Debate: Straw

The international agenda has dominated the first Commons debate of the New Year.

The Conservatives argued that foreign secretary Jack Straw had been left largely redundant by Tony Blair's efforts to be a global peacemaker.

The seizure of a shipment of arms and the prevention of Yasser Arafat from attending a Christmas service brought calls from the government for both Israelis and Palestinians to compromise in the Middle East.

Straw said that restrictions imposed by Israel were unjustified and repeated calls for an end to terrorist activities, an early resumption of negotiations and for Israel to end settlement activities.

"There has to be a reduction in violence and terrorism. That is a prerequisite to any peace process," Straw said.

Deteriorating civil rights in Zimbabwe also came high on the agenda with calls from Britain to do more to oppose the government of Robert Mugabe.

Britain will push for Zimbabwe to be suspended from the Commonwealth if the situation there continues to worsen, said Straw.

"If the situation in Zimbabwe continues to deteriorate, Britain will argue for Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in March."

Shadow foreign secretary Michael Ancram questioned why Britain had "proved so toothless" on the issue of sanctions.

"Is he wanting for the prime minister to take this away from him as well?" he taunted.

Straw argued that he wanted the issue to become an issue for the Commonwealth rather than a bilateral one and that he was keen to avoid giving Mugabe room to claim he is a victim of colonialism. Commonwealth and EU meetings may yet see a major step forward, he predicted.

Liberal Democrat Michael Moore asked at what point Britain would impose sanctions.

Sanctions for the country was "a matter under very close review" Straw said.

Straw justified the decision to grant a £28 million export licence to Iran despite hard line clerics opposition to Israel.

"We condemn those who believe the state of Israel should not exist. Our view is that by dialogue with Iran we can make these points better," he said.

The current crisis in Afghanistan and the tensions in Pakistan, as expected, brought a range of questions from MPs.

Junior minister Ben Bradshaw repeated Tony Blair's call for Pakistan to do more to tackle the Islamic extremists operating within its borders.

"Pakistan has taken increasing action against terrorists masquerading as freedom fighters," he said. "We welcome these steps but we also look forward to further steps being taken to implement the UN resolutions."

Conservative frontbencher Alan Duncan asked if the government thought Pakistan's president was in control of the situation.

"It is our judgement that President Musharraf is very much in control of his government," he replied.

Bradshaw pledged that the government would do all it could to improve the education prospects for women in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of the Taliban.

"We are playing a major role both through our diplomatic representative in Kabul.and the British support of non-governmental organisations. The denial of education of women in Afghanistan will leave a terrible mark for some time to come," Bradshaw told MPs.

European issues came later in the debate, in particular the vexed question of which two MPs would be chosen to join the convention on the future of the European Union.

Labour MP Graham Allen called for the speaker to be consulted if parliament was to be seen to represent all parties.

"We are listening very carefully to the representations being made to us by the House," reassured Hain.

Fellow Labour backbencher Andrew MacKinlay joined the fray by attacking the "cosy choreography that goes on between the two front benches". "Who else will be consulted?" he demanded.

Hain praised the Thurrock MP as "a good and fiery democrat" whose voice would always be listened to by ministers.

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell called on the government to continue to resist calls for military action to be taken against Iraq. He called for influence on America to continue to resist "unless incontrovertible evidence was produced or if it becomes clear containment.has ceased to be effective".

Minister Denis MacShane replied there remained no evidence linking Iraq to the terrorist attacks on September 11. He did warn that the war against terrorism would involve taking on countries that supported terrorism. As Saddam Hussein has not complied with the UN resolutions over chemical weapons he said the country "remains a menace to the region and to the world".