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Emily Thornberry condemns Dominic Raab for ignoring Yemen

EMILY THORNBERRY condemned Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab in the Commons today for “choosing not to mention Yemen once” in his 1,300 word speech in Manchester.

The shadow foreign secretary criticised the Tory MP for ignoring the crisis at the Conservative Party conference over the weekend.

Ms Thornberry said: “I’m sorry that the foreign secretary has not seen fit to answer this question himself.

“And yet under his watch the cycle of indiscriminate violence in Yemen and the scale of the humanitarian crisis are growing worse every day.

“This is a humanitarian disaster, but this is also a failure of politics and so the UK really must pull its finger out and do its duty in the security council.

“It has been given the pen in the security council, it is supposed to table a UN resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire by all parties everywhere in the country.

“We have been calling for that resolution on this side of the House for three-and-a-half years.”

The comments were made following an urgent question to Mr Raab, who was not there to answer. It was received by Foreign Office minister Andrew Stephenson.

Mr Stephenson said Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Mr Raab “remain committed to keeping Britain at the forefront of efforts to find a political solution” in Yemen.

He added that Britain had shown “extensive leadership” in responding to the crisis, committing £770 million in support since the Saudi-led attack began in 2015.

However since then, Britain has licensed £5.3 billion worth of arms to the Saudi regime – including for aircraft, bombs and missiles – and has failed to stop granting further licences despite a July court ruling to do so. It has also provided logistical support for the Saudi bombardment of Yemen.

The United Nations recently estimated that by the end of 2019 the combined death toll in Yemen from fighting and disease would be 230,000.

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