Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alan Duncan and Marion Fellows

Tuesday 2nd April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Marion Fellows (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP)]

10. If he will take steps to promote human rights and self-determination for Catalonia in Spain.

[The Minister for Europe and the Americas (Sir Alan Duncan)]

Thank you so much, Mr Speaker; I am ever grateful.

As I have previously made clear to the House, the situation in Catalonia is a matter for Spain. We remain clear that questions related to the issue of Catalan independence should be resolved within the proper constitutional and legal channels of Spain.

[Marion Fellows]

It is everyone’s responsibility—including this Government’s—to uphold human rights. Far from becoming the major global player that Brexiteers imagine, the UK appears more and more irrelevant on the world stage. Is it the case that the UK Government are not seeking to uphold self-determination for Catalonia because they need Spain’s help in further Brexit negotiations?

[Sir Alan Duncan]

No, it is because we uphold the rule of law, as we have discussed earlier in questions. We uphold the rule of law here with Scotland and we uphold it in Spain with regards to Catalonia. Certain accusations that Spain somehow has political prisoners are absurd. It does not have political prisoners; it has prisoners who happen to be political.