Speeches by Cooper.

“My hon. Friend will know the constraints in the ministerial code regarding discussing legal advice. As I have said, it is for the US to set out publicly its legal basis for the actions that it has taken. We have raised the issue of international law—I have directly raised it with the US Secretary of State—and set out o…”

“The Government support democracy for Venezuela. The people of Venezuela have been denied that democracy for far too long. We should support that democracy, and we should support international law and the rules-based order, and ensure that a future Government of Venezuela reflect the will of the people and respect the h…”

“One reason I spoke to US Secretary of State Rubio yesterday was to engage on what the plans now should be going forward. Given the level of criminal gang operations in Venezuela and the different factions that there have been in the country, preventing greater instability now and ensuring that we can get that stable ba…”

“I set out already our clear position on Greenland and the importance of international law, but also the importance of working through our different alliances and being prepared to raise issues around international law and other areas both privately and publicly. We need to ensure we can pursue the UK’s interests and al…”

“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…”

“Again, I would say to the hon. Member that there is a continual searching for equivalence when it is really inappropriate to do so. I have made very clear our position on Greenland: the future of Greenland is for Greenlanders and for the Danes, not for other countries be that the US or any other country around the worl…”

“We should strengthen our European partnerships, which is what we have been doing, and strengthen our investment in defence—again, that is what we are doing. The transatlantic partnership remains important. It is what we will discuss this week with the Americans, when discussing security guarantees for Ukraine. The secu…”

“The hon. Member seems to be drawing an equivalence between the Maduro regime and the democratically elected UK Prime Minister. I think that this equivalence thing is just really inappropriate. We should recognise the huge damage that the Maduro regime has done, and the fact that it is under investigation by the Interna…”

“The hon. Member makes an important, thoughtful point about the way in which frameworks need to work, but he is also right that there needs to be the transition to democracy at the earliest opportunity. The first stages of that are ensuring that there is stability, and then the release of the political prisoners and the…”

“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…”

“The UN Security Council has been discussing Venezuela today, as we would expect the UN Security Council to do on a significant issue. We have deep intelligence and security co-operation with Five Eyes countries. On this particular operation, we were not involved or informed in advance, and nor were other countries.”

“The UK continues to argue for international law and to ensure that it guides and frames the decisions that we take as part of our foreign policy, and I have directly raised the issues of international law, particularly around Venezuela, with the US Secretary of State and we continue to do so. Upholding international la…”

“I reiterate a point that I have already made: there have always been challenges and strains around frameworks of international law and the realities of particular issues in different parts of the world. The UK has always argued for the maintenance of the rules-based order, and for the alliances that uphold it. For us, …”

“Again, I would advise Members against suggesting that there is somehow equivalence between what happened this weekend and Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine—the kidnapping of thousands of children in Ukraine, the targeting of democratically elected President Zelensky and the continued war in Ukraine. We will continue t…”

“Let me say again to the hon. Member that the continual false equivalence with other issues around the world does not help any of the arguments or the issues that we are dealing with. We have an important issue now: what happened in Venezuela. The UK was not a part of the operations that took place over the weekend. We …”

“We want to see regional stability and calm across the region, and partnership working between nations—that is crucial. Delcy Rodríguez has clearly been part of the Maduro regime for a long time. We believe that there needs to be a transition to democracy that engages all the different Opposition parties and players in …”

“That is what we need to continue to do. The approach of progressive realism that my predecessor set out in our manifesto was about not only how we pursue our values, but recognising the world as it is—which is, sadly, often not the way we want it to be—how we continue to pursue those values in the most effective way, b…”

“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…”

“What we have seen in Maduro is a dictator who is no longer running his country, and the hon. Gentleman and I will, rightly, not shed any tears for that. It is important, however, that we uphold international law, the rules-based order and our values. Those values include recognising democracy and sovereignty for the Ve…”

“I have been in touch with the US Secretary of State about our position on Greenland, and the Prime Minister made it extremely clear today. We have made it clear to the House that we feel strongly that it is important that Greenland is part of Denmark and that the future of Greenland is for the people of Greenland and n…”