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I don't think correcting the Guardian constitutes a U-turn
William Hague
William Hague has denied performing a U-turn over plans to scrap the Foreign Office's Annual Report on Human Rights.
Speaking in the Commons this afternoon, the foreign secretary dismissed allegations from Labour MPs that he had backtracked on a decision to scrap the annual booklet that details torture, oppression and other human rights abuses around the world.
Labour backbencher Chuka Umunna (Streatham) said the report had initially been "sacrificed at the alter of deficit reduction".
And shadow Foreign Office minister Ivan Lewis said Hague had been forced to re-instate the report, along with several other projects, as a result of pressure from the Opposition.
In a dig aimed at the coalition he added this had happened "not as a result of the Lib Dems".
But Hague told MPs that the Foreign Office would continue to publish a "detailed an authoritative" report in the form of a command paper laid before Parliament.
And he insisted that officials would also regularly post up-to-date information on the Foreign Office website of their work on human rights, which he said was an improvement on the previous government's efforts.
The Guardian reported in August that Foreign Office officials had been told to stop working on the next version of the in-depth report in order to save money.
But appearing before the Commons foreign affairs committee last week the foreign secretary said a version of the report would still be published; only it would be done more "cost effectively".
And he told the committee that Britain was not a nation that could ever have a foreign policy "without a conscience".
Human rights campaigners have raised concerns about David Cameron's insistence that foreign policy be directed more towards securing economic advantage for the United Kingdom, warning that it will mean ethical concerns may be ignored.
But speaking in the Commons today Hague insisted that his officials would also regularly post up-to-date information on the Foreign Office website of their work on human rights. He said was an improvement on the previous government's efforts.
"I don't think correcting the Guardian constitutes a U-turn," he told MPs.
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