Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, following the European Court of Justice decision on 27 February on the EU–Morocco Fisheries Agreement, they will meet with the new representative of MINURSO to expedite settlement of the Western Sahara status.

My colleague, the Minister for the Middle East and North Africa, has met the UN Secretary-General's Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, former German President Horst Koehler, twice in the last two months and our Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, Jonathan Allen, has met the new Head of MINURSO, Colin Stewart. They have underlined the UK's firm support for the UN-led efforts to find a solution to the Western Sahara issue. We note the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union on the EU-Morocco Fisheries Partnership Agreement. This ruling now passes to the High Court of England and Wales, so it would be inappropriate for me to comment further at this stage.