Mr Redwood’s contribution to the Statement on Ukraine, Syria and Iran, 24 February

Mr John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): Does the Foreign Secretary agree that it would be wrong to lend money to Ukraine before she has a stable democratic Government in charge and one that has the respect of the people, and before she has an economic plan that might work? The British people will not thank him if we lend Ukraine money that we do not get back and the economic crisis there gets worse.

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague): I do not think that anyone in the IMF will want to lend money that there would be little chance of getting back, so the readiness to undertake economic reforms—for instance, any observer of the economics of Ukraine would see that gas price reform is necessary—will be important in Ukraine agreeing an IMF package. That will require some difficult political choices in Ukraine. Nevertheless, there is an urgent need for this, so it is a question of how quickly a new Government in Ukraine can supply the necessary political will.

1 Comment

  1. lojolondon
    February 26, 2014

    Good question, John, but every time I hear from Mr Hague, I lose respect for him – that was a statement of the gentleman’s opinion regarding what the IMF may or may not be thinking – certainly no protection for our hard-paid taxes in that statement!!

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