Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Malaysian counterpart since that country’s decision to ban Israeli swimmers from participating in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Qualifiers it is due to host in July 2019.

​We do not agree with Malaysian Government's position on the banning of Israeli athletes. It is fundamentally wrong. Israeli athletes should not be banned from competing. The UK government strongly supports the principle of inclusiveness of the Olympic movement.

I raised our concerns with the Malaysian Minister for Education, Dr Maszlee bin Malik on the 22 January. The British High Commissioner in Kuala Lumpur has done likewise with the Malaysian Foreign Minister. We will continue to raise our strong objection with the Malaysian authorities.