Sanctions: Russia

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 6:26 pm on 9 September 2024.

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Photo of Hamish Falconer Hamish Falconer Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) 6:26, 9 September 2024

I thank Members for their contributions to this debate. In particular, I thank the shadow Minister, Alicia Kearns, for her kind words about my service in the Foreign Office. Indeed, I pay tribute to hers: she did fine work on Iraq and Syria, and I was glad to work with her. I look forward to working with all of this House on matters of national security.

I welcome the maiden speeches that were made. My hon. Friends the Members for Makerfield (Josh Simons) and for Macclesfield (Tim Roca) were both funny, which is useful when I am being so dour at the Dispatch Box. I noticed that Rupert Lowe paid tribute to particular kinds of experience —military, business, and so on—but he did elide the diplomats. Given that there are many of them in the Box, I would like to say that he should take a look at the good work of the Foreign Office, because there are many hard-working officers who do their very best, and I am grateful to everybody in the House for recognising that.

If I may, I will come back to some of the points raised by the other parties. I regret that I may have to write to Stephen Gethins about the specific Scottish issue.