Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Michael Fallon and Graham P Jones

Monday 23rd November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Graham Jones (Hyndburn) (Lab)]

6. What resources the Government has supplied to the Free Syrian Army in the last 12 months.

[The Secretary of State for Defence (Michael Fallon)]

Supporting moderates is a key part of our work to resolve the Syrian conflict, so that they can take their place in the inclusive transitional Government needed to defeat ISIL and provide security throughout Syria. In the last 12 months, we have helped train vetted members of the moderate armed opposition and provided support to help save lives, bolster civil society, counter extremism and lay the foundation for a better future in Syria.

[Graham Jones]

Do the Government not recognise that as part of the solution to the ISIS issue we need peace in Syria? Do they not recognise that what they are proposing is a failed policy, and that by investing in a client as a proxy in a civil war, all we are doing is simply escalating the war and perpetuating a greater number of deaths?

[Michael Fallon]

I do not wholly agree with that. The work we are doing in Iraq to support the democratic Government of Iraq at their request has stemmed the onrush of ISIL and has started to push ISIL back, north up the Tigris and west of the Euphrates. We need to do the same in Syria, coming to the aid of moderate forces there who want to be free both of Assad, who is bombing his own civilians, and of ISIL, which represents a threat to us all.

--- Later in debate ---

[Graham Jones (Hyndburn) (Lab)]

T5. What assessment have the Government made of Assad’s high-tech military capability, provided by Putin, for example, surface-to-air missile systems; where they are located; and what risk there is of those missile systems or other high-tech equipment falling into the hands of ISIS?

[Michael Fallon]

We make sure that our own aircraft are equipped with the defensive aids that are necessary in each particular theatre. What we need to do is bring the civil war in Syria to an end and then focus on the task in hand, which is degrading and destroying ISIL in its heartlands. Syria needs to be free of both Assad and ISIL.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Michael Fallon and Graham P Jones

Thursday 16th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fallon]

Yes, it is important that the benefits of shale gas exploration should not just go to the economy more widely, or to the companies doing the exploration or, indeed, wholly to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. It is important that local people and local communities share in those benefits as well.

[Graham Jones (Hyndburn) (Lab)]

The Prime Minister has said the Government are going all out for shale, but the Treasury is taking a whopping 62% while offering a minuscule offer with business rates. The Minister’s Department will have received a letter last week from Lancashire MPs—united, cross-party—and Labour-controlled Lancashire county council opposing the business rates offer. I think he received comments from Members on his own side, too—from the hon. Member for Wyre and Preston North (Mr Wallace) saying it is “pathetic and insulting” and from the hon. Member for Lancaster and Fleetwood (Eric Ollerenshaw), who said it is simply not enough. When is the Minister going to address this issue of fairness?

[Michael Fallon]

We will, of course, reply to the letter from the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues from Lancashire. However, the decision to give local authorities 100% business rate retention could mean up to £1.75 million a year per well site, and the decision to allocate 1% of the revenues to local communities could mean up to £10 million for a well site. These are formidable sums, and I think it is right that local communities share in any of the benefits that arise from shale.