SNP MP Stephen Gethins used Commons questions on 1 September to demand a clear assurance from the Government that no part of Ukraine should be ceded to Russia under the pressure of war.
Gethins told MPs: “I welcome the Norwegian investment in Glasgow’s shipyards. The Norwegians understand the importance of European security. The Norwegians understand the importance of territorial integrity. The Norwegians understand the importance of the high north. I pay credit to those at RM Condor, in my constituency, for their work in that particular area. They know that Donetsk is Ukrainian, that Luhansk is Ukrainian, and that Crimea is Ukrainian.
The United States ambassador to NATO said recently that no ‘chunks’ that had not been ‘earned on the battlefield’ should be given over to Russia. When the Secretary of State meets his US counterpart in a couple of weeks, will he make it clear that no chunks of Ukraine are earned by aggressors on the battlefield, and that Ukraine’s territorial integrity is testament regardless of our political allegiance here?”
Defence Secretary John Healey replied that the UK’s role was to back Ukraine fully in its fight: “The Ukrainians are fighting for their territorial integrity. The Ukrainians are doing the fighting, and it is for the Ukrainians to decide when to stop fighting and the terms on which they do so. Our job in the UK, and my job as Defence Secretary, is to ensure that we give them the maximum support possible in the fight, and we will give the maximum support possible as they go into the negotiations.”
Healey also welcomed Gethins’s support for Norway’s decision to buy British-built Type 26 frigates: “Let me add that the hon. Gentleman’s declaration — and I hope he can speak on behalf of his party — that he fully supports that biggest ever British warship export deal is welcome in the House.”
And if the snp have their way we would be enforcing our position without any military equipment, infrastructure or ammunition.
The snp method of conflict resolution is
STOP! OR WE WILL SHOUT STOP AGAIN!
For once I agree with the SNP but to be honest their idea of a defence policy is an utter joke.
Isreal can be thrown to the wolves. Why is the S.N.P. taken seriously? Like the Irish Republic it is only even standing the ante room of world affairs by virtue of the United Kingdom. But is represents an advance when a S.N.P. M.P. acknowledges warships are in reality being built in Scotland when so recently his party loudly proclaimed none were or would be.
Wondering what the SNP would say if Israel announced their intention to have 5 type 26’s built in Glasgow!
The Defence Secretary is quite correct that it is for Ukraine to decide when to stop fighting and on what terms. We can support them, but we can’t tell them to cede territory and – by the same token- we can’t tell them not to.