Early evening summary
- Tony Blair, the former Labour prime minister, has said the west should not give up on the possibility of negotiating a peace deal with Putin. But, in a long essay posted on his thinktank’s website, he also it was said a mistake for Nato to be as specific as it has been about not getting involved in the war. (See 4.17pm.)
- Theresa May, the former Conservative prime minister, has urged the government to act to protect Ukrainian refugees from human traffickers. Speaking in a Commons debate on Ukraine, she said:
It’s a sad reflection on human nature that the very point where these women and children are fleeing Ukraine for their safety to find refuge elsewhere, the criminal gangs have moved in to make money from the trafficking of what they consider to be yet another commodity, that is human beings, and they are attempting to make money out of this human distress and vulnerability ...
There are many unaccompanied children coming over, not necessarily orphans, but children who may not just have their family with them when they come in.
Some of those children don’t have papers. The Polish authorities, I understand, are making valiant efforts to look for papers, to find papers, to photograph children, to find some sort of record of the children, to identify them.
What we know is that there is no database, there is no real means of that identification and tracking of what is happening to those children.
My first ask for ministers is whether they will now work urgently with UN agencies, the European Commission and the tech companies to find a resolution to this issue, to put in place a system that means that there can be no unidentified children left to the mercy of the traffickers.
Europol and Interpol almost certainly need to be involved here, as do the various police and law enforcement agencies across Europe.
There’ll be an absolutely key role for our National Crime Agency. I believe they should be taking the lead in this.
That is all from me for today. But our Ukraine coverage continues on our global live blog. It’s here.
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In the Commons debate on Ukraine Carol Monaghan, the SNP’s armed forces spokesperson, said journalists should stop asking MPs if they will be willing to house Ukrainian refugees themselves. She said:
I find it disturbing and I am directing these comments particularly at journalists, because some of us have now been asked by journalists whether we are offering our own homes for refugees. Can I say that this is not appropriate?
I don’t put anybody on the spot - constituents, family members, members on the benches opposite - to ask them what they can do to support refugees. Some sort of kindness test. And nor should journalists.
I don’t know the personal circumstances of all of the members here.
I don’t know if they live in a mansion or a studio flat, I don’t know if they have got children or caring responsibilities that would make things different. I don’t know anything.
It is none of my businesses and, frankly, it is none of the business of journalists either.
So, while I might find myself on a different page in terms of the humanitarian response to some of the members on the benches opposite, I won’t be asking anyone that question.
My colleague George Monbiot also criticised the idea that anyone commenting on government immigration policy should be judged by their willingness, or not, to host refugees themselves in a very good Twitter thread yesterday. It starts here.
1. Every time I express my disgust about the UK's treatment of refugees (not just from Ukraine), people jump up to say: "so you'll be offering your spare room then?"
— George Monbiot (@GeorgeMonbiot) March 14, 2022
There's a short answer: I don't have a spare room.
There's a shorter answer: eff off.
And a longer one: Thread/
Intelligence and security committee says more action needed to stop UK being 'safe haven' for oligarchs
Parliament’s intelligence and security committee has issued a statement saying it is glad the Economic Crime Act has become law, but that further measures are needed to stop Britain being a “safe haven” for oligarchs. It says:
We welcome today the long-awaited legislation on economic crimes.
As the intelligence and security committee made very clear in its ‘Russia’ report, the UK has been welcoming Russian money for many years with few questions - if any - being asked about the provenance of this considerable wealth. When we sent our report, together with a detailed classified annex, to the prime minister over two years ago, we highlighted then that there was an urgent need for the UK government to disrupt this illicit financial activity, and questioned the efficacy of the measures which were in place.
It is hoped now that this new legislation is at least the first step toward giving the authorities - and in particular the National Crime Agency which leads this effort - the necessary clout and greater powers to ensure the UK is no longer a safe haven for the oligarchy and their enablers.
The committee is chaired by a Tory, Julian Lewis, and it has a Conservative majority. But Lewis became chair against the wishes of Downing Street, and the committee was unhappy about Boris Johnson’s decision to delay the publication of its Russia report for months, with the result that it did not appear until after the 2019 election. The report was damning about the government’s failure to fully investigate Russia’s attempts to interfere in British politics, including in the Brexit referendum.
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Brexit has made tackling fraud 'more difficult', CPS tells MPs
Brexit has made tackling fraud “more difficult”, the director of legal services at the Crown Prosecution Service said. As PA Media reports, Gregor McGuill told the parliamentary justice committee that leaving the EU had created problems for police pursuing fraudsters overseas. PA says:
The committee heard that about 25% of fraud cases involved only defendants from the UK, with the number of cases involving “foreign” defendants being “considerably more”. It was also told that the number of computer-related fraud offences was “enormous”.
McGuill told the committee:
It’s still possible to do the work but when you are outside the EU it’s hard because you have to go through treaties and you have to build up local relationships and local engagement to get done what was a matter of course when we were part of the EU, so it doesn’t stop us doing it but it slows us down and makes it more difficult.
And Mark Fenhalls QC, chairman of the Bar Association, told the committee:
There’s an analogy with the lorries waiting to get their paperwork done, trying to cross the Channel.
The fact is it hasn’t made us more agile, what is has meant is that we’ve had to rebuild and start relationships afresh with people who no longer trust us in the same way.
The cumulative impact of sanctions on individuals and entities are “really biting on the Russian economy” and associates of Vladimir Putin, a UK official has said. According to PA Media, the official also insisted that further sanctions might follow. The official said:
We’ve always been clear that this is essentially a rolling process and I think what you find over time is the cumulative impact of the sanctions we’ve applied to date are really biting on the Russian economy and people around Putin.
The leaders and ministers from the countries that make up the Joint Expeditionary Force (a northern Europe defence alliance) have put out a joint statement following their meeting at Lancaster House. Here is an extract:
Putin’s actions are fundamentally challenging the security architecture of the Euro-Atlantic area. We need to ensure that such actions remain unacceptable and that no other nations can fall victim to attempts of violent expansionism. All sovereign nations have the right to choose their own security arrangements without the threat of external aggression. To that end, as a like-minded group of nations willing to demonstrate resolve, we will ensure that JEF continues to play a credible role in contributing to defence and deterrence in the region, keeping our countries and our continent safe.
The JEF countries are: Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and the UK.
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Labour’s Stephen Morgan, the shadow schools minister, has warned that rising food costs and inflation are undermining the value of free school meals that a record 1.74 million pupils in England now rely on.
Schools currently receive £2.30 per day for every pupil eligible for free school meals, a rate that hasn’t changed since 2018. The Office for National Statistics says food costs are rising at an annual rate of 5%, while further increases in food and energy costs expected as a result of Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Speaking to a conference of public sector caterers, Morgan said: “Nutritious food is fuel for children to learn and achieve their aspirations. But Conservative tax hikes, universal credit cuts and an energy crisis is creating a perfect storm for families, schools and businesses.”
In 2021 nearly 21% of state school pupils were known to be eligible for free school meals, including the 420,000 eligible since the first Covid lockdown on in March 2020. Most qualify because their household receives universal credit with an annual income of less than £7,400.
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Blair calls for push for peace deal with Putin - while saying Nato should not rule out intervening in war
Tony Blair, the former Labour prime minister who has considerable experience himself of constructing (or trying to construct) an international alliance to oppose a dictator, has published a long essay on his thinktank’s website about the war in Ukraine. Much of his analysis, and what he recommends, dovetails with what Boris Johnson has been saying. But at least two of his arguments challenge the current Westminster consensus on the war.
While Blair is more hawkish than conventional wisdom on one of these points, on the other he is more doveish.
- Blair says it is a mistake for Nato to be as specific as it has been about not getting involved in the war. He explains:
I understand and accept that there is not political support for any direct military engagement by Nato of Russia. But we should be clear-eyed about what Putin is doing. He is using our correct desire not to provoke escalation alongside his willingness to escalate as a bargaining chip against us. When he is threatening Nato, even stoking fears of nuclear conflict, in pursuit of his attempt to topple by force a peaceful nation’s democratically elected president and wage war on its people, there is something incongruous about our repeated reassurance to him that we will not react with force.
I accept the reasoning behind our stance. But suppose he uses chemical weapons or a tactical nuclear weapon, or tries to destroy Kyiv as he did Aleppo in Syria, without any regard to the loss of civilian life – is it sensible to tell him in advance that whatever he does militarily, we will rule out any form of military response? Maybe that is our position and maybe that is the right position, but continually signalling it, and removing doubt in his mind, is a strange tactic.
- Blair says the west should not give up on the possibility of negotiating a peace deal with Putin. This could even include the future status of Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine being on the table, he says. Calling for “a concerted and structured push for a negotiated settlement”, he says:
The next two weeks may be the last chance to achieve a negotiated settlement before the assault on Kyiv becomes worse, the Ukrainian people become hostile to any negotiation, or Putin faces a binary choice between “double down” or retreat.
And we should not underestimate the real economic price the world will pay for continued conflict with steep rises in fuel prices, food prices, global trade and inflation, as ever hitting the poorest in our society the worst ...
We know Putin’s stated issues: Nato vs neutrality; the stationing of offensive western weapons systems in Ukraine; Crimea; [and] the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
On the first two a deal is conceivable, though Ukraine would require binding guarantees from the west to contemplate giving up on Nato membership, and it will not yield on potential EU membership.
On the second two it may be possible to construct a process by which eventually their status will be decided, provided Putin doesn’t add a demand to keep the territory he is currently taking with considerable brutality in the corridor between Rostov and Odesa, a demand Ukraine could never accede to.
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Labour says Raab's legal aid overhaul 'too little, too late'
Dominic Raab, the justice secretary, used a statement in the Commons earlier to announce plans for an overhaul of legal aid. He claimed that an extra £135m a year would go into the system as a result, and he said the funding would create “a more sustainable market with publicly funded criminal defence practice seen as a viable long-term career choice, attracting the best and the brightest from all backgrounds and providing a further pipeline, the judges of tomorrow”.
But the shadow justice minister Afzal Khan said it was too little, too late. He told MPs:
Between 2012 and 2020 annual legal aid spending fell by 27% in real terms, largely as a result of changes under Laspo (Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012), that is £4.2bn over a seven-year period and at an average of £600m per year. Essentially we have a position where it is simply not financially viable to be a legal aid provider in many areas of law.
There is no doubt in my mind that the legal aid sector has survived purely on goodwill ... Chronic underfunding has brought the criminal justice system to its knees and has brought about advice deserts across the UK. The steps outlined today are too little, too late.
In a Twitter thread starting here, the Secret Barrister (a barrister and author of two best-selling books published anonymously about the law) has condemned the proposals as ineffective, and in particular criticised the way the Ministry of Justice has misrepresented the amount being spent on criminal defence in its press release.
Some glorious doublespeak in this government press release.
— The Secret Barrister (@BarristerSecret) March 15, 2022
“Put on sustainable footing for years” = “not even meet the immediate bare minimum urged by the independent inquiry we set up”.
This will do nothing to fix the problems in criminal justice. https://t.co/yvCBjUWPVp
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More than 100,000 Britons have now offered to host Ukrainian refugees, government says
More than 100,000 people have now expressed an interest in hosting Ukrainian refugees in their own homes, the government has revealed.
👏 100,000 offers of support!
— Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (@luhc) March 15, 2022
Thanks to the generosity of the British public we've received over 100K expressions of interest from individuals and organisations so far in our Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Register your interest here➡ https://t.co/Tl9eBCM7wW#StandWithUkraine 🇬🇧🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/SAqEpqcdVN
Sturgeon postpones scrapping face mask rules in Scotland because of rise in Covid cases
The requirement to wear face masks on public transport, in shops and other enclosed public spaces will remain in place in Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon has told MSPs, as a rise in cases driven by the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron prompted her government to delay scrapping the measure completely as planned.
With all legal restrictions due to end on 21 March, Sturgeon said mask wearing would remain a requirement, to be reviewed in a further two weeks. She told the Holyrood chamber that she expected the law – which has been in place since June 2020 – to be converted into guidance in early April, if there is evidence that the current spike in cases has stabilised.
She said:
Given the current spike in case numbers, we consider it prudent to retain this requirement in regulation for a further short period.
I know this will be disappointing for businesses and service providers such as day care services.
However, ensuring continued widespread use of face coverings will provide some additional protection - particularly for the most vulnerable - at a time when the risk of infection is very high, and it may help us get over this spike more quickly.
Sturgeon said retaining face coverings was “very much in the spirit of solidarity and mutual concerns to each other that has characterised the public response to this pandemic over the past two years”.
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Sturgeon says Scottish government will be allowed to act as 'super sponsor' for Ukrainian refugees
Nicola Sturgeon has revealed that the UK government has approved in principle the “super sponsor” scheme for Ukrainian refugees proposed by the Scottish and Welsh governments over the weekend, and expects to welcome 3,000 Ukrainians to Scotland “very soon”.
Before her Covid statement at the Holyrood parliament this afternoon, Sturgeon said the scheme was intended to work faster than the Homes for Ukraine scheme announced by Michael Gove yesterday. She said:
Under the UK scheme though - with the exception of people who already know someone seeking refuge - it may be some time before most of those offering help will be able to actually welcome someone from Ukraine.
The Scottish government’s ‘super-sponsor’ proposal is intended to short-circuit this, and allow Ukrainians to get here and be supported more quickly.
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Minister says fracking could be part of future energy mix - but that it won't solve current supply problem
In the Commons earlier, in response to an urgent question on fracking, Greg Hands, the energy minister, said that shale gas could provide part of the UK’s energy supply in the future, but that it was not a solution to the current supply problem. He said:
We have always been clear that the development of shale gas in the UK must be safe and cause minimal disruption and damage to those living and working nearby sites. This is not a new position. Shale gas and new approaches could be part of our future energy mix but we need to be led by the science and have the support of local communities, and that was in our general election manifesto.
Hands said the moratorium on fracking implemented in November 2019 remained in place. And he went on:
We’re clear that shale gas is not the solution to near-term issues. It would take years of exploration and development before commercial quantities of shale gas could be produced. Additionally, fracking relies on a continued series of new wells, each of which produces gas for a relatively short time.
Even if the pause were lifted, there is unlikely to be sufficient quantities of gas available to address the high prices affecting all of western Europe, and would certainly have no effect on prices in the near term.
Lee Anderson (Con), who tabled the UQ, asked for an assurance that an order saying that Britain’s two existing shale gas wells must be sealed up (or concreted over - closing them for good) by the end of June should be withdrawn. Hands indicated that the government was sympathetic to this, but he said that Cuadrilla, the company involved, would have to submit an application for this to the Oil and Gas Authority, and that Cuadrilla had not done this yet.
As the BBC’s Ione Wells explains in a helpful thread on this (starting below), Cuadrilla only wants to overturn the order for the wells to be filled in if it gets an assurance that fracking will be allowed again in the future. But ministers aren’t prepared to give this assurance.
Thread: After some warm(er) words about fracking from No10 last week, the company behind the fracking wells in the UK look set to start cementing them up imminently - partly because of a bit of a push back from Cuadrilla going on behind the scenes...https://t.co/UTjUqYLG6S
— Ione Wells (@ionewells) March 15, 2022
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Johnson defends Saudi visit, saying 'widest possible coalition' needed to counter Russia
And here are some more lines from Boris Johnson’s pooled TV interview with Sam Coates from Sky News.
- Johnson defended his planned visit to Saudia Arabia tomorrow, saying that the “widest possible coalition” was needed to counter Russia. Asked about the mass executions in Saudi Arabia and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Johnson said:
I think what the world is seeing is the return in Ukraine to the kind of brutality, the kind of absolutely indiscriminate bombing of civilian centres, of great cities that we last saw in the European continent 80 years ago, this is quite unbelievable what is happening now in our continent.
We need to make sure that we build the strongest, widest possible coalition to ensure that Vladimir Putin does not succeed, that we wean ourselves off Russian hydrocarbons and that is what the Uk is helping to do.
- Johnson compared Vladimir Putin to a drug dealer, because he had made the world dependent on Russian oil and gas. He said:
Vladimir Putin over the last years has been like a pusher, feeding an addiction in western countries to his hydrocarbons. We need to get ourselves off that addiction.
- Johnson admitted that British consumers were already feeling the impact of the war in rising energy prices. He said:
There is no question at all that the spike in oil and gas, that is being felt by British consumers, by everybody who has a central heating system, everybody in this country is seeing the effect of that spike in prices.
We have to deal with that in any way that we can, and what we need to do is build long-term security of energy supply in this country.
- He said the invasion of Ukraine had made European countries accept the need to end their dependency in Russian energy. He said:
Now, after what Putin has done in Ukraine, you’re seeing European colleagues step up to the plate and say: ‘Right, this is the time we got to learn our lesson as the west, we’ve got to end that dependency on Russian hydrocarbons’. And that’s one of the reasons I’m going out to the Gulf.
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Johnson confirms negotiations with Iran for release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe at 'delicate' stage
Boris Johnson has said that said that negotiations with Iran about the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe are at a “delicate” stage.
He was responding to questions about the case triggered by the revelation from Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s MP that she has had her British passport returned to her and that a British negotiating team is in Tehran right now.
Asked about the case in a pooled TV interview with Sky’s Sam Coates, Johnson said that he did not want to “tempt fate” by giving details. He said:
It would not be sensible for me to comment until we have got a final result. I think that conversations are still going on.
Asked if the signs of progress meant the UK has paid the decades-old £400m debt owed to Iranian government, which is thought to have effectively been holding Zaghari-Ratcliffe hostage until the money is returned, Johnson replied:
I think that it’s very important when you have got quite delicate discussions going on, negotiations going on in Tehran about some of our most difficult consular cases - particularly Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe - you should say as little as possible unless and until the thing is actually concluded.
Everybody wants Nazanin home, we have been working on that for a long, long time.
I do not want to do anything to interrupt the conversations right now.
At the Downing Street lobby briefing earlier the PM’s spokesperson refused to confirm that a British negotiating team was in Tehran. Asked about progress in repaying the debt, which was generated by Iran paying for an order of 1,500 Chieftain tanks in the 1970s that were never delivered, the spokesperson said:
There is no change on our position to that. We are committed to paying the debt. We’re exploring options to resolve it - it has not been resolved.
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Photograph: Reuters
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Key Russian individuals being subject to sanctions today
In its briefing, the Foreign Office has named some of the 361 individuals subject to sanctions under the Economic Crime Act today. Here is their list.
Oligarchs:
Mikhail Fridman, founder of Alfa Bank, the largest private bank in Russia. He also owns shares in LetterOne. His net worth is reported as an estimated £11.9bn.
German Khan, a business partner of Aven and Fridman in both Alfa Bank and LetterOne. His net worth is reported as an estimated £7.8bn.
Petr Aven, who was president of Alfa Bank and co-founder of LetterOne. His net worth is reported an estimated £4bn.
Alexei Mordashov, a member of who are reported to be Russia’s richest family. Mordashov’s’s net worth is reported as estimated £22.4bn. He is a majority shareholder in steel company Severstal.
Andrey Melnichenko, the founder of EuroChem Group. Reported estimated net worth of £13.7bn.
Viktor Vekselberg, owner of the Renova Group. His net worth is reported at an estimated £6.8bn.
Alexander Ponomarenko, chairman of the board of Sheremetyevo, the biggest airport in Russia. His estimated net worth is £2.22bn.
Dmitry Pumpyansky, owner and chairman of OAO TMK. His net worth is estimated at £1.84bn.
Vadim Moshkovich, chairman of the board of directors of Rusagro Group. His net worth is an estimated of £1.84bn.
Political allies:
Dmitry Medvedev, a Russian politician [and former Russian president] serving as deputy chairman of the security council of Russia since 2020.
Mikhail Mishustin, a Russian politician and the current prime minister of Russia since January 2020. He was the head of the Federal Taxation Service 2010-2020. He was formally the president of the UFG Group (OFG Invest), one of Russia’s largest investment companies.
Sergei Shoigu, a Russian politician serving as defence minister since 2021. He was previously appointed Governor of the Moscow Region.
Propagandists:
Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s press secretary and a Kremlin spokesperson.
Maria Zakharova, the director of the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. She is the MFA Spokesperson.
And here is the list of the four individuals being sanctioned today under the old sanctions laws: Mikhail Fridman; Pyotr Aven’ German Khan; and Russian Duma member and propagandist Oleg Matveychev.
Updated
This is what Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, said about the new sanctions imposed today. (See 1.04pm.)
We are going further and faster than ever in hitting those closest to Putin – from major oligarchs, to his prime minister, and the propagandists who peddle his lies and disinformation. We are holding them to account for their complicity in Russia’s crimes in Ukraine.
Working closely with our allies, we will keep increasing the pressure on Putin and cut off funding for the Russian war machine.
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Truss says 361 more individuals now subject anti-Russia sanctions under emergency law just passed
Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, has announced that a further 361 individuals are being hit today by anti-Russia sanctions, including the former Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev.
Another eight organisations are also being targeted, under the sanctions that are being imposed under powers available in the Economic Crime Act, which has just received royal assent.
Truss says today’s measures take the total number of individuals and organisations from Russia or Belarus sanctioned by the UK since the invasion of Ukraine to more than 1,000.
Summarising today’s measures, the Foreign Office said:
Today’s historic sanctions include more Russian oligarchs and their family members, Putin’s political allies and propagandists. The UK is sanctioning over 370 more individuals, 51 of which are oligarchs and their family members.
The vast majority of today’s designations are made possible under the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act - which has royal assent. This has given the government new powers to act in the public interest and immediately designate individuals and entities under an urgent procedure, while evidence is gathered to sanction them under our own standard procedure.
Russian oligarchs now subject to UK sanctions include Mikhail Fridman, Pyotr Aven, and German Khan. The oligarchs who will be sanctioned today have a combined estimated worth of more than £100bn.
Putin political allies now sanctioned include Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and former President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev. Meanwhile, Russian propagandists who have been designated include Putin’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov and Russian Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, among others. A notorious internet ‘troll farm’, the Internet Research Agency, has also been sanctioned.
The 361 individuals and eight organisations sanctioned under the new powers in the act are all already subject to sanctions by UK allies, like the US, the EU, Canada or Australia, which is why the act can be used to fast-track sanctions in the UK while evidence is still being compiled.
Another four individuals have also been sanctioned today by the UK under the old sanctions rules.
People subject to sanctions have any assets they have in the UK frozen and are subject to a travel ban.
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Some 4,600 visas have now been issued to Ukrainians under the Ukraine family scheme, which is for people with close relatives living in the UK, the Home Office said today. This was the total number of visas granted as of 4pm on Monday, the department reported. According to data published on its website, 17,600 applications have been submitted and 10,900 appointments have been made at visa processing centres.
At Treasury questions in the Commons Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, revived the point made by her colleague Pat McFadden earlier (see 11.45am), calling for a windfall tax on energy companies. She dismissed Rishi Sunak’s claim that this would affect investment, saying that BP was now making “more cash than they know what to do with” and that they were using the money for dividends and share buybacks, not investment.
Sunak, the chancellor, said that oil and gas companies already paid double the rate of tax paid by other companies. And he said last year investment in the North Sea was the lowest on record.
Reeves then told Sunak that he was “totally out of touch” and that he did not realise how much the cost of living crisis was affecting the least well off. She went on:
The IFS confirm that the poorest households face an inflation rate 50% higher than the richest. The Resolution Foundation warn that between 2020 and 2022, 700,000 more children will fall into poverty. That is devastating but it is not inevitable.
Instead of protecting oil executives, the government should be helping those on lowest incomes most, she said.
In reply Sunak claimed that, taken as a whole, decisions taken by the government had helped those on lowest incomes most.
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War in Ukraine turning into horror not seen for decades, Johnson tells cabinet
According to Downing Street, Boris Johnson told cabinet this morning that the war in Ukraine was unleashing a horror not seen for decades. In a cabinet readout, a No 10 spokesperson said:
[Johnson] said the incredible Ukrainian resistance continued to stall Russian forces, ensuring Putin’s hope of conquering the country in a matter of days had been thwarted.
He said the situation was turning into something we had not seen for decades, with a savage war machine bombarding unarmed civilians relentlessly. He said today’s meeting of Joint Expeditionary Force leaders, addressed virtually by President Zelenskiy, would be another opportunity to rally support which he said must continue to expand to match the severity of Putin’s actions.
Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, also told cabinet that “poor planning and arrogance” had led to the Russian army miscalculating. No 10 said:
[Wallace] provided an update, telling cabinet that a combination of poor planning and arrogance had made the Russian army think that they would be welcomed into the large cities in the east of Ukraine, which have a high proportion of Russian-speaking citizens. Instead, he said the Ukrainian people were showing immense bravery in this region, inflicting severe damage on the Russian forces.
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Boris Johnson (or, more probably, the person who does his social media) has posted this on Twitter about the JEF meeting at Lancaster House. (See 12.10pm.)
President @ZelenskyyUa has mobilised world opinion against the brutality of Vladimir Putin.
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) March 15, 2022
We will continue to support him and his people –tightening economic sanctions and providing support to help Ukrainians protect themselves from bombardment. pic.twitter.com/wBDaGNKtXH
Back in the Commons, Labour’s Ben Bradshaw asks when the government will actually seize the assets of Russian oligarchs, instead of just freezing them. He says it took a group of anarchists to seize Oleg Deripaska’s mansion in London yesterday.
In response John Glen, the economic secretary to the Treasury, ignored the question, and just said the UK was working with allies to implement sanctions effectively.
Johnson tells Zelenskiy west 'must try to do more', particularly to protect Ukrainians from bombing
Boris Johnson has said this morning that Britain and the west “can and must do more” to help Ukraine.
He was speaking at Lancaster House, where he and other leaders and ministers from the Joint Expeditionary Force countries (Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and the UK) heard an address by video link from the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Zelenskiy told them that Russia would target other European countries after Ukraine. And he renewed his call for the establishment of a no-fly zone over Ukraine, saying some members of Nato were “hypnotised by Russian aggression”. He went on:
We hear a lot of conversations about the third world war, that allegedly it could start if Nato will close the Ukrainian sky for Russian missiles and planes and therefore the humanitarian no-fly zone was not yet established. That allows the Russian army to bombard peaceful cities and blow up housing blocks and hospitals and schools.
Four multi-storey buildings in Kyiv in the early morning were bombarded, dozens of dead.
Zelenskiy also said the shipments of supplies from the UK and other nations were being rapidly used up. “The amount that we are getting per week is used, usually by us within 20 hours,” he said. “You know the kind of weapons we need, everyone knows,” he said.
In response Johnson said:
You challenge us, quite rightly, to do more and we all know that we can and we must do more ...
We must try to do more, particularly to support you in protecting the Ukrainian people from bombardment from artillery and by aviation.
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In the Commons Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, is taking questions. Pat McFadden, the shadow Treasury minister, asked why he would not support Labour’s proposal for a windfall tax on energy companies. In reply Sunak said it was because the government wanted to get more investment into the North Sea, and “exploiting domestic resources”.
Chris Bryant, the Labour MP, has said that Boris Johnson has no right to criticise the west’s response to the annexation of Crimea in 2014 because at the time he was blaming the EU. (See 9.45am.)
I’m pleased Boris Johnson now accepts, as some of us argued back in 2014, that our feeble response to the annexation of Crimea by Russia was a dangerous mistake, but back then he was part of the problem, claiming it was the EU’s fault not Putin’s. Liars can’t rewrite history.
— Chris Bryant (@RhonddaBryant) March 15, 2022
He wrote: If you want an example of EU policy making on the hoof and EU pretensions to running defence policy that have caused real trouble, then look at what has happened in the Ukraine.
— Chris Bryant (@RhonddaBryant) March 15, 2022
“All the EU can do in this question, in my view, is cause confusion and,
as we’ve seen in the Balkans, I’m afraid, a tragic incident, and in the Ukraine things went wrong as well.”
— Chris Bryant (@RhonddaBryant) March 15, 2022
The government has also announced today that it has stopped all government-backed export finance to Russia and Belarus.
There will be an urgent question in the Commons at 12.30pm on shale gas, followed by statements on legal aid and Covid international travel rules.
FROM 1230 TODAY:
— Labour Whips (@labourwhips) March 15, 2022
1. UQ - Lee Anderson - asking for a statement on what the Government’s current stance is on shale gas production in the UK.
2. Statement - @DominicRaab - Legal Aid Update
3. Statement - @grantshapps - International Travel Update
Zac Goldsmith says emergency support being offered to help Ukrainain refugees bring their pets to UK
Zac Goldsmith, the environment minister, has announced that emergency licences are being issued to help Ukrainian refugees coming to the UK who want to bring their pets with them.
Explaining the concession in a news release, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said:
The government has today put in place new emergency support for those fleeing Ukraine with their pets. Using an emergency licence, Ukrainian nationals can bring their pets to the UK with any quarantine costs met by the government.
The Animal and Plant Health Agency is providing quick license approvals and quarantine arrangements to avoid creating additional burdens or delays. The government will also be covering their vaccination, microchipping and quarantine costs, recognising that many Ukrainian individuals will not have been able to complete the full health preparations required for their pet on arrival.
Further details of how Ukrainians can take advantage of the new arrangements are on the news release here.
Goldsmith, who is minister for animal welfare, said: “Ukrainian nationals are in an appalling situation. I’m pleased that Ukrainian refugees will be able to bring their pets to the UK with any quarantine costs paid for by the government.”
There have been plenty of reports showing that some refugees fleeing Ukraine are taking their pets with them. But the danger with this announcement is that, with many Ukrainains hoping to come to the UK being turned away either because they don’t have visas yet, or because they are not eligible, there is a risk of this reviving allegations of some animals are being priortised over people. The government faced this accusation last summer, when it facilitated the evacuation of Pen Farthing’s animals from Kabul. Ministers insisted the animal airlift did not prevent any Afghans from getting flown to safety, although others involved in the operation claimed it did.
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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has had UK passport returned, says MP
The British-Iranian national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has had her British passport returned, her MP, Tulip Siddiq, has said.
I am very pleased to say that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been given her British passport back.
— Tulip Siddiq (@TulipSiddiq) March 15, 2022
She is still at her family home in Tehran. I also understand that there is a British negotiating team in Tehran right now.
I will keep posting updates as I get them.#FreeNazanin
My colleague Patrick Wintour has the full story here.
Minister says he's 'proud' Homes for Ukraine website crashed, because that shows generosity of Britons
James Cleverly, the Foreign Office minister, was on interview duty for the government this morning. Here are the main points from his interviews.
- Cleverly said China should denounced the invasion of Ukraine. This had not happened yet, he said. He told Sky News:
What we’re saying to all countries is that they should denounce this unprovoked illegal attack into Ukraine by Russia.
They should not in any way, be supporting Russia and we urge countries to join the UK and the international community in condemning and sanctioning Russia to choke off the finances which are funding Putin’s war effort.
There is no justification at all for this attack, and we urge China and all countries around the world to denounce it and absolutely not to support it.
- He said the Russian “plan of attack is not working” in Ukraine. He said:
It was meant to be some kind of lightning war where Russian troops swept across Ukraine. But what we’re seeing is the defence by the Ukrainian people has been ferocious. This, of course, is incredibly frustrating to Vladimir Putin and we’re now seeing an escalation, the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure - which of course is illegal in international humanitarian law and the law of armed conflict.
- He said he was “proud” the government’s Homes for Ukraine website crashed - because that showed how generous people were being. He explained:
The irony of this is I’m actually quite proud that the system struggled. We built it quickly. We could have, yes... we could have spent more time stress-testing this website and delayed it a couple of days before launching. But, frankly, I’m glad we moved quickly on this and we’re moving quickly to ensure we’re able to help the Ukrainian refugees.
I know this is a weird thing to say as a government minister - I’m glad the website crashed, because it is a reflection of that generosity of the British people.
Asked if he would offer to host Ukrainian refugees himself, he said:
I have genuinely considered this. I’ve discussed this with my wife. I don’t know whether our personal circumstances will allow us to do this right at the moment. As you know, Nick, my wife, she’s going through medical treatment at the moment, but it’s absolutely something that I’m considering.
-
He praised the “huge degree of bravery” shown by Marina Ovsyannikova, the Russian TV journalist who interrupted a news bulletin in Russia to protest against the invasion of Ukraine.
Here is the Ministry of Defence’s lastest update on the situation in Ukraine.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 15 March 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) March 15, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/aNa33WPBRi
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/lrw4wxDvxL
UK wages fall at fastest rate since 2014 as cost-of-living squeeze bites
Unemployment in the UK has fallen below pre-Covid levels, but high inflation amid Britain’s cost of living crisis means average wages fell at the fastest rate since 2014, my colleague Richard Partington reports.
Almost 89,000 Britons have now offered to host Ukrainian refugees, government says
Almost 89,000 people have now used the government website to register an interest in taking Ukrainian refugees into their homes, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said this morning.
Vodka and hundreds of other Russian imports to face 35% tariffs under new anti-Putin sanctions package
The government has this morning announced new economic sanctions on Russia - an extra 35% tariff on imports worth £900m, including vodka, and a ban on the export of luxury goods.
In a statement, the Treasury and Department for International Trade said:
Russian vodka is one of the iconic products affected by the tariff increases, while the export ban will likely affect luxury vehicles, high-end fashion and works of art.
The measures will cause maximum harm to Putin’s war machine while minimising the impact on UK businesses as G7 leaders unite to unleash a fresh wave of economic sanctions on Moscow.
The export ban will come into force shortly and will make sure oligarchs and other members of the elite, who have grown rich under President Putin’s reign and support his illegal invasion, are deprived of access to luxury goods.
Denying Russia access to most favoured nation tariff treatment for key imports and applying additional tariffs will restrict Russian exports to the UK. The UK is working with our international partners and is supporting the World Trade Organization to prevent those who fail to respect the rules-based international order from reaping its benefits.
Boris Johnson warns consumers cutting reliance on Russian energy ‘will be painful’
Good morning. One of the key skills of political leadership is the ability to respond and adapt to changing circumstances; to recognise that as events change (even for the worse), opportunities can open up. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Boris Johnson and his government have focused on supporting President Zelenskiy (which they’ve done well, according to consensus opinion) and responding to the refugee crisis (which they’ve done very badly, judging by the same benchmark). But Johnson has also identified the crisis as an opportunity to recast energy policy, and today he has set out, in the clearest terms yet, his thinking.
Johnson has said the government will soon publish a new document setting out its revised policy on energy security. But in a long article published in the Daily Telegraph (paywall) he has today set out what will probably turn out to be the key pillars of the strategy. Here they are.
- Johnson says the west made a “terrible mistake” when it did not respond robustly to the annexation of Crimea and the invasion of eastern Ukraine by President Putin in 2014. He says:
When Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine the first time round, in 2014, the West made a terrible mistake. The Russian leader had committed an act of violent aggression and taken a huge chunk out of a sovereign country – and we let him get away with it.
He says the west has an “addiction” to Russian oil and gas, and that this has allowed Putin to subject it to “blackmail”.
- But, Johnson argues, Russia’s strength, its energy supplies, also makes it vulnerable. He explains:
Putin’s strength – his vast resource of hydrocarbons – is also his weakness. He has virtually nothing else. Putin’s Russia makes little that the rest of the world wants to buy. If the world can end its dependence on Russian oil and gas, we can starve him of cash, destroy his strategy and cut him down to size.
- Johnson says that it will be “painful” for the west cutting its reliance on Russian energy. He says:
Because this strategy will not truly work unless everyone does it. The only way to force Putin to cease his aggression, and to respect international law, is for the world to stop mainlining Russian hydrocarbons – and we have to accept that such a move will be painful.
And later in the article he says:
I don’t doubt that there will be tough times ahead. The process of weaning the world off Russian oil and gas, and hydrocarbons in general, will be difficult.
This is significant because Johnson has until now been very reluctant to admit that finding alternative sources of energy will have an impact on consumers. Only last week, when the government said it would stop imports of Russian oil by the end of the year, Johnson said consumers would be “protected” – implying it would not be difficult.
- He says the UK must become less reliant on other countries for energy. He says:
We need permanently to reduce the cost of energy at source – and that will only happen if our supply is more secure, more sustainable and less vulnerable to manipulation by others.
We need to take back control. Later this month, I will set out a British energy security strategy – how the UK will become more self-sufficient and no longer at the mercy of bullies like Putin.
Interestingly, Johnson links this with Brexit (“take back control”), in line with the adage that the old slogans are often the best ones.
- He says going green will be central to increasing the UK’s energy security. He says:
At the heart of the strategy is green energy of all kinds.
Green electricity isn’t just better for the environment, it’s better for your bank balance. A kilowatt from a North Sea wind turbine costs less than one produced by a power station running on gas shipped to the UK from overseas. And if a quarter of our power wasn’t already coming from renewables, your bills today would be even higher than they already are.
Renewables are the quickest and cheapest route to greater energy independence. They are invulnerable to Putin’s manipulations. He may have his hand on the taps for oil and gas. But there is nothing he can do to stop the North Sea wind.
That’s why our ambition to go for net zero is not the problem. Renewable power – which is getting more efficient the whole time – is a crucial part of the solution.
This is a response to the faction in the Conservative party urging the government to abandon its net zero commitments.
- He says it is time to make “a series of big new bets” on nuclear. And he claims that Labour is to blame for the fact that nuclear power is not more developed now in the UK. He says:
So now is the time to make a series of big new bets on nuclear power. The 1997, the Labour manifesto said there was “no economic case” for more nuclear – even though nuclear is in fact safe, clean and reliable.
It is time to reverse that historic mistake, with a strategy that includes small modular reactors as well as the larger power stations. It was the UK that first split the atom. It was the UK that had the world’s first civilian nuclear power plant. It is time we recovered our lead.
Johnson made a similar point in the Commons last week. In response, Keir Starmer pointed out that progress on building new nuclear power stations has been very sluggish since 2010, when the Tories came to power, too.
- And Johnson hints that he wants to increase gas production from the North Sea. He says:
It is crazy that we are importing oil and gas from Putin’s Russia when we have our own resources in the North Sea. It is time to give investors more confidence in British hydrocarbons. That way, we will have more domestic energy resilience as we make the transition to a zero carbon future.
At a meeting with energy company leaders in Downing Street yesterday, Johnson was more explicit. They agreed on the need to boost supplies.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Boris Johnson chairs cabinet.
10am: Ofcom and the BBC World Service give evidence to the Commons culture committee about Russian disinformation; at 11am Nigel Huddleston, the sports minister, gives evidence; at at 12pm Mark Bullingham, the Football Association chief executive, and Helen MacNamara, the Premier League’s chief policy officer, give evidence about Russian involvement in football.
10am: Sir Alex Allan, the former independent adviser on ministerial standards, and Sir Philip Mawer, the former parliamentary commissioner for standards, give evidence to the Commons public administration and constitutional affairs committee.
10.30am: Lord Agnew, who resigned as a Treasury minister because he thought the government was not taking fraud seriously enough, gives evidence to the Commons business committee.
11.30am: Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, takes questions in the Commons.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
Late morning: Boris Johnson meets fellow leaders and ministers from countries contributing to the Joint Expeditionary Force, the north European security coalition (Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and the UK) at Lancaster House.
After 12.30pm: MPs begin a general debate on Ukraine.
2pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, makes a statement to MSPs about Covid.
2.30pm: Lord Robertson, the former Nato secretary general, gives evidence to the Commons defence committee.
Also today Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, is expected add hundreds of oligarchs, individuals and organisations to the UK’s sanctions list, using powers in the Economic Crime Act which has just become law.
I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.
If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
Alternatively, you can email me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com.
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