Oral Answers to Questions

Thomas Docherty Excerpts

Tuesday 30th October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Frank Roy (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab)]

4. What recent reports he has received on progress in uniting Syrian opposition forces around a credible transition plan for a post-Assad Syria.

[Thomas Docherty (Dunfermline and West Fife) (Lab)]

6. What recent reports he has received on progress in uniting Syrian opposition forces around a credible transition plan for a post-Assad Syria.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Hague]

That is of course a difficult thing to do because of the situation in Syria. The Arab League had a monitoring mission; then there was a United Nations monitoring mission. All of them found it impossible to do their job because the regime did not keep its word and fighting continued, so that is not on the table at the moment in Mr Brahimi’s proposals. I will discuss with Mr Brahimi this afternoon what his next proposals will be. We continue to work for a diplomatic solution and to advocate the creation of a transitional Government in Syria, but so far our efforts to do so have been blocked or not carried forward by Russia and China.

[Thomas Docherty]

Given that we cannot fully track where UK donations are going, may I press the Foreign Secretary to explain how we are ensuring that they are not ending up in the hands of jihadist forces?

[Mr Hague]

The first thing to say is that our assistance is non-lethal. We are providing to the opposition equipment such as generators, communications equipment, water purification kits and things of that kind. We make every effort to track such equipment and ensure that we know where it is going, but as I have explained to the House before, the risks that we take in this area are outweighed by the risk of not giving any assistance to such groups and to civilian populations in Syria, who are in a dire situation. The balance of risk suggests that we should give assistance to them.