On Tuesday, the UK Minister for the Middle East and North Africa Hamish Falconer told members of Parliament that the relationship between Baghdad, Erbil, and Sulaymaniyah is of vital importance to the UK.

“I continue to discuss these issues with the Iraqi Foreign Minister, and Iraqi Kurdish politicians as well. We will continue to do so, and I look forward to visiting the region shortly,” Falconer said in response to a question from MP John Slinger, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

“We were told that Baghdad deliberately withholds salary payments to public employees in the region. The Foreign Secretary visited Erbil when she was Home Secretary, and knows how important this part of Iraq is to our security,” Labour MP Slinger said in the UK Parliament. “Does she agree that we need our Kurdish ally to be strong and respected in a federal Iraq, and that a better relationship there would enable vital reform, for the benefit of that region and, indeed, our own country?”

MP Slinger recently led a UK parliamentary delegation to the Kurdistan Region from April 8 to 14, 2025, where MPs met with senior Kurdish officials to discuss governance, economic reform, and the ongoing budget and salary disputes between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

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In April, KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani received the All-Party Parliamentary Group led by MP Slinger and thanked the UK government for the support provided to the Kurdistan Region in defending the rights of its people. He also commended the group’s efforts to strengthen bilateral relations.

During the meeting, Prime Minister Barzani also underlined the need to solve the issues between Baghdad and Erbil, and ensure that the constitutional and financial rights of the people of Kurdistan Region are met.

For years, Baghdad has put pressure on Erbil by cutting the salaries of government employees in the Kurdistan Region. 

In July, the KRG and Baghdad reached an agreement for the KRG to deliver 230,000 barrels of oil per day and 120 billion Iraqi dinars in non-oil revenues to resume oil exports that had been halted since 2023.

In September, the Iraqi government, KRG, and oil companies signed a tripartite agreement, officially restarting oil exports.

This week, Baghdad transferred the budget for August salaries, while payments for September are still pending.