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Richmond upon Thames Liberal Democrats:Covering the constituencies of Twickenham and Richmond Park |
Campbell, Swinson and Hames quiz Hague on Libya and the Middle East
May 1, 2011 11:04 AM
• [Apr 26] Menzies Campbell (North East Fife, Liberal Democrat): NOTWITHSTANDING my right hon. Friend's careful and circumspect response to the shadow Foreign Secretary, is it not clear that the United Kingdom and France are disproportionately bearing the burden of the offensive air campaign? Why is it that our NATO allies are not making a better contribution, and is the Foreign Secretary disappointed by their failure to do so?
William Hague (Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs; Richmond (Yorks), Conservative): It is certainly true that the United Kingdom and France make a huge contribution and, most of the time, the largest contribution to the campaign. I hesitate to use words like "disproportionate", as I must say that the contribution-including an offensive strike capability-from countries such as Denmark and Norway is, considering their size as countries and the size of their armed forces, very much proportionate to the efforts that we are making. We should not think that only the United Kingdom and France are contributing. There are 16 nations involved in the military activity. As my right hon. and learned Friend knows, Arab nations are also involved. In response to our recent requests, other countries have brought other military assets into play-Spain, for example, providing additional air-to-air refuelling capability and Italy bringing in ground-strike capability. At all times, the United States continues to supply about a quarter of all sorties flown, even in periods when it is not taking part in ground strike. The right hon. and learned Gentleman can see that the burden is spread more widely than the headlines sometimes give the impression, but would we like a greater contribution from some other nations and did we say so at the NATO meeting in Berlin? Well, yes, we did.
• . . Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire, Liberal Democrat)
May I ask the Foreign Secretary about Saudi Arabia, as there have also been reports of protests-albeit on a smaller scale-met with repression there and as its contribution to finding a peaceful solution to the unrest in Bahrain was to send in its troops? Does he think that the Arab spring could have a positive influence on human rights improvements in that oppressive regime? How can it be encouraged to take a positive attitude to the dialogue towards democracy that is so needed in Bahrain?
William Hague (Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs; Richmond (Yorks), Conservative): Given the previous question, it is important to recognise in this context the strong and, it seems, successful efforts of Saudi Arabia to bring mediation to Yemen. The hon. Lady is right to say that Saudi forces are in Bahrain-at the request of the Bahraini Government-but I think that Saudi Arabia, like other states in the region, is very anxious that there is a successful national dialogue in Bahrain. I have no reason to doubt that at all, having discussed the situation at some length with Prince Saud, the Saudi Foreign Minister, over recent weeks. Of course, we do ask all Governments in the region to respect the right to peaceful protest and freedom of expression.
• . . Duncan Hames (Chippenham, Liberal Democrat): The Foreign Secretary carefully draws the distinction that equipment supplied by Britain to the Libyan transitional national council is of a non-lethal nature, but in an era of improvised explosive devices how confident can we be that even telecoms equipment might not ultimately have a lethal use?
William Hague (Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs; Richmond (Yorks), Conservative): We can be fairly confident that the transitional national council very much wants to use the telecommunications equipment that we have given it as telecommunications equipment, as it is doing. It would not be productive to divert that into other things. The other equipment that we have given is body armour, and it is quite difficult to use that in any way other than to save life.
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