Stockport Council urged to cancel deal with Gazprom

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

All ties between Stockport Council and Russian-owned energy firm Gazprom should be cut, according to one councillor in the borough.

Currently, the council has a contract with Gazprom to supply gas — but Tom Morrison says Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should be reason enough to cancel the deal.

The Liberal Democrat also wants the council to ‘review how procurement is handled full stop’. READ MORE: Martin Lewis warns there are three things everyone must do before April 1 “What we have seen with this crisis is not just councils, but the NHS and other public sector bodies, are in these contracts with companies that are related to unsavoury foreign states,” Coun Morrison told the Manchester Evening News . “I have requested the council review all the business contracts and investment relationships to make sure we are not related to any country that does not believe in our democratic way of life or has an appalling human rights record. “We cannot be funding Putin or the Chinese state, I think this gives us an opportunity to do that.” Mr Morrison accepts that politicians have ‘taken their off the ball with this’ — but insists the authority cannot ‘be in this position in 10 years’ time’.

He added: “Councils, councillors, and MPs have taken our eye off the ball on this. It is awful that it has taken [war] to happen in Ukraine for everyone to realise we cannot do this.