Ian Austin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has received a request from the Kurdistan regional government for replacement ammunition rounds for British-gifted heavy machine guns; and if he will make a statement.

Penny Mordaunt

We receive periodic requests from both the Government of Iraq and from the Kurdistan Regional Government for assistance. We have previously provided some 50 tonnes of non-lethal support, 40 heavy machine guns and nearly half a million rounds of ammunition to the Kurdish Peshmerga. The Global Coalition considers any requests, taking account of each contributing nation’s own requirements and stocks. Availability and provision of ammunition to the Peshmerga were discussed during a recent senior British military visit to Erbil and, should a decision be taken that we can provide further assistance, this would be notified to Parliament in the normal way.