Speeches by Doughty.

“We continue to engage with a range of figures in Georgia. We continue to engage with all those who seek a Euro-Atlantic path for Georgia, which is defined in its constitution and is the wish of its people. We will continue to work closely with European counterparts on the issue.”

“I thank my hon. Friend and his fellow members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe delegation for the important work that they are doing, including on the issue of Georgia. It is hugely important that we stand together with fellow Europeans in the Council of Europe on these matters. In co-ordination w…”

“I am genuinely glad of the continued cross-party co-operation on Ukraine, which we saw during the Foreign Secretary’s statement yesterday. Of course, that includes getting important resources. I am not quite sure that the proposal was a Liberal Democrat proposal, but I think there is a united front across this House on…”

“As the right hon. Lady knows, we have already done important work with European partners to secure the extraordinary revenue acceleration loan, which will make a tangible difference to Ukraine. We continue to work with European partners on sanctions, and of course, we are considering all lawful options going forward. W…”

“Apologies, Mr Speaker. I am answering a lot of questions today. I have significant concerns about the Georgian authorities’ violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators and journalists, which is completely unacceptable. In response, we have suspended programme support to the Georgian Government, restricted defence co-op…”

“As I have said, security is at the heart of our engagement with European counterparts, and the UK’s commitment to the security of the Baltic states is iron-clad. We are helping to uphold that region’s security through our NATO forward land forces deployment in Estonia—the Prime Minister met joint expeditionary force le…”

“We have been very clear that we do not seek to rejoin the customs union, but our co-operation is already delivering results, particularly in relation to growth and business. We recently secured a £250 million Czech investment in Rolls-Royce small modular nuclear reactors, and a further £600 million investment by Polish…”

“We remain committed to concluding a deal that protects the base on Diego Garcia. Without a deal, the base cannot operate in practical terms as it should in its important role protecting the security of this country, the United States and our allies. We are currently discussing the agreement with the US and Mauritius. W…”

“There are so many things in the hon. Gentleman’s question that I disagree with that I do not know quite where to start. We are not giving away the base on Diego Garcia—the deal secures that base. If there was not a problem with its operation and its future, why did his Government start negotiations on it?”

“We are absolutely clear that we will retain full control over Diego Garcia, and will have robust provisions to keep adversaries out. There will be unrestricted access to and use of the base for the UK and the US, a buffer zone around Diego Garcia, a comprehensive mechanism to ensure that no activity in the outer island…”

“I can tell the hon. Lady that the figure that she pulled out is categorically untrue. She had the answer in her question: she said “speculation”. There is a huge amount of speculation, and I would take the vast majority of it with a pinch of salt.”

“As we have said repeatedly, the base was not on a sustainable footing. This deal puts it on a sustainable footing.”

“I am not entirely sure what the right hon. Gentleman’s question is. If he is talking about the previous Government’s economic legacy to this one, we have a substantial disagreement. The fact is that we are picking up the pieces from the mess in which his Government left the country economically and, crucially, in terms…”

“Again, I refer to my previous statements. There has been no rush. We have been engaging with our Mauritian counterparts and the United States Administration, and we believe that we have a deal that meets all the interests of those involved and, crucially, that protects our national security. There is no rush.”

“There are so many different bits of the hon. Gentleman’s question that I do not recognise. For a start, I was not on the “Today” programme this morning, so I do not know who he is referring to. I certainly do not recognise the figure of £18 billion, so I do not understand at all what he is getting at.”

“There has been no change to the substance of the deal, nor to the overall quantum agreed. We will present it in due course so that it goes through the normal process of scrutiny in this House.”

“I refer the hon. and learned Gentleman to the answer I gave a few moments ago. The comments of the Prime Minister of Mauritius are for him to make. As I said, there has been no change to the substance of the deal, nor to the overall quantum agreed. We believe that we have reached a deal that is in the interests of the …”

“This House will have a final say on the deal, in the usual way for considering such measures. Legislation will be laid in due course. It is absolutely right that the United States Administration have the chance to consider the deal, to raise concerns and to be briefed on the full details, which is why we have given the…”

“These negotiations are between the two Governments. There are a range of interests at play, and a range of Ministers have been involved in the negotiations. There are equities here for the FCDO, the Ministry of Defence and other parts of Government, so it is a joint HMG negotiation.”

“I simply do not accept the premise of the hon. Gentleman’s question. We will not scrimp on national security. We will invest in our national security, we will secure our bases and we will invest in our armed forces. We will invest in our defence and we will protect the British people. We will invest in it, not scrimp o…”