Oral Answers to Questions

Chris Davies Excerpts

Tuesday 30th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Steve Double (St Austell and Newquay) (Con)]

10. What recent diplomatic steps he has taken in response to the Salisbury attack.

[Chris Davies (Brecon and Radnorshire) (Con)]

15. What recent diplomatic steps he has taken in response to the Salisbury attack.

[The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr Jeremy Hunt)]

Following the 4 March Salisbury attack, the UK co-ordinated action among 28 countries and NATO that led to 153 Russian diplomats being expelled, which we think is the largest mass expulsion in history.

[Mr Hunt]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. Russia should pay its dues to the Parliamentary Assembly, it should pay interest on its arrears and it must follow the rules.

[Chris Davies]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on securing agreement among our European allies for EU sanctions against senior Russians in charge of Russia’s spy networks following the Salisbury attack, but what further action can now be taken in respect of cyber-related attacks, given the growing menace of Russia’s targeting of other countries’ computer networks?

[Mr Hunt]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. If we looked at a map of Europe showing all the places where there have been Russian-inspired cyber-attacks, we would see it is a very busy map indeed. We need to create a new international red line that says these cyber-attacks are unacceptable, which is why it is very positive news that, on 15 October, the EU agreed to set up a sanctions regime for cyber-attacks, but that is just the first of a number of steps.