Defence

Julian Lewis Excerpts

Thursday 5th July 2018 Ministerial Corrections

The following is an extract from questions on a statement by the Secretary of State for Defence on 3 July 2018.

[Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)]

Does the Secretary of State accept that our principal allies on the ground in Syria have been Kurdish-led? Does he share my concern that, having helped to supress and eliminate Daesh in Syria, those Kurdish-led forces may now find themselves under attack by Turkey, a country with an ambivalent record toward both Islamist extremism on the one hand and Russia on the other? What will we do if we find our Kurdish allies are attacked by our so-called NATO ally?

[Gavin Williamson]

We have worked incredibly closely with the Syrian defence forces over a period of time, as have other coalition allies. We are working closely with the United States and France to get a dialogue going between the Syrian defence forces and Turkey to ensure that there is no conflict of the form that my right hon. Friend raises. [Official Report, 3 July 2018, Vol. 644, c. 196.]

Letter of correction from Gavin Williamson:

An error has been identified in the response I gave to my right hon. Friend the Member for New Forest East (Dr Lewis).

The correct response should have been: