Speeches

Baroness Tonge – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2015-11-30.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they will take to cut off oil supplies to ISIL, and the revenue obtained from them, before they engage in military action in Syria.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The UK has led efforts at the UN to make it illegal for any state, company or individual to trade in oil and oil products with Daesh, including co-sponsoring UN Security Council Resolution 2199 in February 2015. This resolution requires all states to prevent the transfer of economic resources to Daesh. We have worked to ensure that individuals involved in brokering oil deals between Daesh and the Assad regime have been sanctioned by the EU. We work closely, and continually, with allies particularly in the region, to ensure Resolution 2199 is implemented, sanctions are enforced and all smuggling is stopped. We are also working with the private sector to ensure it takes seriously its responsibilities to ensure Daesh cannot access the spare parts and fuel additives it needs for its oil industry to function. On Wednesday 2 December, the democratically-elected House of Commons voted to support UK military action against Daesh in Syria.