(New Forest East)
(Con): May we have a statement from the Foreign Secretary on the
issue raised so eloquently in last night’s Adjournment debate by
our hon. Friend the Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham (): the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and
the strategic threat it constitutes to our central and eastern
European friends and allies? The Under-Secretary of State for
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, my hon. Friend the
Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (), agreed with the analysis by our hon. Friend the Member
for Shrewsbury and Atcham but stopped short of agreeing with his
recommendations for action we can take. This is a very serious
matter, and it deserves deeper and wider consideration.
Mr Rees-Mogg: My right hon. Friend is right to raise the
important Adjournment debate that was held yesterday by our hon.
Friend the Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham (). It is a useful example of how important
Adjournment debates can be in raising issues of national
significance. There are currently no autonomous UK sanctions
being imposed with respect to Nord Stream 2, and
it would not be right to speculate on future sanction
designations from the Dispatch Box this morning. None the less,
the UK remains concerned about Nord Stream 2 and
its implications for European energy security and the interests
of Ukraine. Our focus continues to be on regulation,
diversification and decarbonisation of sources of supply, and we
will continue to work closely with our European allies on these
issues, although the implications of the pipeline may be
something that my right hon. Friend’s Intelligence and Security
Committee is interested in looking into
