Oral QuestionMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

What steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support high street businesses during the November 2020 covid-19 lockdown.

Tabled: 10 November 2020Answered: 16 November 2020

Asked by

Joy Morrissey

ConservativeBeaconsfield

Answering Minister

the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government

Answer from Hansard

The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Yvette Cooper)

I returned overnight from a series of meetings across five countries in Europe, the middle east and Asia, and I spoke directly with more than a dozen of my Foreign Minister counterparts, as well as joining the 50-country summit hosted by the Prime Minister and President Macron. This is a critical diplomatic moment. The agreed two-week ceasefire runs until Thursday, and we need it to be extended. We need the negotiations to reach a comprehensive conclusion to this conflict, and we need the reopening of the strait with no conditions and no tolls. Our work is to maintain and build the biggest possible consensus around the rapid opening of the strait.