Business of the House

Charles Walker Excerpts

Thursday 17th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mark Spencer]

The hon. Gentleman will be aware of the sanctions regime we have introduced and our ability to sanction those individuals associated with the Putin regime, but we should not confuse Russian people or people of Russian descent living in the United Kingdom with those who are supportive of the Putin regime. It is quite important to draw that distinction. He is able to raise that question in the House today because when anybody makes a donation it is logged and registered, and it is transparent for the electorate to view. That is a healthy place to be in a modern democracy.

[Sir Charles Walker (Broxbourne) (Con)]

The shadow Leader of the House raised the important issue of energy resilience and security. On that theme, we need to look at water resilience and security. The east and south-east of England is running out of water, which is a serious and urgent issue that needs to be addressed. We need to build more reservoirs and build our resilience. Can we have an urgent debate in this place to talk about getting more water into the east and south-east?

[Mark Spencer]

My hon. Friend is a long-standing campaigner on these issues and I know he will continue to hold the Government to account about them. He is right to draw attention to the fact that resilience within our infrastructure and utilities is vital to our future. For a long time, we have taken our access to good, clean water for granted, but that happens only with investment in our infrastructure. He is right to continue to draw attention to that.