00:00Madam Deputy Speaker, the Foreign Secretary, I'm afraid, is being rather mealy-mouthed about a situation that the President of the United States obviously sees as very simple.
00:09He 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.
00:17So two questions. First of all, as she will know, there are significant military assets owned by the United States based here in the United Kingdom.
00:23Could they be used as part of an invasion of Greenland against our will?
00:28And secondly, does she recognise that when tariffs were first wielded as a weapon against the Canadians, we should have stood with them rather than cutting a snivelling deal?
00:40Foreign Secretary.
00:43Well, I would say to them, first of all, as clearly that is not the situation that we are talking about.
00:48We have been very clear about the importance of both sovereignty and collective security, that this is not just part of the NATO alliance,
00:57that these are fundamental principles that we stand for as well.
01:01And in terms of the work around tariffs, as we'll know, the work the Prime Minister led has been effective in addressing tariffs in the past.
01:11We will show the same determination and robust approach again.
01:16Similarly, we have done so on other issues as well.
01:20It is important that we focus around the results that we can get by taking a hard-headed approach.
01:24That is what we're continuing to do.
01:26Dame Chianwara.
01:27Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.
01:29Knocking on doors in Denton, Westerhove, Arthur's Hill and Wynnegrove, for the first time in my 15 years as an MP,
01:36the number one issue was global insecurity.
01:40President Trump has succeeded in uniting the British people against his unwarranted attack on a close ally.
01:49Now, my right honourable friend is right to be calm and diplomatic.
01:54But will she reassure us that given the current president's volatility,
02:02she and her government will ensure that our sovereignty is not dependent on U.S. capability,
02:10and specifically that our technology procurement, both civil and defence, will reflect this?
02:17Well, my honourable friend is right to talk about the very strong feeling on this right across the UK,
02:27the very strong feeling for the sense of protecting sovereignty for the people of Greenland,
02:32for the people of Denmark more widely,
02:35and also the real deep sense that to have tariffs proposed in this way is just deeply wrong.
02:43It's also counterproductive to our collective security, but it is also deeply wrong.
02:49She also raises the issues about her UK resilience as well.
02:54She will know on things like the Five Eyes Partnership,
02:57there is very deep, long-standing cooperation and shared technology,
03:01but there are also areas where we agree that Europe needs to do more for its own defence
03:07and its own investment as well, and that's what we're doing.
03:10President Trump's threat to annex Greenland either the easy way or the hard way
03:23is pushing Europe to the verge of one of the biggest political crises and security crises we've faced in decades.
03:31Now his threat to impose punitive tariffs on those opposing his illegal annexation
03:37means that the president of our closest ally is using economic and military threats
03:42against the UK and other European nations simply for defending sovereignty, self-determination and international law.
03:52So on what basis does this government view this particular president
03:57as being a trustworthy and reliable ally?
04:01Thanks, Ray.
04:02Well, we have made very clear that threats to Greenland's sovereignty are wrong.
04:09Threats on tariffs and on economic pressure are wrong
04:13because allies should stand together and not face the kinds of threats that we have seen.
04:21Particularly that is an issue for the UK, but also particularly for Denmark,
04:26that has been such a close ally to both the UK and the US as well.
04:32We are taking a very robust, hard-headed approach to this,
04:36to work through what is in the UK national interest
04:39and to get a resolution to this that can protect and defend and strengthen
04:46the Arctic security and also UK security more widely,
04:51and that is the right thing to do.
04:53Colleagues need to shorten their questions.
04:55Many members want to get in, and that depends on the length of your questions.
04:58Alan Gemmell.
04:59Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker.
05:01Can I thank the Foreign Secretary for setting out the UK's position
05:04on the future of Greenland, for the people of Greenland and for the Danes to decide?
05:09It is not right that one of our closest and oldest allies
05:12threatens us with economic sanctions,
05:14and I have two questions for the Foreign Secretary.
05:16How will she explain to the US administration our interests and actions at this time
05:24and stop the sanctions and resolve the situation?
05:27And might she take an interest in the Franco-British fast jet replacement programme
05:31and a company called Oralus so that we don't have to rely on a British solution,
05:34building on the excellent question from the Member for Newcastle upon Time, Central and West?
05:39Well, I can say we have been very clear to the US and more widely
05:46about the importance of countries working together to strengthen security.
05:54That is exactly what Denmark has been seeking to do to strengthen security of Greenland
06:00as part of strengthening Arctic security against the Russian threat.
06:05And that should be something which is recognised as important, recognised as valuable,
06:12where countries come together to do so, because Arctic security is a multilateral issue.
06:17It's not a unilateral issue. It's a multilateral issue.
06:20It will only be strengthened by countries working together.
06:24So this is about our interests on that shared collective security,
06:28but also our values in defending sovereignty and territorial integrity.
06:32Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.
06:35The Foreign Secretary, the Prime Minister, NATO, the Danes and others
06:40have been commended for responding to this through the usual channels and through the usual means.
06:49And that would be fine if we had an occupant of the White House who understood all of that
06:54and who respected all of that.
06:57But he laughs now, not just behind his hand, but blatantly in our faces as a result of that.
07:04So whilst all of that continues, we need to try and work out what makes this man tick.
07:11He is thin-skinned, he has an ego and he doesn't like to be embarrassed.
07:17Should the state visit go ahead this year?
07:21Should football teams play in American stadia for the World Cup?
07:28These are things which would embarrass the President at home.
07:32We now need to fight fire with fire.
07:35Well, I think we heard from the Prime Minister the approach that he was taking this morning.
07:41And what I would say is that the approach that our Prime Minister has taken,
07:47the approach that this government has taken,
07:50has already led to very big changes in the United States' initial proposals on tariffs
07:57that were, as a result, substantially reduced and changed as a result of that engagement.
08:03We have also seen, as a result of the engagement, big changes in the U.S. approach to Ukraine,
08:13where considerable work has been done now to secure agreements around security guarantees
08:19that have been immensely important.
08:21And that is as a result of continued engagement, not just by the Prime Minister, but others more widely.
08:27So we're clear about the importance of working in the U.K.'s national interests
08:32and pursuing different issues around this in order to make sure that we protect U.K. businesses,
08:39U.K. prosperity and also our shared values, including around sovereignty as well.
08:45Bill Brickell.
08:45Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.
08:47And as a proud member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
08:57Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.
