Oral Answers to Questions

Giles Watling Excerpts

Tuesday 26th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call Giles Watling.

[Giles Watling (Clacton) (Con)]

Question 11, if you please, Mr Speaker.

[Mr Speaker]

I beg the hon. Gentleman’s pardon, but I think that Mr Mahmood wanted to come in from the Front Bench.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir Alan Duncan]

As I have just said, we have. The answer again is yes, we would like President Erdoğan to lift the state of emergency. In the course of the elections, there were sort of commitments to do so, and we hope that those commitments can be fulfilled by lifting it as soon as possible.

[Giles Watling (Clacton) (Con)]

11. What steps his Department is taking to tackle the illegal wildlife trade.

[The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Boris Johnson)]

We believe that the illegal wildlife trade is not only odious in itself but associated with many other forms of criminality. That is why we are hosting a global conference on tackling the illegal wildlife trade in London this October.

[Giles Watling]

According to the International Fund for Animal Welfare, illegal wildlife trading is increasingly occurring on the interweb. Will my right hon. Friend tell me what steps are being taken to counter this?

[Boris Johnson]

My hon. Friend is right on the money there, and indeed ahead of the curve. We see that risk, and that was why the Foreign and Commonwealth Office hosted a group of leading technology companies only a few weeks ago to develop new ways of combating the online trade in these specimens that he mentions.