HC Deb 29 October 2003 vol 412 cc286-7W
Mr. Gardiner

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Government of Iceland about its decision to resume whaling. [135126]

Mr. MacShane

On 8 August, my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Ben Bradshaw), issued a press statement expressing serious concern at the announcement by Iceland on 6 August that it intended to carry out lethal scientific whaling. On 10 September, the British Ambassador in Reykjavik, together with representatives from France, Germany, Sweden and the United States, handed the Icelandic Government a demarche, signed by the United Kingdom and 22 other countries, stating that the killing was unjustified and unnecessary. The UK will continue, along with other countries, to urge Iceland to reconsider its position.

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