Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Department held with 10 Downing Street before the UN Security Council Resolution 2334 vote took place in December 2016.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office discussed the UK’s voting position on UNSCR 2334 with 10 Downing Street prior to the vote in the UN Security Council. The UK’s support for UNSCR 2334 is consistent with our long held position that Israeli settlement activity is illegal and undermines the viability of two states for two peoples. As the Prime Minister, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May) stated in her speech to the Conservative Friends of Israel in December, the UK remains one of Israel’s strongest friends, but it is important as a true friend to stress that settlements are illegal.