Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Coghlan Excerpts

Tuesday 21st April 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

As I understand it, the United Nations appointment to which the right hon. Lady refers was a decision of the Asia-Pacific committee—it was not a decision in which His Majesty’s Government had any role—and was subject to an automaticity process, rather than a vote. We did not have an option to block that appointment, although the Foreign Secretary did raise her concerns about it at the United Nations.

The right hon. Lady has rightly highlighted the malign role that Iran plays, not just domestically—as I described to my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff West (Mr Barros-Curtis)—but internationally. As has been said in this House before, Iran has continued to try to threaten communities in the UK, particularly British Jews. I have said to the Iranian ambassador here, in no uncertain terms, that if British Jews are ever found to have been harmed because of the actions of the Iranian regime, we would treat that with the utmost seriousness, as it deserves. We have sanctioned the entirety of the IRGC, we have imposed more than 550 sanctions, and we have very capable security services in this country. When the Iranians seek to act in the UK, we do find them.

[Chris Coghlan (Dorking and Horley) (LD)]

5. What steps her Department is taking to increase financial pressure on the Russian Federation.

[The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Stephen Doughty)]

I recently visited Ukraine again—Lviv and Kyiv—and saw again the brutal impacts of Russia’s illegal war on the civilians and, in particular, the children of Ukraine. That is exactly why we are determined to clamp down on the individuals and companies who are supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine and the sources of revenue for that war. We have imposed over 1,200 designations against Russia, including 300 new sanctions in February. We have led international efforts to disrupt the shadow fleet, sanctioning almost 600 vessels, and collectively our efforts with other countries have denied Russia access to at least $450 billion since its full-scale invasion four years ago.

[Chris Coghlan]

On Friday the United States agreed to extend the partial lift on sanctions on Russian oil exports. Does the Minister agree that this helps President Putin to fund his illegal and murderous war in Ukraine, and that it works directly against the national security interests of both Ukraine and the United Kingdom?

[Stephen Doughty]

The issues to which the hon. Gentleman refers are of course for the United States. However, we are very clear that we will continue to ratchet up the economic pressure on Putin, to force him to come to the negotiating table and to provide support to Ukraine. Our sanctions remain in place, and we continue to work closely with others to increase that pressure. The Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary and I have been very clear that we cannot allow the current global situation to result in any kind of bonanza for Putin.