Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Elizabeth Truss and Dave Doogan

Tuesday 21st June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

We are doing all we can to secure the export of that very important grain from Ukraine. My hon. Friend is right to say that we have only a number of weeks to be able to achieve that. We are backing the UN plan, but we are also doing what we can with our allies to provide safe passage and to make sure that Odesa is fully defended. Tomorrow, I will be travelling to Turkey to talk to people there about how we could do more to get the grain out of Odesa.

[Dave Doogan (Angus) (SNP)]

Part of any diplomatic support for Ukraine must include a strategic diplomatic support package for Ukraine’s neighbours in Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. When I spoke to the Polish Defence Secretary a couple of months ago, he detailed what he felt was a very lonely station on the frontline beside Ukraine. Will the Foreign Secretary update us on how he may not feel that way now?

[Elizabeth Truss]

We are working very closely with Poland on our joint defence support, and we are working with Poland and Ukraine on helping Ukraine get NATO-standard weapons. We are also backing Poland, our Baltic state friends and others, including Moldova, particularly through NATO and the bolstering of the eastern flank. We have the NATO summit coming up next week and the UK is pushing hard for more support in the eastern area of Europe.

Sanctions

Debate between Elizabeth Truss and Dave Doogan

Monday 28th February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

It is very important in all that we do that we work with allies, and co-ordinated action is vital to send a message to Russia and the rest of the world. As I have said, nothing is off the table.

[Dave Doogan (Angus) (SNP)]

I listened to the Foreign Secretary correctly detail the importance of avoiding sanctions leakage. She was asked twice in this statement about British overseas territories. I detected a reluctance to go into detail on that. If I was wrong, can she please correct me, and if I was right, can she explain why?

[Elizabeth Truss]

I have been very clear that we will absolutely include overseas territories in all the measures that we are taking.

Russia: Sanctions

Debate between Elizabeth Truss and Dave Doogan

Monday 31st January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

Russia is a member of the permanent Security Council and needs to be held to account for its aggressive actions with respect to Ukraine.

[Dave Doogan (Angus) (SNP)]

I, too, welcome the broad tenet of the Foreign Secretary’s statement, the details of which included fast jets going to bolster NATO forces in Europe. Has she had discussions with the Ministry of Defence to ensure that when, quite appropriately, bolstering Ukraine’s eastern flank, we do not create any problems for the United Kingdom’s northern flank by redeploying quick reaction alert Typhoon aircraft from either Lossiemouth or Coningsby?

[Elizabeth Truss]

I am in regular touch with the Defence Secretary to make sure that, of course, we protect UK defence interests at the same time as we provide air support, particularly around the Black sea region, to make sure that we are working with our NATO allies to keep a free and safe Europe.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Elizabeth Truss and Dave Doogan

Tuesday 25th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

My hon. Friend makes a good point about biosecurity. Of course, that is a key priority for us and the European Union. We are exploring all options that maintain the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the UK. I completely recognise what my hon. Friend says: those issues cross borders, so of course we need to work with our EU partners to sort them out.

[Dave Doogan (Angus) (SNP)]

7. What plans she has to meet with her Ukrainian counterpart.

[Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab)]

8. What diplomatic steps she is taking in response to Russia’s threats to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

[The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Elizabeth Truss)]

I hosted Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in London in December. I speak to him regularly and I will be visiting Ukraine next week.

A further military incursion by Russia into Ukraine would be a massive strategic mistake and come with a severe cost to Russia’s economy, including co-ordinated sanctions.

[Dave Doogan]

I am pleased to hear about the bilateral discussions between the UK and Kyiv, but with the threat of serious conflict looming over Europe, what meetings has the Foreign Secretary held in recent days with the Prime Minister to discuss the crisis? Can she expand on the intellectual heft or geostrategic advice he applied to her at those meetings?

Russia

Debate between Elizabeth Truss and Dave Doogan

Thursday 6th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

My right hon. Friend makes a fair point about the appalling behaviour of Russia, including with respect to Ukraine. Russia is also stirring up problems in the Balkans, as well as helping the Belarusian regime to use migration as an offensive weapon. As I said earlier, we need to make sure that we reduce economic dependence on Russia. We are also strengthening our security ties with like-minded allies, including the Baltic states, so that we are able to repel these types of aggressive activities over the longer term. We are working on that as well as making sure that Russia understands the severe consequences of any action it might take.

[Dave Doogan (Angus) (SNP)]

I will not ask the Foreign Secretary to go into the detail of our co-ordinated sanctions plans, because quite rightly she would not reveal them, but does she agree that there is very little point in using economic sanctions to apply pain and suffering to the broader economy of states such as Russia, because I think we can agree that a direct link between broader society and the ruling elite does not really exist? That being the case, will she confirm that it would be much more apt to apply sanctions to the Russian elites around the world—in Manhattan, London and Paris—that have a direct link to the Kremlin? Their pain will cause problems for the Russian ruling elite.

[Elizabeth Truss]

I was clear in my statement that the co-ordinated economic sanctions by our allies and partners are looking at Russian financial transactions and at individuals.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Elizabeth Truss and Dave Doogan

Thursday 18th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dave Doogan (Angus) (SNP)]

What recent progress she has made on negotiating free trade agreements with (a) the US and (b) Japan.

[The Secretary of State for International Trade (Elizabeth Truss)]

We have launched negotiations with both the US and Japan. We want to secure ambitious trade deals that benefit every part of the United Kingdom. Scotland is expected to be a particularly strong beneficiary from those deals.

[Elizabeth Truss]

I would point out that Scotland has its own food standards agency, which is responsible for upholding food standards in Scotland. I would also point out that the standards already are in the law and will continue to be in the law.

[Dave Doogan [V]]

Given what the Secretary of State—[Inaudible.]