Today in Parliament, Cat Smith, the Labour MP for Lancaster and Fleetwood has published an “e-petition 648577, relating to a visa scheme for Palestinians” to “Create a Palestinian Family Visa Scheme for Palestinian people affected by war”. Back at the end of October 2023, the York MP, Rachael Maskell, raised a similar theme in a question to the Government,

“To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has considered the potential merits of introducing a scheme similar to the Homes for Ukraine scheme for Palestinians.” 

Robert Jenrick, at that time, Minister for Immigration made a response which included

“The Home Office has not considered establishing a separate route for Palestinians to come to the UK. Since 2015, over half a million people were offered safe and legal routes into the UK. We are not able to provide a tailored route for every conflict.” 

This latest event organised by Cairah Areej Ahmed whose petition was published on the 18th October 2023 and closed on 18th April 2024. 10,000 signatures were achieved during November 2023 and the Government published a statement on 21st December from the home office.

“There are no plans to introduce bespoke arrangements for people arriving from the region. Those wishing to come to the UK who currently have no visa can apply under one of the existing visa routes.” 

By the beginning of April this year the petition had achieved just on 54,000 signatures and by the 18th April it had achieved almost 50,000 more with the total now at 103,834. The petition explains

“We want the government to take action and create a Visa scheme that allows Palestinian individuals affected by war, to be allowed into the UK. Just like we did for Ukraine.”

and

“This visa would provide them with an opportunity to seek refuge and reunite with their families safely in the UK. By implementing this visa, the government can demonstrate its commitment to compassion, inclusivity, and supporting those who have endured the hardships of war. Together, let’s urge the government to enact policies that provide a lifeline for Palestinians seeking safety and a chance to rebuild their lives safely.”

Signatures from across the UK include Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, York, Bradford, Manchester, Nottingham, Birmingham, Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol, Cardiff and London are included on the petition. Several of the Constituencies in Sussex have signed more of the petition than there are signatures from Cat Smith’s constituency.  Brighton and Hove being the largest with a total of 1,609 signatures and Brighton Pavilion with 781 signatures

On Monday and Tuesday this week, the Defence Committee chaired by Jeremy Quin from Horsham will discuss “Defence in the Grey Zone”. A few days ago John Spellar, the Labour MP for Warley in Birmingham referred to the Defence subject

“I want to touch briefly on the subject of hybrid warfare and the so-called grey zone, on which our Defence Committee is conducting an inquiry. I do not want to pre-empt its findings, but I do want to urge the Ministry of Defence and the wider Government to take a broader, societal approach.” 

The grey zone has been described that grey zone can be defined as coercive activities that

“….fall below perceived thresholds for military action and across areas of responsibility of different parts of the government”.

Examples of grey zone conflict include cyberattacks, information campaigns and other hostile activities that fall below the threshold of armed conflict. This inquiry will ask whether the United Kingdom’s Armed Forces are sufficiently capable of operating in this part of the spectrum of conflict. It will examine how the grey zone interacts with more conventional military activities, and what lessons can be drawn from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Committee’s inquiry will focus primarily on the UK’s Armed Forces, looking across the rest of Government’s grey zone capabilities within this context, and scrutinise the Government’s ability to work cross-departmentally.  

On Friday 17th May there is a session “Commons: Main Chamber” that refers to Private Members Bills which is listed on TheyWorkForYou. Currently there are a total of 59 Bills none of which are Sussex based but interestingly there are 19 Bills being organised by individual members. A Welsh Conservative MP, Rob Roberts providing two Bills and Chris Stephens, MP with SNP, is listing 14 Bills. Finally, Christopher Chope, the Conservative MP for Dorset lists 24 Bills that seems excessive.

On Wednesday 1st May Gillian Keegan published a document relating to “Faith School designation reforms” which included the words.

”Today, I wish to inform the House that we are consulting on faith designation reforms for new and existing free schools and special academies. I think it is important to capitalise on all of the expertise in the special needs sector in order to meet the challenge of ensuring access to the right provision for every child. I want to ensure that all faith groups feel able to open special academies and provide high quality places for pupils with complex special educational needs and disabilities, who would be admitted on the basis of their need, not their faith. These proposals apply to England only and the consultation will run for 7 weeks, closing on 20 June 2024. The consultation and the government response will be published on GOV.UK. We will consider all responses to the consultation and use them to inform our proposals for better meeting the policy objectives of faith schools.”