Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of (a) the implications for its policies and (b) diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Morocco in respect of allegations of physical intimidation against a Sahrawi representative at a celebration of African unity in Canberra.

The UK has not made any assessment of this incident. The UK's long-held position on Western Sahara remains as set out in my [Minister Rutley's] answer of 22 May (UIN 185142) to the Member for Stockport's question of 15 May. We enjoy a wide-ranging and positive bilateral relationship with Morocco, one which sees increasing cooperation in areas such as regional security, education, trade and investment, and defence and security, recently demonstrated during the UK-Morocco Strategic Dialogue in May 2023. The Joint Declaration following this meeting is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/morocco-uk-strategic-dialogue-session-4-joint-declaration-2023/fourth-session-of-the-moroccan-uk-strategic-dialogue-and-second-session-of-the-association-council-of-the-uk-morocco-association-agreement-joint-decl.