Yemen

Caroline Lucas Excerpts
Tuesday 24th April 2018

(6 years, 7 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Harriett Baldwin Portrait Harriett Baldwin
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I can confirm that that is why the UK is so strongly backing the United Nations special envoy who has recently been appointed and the work he is doing to outline a plan of action and to engage all participants in that process.

Caroline Lucas Portrait Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion) (Green)
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The Minister acknowledges that Yemen is the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, so why are the UK Government via their arms sales choosing to make that awful situation even worse? How can we have any moral standing on the world stage while we continue to sell arms to the head-chopping, war-mongering Saudi Government? Of course we need to have diplomatic relationships, even with countries we do not agree with, but surely to continue selling arms to a Government who are essentially committing war crimes is beyond the pale, even for our own Government.

Harriett Baldwin Portrait Harriett Baldwin
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The hon. Lady will know that under United Nations resolution 2216, there is a legitimate reason for Saudi Arabia to be concerned about the fact that missiles are being fired on a regular basis into its territory. But she is right that the way forward is for all parties to engage in the political process, and that there is no military solution to the current conflict in Yemen.