European Council

Cheryl Gillan Excerpts

Tuesday 14th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We are about to enter into a negotiation with the remaining 27 members of the European Union. As part of that, we will be negotiating a trade deal for our future relationship with the European Union. I confidently expect that we will get a good deal. [Interruption.] Somebody says “You hope” from a sedentary position. It is precisely because of the answer I gave to my right hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (John Redwood): this is not a one-sided negotiation. It is not just about what is going to suit the UK; it is about what is right for the future relationship between the UK and the EU, and a good trade deal for the UK is a good trade deal for the EU.

[Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham) (Con)]

I welcome the Prime Minister’s announcement that the UK is strengthening its contribution to cyber-security and countering disinformation and also the Foreign Secretary’s forthcoming visit to Russia, but with Russia spending over a billion dollars on media outlets and troll factories, is she satisfied that the EU’s East StratCom organisation, which counters fake news and misinformation from the Kremlin, is sufficiently resourced? Also, what progress was made on setting up the further centres to identify and counteract Russian propaganda that were mentioned in the pre-briefing to the Council?

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend raises a very important point. The UK has particular expertise and experience when it comes to the whole issue of strategic communications around these sorts of areas, and we will be making that expertise available to the EU in order to be able to enhance the work it is doing to counter the disinformation campaigns.