Arctic Security Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Phil Brickell
Main Page: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)Department Debates - View all Phil Brickell's debates with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
(1 day, 12 hours ago)
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Phil Brickell (Bolton West) (Lab)
As a proud member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, I thank the Foreign Secretary for her visit to our Marines at Camp Viking in Norway, and for her unequivocal stance in support of collective security with NATO at its heart. I welcome the Rycroft review of foreign interference in our politics. In the context of NATO and Arctic security, does the Foreign Secretary agree it is vital that we get to the bottom of the role that Russian money plays in trying to subvert our public discourse on these hugely important issues?
Yvette Cooper
I know that my hon. Friend and others have been raising this issue, particularly about the hybrid threats from Russia. There are the direct threats we see in the Arctic, but also broader hybrid threats, which range from sabotage—of undersea cables, for example—to foreign interference, including information interference. The Foreign Affairs Committee is doing an important inquiry into this issue, and I look forward to its conclusions, but we have substantially increased UK sanctions to address some of the interference threats.