Westminster, London: The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Tibet in UK parliament held its Annual General Meeting at Portcullis House, Westminster, London, on Tuesday, 27 October, under the chairmanship of Hon Gill Furniss MP, nominated by the Speaker of the House of Commons as per Rules governing APPGs.
With the meeting fully quorate, the nominated chair first conducted the election of the group’s officers. Chris Law MP was re-elected as the Chair of the group, along with Lord (David) Alton of Liverpool, Luke Akehurst MP and Lord McInness of Kilwinning as the Vice-Chairs. Kerry McCarthy MP was elected as a new officer. Following the election, the group’s Income and Expenditure statement, Annual Report 2025-26 and Due Diligence report were passed and approved by the members present. With the election done and reports approved, the nominated chair congratulated the group’s officers on the election and handed Chris chairmanship for the rest of the meeting before leaving.
Chris thanked the members for placing their trust in him and reaffirmed his commitment to further strengthen the group’s work for Tibet in parliament. He gave a quick summary of the UK cross-party parliamentary delegation visit to Dharamshala noting that the highlight was the special audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Lord Alton placed on record his deep appreciation to Chris Law MP for his excellent chairmanship of the group, a sentiment shared by all the parliamentarians and Tibetans present.
Representative Tsering Yangkey congratulated Chris and the group’s officers on the election and expressed her high hopes for the group under Chris’ able leadership. She highlighted China’s shutting down of Tibetan language school in Golog and demolition of over a thousand residences in Larung Gar, connecting these to the implementation of China’s so-called Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress Law, which represents, according to her “an existential threat” to Tibet’s distinct identity, religion and culture.
Kate Saunders of Free Tibet, the group’s secretariat, provided a briefing on a number of developments relating to Tibet including the recent flash flood on the Tibet-Nepal border (exposing China’s information control even as Chinese scientists call for a stop to China’s dam construction), the use of illegal weapons by Chinese security guards against Tibetans at the Chinese embassy in London (reference to transnational repression and call for the UK government to act on this) and cross-movement unity and solidarity in the face of China’s new law.
Secretary Tenzin Kunga spoke about the historic significance of the UK parliamentarians’ presence at the official swearing-in ceremony of Sikyong Penpa Tsering’s second term; informed the group about the Buddhist Society UK presenting the Christmas Humphrey Award to Jetsun Pema la (Amala), younger sister of His Holiness and explained the plans for a cross-movement joint parliamentary event to resist China’s new law. He called for the group to continue the tradition of hosting Tibetan Losar (New Year) in the parliament.
The parliamentarians shared their thoughts frankly on matters relating to Tibet-China, offering several practical suggestions and ideas for the group to explore.
Chris Law informed the group about Tenzin Kunga’s departure from the Office of Tibet and offered a khata in appreciation of his work and to wish him the best for his future.
In the end Representative Yangkey offered khatas to Chris Law MP, Lord (David) Alton of Liverpool, Kerry McCarthy MP, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Fabian Hamilton MP and parliamentary staffers Paul McDaid and Grace Hawkins. Thupten Dompo, Chair of the Tibetan Community in Britain and Dechen Pemba of Tibet Action Institute attended the meeting and expressed thanks to the parliamentarians for their continued support.
