UK government reaffirms its opposition to the blockade of Cuba
Campaign News | Friday, 9 December 2022
Nigel Huddleston MP speaks on the amendment at a meeting of the Sixth Delegated Legislation Committee
The UK Government has kept legislation on its books that seeks to protect British citizens and companies from being forced to comply with the US blockade of Cuba. The government also reaffirmed its opposition to the US blockade of Cuba, which it called counterproductive, in Parliament.
The legislation, ‘Extraterritorial US Legislation (Sanctions against Cuba, Iran and Libya) (Protection of Trading Interests) Order 1996’ – forms part of the framework setting out the UK’s protection of trading interests and initially provided the mechanism for implementing EU blocking regulation in UK domestic law. Nigel Huddleston MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Trade, provided an example as to how this works in practice:
“Consider a UK company with no connection to the US that imports something—say, cigars—to the UK from Cuba. It might find itself denied insurance for those imports by a UK bank on the grounds that providing such insurance could breach US sanction laws. The protection of trading interests legislation provides that it would be unlawful for a bank to refuse insurance on that basis. That protects the importer’s trading interests and those of the UK more broadly.”
A small technical amendment, discussed in the Lords on 5 December and the Commons on 8 December, removes a now outdated reference to EU law and EU member states. However, Viscount Younger of Leckie, the Government Whip in the Lords, emphasised that the amendment is a technical fix to ensure the 1996 order remains fit for purpose and does not change the UK Government’s longstanding position on the protection of British trading interests, including with Cuba.
Following a question from Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat) on what conversations are occurring with the British Government relating to Cuba, Viscount Younger noted that “the UK considers that the continued US embargo against Cuba is counterproductive”, as demonstrated by a consistent vote in support of the annual UN General Assembly resolution calling for its end. Viscount Younger went further, noting that the government “continues to consider the activation of Titles III and IV of the Helms-Burton Act, which strengthen and continued the embargo against Cuba, to be contrary to international law.”
Rob Miller, Director of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign said:
"It is to be welcomed that the UK Government has kept its 'Protection of Trading Interests' legislation in place to counteract the threats from the extraterritorial US Blockade on Cuba and at the same time restated its opposition to the illegal blockade. However it is high time that the UK Government used its powers to take real action to protect British companies and individuals who are stopped time and time again from carrying out perfectly legal trade, exchange and humanitarian donations between the UK and Cuba due to the impact of US threats against international banks and organisations."
