Oral Answers to Questions

Lindsay Hoyle Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Nigel Adams]

The hon. Gentleman takes a keen interest in this subject, and I appreciate all the work he does on it. We are carefully considering further designations under our human rights sanctions regime, but he will appreciate that it is not appropriate to speculate on who may be designated in the future, as to do so could reduce the impact of such sanctions.

[Mr Speaker]

I have agreed with the Minister to separate Questions 8 and 9, so we now have a substantive question from Jamie Stone.

[Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD)]

If he will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of Team GB boycotting the 2022 winter Olympic and Paralympic games in Beijing.

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[Mr Speaker]

Let us go to Robert Halfon. [Interruption.] Oh, right—let us move on.

[Gerald Jones (Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney) (Lab)]

What recent assessment he has made of the potential effect of reductions in the official development assistance budget on poverty in the global south.

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[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Wendy Morton)]

We are providing ongoing consular support to Mr Taylor. Consular staff have been in regular contact with him and his UK lawyer. The British ambassador in Zagreb met him in December to discuss his concerns and explain the FCDO’s consular functions. I spoke to the Monégasque Foreign Secretary and the Croatian Secretary of State for European Affairs in November and sought assurances that both authorities were giving full consideration to the fact that Mr Taylor is a whistleblower. The UK is a state party to a number of multilateral conventions that require adequate arrangements to be made for the protection of whistleblowers. The UK has made appropriate provisions to do so in our own law, demonstrating the seriousness with which we take our obligation, and we are encouraging our international partners to do likewise. We are, however, unable to protect whistleblowers in other jurisdictions that may not have the same law.

[Mr Speaker]

I am now suspending the House for three minutes to enable the necessary arrangements to be made for the next business.