Libya and the Middle East

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Monday 28th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I agree that we should not just stand by—if Colonel Gaddafi uses military force against his own people, the world cannot stand by. That is why we should be looking at a no-fly zone; that is why urgent discussions need to take place in NATO; and that is why we need America to be fully engaged in looking at what needs to be done. What we cannot know from here is exactly what will happen next. If someone had predicted a few years ago that half of Libya would be under the control of rebel groups, people would have said, “That is impossible with the security apparatus that Colonel Gaddafi has at his disposal.” What is exciting is that everybody thought that this murderous dictator was fully in control of his country, but part of his country has been knocked over so quickly.

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

I thank the Prime Minister for the personal interest that the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, the hon. Member for North East Bedfordshire (Alistair Burt), has taken in the case of an oil worker from Thirsk, who is now being brought home. We are very grateful for that. I also thank those on board HMS Cumberland. A number of years ago, the ship hosted three lady MPs while it was patrolling the Gulf to prevent Iran from breaking oil sanctions. The Prime Minister is aware of the real threat of an oil price hike in this country resulting from the constant ongoing instability in the middle east. Will he put our minds at rest by telling us that the Government will turn their attention to the implications for this country of the instability?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is trying to get me to prejudge what my right hon. Friend the Chancellor might say in the Budget. Obviously I cannot do that, but she makes a number of good points about how we have helped to rescue people from the desert. May I just say, again, how brave the pilots and crews of those aircraft were, because this extremely difficult mission involved a number of stops in desert areas and they were very uncertain as to what exactly they would find? All credit to them for the incredible work that they have done.