Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with the Polish government on the allocation of UK or NATO forces to Poland to counter any threats to that country from Russia.

Mr Julian Brazier

My right hon. Friends the Defence Secretary and the Foreign Secretary met with their Polish counterparts in Edinburgh in January 2016 to discuss a range of options for countering threats in the region. We are working closely with Poland to ensure that the Warsaw Summit in July further strengthens NATO against current threats and adapts it to combat future ones. We also promote more effective defence cooperation in the region with our partners in the Northern Group: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Sweden). The UK already makes a substantial contribution to Assurance Measures in Poland, and will provide 1,000 personnel to Exercise ANAKONDA in June 2016.