Saudi Arabia

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Tuesday 5th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Ellwood]

I touched on that in my statement and have made it very clear that no aspect of our commercial relationship with Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, prevents us from speaking frankly, and indeed openly, about human rights challenges. We will not pursue trade to the exclusion of human rights; they can and should be complementary.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

My hon. Friend quite rightly refers to Saudi Arabia as a key ally, and to the emphasis on preventing further executions, so can he make it clear to the House what efforts were made by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in advance of the executions to prevent them taking place at all?

[Mr Ellwood]

We were not informed when the executions would take place, and once they did we were in touch with the authorities immediately.