Kate Green – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2016-07-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of withdrawal from the EU on the UK’s role in global affairs.

Mr Philip Hammond

The UK referendum made a decision to leave the EU, not to turn our backs on Europe, let alone the world. Throughout the referendum debate, campaigns on both sides rejected any notion that a “Leave” vote would signal any kind of retreat from the world. The UK will remain a major player, fully engaged in world affairs, including through our membership of multilateral organisations. We are a Permanent member of the UN Security Council; the second largest contributor to NATO; a key member of the Commonwealth, of the G7 and the G20. We also remain committed to renewing the nuclear deterrent. Our voice will always be prominent – but we will perhaps have to work a little bit harder to ensure that our voice carries the same authority it did before.