Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Government recognises President Assad as the legitimate head of state of Syria.
Britain has a long standing policy of recognising States and not governments. Our position on Assad remains unchanged – he does not have legitimacy and should step aside in the interests of the Syrian people. Assad’s elections and inauguration were parodies of democracy, disenfranchising millions of Syrians and conducted in a way which fell far short of any international democratic standards.