Asked by: Paul Flynn (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to paragraph 2.1 of The process for withdrawing from the European Union, CM9216, what procedure will be adopted in the event of votes to remain and to leave being identical during the oncoming referendum on the UK's EU membership.
Answered by David Lidington
The procedure in the unlikely eventuality of a tied vote is not provided for under the European Union Referendum Act 2015, or the Political Parties, Elections and Referendum Act 2000.Asked by: Paul Flynn (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make ithis policy to assess the potential merits of the pledge by the Austrian government set out in the report by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, A Pledge to Fill the Legal Gap, published in February 2015 for the work of the UN Open Ended Working Group on multilateral disarmament negotiations.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The UK is committed to creating the conditions for a world without nuclear weapons in accordance with the goals of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, in a way that promotes international stability, and is based on the principle of undiminished security for all. The Austrian pledge to stigmatise, prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons runs counter to the step-by-step disarmament process; and it does not take into account the current global security and stability challenges. The UN Disarmament machinery and the Non-Proliferation Treaty provide the right framework for working towards a world without nuclear weapons.
Asked by: Paul Flynn (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the UN Secretary General on the supply of arms and other military equipment sales to Saudi Arabia.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), has had no discussions with the UN Secretary General on the supply of arms and other military equipment sales to Saudi Arabia.
Asked by: Paul Flynn (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Bahraini counterparts on the amount of political prisoners held in Bahrain; and what representations he has made for such prisoners.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
We regularly discuss human rights and reform with the Government of Bahrain. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) most recently raised human rights with his Bahraini counterpart, Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa, on 4 February. Where we have specific concerns around convictions or sentencing, we raise these with the Government of Bahrain as part of our wider dialogue on human rights and reform.
Asked by: Paul Flynn (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Bahraini counterpart on Mr. Hassan Mushaima and the provision of medical assistance for his condition.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
We are aware of the case of Hassan Mushaima and we have raised it with the Government of Bahrain. We continue to encourage the Government of Bahrain to deliver on its international and domestic human rights commitments and to appropriately address all reports of ill-treatment of detainees. We also encourage all those with concerns about their treatment in detention to report these directly to the Ombudsman.
Asked by: Paul Flynn (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his policy is on the self-determination movement in Bahrain that seeks to establish a freely elected government.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Governance of Bahrain is a matter for all political parties in Bahrain. We encourage all political parties, to engage constructively in political dialogue in order to reach an inclusive political settlement. Although we were disappointed by the opposition’s decision to boycott the 2014 elections, we commended the participation of a broad range of candidates which saw 14 independent Shia candidates win seats, of which three were women.
We regularly discuss reforms with the Government of Bahrain including at the biannual UK-Bahrain Joint Working Group meeting which was most recently held in November 2015. Reform programme activities delivered through the Causeway Institute have used lessons from Northern Ireland to improve community outreach, participation and communication – particularly to a youth audience.
Asked by: Paul Flynn (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the effect on employment levels in the Syrian textile industry of the application of sanctions on Syria; and if he will estimate the number of Syrian textile workers and their families who have left Syria due to the loss of employment arising from application of economic sanctions.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
International sanctions restrict the regime’s ability to wage war against the civilian population and pressure the regime to engage in negotiations with the opposition. The UK fully supports EU sanctions against Syria which are rigorously assessed to ensure restrictive measures are targeted and proportionate. We are mindful of the humanitarian impact of sanctions.
There are no EU sanctions specifically on the Syrian textile industry and we are not aware of any direct impact of sanctions on employment levels in the textile industry.
The high number of civilians fleeing Syria is a direct consequence of the regime’s brutal five-year war against the civilian population. The regime has repeatedly employed siege tactics, indiscriminately attacked densely populated areas and targeted civilian infrastructure. Therefore, only by securing a political solution to the Syrian conflict will it be possible to provide stability for Syrian workers and their families, and stop the current levels of people leaving Syria.
Asked by: Paul Flynn (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made on the test launch by North Korea of a long-range ballistic missile on 7 February 2016; and what representations the Government has received on the UK maintenance of the its long-range Trident ballistic missile system since 7 February 2016.
Answered by Lord Swire
I have strongly condemned the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)’s satellite launch of 7 February, which used ballistic missile technology in clear violation of a number of UN Security Council Resolutions. On 8 February I summoned the DPRK’s Ambassador to make clear the UK’s strong condemnation of the launch. In addition, I issued a Written Ministerial Statement to Parliament on 11 February, setting out the UK’s response to the satellite launch. The DPRK’s actions are a further threat to regional security and the stability of the Korean peninsula. It is clear that the DPRK continues to prioritise its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes over the welfare of its people.
The government has not received any representations on the Trident long-range missile system since 7 February 2016.
Asked by: Paul Flynn (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he visited the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2016, in his official capacity.
Answered by Lord Swire
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) did not attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2016.
Asked by: Paul Flynn (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information the Government holds on whether blueprints of (a) UK Magnox reactor designs and (b) URENCO uranium enrichment plant designs have been used by North Korea to manufacture plutonium and highly enriched uranium as fissile materials for use in its nuclear warhead programme.
Answered by Lord Swire
We remain deeply concerned by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK) development of a nuclear programme. We do not know whether the DPRK, in the development of its reactor, drew upon UK Magnox reactor designs which were made public in the 1950s and 60s. While the DPRK has made frequent public statements regarding its nuclear capabilities and WMD development, it provides little substantive information on the precise nature of those capabilities. UN Security Council Resolutions prohibit the provision of technical training, advice, services or assistance related to the manufacture of the DPRK’s nuclear-related programmes; the UK strongly supports international efforts to uphold this provision to prevent the proliferation of WMD.