Oral Answers to Questions

Chi Onwurah Excerpts
Tuesday 20th July 2021

(2 years, 8 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Ellie Reeves Portrait Ellie Reeves (Lewisham West and Penge) (Lab)
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What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on inserting clauses on human rights in future trade deals.

Chi Onwurah Portrait Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)
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What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on inserting clauses on human rights in future trade deals.

Alex Cunningham Portrait Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)
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What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on inserting clauses on human rights in future trade deals.

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James Cleverly Portrait James Cleverly
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Colombia is an FCDO human rights priority country, and we take the growing reports of violence against social leaders and human rights defenders extremely seriously. We consistently raise our concerns with the Colombian Government and in multilateral forums. The point that the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Wendy Morton), has just made is still very much the case. When we export our products and services, we also export our values and buy the right to have serious conversations with partners around the world.

Chi Onwurah Portrait Chi Onwurah [V]
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Will the Minister confirm here and now that it is our foreign policy to defend human rights and the rule of law across the world? Does he agree that, as well as putting UK businesses with high human rights and labour rights at a disadvantage, signing trade agreements with some of the world’s worst human rights abusers without any human rights clauses undermines that policy and our global reputation?

James Cleverly Portrait James Cleverly
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The UK is proud to be incredibly vocal on the international stage about our commitment to human rights. As I have said, having an open and expansive trade policy is not any kind of contradiction to our passion for promoting human rights. If the hon. Member has particular concerns about forthcoming trade agreements and the human rights elements thereof, please feel free to write to the Department.