Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department’s policies of the UN Secretary General’s designation of Western Sahara as a non-self-governing territory in the process of decolonisation.

Western Sahara is a UN Non-Self-Governing Territory with no defined Administering Power. The UK has endorsed Morocco's autonomy plan as the most credible, viable and pragmatic basis for a lasting solution of the Western Sahara conflict and welcomed Morocco's stated commitment to provide further details of what autonomy within a Moroccan state could entail, with a view to restarting serious negotiations. In that context, we continue to engage with all relevant parties in support of the UN-led process to achieve a just, lasting and mutually acceptable solution, based on compromise, which conforms with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, including the principle of respect for self-determination.