Ministerial statement on Thursday, 10 January 2013, in the House of Commons, led by Lord Hague of Richmond.

Syria

Statement on the crisis in Syria.

Secondary information

Type: Parliamentary proceeding
Reference: 556 cc482-500
Session: 2012-13
Department: Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Chamber / Committee: House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions: Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 cc483-6 (Link to this contribution)
With permission, I will make a statement to update the House on the crisis in Syria—a crisis that...; Douglas Alexander | 556 cc485-8 (Link to this contribution)
I thank the Foreign Secretary for advance sight of the statement and I am grateful to him for upd...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 cc488-9 (Link to this contribution)
I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his remarks, which illustrate that there remains a ...; Malcolm Rifkind | 556 c489 (Link to this contribution)
The Foreign Secretary has said that the British Government accept a moral obligation to do what w...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c489 (Link to this contribution)
As I have said, we are not taking any options off the table; we are not excluding any option, giv...; Lord Hain | 556 c490 (Link to this contribution)
Does the Foreign Secretary accept that his use of terms such as “flexibility” and leaving “all op...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c490 (Link to this contribution)
Let us be clear that it is a barbarous dictator oppressing his own people. I hope that the right ...; Lord Campbell of Pittenweem | 556 c490 (Link to this contribution)
Notwithstanding the terrible brutality taking place in Syria, may I ask my right hon. Friend to e...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c490 (Link to this contribution)
I am very conscious of the points made by my right hon. and learned Friend and I hope that he wil...; Ann Clwyd | 556 c490 (Link to this contribution)
The Foreign Secretary has spelt it out very clearly that by the end of the year about 100,000 peo...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c491 (Link to this contribution)
I agree with the right hon. Lady, as that is our broad understanding of international law. There ...; Richard Ottaway | 556 c491 (Link to this contribution)
The Secretary of State has confirmed that from 1 March EU countries will have more room to manoeu...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c491 (Link to this contribution)
Yes, of course, and we are very careful about that anyway. Part of the justification for giving t...; Tom Clarke | 556 c491 (Link to this contribution)
I very much welcome what the Secretary of State says about Britain’s role in delivering humanitar...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c491 (Link to this contribution)
The European Union has also been engaged in trying to promote a political solution. For instance,...; Julian Lewis | 556 c491 (Link to this contribution)
Even though the Government are being so helpful to the Syrian opposition, have we sought to extra...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c491 (Link to this contribution)
Yes, we have very much made that point and my hon. Friend is correct to bring it up. We have made...; Mike Gapes | 556 c492 (Link to this contribution)
The United States has said that there is a red line if the Assad regime uses chemical weapons, bu...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c492 (Link to this contribution)
Yes. Our horror at the prospect of the use of chemical weapons should in no way mitigate or minim...; David Burrowes | 556 c492 (Link to this contribution)
With your generosity, Mr Speaker, and that of the Foreign Secretary, may I ask that we ensure tha...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c492 (Link to this contribution)
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for allowing us to go a little wide of the situation in Syria—thousands of...; Lord Hanson of Flint | 556 c492 (Link to this contribution)
There is a strong Syrian diaspora in the United Kingdom, including in my constituency. What asses...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c492 (Link to this contribution)
The emphasis is very much on helping to look after refugees where they have arrived, as they clea...; Bob Stewart | 556 c493 (Link to this contribution)
In view of the absence of unanimity among the permanent members of the Security Council, as a res...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c493 (Link to this contribution)
A future Syrian Government can do either, as has been the position in Libya. It will be open to t...; Keith Vaz | 556 c493 (Link to this contribution)
Of the 600,000 refugees who fled Syria, 200,000 have ended up in Turkey. Given that last year 100...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c493 (Link to this contribution)
Officially, the latest figure for Turkey is 150,000, but there will be other people who are not c...; Martin Horwood | 556 c493 (Link to this contribution)
I strongly welcome the approach of cautious flexibility that the Foreign Secretary has set out bu...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c493 (Link to this contribution)
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for welcoming the cautious flexibility, or the flexible caution, ...; Angus Robertson | 556 c494 (Link to this contribution)
I thank the Foreign Secretary for his statement and for advance sight of it. In it, he stressed s...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c494 (Link to this contribution)
The broad answer is no, because the flexibility is designed to allow us to take a variety of step...; Crispin Blunt | 556 c494 (Link to this contribution)
The Foreign Secretary has committed us to continued assistance for those opposition groups oppose...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c494 (Link to this contribution)
As I have mentioned, it is impossible from outside Syria, or even from inside, to quantify that b...; Hugh Bayley | 556 c494 (Link to this contribution)
I hope that the Patriot missiles and the American, Dutch and German troops operating them will de...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c495 (Link to this contribution)
The missiles are positioned in Turkey back from the border and are there to protect Turkish airsp...; Philip Hollobone | 556 c495 (Link to this contribution)
With a population of 4 million, Lebanon is a small but very important neighbour to Syria, which h...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c495 (Link to this contribution)
We are very much on alert and active in assisting Lebanon. Over recent months our ambassador ther...; Louise Ellman | 556 c495 (Link to this contribution)
There are reports that at the end of November the findings of Israeli intelligence led the United...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c495 (Link to this contribution)
The hon. Lady knows that I cannot comment on intelligence matters in the House, but I can say tha...; Andrew Stephenson | 556 c495 (Link to this contribution)
The Foreign Secretary rightly talks about chemical and biological weapons and will be aware how f...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c495 (Link to this contribution)
That is a good point, and it illustrates one of the complexities of the EU arms embargo. We are c...; Rushanara Ali | 556 c496 (Link to this contribution)
I have a constituent whose wife and children are stuck in Damascus and unable to get out due to t...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c496 (Link to this contribution)
Progress has been made in some areas, but probably more than half the 4 million people in despera...; Andrew Turner | 556 c496 (Link to this contribution)
What steps is my right hon. Friend taking to ensure that the minority Christians, many of whom ha...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c496 (Link to this contribution)
I am glad to say that Christian activists have joined in the opposition National Coalition. We st...; Paul Flynn | 556 c496 (Link to this contribution)
Will the Foreign Secretary give an absolute guarantee that prior to the commitment of any UK troo...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 cc496-7 (Link to this contribution)
I say no to the second part of the question—I do not believe that it means that. It means many th...; Robert Halfon | 556 c497 (Link to this contribution)
Given the stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, given that their use would affect not on...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c497 (Link to this contribution)
It is right for us to have contingency plans. It is very difficult to lay down in advance what we...; Baroness Berger | 556 c497 (Link to this contribution)
I listened carefully to the Foreign Secretary, specifically to what he said about the UK’s relief...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c497 (Link to this contribution)
We have many such conversations; for instance, I discussed it with the Foreign Minister of Jordan...; Duncan Hames | 556 c497 (Link to this contribution)
Returning to the UN situation, when I spoke about Syria to China’s ambassador in London yesterday...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c498 (Link to this contribution)
Yes, I very much agree with that. There is a diplomatic price in Syria and in the region for Russ...; Diana Johnson | 556 c498 (Link to this contribution)
In previous statements the Foreign Secretary has identified specific money for work to do with se...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c498 (Link to this contribution)
Yes, they are. We have done specific work on this on the borders of Jordan. I have now assembled ...; Jason McCartney | 556 c498 (Link to this contribution)
Will the Foreign Secretary tell me whether the United Kingdom is able to supply body armour, not ...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c498 (Link to this contribution)
This is another very relevant point in our discussions about the arms embargo. We are not able to...; Mark Lazarowicz | 556 c498 (Link to this contribution)
Given what the Secretary of State has said about the difficulty of getting emergency aid to the m...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c499 (Link to this contribution)
Yes, absolutely. We are constantly trying to do that and that includes the pressure that we put o...; Bob Blackman | 556 c499 (Link to this contribution)
Clearly, the Assad regime is dependent on Russian and Chinese diplomatic support, but what assess...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c499 (Link to this contribution)
There is a good deal of overwhelming evidence, as I have said in the House previously, of the tan...; Thomas Docherty | 556 c499 (Link to this contribution)
The Foreign Secretary, as a former historian, has already alluded to the need to learn the lesson...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c499 (Link to this contribution)
Yes, we must learn those lessons. The situations are, of course, different. We must always respec...; Rehman Chishti | 556 c500 (Link to this contribution)
The Secretary of State will be aware of reports that President Assad has offered to exchange 2,00...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c500 (Link to this contribution)
That relates to all the issues that we have been addressing over the past hour. We are giving the...; Jonathan Ashworth | 556 c500 (Link to this contribution)
I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s commitment to continue to speak to his international counterpar...; Lord Hague of Richmond | 556 c500 (Link to this contribution)
The hon. Gentleman is right that there is urgency to this matter. As I have mentioned, we are alr...
Subjects: Administration of justice Armed conflict Development aid Human rights International Criminal Court Politics and government United Nations Sanctions Syria
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk

Syria

Secondary information

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