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Iraq and Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict

Clearly we have to do what I set out in my statement. The House of Commons cannot re-fight its earlier decisions. I disagreed with the decision made in the House last August, but we are democratic politicians and we respect the House’s decision on that occasion. If we had voted the other way, would it have sent a sharp message to the Assad regime? Yes it would, but we did

not vote in that way. This House makes the decisions on those matters, and we work within the constraints of that. I have made it clear that we can provide assistance to the Iraqi Government—the United States might be able to provide a great deal of other assistance—while simultaneously stressing that Government’s own heavy responsibility to rise to the challenge in both the security and the political sense.