Source · Select Committees · Foreign Affairs Committee
Recommendation 10
10
Accepted
Engage US proactively and develop alliances with UNSC members to advance British values.
Recommendation
Where agreement or consensus with the US may not be forthcoming, the Government must engage the US proactively, in behind-the-scenes and backdoor diplomacy. Simultaneously, the Government should have the confidence to develop robust alliances with Elected Members to the United Nations Security Council to advance British values including the belief in a rules and values-based international order and commitment to reduce global conflict and to secure progress on UK penholder files. (Recommendation, Paragraph 52) Government coordination and alignment
Government response summary AI-generated
The government states it already champions broad and thorough engagement when penholding, consulting widely and championing co-penning with relevant Member States, citing examples with African members and Sierra Leone. However, it rejects a 'one size fits all' approach to co-penning, arguing it is not appropriate for every agenda item.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted
17. HMG continues to work closely with the US to resolve global conflicts and advance UK priorities and values, in all areas including when our policies differ. Our strong bilateral relationship means that the UK and US maintain close dialogue, both between our Missions to multilateral bodies as well as in capitals. The nature of diplomacy is such that the full range of communications are utilised, privately and publicly, to pursue national objectives, discuss ‘redlines,’ and seek outcomes suitable to both parties. A recent example of such cooperation includes our efforts, alongside France and Germany as ‘the E3’ to work with the US to ensure the reimposition of UN sanctions on Iran in light of Iranian non-compliance with its JCPoA commitments and continued defiance of the global non-proliferation regime. 18. HMG engages and will continue to engage the wider membership of the UN Security Council including non-permanent members prior to and throughout the duration of their terms. This includes through expertise-sharing dialogues, ad-hoc workshops with UK policy experts, and consultations with regional voices on topical issues of shared importance, such as at the conference the UK will host this autumn at Wilton Park with incoming, current, and outgoing African Council members. This also includes our close engagement with the relevant regional non- permanent Security Council members on UK penheld files, such as the three African members on Libya, Sudan, Somalia, and UNOCA, and with the Latin American and Caribbean Countries on Colombia. We will also continue to work in-country with partners to progress our shared priorities and to advance British values, including the belief in a rules and values- based international order and commitment to reduce global conflict by sharing expertise, insight and exchanging perspectives on the various UK-penheld files.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗