Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing sanctions against those committing human rights abuses in Hong Kong through the Government's proposed global human rights sanctions regime.

We have announced our intention to establish a UK autonomous Global Human Rights ('Magnitsky-style') sanctions regime. The regulations will come into force once secondary legislation is laid in Parliament in the coming months.

The purpose of a global human rights sanctions regime will be to promote compliance with international human rights law and respect for human rights and in particular, to provide accountability for and deter serious violations or abuses of human rights. It would not be appropriate to speculate on who may be designated under the sanctions regime; to do so could reduce the impact of designations under the regime.