict.
“This will remain our position until such time as real progress has been made towards peace, unimpeded access to humanitarian assistance is provided and Israel cooperates fully with its international obligations on the investigation of genocide and war crimes,” said Robertson.
This came after a recent meeting between Robertson and Israel’s Deputy Ambassador to the UK, Daniela Grudsky, about two weeks ago, sparking criticism within the Scottish National Party (SNP).
The External Affairs Secretary said his view was that, given Grudsky had requested the meeting this was “an opportunity to express the Scottish Government’s clear and unwavering position” on the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. And I did exactly that, “he added.
“No one intended that this meeting be presented as legitimising the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza,” he noted, expressing that the Scottish Government has been consistent in its “unequivocal condemnation of the atrocities” in the Palestinian enclave.
Noting that many had seen the meeting as a sign of normalisation between the Israeli and Scottish governments, Robertson stressed that it was clear that it would have been better to ensure that its agenda was strictly limited to the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza .
“I apologise for the fact that this did not happen,” he said.
Robertson added that, “going forward, it is clear that, having now spoken directly to the Israeli Government and making them aware of our position on an immediate ceasefire, it would not be appropriate to accept any invitation for a further meeting.”
Highlighting that this would remain the Scottish government’s position until real progress on a ceasefire is made, he said: “The Scottish Government does not support any normaliation of its relations with the Israeli Government during this period.”
“The Scottish Government will never hold back in expressing support for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages, an end to UK arms being sent to Israel and the recognition of a sovereign Palestinian State within a two-state solution.”
Former Scottish First Minister, Humza Yousaf, welcomed the statement, saying Robertson has “clearly listened and reflected on the anger and upset” in relation to his meeting with the deputy Israeli ambassador.
“Crucially, he has made it clear there cannot be normal relations with the Govt of Israel,” Yousaf said on X.
John Mason at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, April 30, 2024
AN SNP MSP has had the whip removed following “utterly abhorrent” comments about the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The party confirmed it has taken action following social media comments from Glasgow Shettleston MSP John Mason.
Party officials said that the whip has been removed with “immediate effect” after he posted: “If Israel wanted to commit genocide, they would have killed ten times as many.”
He made the comment amid a row over a meeting between Israel’s deputy ambassador Daniela Grudsky and Scottish External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson.
Removing the whip from Mr Mason, a party spokesperson said: “To flippantly dismiss the death of more than 40,000 Palestinians is completely unacceptable.
“There can be no room in the SNP for this kind of intolerance.
“The chief whip has today withdrawn the whip from John Mason MSP with immediate effect, pending internal parliamentary group due process.
A Palestinian displaced woman by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip flees from Hamad City, following an evacuation order by the Israeli army to leave parts of the southern area of Khan Younis, August 11, 2024
SCOTTISH Greens slammed the SNP government today for “shameless” and “two-faced” meetings with Israeli diplomats as the slaughter of Palestinians continues.
SNP Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture Angus Robertson reportedly met deputy Israeli ambassador Daniela Grudsky Ekstein last week to discuss “mutual interests.”
Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer hit out at his party’s erstwhile coalition colleagues.
He said: “The Israeli regime is committing genocide in Gaza.
“They cut off water and electricity, restricted the supply of everything from medicines to period products and have slaughtered tens of thousands of innocent people in a 10-month campaign of relentless bombing.
“This is a shameless two-faced approach from the SNP.
“They publicly condemn Israel’s war crimes whilst holding secret meetings with its representatives to discuss so-called ‘mutual interests.’
