Engagements — House of Commons, 2022-03-16
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: It was very good to see my right hon. Friend visiting the International Criminal Court earlier this week, but it has enduring difficulties with funding. Last year, it had a $40 million shortfall in its budget because some participating states failed to meet their annual contribution. The International Criminal Court is only as good as the sum of its parts, so what steps can the Government take to secure contingency funding to ensure that one day Russian military commanders in Ukraine can expect to stand trial for war crimes that they have committed?;   British servicemen and women have served under Operations Cabrit and Orbital since 2015, working with the Ukrainian armed forces and helping to shore up the eastern flank of NATO, which is now more important than ever. Will the Deputy Prime Minister join me in putting on record the gratitude of the House, and will he consider what recognition we can give those people for their service and for their role in history?; With multinationals scaling back Russian operations and local businesses stepping forward with jobs and equipment, once again we see British businesses responding at a time of great challenge. Will the Deputy Prime Minister join me in thanking all the Lincolnshire businesses that have offered support, and will he tell us how the Government may be able to connect those offers of support with the Ukrainians who are in most need?; I am sure the Deputy Prime Minister will agree that when it comes to judging a person, it is often done by the company they keep. When it comes to tennis, the Prime Minister enjoys both the company and the backhanders of Lubov Chernukhin. When it came to celebrating the election victory, he prioritised the party hosted by the former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev. The Prime Minister counts a great many others—such as Victor Fedotov and Alex Temerko—as friends. Can the Deputy Prime Minister tell us what first attracted the Prime Minister to the billionaire Russian oligarchs?;   The eyes of the world are rightly focused on Putin’s evil invasion of Ukraine, but there is still a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. I welcome the fact that, later this month, the UK Government are hosting a pledging conference for that crisis. Will my right hon. Friend ensure that we also keep education for those poor children on the agenda?; Appeasing murderous despots will never be the route to security of energy supply. Would it not make more sense for the Prime Minister to be here talking to UK energy industries? Should he not be talking to renewable energy developers about what they can do to bring their product onstream quicker? Should he not also be speaking to our offshore oil and gas industry about what it can do in the here and now to improve security of supply and to assist in the journey towards net zero?;   North Norfolk is a rural constituency. Many residents rely on their car to get around, and they heat their homes with heating oil. The price of crude oil may have come down in the last few days, but the price at the petrol pumps is still going up. I have constituents who have been quoted £2 a litre for heating oil. This affects not only working families but pensioners in rural areas who are on a fixed income. Will the Deputy Prime Minister do everything he can to make sure we address these problems in the spring statement for very rural constituencies that are getting the double whammy of these crippling costs?; The Prime Minister is visiting Saudi Arabia and, as usual, we are told there will be frank, private discussions on the Saudis’ human rights record. In the light of the state murder of Jamal Khashoggi, and in the light of the brutal execution of 81 men at the weekend, why does the Deputy Prime Minister think the UK’s representations on human rights are so ineffective? What more will we do to make the Saudis behave ethically?
Dominic Rennie Raab (Conservative, Centre-right): I went to Riyadh twice when I was Foreign Secretary, and I know the Prime Minister will be raising these issues again. We talked about women’s rights defenders. The hon. Gentleman says we have been ineffective, but they have all been released. We talked about Raif Badawi, the author and critic, and he was recently released The hon. Gentleman mentions Jamal Khashoggi, and we were one of the first to apply asset freezes and visa bans to those responsible for his murder. We are an international country, and this is Britain’s role in the 21st century, but we will never allow our moral red lines to be blurred.