Hilary Benn on Russia: 'It's important we show we're willing to defend ourselves'
Leeds Central MP Hilary Benn has been responding to the Prime Minister's retaliation to a nerve agent attack in Salisbury.
Theresa May says Russia has failed to provide a "credible" explanation for how a nerve agent which it had developed came to be used in the attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter.
"There is no alternative conclusion other than that the Russian state was culpable for the attempted murder of Mr Skripal and his daughter - and for threatening the lives of other British citizens in Salisbury."
Britain is expelling 23 Russian diplomats in response to the nerve agent attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury.
And the UK has cut off all high-level contacts with Russia, including a boycott of this summer's World Cup by Government ministers and members of the Royal Family.
Prime Minister Theresa May told MPs the individuals being kicked out in the biggest expulsion of its kind for more than 30 years had all been identified as undeclared spies. They have been given a week to leave.
Leeds Central MP Hilary Benn told Radio Aire they were the right steps to take: "If we are attacked in such an outrageous way, it's very important we show that we are willing to defend ourselves. I also think we need to pursue the matter further."
In terms of a response, Mr Benn drew on previous cases of Russian aggression on the United Kingdom: "I would presume that Russia will retaliate by expelling diplomats from the British embassy in Moscow, I don;t what other measures they may take - that is a matter for them."
Travellers to Russia have been warned they could face "anti-British sentiment or harassment'' as a result of the political tension between the UK and Moscow.
In updated travel advice - published as Theresa May ordered the biggest expulsion of Russian diplomats since the Cold War - the Foreign Office urged Britons to "remain vigilant."
But Hilary Benn believes there's no dispute between the people of the two countries, insisting it is instead about the actions of the Russian state.
The Russian embassy in London responded to the expulsions by saying they were "unacceptable, unjustified and shortsighted''.