00:00Can I associate myself and my party with the comments of the Foreign Secretary about the terrible rail crash in Spain?
00:06And can I thank her for her statement?
00:08Madam Deputy Speaker, President Trump is acting like an international gangster.
00:14Threatening to trample over the sovereignty of an ally.
00:19Threatening the end of NATO altogether.
00:22Are now threatening to hit our country and seven European allies with outrageous damaging tariffs unless he gets his hands on Greenland.
00:33This is an incredibly grave moment for the United Kingdom, Europe and our world.
00:40Without provocation or justification, the President of the United States is attacking our economy, our livelihoods and our national security.
00:52Trump has put British businesses and jobs on the front line in his unprovoked aggression.
00:59The only people cheering him on are Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.
01:03Only a few months ago, Trump hailed the special relationship at Windsor Castle.
01:12Now, thanks to his actions, it is nearly in tatters.
01:18So how do we stop Trump's damaging trade war?
01:21For a year now, Madam Deputy Speaker, the Prime Minister has tried a policy of appeasing Trump, flattering him, fawning over him, refusing to stand up to him.
01:32Because, he argued, otherwise Trump would hit us with damaging tariffs.
01:39Well, the Prime Minister has tested his approach to destruction.
01:43It has failed.
01:44It is time for the government to change course.
01:48We have to finally be clear-eyed about the sort of man Trump is and treat him accordingly.
01:55He is a bully.
01:57He thinks he can grab whatever he wants, using force if necessary.
02:01And he is corrupt, the most corrupt president the United States has ever seen.
02:09So there are only two ways of getting him to back down.
02:13Bribing him, with a new jet perhaps, or a few billion in his crypto account.
02:18Or standing up to him, like we would with any other bully.
02:24Standing together with our European allies to make him back down.
02:29That is the choice.
02:31Which one, Foreign Secretary?
02:32Well, this is clearly a serious moment.
02:43I wonder if the Honourable Gentleman actually saw the Prime Minister's response this morning.
02:50And he should know that it is because this is a serious moment that we respond in a serious way.
02:59That this Prime Minister responds in a serious way, in a calm, robust and hard-headed way.
03:10About what is in the UK's national interest.
03:15And also how we work together in the alliances that are crucial for our security, our prosperity, and also are underpinned by our values.
03:25That is why the Prime Minister has been so firm in the United Kingdom's response.
03:30It is why I welcomed the Danish Foreign Minister to London today.
03:35And I think that the Honourable Member's description of our Prime Minister's response and our UK Government response is inappropriate.
03:44I would say I think this is a really important time for parties to come together on how we ensure that we can respond to the situation that we are in.
03:57That we can work closely with our allies.
03:59But that we can also create a constructive approach to our Arctic security, which ultimately will depend on transatlantic cooperation.
04:10And ultimately will depend on ensuring that those alliances and that transatlantic alliance respects the principles of sovereignty and respects the principles of collective security.
04:23That is something we will do in a sober and serious way.
04:27Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker.
04:30What we are witnessing is a very rude awakening for European nations, including our own, that if you do not properly invest in sovereign capabilities for defence and security,
04:43and rely instead on others, then sooner or later you will be bullied or blackmailed by larger nations.
04:49And the question for us is, are we just going to kick the can down the road and just trundle along with small, gradual increases in defence investment?
05:00Or are we going to chart a path to 3% GDP defence spending in this Parliament?
05:08Now, in terms of Arctic security, the Foreign Secretary intimated that only one British officer was involved in the Danish-led Operation Arctic Endurance in Greenland.
05:19Could she please update the House as to our current and future planned participation?
05:25And are there any political or practical constraints in that future participation?
05:30Secretary?
05:32So, on the specific issue that he raised, it was not an operation.
05:37It was a planning process, as takes place very routinely.
05:42And that continues to be the case.
05:44What we are arguing for is a broader approach to Arctic security.
05:49In fact, the UK's strongest contribution is around the north of Norway.
05:55Our partnership with Norway is really now unrivaled.
05:58Both the commandos, the excellent work that I saw at Camp Viking and elsewhere,
06:04and also of the frigates, the joint frigates there.
06:07And that is unrivaled.
06:10For a non-Arctic nation, our contribution to Arctic security is now unrivaled.
06:16And we see this as being part of Arctic Century, a wider approach to the collective Arctic security.
06:24But what I would also say is he raises the issue about investment.
06:28And we are in...
06:30This is exactly why we have put forward the biggest increase in defence spending for very many years.
06:37The Prime Minister, I'm afraid, is being rather mealy-mouthed about a situation that the President of the United States obviously sees as very simple.
06:48He believes that either through extortion, and he's not denying that he may use military force to acquire Greenland, whichever way you look at it.
06:56So, two questions.
06:57First of all, as she will know, there are significant military assets owned by the United States, based here in the United Kingdom.
07:03Could they be used as part of an invasion of Greenland, against our will?
07:08And secondly, does she recognise that when terrorists were first wielded as a weapon against the Canadians,
07:16we should have stood with them rather than cutting a snivelling deal?
07:19The Prime Minister, I will say to you, first of all, that is clearly not the situation.
07:26That we are talking about.
07:27We have been very clear about the importance of both sovereignty and collective security,
07:33that this is not just part of the NATO alliance, that these are fundamental principles that we stand for as well.
07:40And in terms of the work around tariffs, as we'll know,
07:44the work the Prime Minister led has been effective in addressing tariffs in the past.
07:51We will show the same determination and robust approach again.
07:55Similarly, we have done so on other issues as well.
07:59It is important that we focus around the results that we can get by taking a hard-headed approach.
08:04That is what we're continuing to do.
08:05Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.
08:07Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.
08:08Knocking on doors in Denson, Westerhope, Arthurs Hill and Windgrove,
08:12for the first time in my 15 years as an MP, the number one issue was global insecurity.
08:19President Trump has succeeded in uniting the British people against his unwarranted attack on a close array.
08:28Now, my right honourable friend is right to be calm and diplomatic,
08:33but will she reassure us that, given the current president's volatility,
08:41she and her government will ensure that our sovereignty is not dependent on US capability,
08:49and specifically that our technology procurement, both civil and defence, will reflect this?
08:56Well, my honourable friend is right to talk about the very strong feeling on this right across the UK,
09:06the very strong feeling for the sense of protecting sovereignty for the people of Greenland,
09:11for the people of Denmark more widely,
09:14and also the real deep sense that to have tariffs proposed in this way is just deeply wrong.
09:22It is also counterproductive to our collective security, but it is also deeply wrong.
09:28She also raises the issues about her UK resilience as well.
09:33She will know that on things like the Five Eyes Partnership,
09:36there is very deep, long-standing cooperation and shared technology,
09:40but there are also areas where we agree that Europe needs to do more for its own defence
09:46and its own investment as well, and that is what we are doing.
09:49Senator O'Hara.
09:50Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I declare an interest as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Greenland.
09:57President Trump's threat to annex Greenland, either the easy way or the hard way,
10:02is pushing Europe to the verge of one of the biggest political crisis and security crisis we have faced in decades.
10:09Now, his threat to impose punitive tariffs on those opposing his illegal annexation
10:16means that the president of our closest ally is using economic and military threats against the UK and other European nations
10:24simply for defending sovereignty, self-determination and international law.
10:30So, on what basis does this government view this particular president as being a trustworthy and reliable ally?
10:40Well, we have made very clear that threats to Greenland's sovereignty are wrong.
10:48Threats on tariffs and on economic pressure are wrong because allies should stand together
10:55and not face the kinds of threats that we have seen.
10:59Particularly, that is an issue for the UK, but also particularly for Denmark,
11:05that has been such a close ally to both the UK and the US as well.
11:11We are taking a very robust, hard-headed approach to this,
11:15to work through what is in the UK national interest and to get a resolution to this
11:21that can protect and defend and strengthen the Arctic security and also UK security more widely.
11:30And that is the right thing to do.
11:33Colleagues need to shorten their questions.
11:34Many members want to get in, and that depends on the length of your questions.
11:37Alan Gemmell.
11:38Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker.
11:40Can I thank the Foreign Secretary for setting out the UK's position on the future of Greenland,
11:45for the people of Greenland and for the Danes to decide?
11:48It is not right that one of our closest and oldest allies threatens us with economic sanctions.
11:53And I have two questions for the Foreign Secretary.
11:55How will she explain to the US administration our interests and actions at this time,
12:03and stop the sanctions and resolve the situation?
12:06And might she take an interest in the Franco-British fast jet replacement programme
12:10and a company called Oralus, so that we do not have to rely on a British solution,
12:13building on the excellent question from the member for Newcastle upon time, Central and West?
12:18Well, I can say we have been very clear to the US and more widely about the importance
12:28of countries working together to strengthen security.
12:33That is exactly what Denmark has been seeking to do to strengthen security of Greenland
12:39as part of strengthening Arctic security against the Russian threat.
12:44And that should be something which is recognised as important, recognised as valuable,
12:51where countries come together to do so, because Arctic security is a multilateral issue.
12:56It's not a unilateral issue, it's a multilateral issue.
12:59It will only be strengthened by countries working together.
13:03So this is about our interests on that shared collective security,
13:07but also our values in defending sovereignty and territorial integrity.
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