Belarus: Presidential Elections

David Linden Excerpts

Thursday 24th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

I reassure my hon. Friend that if the EU adopts sanctions—we hope that it will and that they will be ambitious—we would continue them after the end of the transition period, obviously having worked out the timing and how they coincide with the Magnitsky sanctions.

[David Linden (Glasgow East) (SNP)]

The right hon. Gentleman is right to make the case for people in Belarus, and he will find cross-party support for that on both sides of the House, but the shadow Foreign Secretary was right to talk about the impact on workers. May I press the Foreign Secretary specifically on what action the Government are taking through financial support with, for example, the International Labour Organisation, to ensure that workers are not being disadvantaged as a result of standing up for the basic freedoms of human rights and democracy?

[Dominic Raab]

I am not quite sure what action the hon. Gentleman would propose. We can certainly talk to our partners, including in the ILO, but the fact is, with an election having been rigged to stay in power and with all the authoritarian might of the Belarussian state having been exerted against the people because of that, we cannot in all honesty provide the support we would want to the workers, who among others will be those who will suffer as a result. What we can do is put the pressure on, try to support media institutions and try to press for a path towards a peaceful resolution so that Belarussians can elect their own leaders, who can provide economic support to the workers of that country.