Syria

Caroline Lucas Excerpts

Monday 6th February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

I disagree with my hon. Friend, in that I do not think that what happened in Libya provides an alibi; after all, there were countries on the Security Council, such as India, which did not vote for resolution 1973 on Libya, and South Africa, which did vote for it but was then very critical of its implementation, that were perfectly happy to vote on Saturday for this resolution because it is entirely different from what we contemplated and wanted in Libya. We are not calling for military intervention—these are different circumstances—so I do not think that that is an adequate defence for Russia and China.

My hon. Friend said that I was quiet on quiet diplomacy, but it is in the nature of quiet diplomacy that it is not pursued noisily. Of course, as I said in my statement, we will continue to discuss with Russia and China the way forward. We will do so in a rather vigorous way, but we will do so continuing to seek agreement at the UN Security Council. We will be very busy with that over the coming days and weeks.

[Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion) (Green)]

Tunisia, the first Arab country to be liberated from a despot in the Arab spring, is expelling its Syrian ambassador and de-recognising the murderous and criminal Assad regime. The Syrian National Council has called on other countries to follow suit, so will the British Government be considering that?

[Mr Hague]

As I mentioned, I do not rule that out. If we were to do that, I would like us to act in concert with other nations. Therefore, what other nations do is a factor, and we will keep in close consultation with our European and Arab partners on this. But there are considerations to set against that and reasons to maintain an embassy, if possible, which I also mentioned earlier. So this is about a balance between those considerations.