Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the value in sterling of (a) exports to Russia and (b) foreign direct investment from Russia lost as a result of sanctions on that country.

It is difficult to assess the impact of sanctions because of the problem in isolating their impact from other factors affecting Russia’s economy.

Our on-going dialogue with UK industry suggests that it understands the purpose of the sanctions and is appreciative of the Government’s support. Their main concerns are that sanctions should be as unambiguous as possible, are applied consistently across the EU, that action is taken to stop back-filling (Russia replacing EU trade with trade from third countries) and that licence applications are processed promptly.