(Haltemprice and Howden) (Con):
The United Kingdom sanctioned Iran for promoting terrorism,
destabilising the middle east, supplying weapons to our enemies
and, of course, the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Within the
past few weeks, the journalist, David Rose, has reported in the
Jewish Chronicle that British universities have been undertaking
research in collaboration with Iranian researchers and
universities into areas of potential military applications,
including drone technology, fighter jets, battlefield armour and
laser communication. Will the Prime Minister initiate an
investigation into this and take action to stop the failure of
our sanctions regime before it does any more harm to the national
interest of the United Kingdom and our allies?
The Prime Minister: I thank my right hon. Friend for raising this
important topic. We take all allegations of breaches of export
control seriously. My understanding is that officials in the
Department for Business and Trade are currently investigating the
allegations made in the recent press article cited. We will not
accept collaborations that compromise our national security. That
is why we have made our systems more robust, including expanding
the scope of the Academic Technology Approval Scheme to protect
UK research from ever-changing global threats, but my right hon.
Friend is absolutely right to highlight that and he has my
assurance that we will keep on it.
