Westminster Hall

Image source, HoC

Foreign Office Minister Alan Duncan responds to the debate for the government.

He tells MPs that until Brexit happens the UK does not have its own sanctions regime.

However, he says that the government is working with the EU, UN and regional countries to consider sanctions and the freezing of assets "should a consensus emerge".

On the arms sales he says the UK rigorously examines every application to export arms.

He concludes that the UK will continue to press Venezuela to "pull its country back from the brink" by engaging with the opposition and respecting human rights.

Westminster Hall

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Speaking for the opposition Labour MP Helen Goodman says the Venezuelan government must stop the "ever-escalating cycle of repression and violence for which it has been responsible".

She asks the minister why £80,000 worth of arms sales have been authorised to Venezuela in the past year. She asks if such sales will be suspended in the future.

She also asks the minister to rule out military intervention - as suggested by President Trump.

Westminster Hall

The SNP's Martin Docherty-Hughes attacks Jeremy Corbyn for ignoring "legitimate critiques" of the Venezuelan regime and falling for President Maduro's "anti-yankee propaganda".

However, he also accuses "the right" of using the "tragedy" in Venezuela to argue that social radicalism is "always doomed to fail".

He argues that other South American countries such as Bolivia demonstrate that this is not the case.

Westminster Hall

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Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh describes Venezuela as being in a "state of humanitarian crisis".

She tells MPs that 82% of population live in poverty and 54% of children are suffering from malnutrition.

"We cannot stand by."

"I have not all of the answers, or maybe any of the answers," she says but urges MPs to condemn the regime "loud and clear".

Westminster Hall

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The next speaker is Conservative MP Simon Clarke.

He begins by deploring the Early Day Motion, external, tabled in 2013, which congratulated President Maduro on his victory and the continuation of "Chavez's Socialist revolution".

He notes that there were 13 signatures "on this nonsense" including those of the current leader of the Opposition and the shadow chancellor.

He accuses Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell of either being "blind to the point of crippling naivety" or "complicit in actively misrepresenting Venezuela as a socialist paradise".

Labour MP John Spellar intervenes to urge the MP to work across party lines "rather than spending time scoring cheap political points".

Westminster Hall

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In concluding Graham Jones urges the government to show resolve through "tangible actions".

"Condemnation is not enough," he adds.

Specifically he urges the government to target those in the Maduro government responsible for "human right violations, drug trafficking and breaches in democracy".

He calls for sanctions against these individuals and a ban on exporting weapons that might be used for internal repression.

Westminster Hall

Labour MP Graham Jones tells MPs that the consequences of the political situation in Venezuela has reached his constituency doorstep.

He explains that a constituent of his came to him when her son died of a cocaine overdose and argues that Venezuela is the "key trafficking route" for the drug.

He argues that Chavistas, through President Maduro, "facilitate and funnel" cocaine to the West.

"And it is my constituents and their families are bearing the brunt," he adds.

Westminster Hall

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This first item of business is a Westminster Hall debate on the political situation in Venezuela led by Labour MP Graham Jones.

In August President Maduro created a new constituent assembly, packing it with government supporters leading to civil unrest.

The chief prosecutor's office has said at least 67 people have been killed in protest-related violence since a wave of anti-government demonstrations started in April.

The US government has approved economic sanctions against Venezuela, which it describes as a dictatorship.

Welcome back to Westminster and our coverage of what's going on in the Commons and Lords.

MPs and peers return to Parliament today and there's a packed agenda.

But we're starting the day with a debate on the political situation in Venezuela from Westminster Hall.