Business of the House

Siobhain McDonagh Excerpts

Thursday 19th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

The short answer is yes, of course. We are anxious to devolve power to local communities, including communities in Cornwall, and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government will want to consider very carefully the case that my hon. Friend makes for ensuring that the people of Cornwall can have the best possible deal and achieve the economic growth that the area needs so much.

[Siobhain McDonagh (Mitcham and Morden) (Lab)]

Three months ago a dossier about war crimes committed by the defence attaché at Sri Lanka’s high commission in London, Major General Prasanna De Silva, was sent to the Foreign Office. However, the Foreign Secretary has reportedly refused to strip him of diplomatic immunity so that he can be questioned about these terrible accusations. I hope we can have a debate about the case and about the abuse of diplomatic immunity, because if the attaché is allowed to leave without being questioned, that will undermine Britain’s proud reputation for not tolerating war criminals. If we are soft on Sri Lanka, other shady regimes will surely also begin to regard us as a refuge for people who commit atrocities.

[Sir George Young]

I understand the hon. Lady’s concern. It is important that diplomatic immunity is not abused. There was an opportunity on Tuesday to raise this with the Foreign Secretary. I am not sure that it will be possible to raise it again before Prorogation, but I will ask the Foreign Secretary to drop her a line explaining what action he is taking in response to her concern about the continuing diplomatic immunity of the individual to whom she referred.