Oral Answers to Questions

Ben Howlett Excerpts

Tuesday 28th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Boris Johnson]

With great respect to the right hon. Gentleman, I have made very clear what I thought was the profound absurdity of denouncing Israeli conduct in that region at a time when we are seeing absolute barbarism conducted by the Assad regime against the people of Syria.

[Ben Howlett (Bath) (Con)]

3. What recent assessment he has made of the strength of relations between Poland and the UK.

[Caroline Ansell (Eastbourne) (Con)]

13. What recent assessment he has made of the strength of relations between Poland and the UK.

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

British-Polish relations are strong and getting stronger. The inaugural intergovernmental consultations last November were a firm demonstration of our commitment. I was delighted to launch the first Belvedere civil society forum earlier this month in Warsaw with the Polish Foreign Minister and many others.

[Ben Howlett]

Given this Government’s proud record of tackling modern slavery, does my right hon. Friend welcome the UK, Poland and Lithuania modern slavery conference, held in Warsaw in March, as a signal of how we can work together to strengthen the fight against human trafficking and modern slavery?

[Sir Alan Duncan]

The Prime Minister has rightly called this

“the great human rights issue of our time”.

The Home Office-funded conference to which my hon. Friend referred, and the workshop that went with it, was the culmination of an intense period of Government activity. As a result of the workshop, we have strengthened regional co-operation to tackle modern slavery in central and eastern Europe.