Sudan
Debate between Yvette Cooper and Clive Jones(3 days, 12 hours ago)
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Yvette Cooper
My hon. Friend is right. External countries and actors are fuelling the conflict through the support that they are providing to the warring parties, and that has to end. The reason why the warring parties are refusing to accept what everybody knows to be the case—that there is no military solution to this war—is that they keep thinking they can still secure additional weapons and advantage. That is why an end to the arms flow has to be part of this process, and why we are raising and discussing this issue in all the international discussions.
Clive Jones (Wokingham) (LD)
How are the Government engaging directly with Sudanese civilian coalitions, including the Somoud coalition, to ensure that their proposals inform international mediation efforts?
Yvette Cooper
We are engaging directly with a range of civilian groups and seeking to provide support and bring them together. We are working with Norway to do that. This work is still at an early stage. Although we have kept in close contact with civilian groups throughout this process, we are now seeking, alongside the work of the Quad, to draw up a stronger process for the future to help to build that capacity among civilian groups. That is needed if we are to get a transition to a civilian Government.
Arctic Security
Debate between Yvette Cooper and Clive Jones(2 weeks, 6 days ago)
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Yvette Cooper
At all stages, we have discussions and co-ordination with our allies, but the Prime Minister made it clear this morning that our focus has to be on preventing a trade war and additional tariffs being introduced, and on building a constructive approach to our shared security.
Clive Jones (Wokingham) (LD)
How many times do my Lib Dem colleagues and I need to come to the House and tell the Government that Trump cannot be trusted? His behaviour is that of a spoilt child, bullying his allies while looking to swell the coffers of those closest to him. By working with our European partners in NATO, we must persuade Trump that his aggressive approach to Greenland and the threats of tariffs is not acceptable behaviour from our closest ally. I ask the Foreign Secretary to try to persuade the Prime Minister that we need to stand up to this bully in the White House before he causes untold damage to the UK and to Europe.
Yvette Cooper
The job of Government is to pursue the UK national interest and build alliances to work with our allies both in the US and in Europe to promote the UK’s prosperity, our security and our values. We do that in a serious, hard-headed way, and not in the way that, unfortunately, the Liberal Democrats have taken.