Catherine West

Catherine West

Labour — Hornsey and Friern Barnet

Speaking in the House of Commons on 3 December 2024

Debate

Georgia

Contribution

I thank the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for his fulsome questions. With regard to our involvement in the region, we backed and paid for observers for the election period. We are waiting to hear about the investigation into irregularities. The current UK position is that, due to our growing concerns over Georgia’s negative Euro-Atlantic trajectory—going away from the EU—and democratic backsliding, including on the laws on transparency, foreign influence and family values, in June the UK decided to freeze the annual Wardrop UK-Georgia strategic dialogue and defence staff talks. We use a suspension initially because we want to appear reasonable, and we want Georgia to be reasonable back, but that does not preclude future more definitive actions if necessary.

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