The Global Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Sanctions Regulations 2026
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. Like other colleagues, I welcome these important regulations. They strengthen our firm commitment to international humanitarian law and make it clear that there will be consequences for those who breach those laws. I also welcome the wider change in direction announced by the Foreign Secretary recently. However, as has been made clear, the regulations are only enabling powers. They do not in themselves sanction a single individual or company. The real test will be how effectively Ministers use the regulations. The predecessor regulations were used very effectively, and continue to be, with widespread sanctions against Russia. We must now see these regulations, with their widened scope, used for widespread sanctions against Israel for its war crimes and breach of international humanitarian law. Again, I welcome the fact that the Government have acknowledged the unlawful occupation, the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the west bank by settler terrorists, and the increasing evidence of war crimes in Gaza. We must now act to stop the war crimes. It is clear that we cannot continue to allow the people, companies and institutions sustaining them to retain access to British finance and markets without consequences. To be clear, we cannot stop at a handful of sanctions against violent settlers or apply them only to future expansions. The existing settlement system is unlawful and sustained by a wider machinery: Ministers and state bodies, banks, construction and property companies, and technology companies providing surveillance, used daily against Palestinians. I therefore have a number of questions for the Minister. Will he make it clear that these powers target those maintaining existing settlements, as well as those expanding them? The E1 bids can be opened from 19 November, yet no E1-related designations had been announced as of yesterday. Will he confirm that designation cases are being prepared by the Government and that the Government will act before the tender advances any further? Will he confirm that banks, contractors, technology companies and others involved in supporting the E1 project and the wider settlement enterprise will be included? Will the Minister also confirm that the new powers will be used against those responsible for and involved in obstructing humanitarian aid to Gaza? Will he confirm—this was referred to by my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool Riverside (Kim Johnson)—that the new powers will be used against those who are involved in the serious and arbitrary arrest and unlawful detention of Palestinian children? Can he also set out the timetable for all of the above? Once again, I am very grateful to you, Mr Stringer.