Oral Answers to Questions

Crispin Blunt Excerpts

Tuesday 8th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

I can tell the House that I had two conversations throughout August with Foreign Minister Zarif. We pursue all the cases of our dual nationals. The question of the International Military Services debt is a parallel issue, but we have always said that we would work to resolve that. As well as all the wider issues that have already been raised in relation to Iran, there is never an engagement, a meeting or a telephone conversation that goes by without our being absolutely clear—and I hope that the hon. Lady agrees—on the appalling and arbitrary detention of all dual nationals and calling for their immediate release.

[Crispin Blunt (Reigate) (Con)]

With my right hon. Friend’s much enhanced departmental responsibilities, together with Britain’s current chairmanship of the 42-nation Equal Rights Coalition, he has an unprecedented opportunity to reinforce Britain’s claim to leadership in advancing the freedom of all LGBT+ people around the world to be themselves. Britain also has a special responsibility to address the unhappy legacy of the laws and the culture bequeathed by imperial Britain. What measures is he considering for global Britain to take this opportunity as well as to help to address the legacy of imperial Britain?

[Dominic Raab]

I thank my hon. Friend and hugely welcome all his efforts in this regard. We are taking forward all these strands—from media freedom to the Magnitsky sanctions, to the work that we are doing on LGBT rights. He will know that we intend to build on our current official development assistance allocation for the strategic review on LGBT rights, which will be completed in the autumn. As a founding member of the Equal Rights Coalition of 42 states sharing the same values, in 2019 we took on the role of co-chair and we plan not only to deliver the first ever UK-led five-year action plan, committing the coalition to taking domestic and international measures on LGBT and equality issues, but to expand the ERC and, in particular, to try to draw in more participation from Asia, Latin America and Africa, for all the reasons that he mentioned.