Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the legality of a state taking presumptive self defence under Article 51 of the Charter of the UN.

Article 2(4) of the UN Charter prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state. Article 51 of the Charter also recognises that a state has the inherent right to use force to defend itself against an armed attack. The UK does not recognise a doctrine of "pre-emptive" self defence. Like many other states, however, the long-standing UK view is that Article 51 of the UN Charter does not require a state passively to await an attack, but includes the inherent right to use force in self-defence against an "imminent" armed attack. The position of Her Majesty's Government was set out in the then Attorney General's speech at the Institute of International and Strategic Affairs on 11 January 2017, available on Gov.uk.