Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of a partition plan in Iraq relating to independence for Kurdish people.

The question of independence, and its potential merits and drawbacks, is ultimately one for the Kurds and the rest of the people of Iraq, rather than for the UK.

We are committed to a stable, united, democratic and prosperous Iraq. We strongly believe that the Kurds have an important role to play in building that future and confronting the threat which Daesh pose to all of Iraq’s communities. The most effective way to combat Daesh will be moderate forces working together to defeat them, including close cooperation between the Government of Iraq and the Kurdish Regional Government.