Following the Prime Minister’s statement on last week’s European Council which discussed the situation in Syria, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown deplores the failure of the Assad regime to allow humanitarian assistance and asks the PM about the chances of the Russians and Chinese abstaining on the relevant UN resolution.

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (The Cotswolds) (Con): The failure of the Assad regime to allow humanitarian assistance into Syria is utterly despicable. What does my right hon. Friend think are the chances of the Russians and Chinese abstaining on the relevant United Nations resolution?

The Prime Minister: I think that we must work not just to get them to abstain, but to try to get them to support a resolution that is about humanitarian access and is clear about the unacceptability of what is happening. I know that my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has had a long telephone conversation with Foreign Minister Lavrov, and I hope to speak to President Putin later today. Although we are not going to agree with Russia on all that needs to happen in Syria, I hope that we can agree about the bottom-line things that absolutely do need to happen.

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