Speeches by Cooper.

“Trying to make an equivalence between the US and Russia is just totally ridiculous and deeply inappropriate. We have seen the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the kidnapping of Ukrainian children. In contrast, we have our relationship with the US, in which it is discussing security guarantees for Ukraine. I think that i…”

“We have discussions going on in the coalition of the willing. There are preparations for them as we speak, because the discussions are being taken tomorrow. Those are all about strengthening our national security as part of strengthening Ukraine’s national security.”

“As I have said, we will not shed a tear for Maduro and his deeply damaging regime. It is for the US to set out the legal basis of its actions, which we were not involved in. We will promote the democratic transition, which we have continually argued for as part of the policies on Venezuela that we have set out over man…”

“The hon. Member should not make a false equivalence between different situations; it would be inappropriate to do so. We will continue to work with the US in the discussions this week on the defence of Ukraine, which is in itself about maintaining international law and the rules-based order, just as we will continue to…”

“There is always a debate to be had about how to respond to different kinds of hybrid threat and complex threat in different countries, and different interpretations can be made. That is also why we have said that it is for the US to set out its interpretation and its legal basis for any action that it takes, but we con…”

“We are strengthening our security co-operation with European allies. We have increasing security partnerships and discussions both with groups of other European countries and the EU as a whole, as well as with the NATO members in Europe. That has been crucial; it is a central part of the coalition of the willing, and t…”

“The Prime Minister did so this morning when he was asked about it.”

“The hon. Gentleman is right about the future of Venezuela and the future for the Venezuelan people, including young people who have been pushed into hardship and poverty by the corruption and criminality of the regime. There is now an opportunity, but it is very fragile. We have to ensure that we support stability in V…”

“We have set out our continued commitment to international law and the importance of maintaining some of the underpinning rules-based alliances that are so important for sustaining the rules-based order. That is why we will continue to argue for international law and to maintain things such as the NATO alliance and the …”

“Again, I think the hon. Gentleman wants to draw equivalences between a whole series of different situations. We have been very clear about our view on Greenland.”

“That is why the alliances we stand up for today are ones that are based on our values and on long-standing rules and relationships. That is what the NATO alliance is—it is based on our values and is immensely important. I am not sure whether the hon. Gentleman is saying that he disagrees with the NATO alliance, which h…”

“We always ensure that any action the UK takes is in compliance with international law. As the hon. Gentleman knows, the Ministry of Defence also takes issues of international law immensely seriously, and it is for it to comment on the way in which international law is applied.”

“The instability in the region has been heavily exacerbated and driven by the Maduro regime, given the scale of migration and trafficking, the operations of criminal gangs and the escalating influence of Iran, Hezbollah and Russia in the region. As my hon. Friend rightly says, we are the penholder on Colombia. We suppor…”

“I think I have been clear not only that rules matter and that international law matters, but that we need to ensure that we look at the different circumstances of different situations and rightly approach each one in turn. That is why we have today set out our position on Greenland. I caution hon. Members against creat…”

“The audit was really a process to drive the approach that the Government takes, and it fed into the national security strategy, which is public. It also fed into a series of other approaches—our trading approaches, our national security strategy and so on—that are public. It has fed into the broader public process. I a…”

“Yes, I think some European countries have, but not Five Eyes countries.”

“There are some issues that are security related. Given that we have recognised some of the national security threats that China poses, you would not expect us to publish details around that, and I do not think that any of the Five Eyes partners has published an overarching China strategy in that way, for exactly that r…”

“On the issues around sanctions, we have had very strong co-ordinated work with the European Commission. Some of the Russian sovereign assets work, for example, has been very close between us and the European Commission. There are other areas in which the strongest partnerships are directly with individual member states…”

“We have seen the impact on some of them, as a result of those sanctions, of also losing their platforms and being unable to operate. Of course, the challenge with this kind of thing is to then identify when they simply re-emerge somewhere else in the system. It is about increasing our co-ordinated monitoring, but also …”

“There is a mix of things that we can do. I look forward to your Committee’s report as well, and to your recommendations. What we are seeking to do now is to co-ordinate on this, particularly with NATO allies, but also more widely. We have now introduced a whole series of sanctions. I will correct this in writing if it …”