Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November to Question 93705 on South Africa: UN Security Council, which African nation the Government would support having on the United Nations Security Council on a permanent basis.

The UK has a clear and longstanding position on UN Security Council reform, including support for permanent African representation on the council. It would be premature for the UK to take a view on any individual African state's potential candidacy for permanent membership before African states have themselves come to a view on this.