Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Government is seeking cooperation and coordination with the (a)EU and (b)other multilateral actors on its civilian-military humanitarian and peacekeeping missions in the event of the UK leaving the EU.

As set out in the Government’s ‘Foreign Policy, Defence and Development Future Partnership’ paper, the UK is unequivocally committed to European security and will continue to work closely with the EU on external security following exit from the Union. It is the UK’s intention to pursue a close partnership with the EU, including the possibility of the UK continuing to contribute to EU missions of mutual interest. Non-EU personnel in such missions remain under the full command of their national authorities. Our future participation in these missions will be subject to the Withdrawal Agreement negotiations. The UK remains committed to effective engagement in UN peacekeeping, where we have 325 contingent troops deployed as part of the UN Mission in South Sudan and 265 contingent troops deployed as part of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus. We will continue to play an active role in UN peacekeeping missions following our exit from the EU.