Lord Campbell of Pittenweem
Main Page: Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Campbell of Pittenweem's debates with the Leader of the House
(2 years, 8 months ago)
Lords ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (LD)
My Lords, judging by the content and delivery of Mr Putin’s speech last evening, it is very unlikely that he will be satisfied. Indeed, using the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, where he has deployed nuclear-capable missiles, he may well turn his malevolent intentions to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. I welcome the extra deployments to which reference has been made by the Minister but, if he does, we will require professionalism, strong leadership and unity of purpose in NATO, perhaps to a greater extent than has ever been the case. Can we be confident that Her Majesty’s Government will make a proper contribution if that is necessary?
Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)
I cannot remember whether it was mentioned in the Statement or in my response to the noble Baroness, but when the Prime Minister was in Munich he made it clear that, if we were asked for further contributions to NATO, we would provide them. We have been working very closely with NATO allies in this area and within the broader region, and we are absolutely committed to defending and supporting Ukraine; we certainly will be playing our part.