Oral Answers to Questions

Imran Ahmad Khan Excerpts

Tuesday 30th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and First Secretary of State (Dominic Raab)]

Since the last oral questions, I have called on China, with our international partners, to adhere to its international obligations to respect the autonomy and freedom of the people of Hong Kong; we have welcomed President Macron to the UK from France to celebrate and pay tribute on the 80th anniversary of General de Gaulle’s appel; and I met E3 partners in Berlin last week to discuss Iran, the middle east peace process and ongoing negotiations in relation to Brexit.

I say to the hon. Gentleman that on Yemen we absolutely are part of the solution. I visited Saudi Arabia, where I had the chance not just to meet Saudi Ministers and members of the royal family, but to talk to the President of Yemen. We are fully supporting Martin Griffiths’ work as the UN envoy, and this is an exceptional example of where we can bring our aid budget—the significant contributions that we make—to alleviate the humanitarian plight, while also trying to resolve the broader conflict.

[Imran Ahmad Khan (Wakefield) (Con) [V]]

The three prongs of Britannia’s trident—diplomacy, trade and development—working together are vital for Her Majesty’s Government to achieve their vision for global Britain. Every policy adopted by our outward-facing ministries must leverage our influence, expand our commercial interests and bolster our national security. I enthusiastically welcome the merger of DFID within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as it better ensures the maintenance of an overarching, co-ordinated and cohesive strategic approach. Does my right hon. Friend agree that to further maximise the UK’s effectiveness the Department for International Trade should also be drawn fully into the new, muscular FCO?

[Dominic Raab]

I am not going to be drawn down the tempting line offered by my hon. Friend, but he is right to say that the merger of our aid budget, and the heart and soul of our development expertise, with the Foreign Office network, and the diplomatic clout and muscle that we can contribute, will make our foreign policy more effective. I think I can give him a crumb of reassurance, which is that trade commissioners will be directly accountable to the ambassador or high commissioner in the specific post. That will make sure that we are more aligned and joined up, country by country, in the way he has described.