PROFIT AT ANY PRICE – UK GOVERNMENT SEEKS TRADE DEALS WITH HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSERS

In a leaked video call to department officials last month, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told UK Government officials that the UK should strike trade deals with countries irrespective of whether they violate human rights.

Today I challenged the Secretary of State for International Trade to confirm if this shameful position was now UK Government policy. He accused me of ‘misquoting’ the Foreign Secretary, but refused to deny that this Tory Government is quite happy to trade with human rights abusers in pursuit of trade deals outside the EU. So much for its commitment to Global Human Rights Sanctions regulations.