To ask the Attorney General, with reference to the Prime Minister's oral statement of 7 September 2015, Official Report, column 30, on counter-terrorism, whether he held discussions or received representations from other government lawyers on the legal basis for the military action against Reyaad Khan in Syria.
Answered on
12 October 2015
The Prime Minister gave a detailed statement on 7 September 2015 in which he informed the House that I was consulted on the action and was clear that there would be a legal basis for action in international law. By long-standing convention, reflected in the Cabinet Manual, the content of the Law Officers’ advice is not disclosed outside government without the consent of the Law Officers. As I explained in my oral evidence to the Justice Select Committee on the 15th September (HC 409), the convention should be adhered to in this case.