Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the statement on St Patrick's Day by Joe Biden, United States Vice President, that "anyone wearing orange is not welcome here".

Vice President Biden made clear that his remarks were intended as a joke. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, my right Hon. Friend the Member for Chipping Barnet (Theresa Villiers), was in Washington DC for Saint Patrick’s Day events and received a warm welcome from the Administration and on the Hill. She attended the Speaker’s lunch and a reception at the White House where the President publicly thanked her for her work in securing the Stormont House Agreement in December.