Western Sahara

Debate between Jeremy Corbyn and Andrew Murrison

Wednesday 30th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Dr Murrison]

With respect, the hon. Gentleman is making the perfect the enemy of the good. Morocco stands as a beacon of solidity and decency in a very troubled region—[Interruption.] The hon. Gentleman shakes his head, but I am afraid he is incorrect. I want to see Morocco develop alongside its European partners, and I want it to continue improving its human rights record, just as I want every country around the globe to continue improving its human rights record. He who is without sin may cast the first stone.

We need to have a Western Sahara that makes sense and that is not a vacuum in which the ill-disposed can flourish. That is the basis of the only credible plan on the table, as acknowledged by France, the United States, Germany, the Netherlands and a great swathe of the middle east. All those countries seem to feel that this is the only way forward.

We have a choice, of course. We could do nothing and just let this issue rumble on for decades, and nothing would happen other than that the people in the Tindouf camps would continue to suffer, but I do not think that is right. I want something done about it, and the Moroccan autonomy plan is the only credible plan on the table.

[Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Ind)]

I congratulate the right hon. Member on securing the debate. He must be aware that there are a large number of Sahrawi people living in refugee camps in Algeria, and there have been for a very long time. He must also be aware that since the departure of the Spanish from Western Sahara, the Sahrawi people have never been given a vote on their future and have never been able to decide on decolonisation. He will also be aware that legal opinion is against Moroccan exploitation of the agricultural, mineral and fish resources of Western Sahara. Is it not time that we got in line with the African Union and others who want to see a peaceful approach to the future, which means giving the Sahrawi people the right to their own self-determination to their place in history? That, surely, is what the decolonisation process should be about.

[Dr Murrison]

The right hon. Gentleman knows full well that that would require some sort of referendum or vote. The difficulty has always been defining what the electorate would be. That is why we would be kicking the can down the road for decades and decades. It is an almost insurmountable issue. It seems to France, the United States, Germany, the Netherlands and others that the only practical solution is to get behind the only credible plan on the table, which is the Moroccan autonomy plan.

To put it bluntly, I worry that the FCDO has been rumbled. Its reluctance to follow our north Atlantic peer group in recognising Moroccan sovereignty and the autonomy plan has nothing to do with Algeria or the British Overseas Territories. It is simply the consequence of institutional torpor and a languid, left-liberal indifference to the advancement of our national interests, and it will not do.

Emmanuel Macron is in Morocco on a state visit. In a letter to His Majesty King Mohammed earlier this year, he said:

“The present and future of Western Sahara fall within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty.”

He went on:

“France intends to act consistently with this position at both national and international level.”

Yesterday, President Macron, addressing the Moroccan Parliament, repeated the new French position. The Moroccan press today is reporting that France will be opening a consulate and branch of the Institut Français in Laayoune. It has even identified the building in which it will be housed from next month. The Franco-Moroccan Chamber of Commerce and Industry is already established in Western Sahara. Where are we?

Some 30 countries, primarily African or Arab, already have consulates in Laayoune or Dakhla. France is our friend, but it is also our competition. Changing tack on Western Sahara has been the necessary precondition in taking its relationship with Morocco to the next level. It is hardly surprising that Macron has in his retinue the chief executive officers of 100 French companies.

While the 2019 Morocco-UK association agreement has undoubtedly facilitated bilateral trade, we are nowhere near realising its full potential. The massive Tanger Med port, in the lee of Gibraltar, has been a largely missed opportunity for the UK. Our current stance on Western Sahara now threatens opportunities in Dakhla Atlantic port. Our posture means we cannot, for example, use UK Export Finance in Western Sahara and British International Investment will not engage. If growth for this Government is genuinely beyond the rhetorical, it cannot miss opportunities like Dakhla.

If high-minded Foreign Office officials remain sniffy about grubby trade and commerce, they might be more willing to reflect on the strategic importance of a strong, stable ally at the nexus of the Atlantic and Mediterranean, and what tends to happen in ungoverned spaces, particularly where Russian and Iranian proxies are involved. Happily, the Ministry of Defence has been forging strong working-level relationships with Morocco’s military, properly understanding the growing influence and leadership the country has been applying across the turbulent region in which it sits. The kingdom’s long-standing tradition of tolerance, moderate religious teaching and Sufi influence makes it the foil of extremism and instability in the region and more widely.

The Foreign Office might also eventually wake up to the potential for Morocco to help the Government hit their elusive net zero target and to diversify the grid. On offer is a 4,000 km interconnector sending the power of the Sahara’s reliable sun and wind to south-west England. This it would do through the Xlinks scheme to match in our time the great British engineering triumphs of Brunel and Telford. A country genuinely tooling itself up for growth needs to stop dragging its heels on shovel-ready schemes such as Xlinks.

Morocco, which is shrugging off the colonial yoke, is eager to forge new relationships with European countries with which it has no baggage. That should mean the UK. Morocco wants it to mean the UK, but too often we see the dead hand of British officialdom getting in the way.

Nobody can fail to be impressed by the development that Morocco has made possible in Western Sahara, lifting the condition of the people who live there. Nobody can fail to be impressed by the regional leadership that Rabat has provided in recent years. Nobody can be in any doubt that this ancient kingdom is a welcome bastion of stability, security and decency in Europe’s penumbra, our voisinage.

Even Spain, Morocco’s nearest European neighbour with which it has long-standing territorial issues, has a better line than the UK and, more significantly, one that has evolved in Morocco’s favour from a position of neutrality. It is noteworthy that many of our peers have been on a journey, with language that has typically moved from the Moroccan autonomy plan being a solution, to it being the solution or even the only solution.

This year, Spain has reiterated the revised position that it adopted in April 2022. Thus the autonomy plan is

“the most serious, realistic and credible basis”

for the resolution of the Western Sahara question in its view. Germany has adopted similar language. Then we come to the US. The White House issued this proclamation in 2020:

“The United States affirms, as stated by previous Administrations, its support for Morocco’s autonomy proposal as the only basis for a just and lasting solution to the dispute over the Western Sahara territory. Therefore, as of today, the United States recognises Moroccan sovereignty over the entire Western Sahara territory and reaffirms its support for Morocco’s serious, credible and realistic autonomy proposal as the only basis for a just and lasting solution to the dispute over the Western Sahara territory. The United States believes that an independent Sahrawi state is not a realistic option for resolving the conflict and that genuine autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the only feasible solution. We urge the parties to engage in discussions without delay, using Morocco’s autonomy plan as the only framework to negotiate a mutually acceptable solution.”

So, what do I want? I want the UK to stop hiding under the UN’s skirts and to adopt similar language on Western Sahara to our permanent UN Security Council friends, the US and France. If that is too radical for the Foreign Office, we could at least match Spain and Germany. I want the UK to match France toe to toe in establishing cultural and consular presence in Laayoune and Dakhla, facilitating British engagement with commercial opportunities in Western Sahara to our mutual benefit. I want Britain to rekindle one of our oldest diplomatic relationships—more than eight centuries old. What better way to advance plans for a Moroccan state visit to the UK. That is the next obvious step after the association agreement that we signed in Lancaster House. Why has it stalled?

Above all, I want the Foreign Office to wake up to a post-Brexit reality in which we sink or swim depending on our ability to pursue the national interest with pivotally located, like-minded jurisdictions with which we can do business—countries such as Morocco. Or, if the Minister wants, he can swallow the line that he is about to rehearse and leave the fruits of a new era in bilateral relations to our closest continental neighbour.

Be in no doubt that, for Morocco, the UK’s position on Western Sahara is the test of how we value our relationship. As others have evolved their position over time, the UK is out of line and out of date. We will make no further progress until we change it.