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Thank you very much Mr President and I鈥檒l add our voice to all those welcoming the Special Envoy and thanking him for his briefing.

Mr President, I think there鈥檚 been a lot of identity of view here today and it鈥檚 all centred around our support for the Special Envoy. And I just wanted to note that to date we鈥檝e had resolutions, we鈥檝e got principles, we鈥檝e got baskets, we鈥檝e got pillars and we haven鈥檛 had any progress that鈥檚 been meaningful, particularly on the notion of a political settlement. So I think the most useful thing I can do today is to add the United Kingdom鈥檚 voice to all those pledging to support you, Special Envoy, but also to highlight one theme that I think nearly every speaker has made and that Mr President, is about the critical importance, as a Special Envoy said, of an eventual settlement that is inclusive of all legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people. And this links also with what the German Ambassador just said about reconstruction. For Syria to be rehabilitated into the international community in the way that we all want to see there needs to be a political settlement firmly based on 2254 and there needs to be a representative set of politics in Syria that address all the underlying issues that led to the crisis in the first place. And we鈥檙e not going to get there quickly.

I鈥檓 not going to talk about the Constitutional Committee which has bedevilled this Council for far too long. I am going to say that we trust the Special Envoy to use his very best efforts to make progress on this absolutely critical part. And for the avoidance of doubt Mr President, there鈥檚 nothing ideological in the United Kingdom鈥檚 position on this. We want a political settlement that is inclusive and credible and will last. And we will support the Special Envoy to the hilt in getting that settlement. So I just wanted to put that on the table because I think it鈥檚 a really critical point.

I want to join all those speakers who鈥檝e called on those members of the Council who have strong influence with the Syrian authorities to use that influence to support the Special Envoy in making serious progress because this has gone on too long. I really hope that by the time you come back next month there will be something more to say than these messages which we have repeated for so many months, for so many years.

The other thing I wanted to say Mr President, was about Idlib. I agree with other speakers who have made the very important point about our concern for Idlib and for the safety of civilians there. The fight against terrorism isn鈥檛 a licence to harm civilians and I think that point bears repeating.

I endorse what other speakers have said about humanitarian access.

And then lastly Mr President, I wanted to make common cause with the French Representative on what he said about Northeast Syria. We too welcome the American announcement. It鈥檚 very important. There is more to do against Daesh even as the territorial manifestation of Daesh is being defeated. So I hope that we can continue to collaborate on combating terrorism but that ought to be in the context of assisting an overall political settlement in Syria. I repeat again Mr President, it isn鈥檛 an excuse or a justification for going after the Syrian people by the Syrian authorities.

Thank you.