Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has made representations to his Spanish counterpart on the (a) general and (b) police response to pro-independence demonstrations in Catalonia.

I am saddened that a minority of protesters have resorted to violence in Catalonia. It is important that all parties work to resolve their political differences peacefully and in line with the Spanish legal framework and constitution. The Government has been clear that the situation in the Autonomous Community of Catalonia is a matter for Spain, and that questions related to the issue of independence should be resolved within the proper constitutional and legal channels. I recently outlined this position to the Spanish Ambassador and in Parliament on 15 October.