Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring that oil tankers that pass through the English Channel are adequately insured.

The Government recognises the importance of addressing the safety and security of vessels that transit through the English Channel, such as the possible environmental threat posed by oil tankers in the Russian ‘shadow fleet’. At the recent European Political Community Summit, the UK secured agreement from 44 European countries and the European Union to work together to deter and disrupt exactly this type of dangerous activity posed by the ‘shadow fleet’.

The Government will also consider further measures to deter the ‘shadow fleet’ from operating in the English Channel.