Matt Western
Main Page: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)Department Debates - View all Matt Western's debates with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
(2 years, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberI want to place on record my thanks to the people of Warwick and Leamington for their phenomenal response to this crisis, and in particular to members of the Polish community and to Dawid Kozlowski, who has set up a warehouse one and a half times the size of this Chamber for all the contributions that have been received. Can I ask the Secretary of State to elaborate on the point raised by the right hon. Member for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale (David Mundell) about humanitarian aid going from the UK not just into Ukraine but into neighbouring countries, and on how that is being channelled?
Humanitarian aid is going directly into Ukraine—some of it is being delivered by the UN agency and by international Red Cross, and some by the Ukrainian Government themselves. In terms of the aid that is supporting in neighbouring countries, we are working through the UN but we are also working directly with the Government of Poland and other neighbouring Governments who have an effective system to be able to deliver that aid. So a lot of the aid we are putting in is going to those Governments so that they can distribute it. We are also acting as a deliverer of logistics for third-party Governments. For example, the Australians have contributed donations and we are doing the logistics to get that Australian aid into the neighbouring nations and also directly into Ukraine.