Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the extent to which the proposals for the 2017 elections in Hong Kong will fulfil the aim of universal suffrage.

We monitor the situation in Hong Kong closely. We recognise that the detailed terms that the National People’s Congress (NPC) has set for the 2017 election, will disappoint those who are arguing for a more open nomination process. The UK’s position on constitutional reform has always been that the detail of the constitutional package is for the Governments of Hong Kong and China and the people of Hong Kong to decide in line with the Basic Law. While we recognise that there is no perfect model, the important thing is that the people of Hong Kong have a genuine choice and feel that they have a real stake in the outcome.