Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has had recent discussions his international counterparts on taking steps to recognise Palestine as a state.

We support a two-state solution that guarantees security and stability for both the Israeli and Palestinian people.

We must give the people of the West Bank and Gaza the political perspective of a credible route to a Palestinian state and a new future, which needs to be irreversible. This is not entirely in our gift. But Britain and our partners can help by confirming our commitment to a sovereign, viable Palestinian state, and our vision for its composition. Crucially, we must state our clear intention to grant it recognition, including at the United Nations. That can't come at the start of the process. But it doesn't have to be the very end of the process. Our long-standing position has been that we will recognise a Palestinian State at a time that is most conducive to the peace process.

We need to generate momentum now towards a permanent peace. That is why we are pressing for a Contact Group, bringing together the key players, to be set up at once.