Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to his Department's press release of 6 March 2019 entitled Foreign Secretary appoints Special Representative on UK victims of Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism, what steps (a) Ministers of his Department and (b) British diplomats in Libya have taken to encourage the Libyan authorities to engage constructively with (i) those victims and (ii) their representatives since the publication of that press release; on what dates those representations were made to those authorities on that issue; and what the outcome has been of that work.

The Government set out its position on Mr Shawcross's report on compensation for UK victims of Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism in a Written Ministerial Statement made on 23 March. The Written Ministerial Statement notes the clear practical difficulties in obtaining compensation from Libya for Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism, and that the conflict, political instability and economic instability that have prevailed in Libya for most of the last ten years since the fall of the Qadhafi regime present particular challenges. Nonetheless, the UK has consistently pressed the Libyan authorities to address the Libyan State's historic responsibility for the Qadhafi regime's support for the IRA, and will continue to do so.