Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with Chinese counterpart on proposed changes to the electoral system in Hong Kong.

As the Foreign Secretary said in his statement on 13 March, the decision to impose these changes on Hong Kong is a further clear breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, and the third breach in nine months. The UK considers Beijing to be in a state of ongoing non-compliance with the Joint Declaration - a demonstration of the growing gulf between Beijing's promises and its actions.

On 12 March the Foreign Secretary issued a joint statement with his G7 counterparts expressing our grave concerns at the Chinese authorities' decision fundamentally to erode democratic elements of the electoral system in Hong Kong.

The UK has also raised our concerns with the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Hong Kong Special Autonomous Region (SAR) Government and the Chinese Embassy in London. The Chinese and Hong Kong authorities can be in no doubt about the seriousness of our concerns.