(1 year, 11 months ago)
Commons ChamberUrgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
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The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to say that we should do everything we can to support Mr Johal and his family. That is why there have been nearly 100 forms of communication between officials and Ministers and their Indian counterparts about Mr Johal’s case. It is a top priority for us, and we will do all we can to support him and his family.
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for West Dunbartonshire (Martin Docherty-Hughes) on securing this urgent question. Many people will think that the fact that negotiations on a free trade deal with India are going on at the same time as a UK national faces the death penalty is simply grotesque. Will the Minister confirm that negotiations on any free trade deal with India will cease until Mr Johal returns home?
We will not pursue trade to the exclusion of human rights, and we regard both as an important part of a deep, mature, and wide-ranging relationship with our international trading partners. More specifically, the United Kingdom is very clear that we are opposed to the death penalty.