Japan and the Middle East

Chris Leslie Excerpts

Monday 14th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman puts his point very strongly. We hope that the Security Council takes such action. There is now a discussion in the Security Council, and clearly, we must make the arguments as best we can. We can make points about the conditions that must be fulfilled before a no-fly zone comes into operation, but we should put forward other proposals, such as sanctions, asset bans and all the rest of it, that can add to pressure on the regime. We should not see one thing as a silver bullet, because there is no silver bullet—it is about ramping up the pressure.

[Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op)]

There are many dimensions to the tragedy in Japan, but on the lessons to be learned for emergency planning, surely one of the issues that is starting to become clear in terms of nuclear facilities is the inability of back-up systems adequately to pump around coolant when the primary systems fail. Will the Prime Minister ensure that the Health and Safety Executive properly stress tests our current and planned nuclear facilities?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. I am sure that the head of the nuclear inspectorate, who is doing this report for us, will look at this issue. As I understand it, it was a legitimate issue in Japan, where the combination of the earthquake and the tsunami meant that the systems were so severely tested. We have to stress test all our arrangements—although obviously in different circumstances on the ground—as toughly as we can.