Oral Answers to Questions

Lucy Powell Excerpts

Wednesday 14th December 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I recognise the interest that my right hon. Friend takes in this issue. She will know that it has been debated on a number of occasions in the House. The general assumption is that someone should not be named before the point of charge, but there is an allowance for the police to be able to raise someone’s name if it is a case where they believe that doing so will perhaps help other victims to come forward. This is of particular concern in matters of sexual violence—rape, for example—or where the police believe that the naming of an individual will help in the detection of the crime. This is a delicate issue, and I recognise my right hon. Friend’s concern. The College of Policing is looking at it very carefully, and is due to provide new guidance to the police in the new year in relation to the media.

[Lucy Powell (Manchester Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q6. The heart-breaking humanitarian crisis and genocide in Syria continue to take place as the world watches impotently, yet there is no end in sight. Does the Prime Minister agree with the right hon. Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne) that what is happening in Syria is a failure of western leadership, and does she agree with me that what is urgently required is what our dear friend, Jo Cox, called for nearly a year ago: a UK-led strategy to protect civilians, whether they are fleeing persecution, whether they are surrendering, or whether they are still besieged?

[The Prime Minister]

We must all take responsibility for decisions that we have taken, whether we take them sitting around the National Security Council table or, indeed, whether we take them in the House, with the decision it took in 2013. The hon. Lady raised the question of UK-led action in relation to the protection of civilians. The UK has been pressing for action in the United Nations Security Council, working with the French. The two most recent emergency UN Security Council meetings were called for by us, and the most recent took place yesterday. As she will know, there have been six UN Security Council resolutions which have been vetoed by Russia. The most recent was also vetoed by China. We continue to work with the United Nations, but if we are to get a solution that works on the ground other countries have to buy into it, and it has to be a solution that Russia buys into, as well as the regime.