Queen's Speech 2017: Foreign Affairs

“My Ministers will ensure that the United Kingdom’s leading role on the world stage is maintained and enhanced as it leaves the European Union.

“As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, committed
to spending zero point seven per cent of national income on international
development, my Government will continue to drive international efforts that
increase global security and project British values around the world.

“My Government will work to find sustainable political solutions to conflicts
across the Middle East It will work to tackle the threat of terrorism at source
by continuing the United Kingdom’s leading role in international military
action to destroy Daesh in Iraq and Syria. It will also lead efforts to reform the
international system to improve the United Kingdom’s ability to tackle mass
migration, alleviate poverty, and end modern slavery.”

Global Britain

• As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, NATO, the G7, the G20 and the Commonwealth, the UK continues to play a leading role globally. The UK is the only major country which will simultaneously meet the NATO target of spending 2% of our GDP on defence and the UN target of spending 0.7% of our gross net income on development. The Government will hold fast to a vision of a Global Britain that is respected abroad, tolerant at home, engaged in the world and working with our international partners to advance the prosperity and security of our nation for generations to come.

Counter-Daesh

• The UK has a comprehensive strategy to defeat Daesh, working as part of the 71 member Global Coalition, in which we continue to play a leading role. Daesh is being defeated. The Coalition assess it has lost 66% of the territory it occupied in Iraq and 47% in Syria. Its finances have been hit, its leadership is being killed and its fighters are demoralised. Defeat in Mosul and Raqqah will devastate Daesh’s so-called caliphate, but neither will be a fatal blow. This is a fight that will take time and patience. We are focused on humanitarian aid and actively seeking an end to the conflict in Syria.

Middle East

• The UK’s longstanding position on the Middle East Peace Process is clear: the UK supports a negotiated settlement leading to a safe and secure Israel living alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state, based on 1967 borders with agreed land swaps, Jerusalem as the shared capital of both states, and a just, fair, agreed and realistic settlement for refugees. The Government is committed to making progress towards a two-state solution and believes that negotiations will only succeed when they are conducted between Israelis and Palestinians, supported by the international community.
• The UK has played a leading role in diplomatic efforts in Yemen, includingbringing together key international actors to try to find a peaceful solution. The Government will provide over £1 million to the UN Special Envoy’s office to bolster the UN’s capacity to facilitate the peace process.

Extremism

• The Government is unwavering in its commitment to tackling extremism in all its forms. The problem is a global one, so we will work internationally to reinforce our domestic efforts. Extremism attacks the fundamental values that bind us as a global community and undermines our efforts to build a better, more tolerant world. Collective international action, and strong partnerships with civil society and industry, will be necessary to tackle effectively the growing global threat from extremism.

Mass migration

• The UK is committed to improving the international response to mass movements of refugees and migrants. We want to embed the principle of ‘first safe country’ to encourage migrants to seek protection in the first safe country they can reach and reduce dangerous secondary movements, which threaten migrants’ lives and open them to exploitation.
• We must strengthen international adherence to legal frameworks that distinguish between refugees and economic migrants, so we can provide proper protection for refugees and reap the economic benefits controlled migration can bring while discouraging abuse of the immigration system. All states should maintain the right to control their borders and accept returns of their nationals when they have no right to remain elsewhere.

Alleviating poverty

• We remain committed to achieving the UN’s Global Goals and ending extreme poverty by 2030.

Modern slavery

• The UK is taking an ambitious approach to tackling modern slavery. We are advocating for better international coordination to deliver commitments made and ensure governments and international agencies prioritise interventions and resources to tackle modern slavery, bring perpetrators to justice and support victims.

Climate change/Paris Agreement

• The UK remains committed to taking a lead in the global response to climate change. The Paris Agreement is the right global framework for protecting the. prosperity and security of future generations, while keeping energy affordable and secure for our citizens and businesses.
• The Prime Minister spoke to the US President following his decision to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement, expressing her disappointment with the decision and stressing that the UK remained committed to the Paris Agreement, as she set out recently at the G7.

Key facts

• Daesh: Around 1,110 UK personnel are supporting the counter-Daesh campaign, with approximately 295 involved in delivering training Iraqi forces. UK personnel in the region have helped to train more than 18,000 members of the Iraqi security forces.
• Modern slavery: In January the Prime Minister’s Modern Slavery Implementation Task Force agreed a three-strand international strategy: working in countries with links to slavery in the UK (a Home Office lead); working in priority countries with high prevalence of modern slavery (an FCO lead); and working through multilateral fora (a DfID lead). In March we brought modern slavery to the UN Security Council for an open debate, raising the profile of the issue.
• Alleviating poverty: Between 2011 and 201,5, the UK:
• supported 69.5 million people, including 36.4 million women, to gain access to financial services to help them work their way out of poverty;
• supported 11.3 million children in primary and lower secondary education, of whom 5.3 million were girls;
• supported 5.6 million births with skilled birth attendants;
• reached 30 million children under the age of 5, and breastfeeding/pregnant women with relevant nutrition interventions.
• Our aid programmes are responding to humanitarian crises around the world including famine in parts of South Sudan and risk of famine in Somalia.
• Middle East: The UK is the fourth largest donor to Yemen, committing £103 million in humanitarian aid to Yemen for 2016/17. The UK Government is matching pound-for-pound public donations up to £5 million to help provide lifesaving assistance across Yemen.
• By the end of 2016, the UK had resettled more than 5,000 people under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme and the Vulnerable Children's Resettlement Scheme, as part of our commitment to take 23,000 people by 2020.
• The UK has committed £2.46 billion since 2012, our largest ever response to a humanitarian crisis, and making us the second largest bilateral humanitarian donor to the Syria crisis.
• UK help has already provided:
• almost 25 million food rations (19.7 million in Syria; 5.3 million in the region);
• over 7.9 million medical consultations (6.8 million in Syria; 1.1 million in the region);
• over 9.5 million relief packages (8.6 million in Syria; 946,000 in the region).