Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the cost to the United Kingdom of participation in European Union and other sanctions against Russia in connection with events in Ukraine, both in relation to loss of direct trade and also through Russian reciprocal actions.

EU sanctions imposed on Russia have been designed to maximise the impact on Russia whilst minimising the impact on the UK and EU. We accept that there will be a cost to our economies both from EU sanctions and Russian retaliatory measures, and have been clear that it should be shared equally across the EU, but there is a much greater cost involved in failing to stand up to Russia’s destabilising and illegal aggression.