25th Anniversary of 9/11
10 Sep 2026 · Commons Chamber · 11 speeches · Official record
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I thank my hon. Friend for his very positive intervention and for his work as an officer of the British-American Parliamentary Group. I am proud to serve on its executive. The Minister will have heard his request, which I certainly agree with. I agree that today’s anniversary is an opportunity to reaffirm our relationship with the United States and our wider faith in democracy and decency. The terrorists sought not only to murder innocent people on 9/11, but to destroy open societies, the relati... Full speech
Speaker
Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.- ( Jade Botterill .) Full speech
Twenty-five years ago today, on a clear Tuesday morning, 19 terrorists hijacked four passenger planes. Two were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York. A third struck the Pentagon, and the fourth, United Airlines flight 93, crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers and crew resisted their hijackers. In a period of less than two hours, the twin towers fell and 2,977 innocent people from more than 90 countries were murdered. Of those killed, 67 w... Full speech
We must also remember the families of those killed on this tragic day 25 years ago. I was working in the BBC press office at the time and remember everybody standing around watching the shocking scenes unfolding on television-horrific scenes, unseen until perhaps the covid pandemic. Does he agree that international efforts to promote tolerance and understanding to avoid another such incident of this type are vital? Full speech
I congratulate my hon. Friend very much on bringing this debate to the House. What he has said is symptomatic of the importance of the special relationship, which he does so much to support in his role as a member of the executive of the British-American Parliamentary Group. Does he agree that a point that could be added to his list would be for the Government to promote the special relationship, ensuring that generations of children coming up realise that we are really close allies and shall re... Full speech
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his apt intervention. I absolutely agree with him: the United Kingdom stands shoulder to shoulder with the United States of America, our strongest and longest-standing ally. Full speech
The hon. Gentleman mentioned the loss of emergency workers in that brutal attack, and we celebrate and salute their courage. But we now know, since the attack, that more firefighters have died as a result of their work on the site than died on the day of the attack itself. When we remember those who died that day, we also have to think about the legacy of the attack, including those firefighters who have been lost. Full speech
I absolutely agree with the hon. Gentleman. We should use this opportunity of the 25th anniversary to look forward and to educate young people. As well as educating young people about al-Qaeda’s terrorism and its murderous ideology, there is an opportunity to teach them about the extraordinary courage shown in response to that ideology-from the firefighters climbing the stairs as others came down, to police officers, paramedics and office workers helping strangers to safety, and to the passenger... Full speech
I am very grateful to the hon. Member for Havant (Alan Mak) for securing this important debate. He spoke movingly and has given the House an opportunity to mark the 25th anniversary of the deadly terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. Twenty-five years on, it can be tempting to think of 9/11 as a moment in history-an event, perhaps, for a textbook, museum or documentary. Those, of course, are important, and I will come to them later, but for thousands of families, 9/11 is not history at all; it... Full speech
I commend the hon. Gentleman for bringing forward the debate. It is only right on this day that we remember all those who lost their lives, in particular the 67 British citizens. As someone who represents a constituency in Northern Ireland that knows all too well the cruel, devastating scourge of terrorism and the effect on loved ones and first responders, I know that grief is indeed the price we pay for love. Does he agree that this House stands resolutely shoulder to shoulder with our American... Full speech
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to raise that point, and it is one that I will come to later in my speech. I was just saying to the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) that it is right that we stand shoulder to shoulder with our friends and colleagues from the United States, because although the attack took place on American soil, it was a global tragedy. Its victims came from across the world. Its grief crossed borders and its consequences shaped the quarter of a century that follow... Full speech