Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether their assessment of the Investor-State Dispute Settlement in the Colombia-UK Bilateral Investment Agreement has changed in the light of the legal challenge from investors in the Whitehaven Mine in Cumbria, and if so, how.

The UK-Colombia Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) includes binding investment protection provisions which protect both UK and Colombian investors against unfair and discriminatory treatment, and expropriation without adequate compensation.

The Government maintains that it has acted consistently with domestic and international law obligations in the case of the legal challenge. In view of the ongoing proceedings, it would be inappropriate for the Government to comment further at this stage.