The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-04-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Foreign Secretary’s recent visit to Tripoli, whether they are considering the deployment of ground troops to Libya as part of UK efforts to support the Government of National Accord, and what practical assistance they plan to provide, if any, in terms of training Libya’s police, coastguard and military.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), was clear in his oral Statement to the House of Commons on 19 April that the British Government has no plans to deploy troops to Libya in a combat role. The security agenda must be owned and led by the new Libyan government. The UK, along with international partners, stands ready to respond to requests from the Libyan government for assistance in training the Libyan armed forces, to improve their effectiveness in providing security, and in the fight against Daesh. But any support the UK provides would be in response to a clear request made by the Libyan government. During his visit to Tripoli, the Foreign Secretary agreed with Prime Minister Serraj that we should continue to work closely to establish what those training and technical support requirements are; and what, if any, role the international community can play in helping to meet them.