Afternoon summary
- Peers have inflicted a defeat on government plans to send asylum seekers who arrive in the UK to other safe countries where they have a connection, PA Media reports. PA says the Lords voted 221 in favour, 172 against (majority 49) an amendment to the nationality and borders bill which would require the government to have a “formal returns agreement” with other countries before asylum seekers could be sent there.
That’s all from me for today. But our Ukraine coverage continues on our global live blog. It’s here.
Alok Sharma tests positive for Covid after sitting alongside Johnson during PMQs
Alok Sharma, the Cop26 president, has tested positive for Covid.
I was due fly abroad this evening and as a precaution tested myself ahead of travel
— Alok Sharma (@AlokSharma_RDG) March 2, 2022
Unfortunately i have tested positive for covid
I feel absolutely fine but will now isolate, and work from home, for the required period of time
Earlier he was taking questions in the Commons, where he was beside Boris Johnson during PMQs.
A Conservative MP, Gary Sambrook, has written to Keir Starmer urging him to suspend a Labour candidate who said seven years ago she was “torn” as to whether or not an uprising would do more to help the black community than democratic politics. Sambrook claims Paulette Hamilton’s comments are not compatible with Labour’s stated commitment to tolerance, democracy and respect.
I have written to @Keir_Starmer this afternoon asking for him to suspend @PauletteHamilto due to deeply concerning comments which have this morning come to light in a leaked video pic.twitter.com/sDXYTxauQC
— Gary Sambrook MP (@GarySambrook89) March 2, 2022
Hamilton is Labour’s candidate in the Birmingham Erdington byelection tomorrow and is the clear favourite to suceed Jack Dromey as the constituency’s MP. But her campaign hit a last-minute hitch when GB News revealed that, at a meeting in 2015, on the topic “the ballot or the bullet”, she suggested violence might be an acceptable way of achieving political change. She said:
Although I belive in the votes, and I believe in our right to use that vote or destroy that vote, I’m not sure that we will get what we really deserve in this country using the votes. But I don’t know if we are a strong enough group to get what we want to get if we have an uprising. I think we will be quashed in such a way we could lose a generation of our young people. So I am very torn.
Labour told GB News: “Paulette Hamilton is arguing for better representation for the black community in public life and as she is campaigning to become Birmingham’s first black MP she has a point.”
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has launched a page on the mayor’s website giving details of how Londoners (and anyone else) can donate to help Ukraine. In a statement he said the government should also be enabling Ukrainians to seek sanctuary in the UK. He said:
In recent days, people here in London and around the world have stood in awe at the strength and courage shown by the Ukrainian people in the face of Putin’s aggression.
I wholeheartedly welcome the sanctions imposed on Russia and the intent shown by the economic crime bill but ministers must invest meaningfully in its enforcement in order to stop Putin’s allies viewing London as a haven for hiding their dirty cash.
Londoners stand in solidarity with the brave people of Ukraine and we will do all we can to support organisations working here and overseas to help those fleeing Putin’s war.
The UN estimates this conflict could produce as many as four million Ukrainian refugees and London stands ready to play its part in helping those who have lost so much. This must now be backed by the government providing fully-funded and accessible routes for Ukrainians wishing to seek sanctuary here.
John McDonnell pulls out of Stop the War rally after whip withdrawal threat for sake of party unity
John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor, has said that he will not be attending the Stop the War rally this evening. He was scheduled to be a speaker at the rally but, as HuffPost reported this morning (see 11.56am), Labour was briefing that he could have the whip withdrawn if he went because Keir Starmer has decided that “false equivalence” between Russia and Nato (which he sees as the Stop the War position) is unacceptable.
McDonnell told LabourList that he did not want to be drawn into an internal Labour party row. In her report Sienna Rodgers quotes McDonnell as saying:
My response is that people are dying on the streets of Ukrainian cities. This is not the time to be distracted by political arguments here. Now is the time to unite and do all we can to assist the people of Ukraine desperately seeking asylum and to do all we can to bring about peace.
Nothing is more important at this time. Nothing should distract us from that. So I won’t feed into that distraction by going tonight.
McDonnell said Labour members needed clarity about what was and was not allowed.
I do think many Labour party members will want clarity over the Labour party’s attitude to attending demonstrations organised by Stop the War or by them jointly with other groups.
But he also stressed his commitment to party unity.
My final comment is that, in the wider context of securing a socialist Labour government, and possibly inspired by my team Liverpool at Wembley at the weekend, I do believe it’s important for socialists to stay on the pitch for as long as it takes.
Updated
From my colleague Peter Walker
Looking through the updated register of MPs' interests, while this isn't new, I hadn't previously spotted quite how much Theresa May is trousering in speaking fees these days. About £800,000 in the last two years. pic.twitter.com/mLABmPiuhG
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) March 2, 2022
A UK couple have painted their house in the colours of the Ukraine flag in a show of support for friends in the country, PA Media reports. Rend Platings and her husband Michael used two five-litre tubs of paint, one yellow and one blue, costing £76 in total, to decorate the outside of their home in Cambridge on Sunday. Rend said she is Iraqi - “maybe it makes me a little bit sensitive around war issues” - and was in Ukraine “a couple of weeks ago” to see friends. “One of my best friends is there now and she’s just heartbroken,” she added.
IFS says students who get low paid job to lose out from loan repayment rules even more than it thought
Last week the government published its plans to change the rate at which students have to repay their student loans. The details were published on the day the war in Ukraine started, which was convenient because the plans involve students having to pay more, to address the fact that under the current arrangements only a quarter of students repay their loans in full. The Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank published a snap analysis saying that students who go on to become high earners will gain from the changes while students who become low earners will lose, and that men will gain from the changes on average, while women will lose.
Today the IFS has published an updated analysis saying that students who go on to get relatively low-paid jobs will lose out by even more than it originally calculated.
UPDATE: Our updated analysis finds that the earnings hit for lower-earning student loan borrowers under the new student loans system presented last week is set to be even higher than we previously said.
— Institute for Fiscal Studies (@TheIFS) March 2, 2022
Here we explain why: [1/8]https://t.co/xCyWeHMmfl pic.twitter.com/zTMMzPr1ZS
In another tweet, Paul Johnson, the IFS director, explains why: “That’s because the earnings threshold for repayments is set to be increased with inflation, not earnings as previously. Sorry we didn’t spot that before - rather buried in the supporting documentation.”
The government has made levelling up its core domestic policy aim. Yet the Department for Education’s own equality impact assessment (pdf) of the plans echoes the IFS assessment and says that poorer graduates, as well as those from the north of England, are likely to lose out. It says:
Alongside younger and female borrowers, those likely to see some negative impact with increased lifetime repayments under the reforms for both post-2012 and new borrowers are more likely than average to have characteristics of white or black ethnicity, from disadvantaged backgrounds, or reside in the North, Midlands, south-west or Yorkshire and the Humber.
Updated
Here are some pictures of the moment when Vadym Prystaiko, the Ukrainian ambassador to the UK, was given a standing ovation by MPs at the start of PMQs.
Photograph: Jessica Taylor/AP
And here is video of the applause.
Updated
No 10 claims war crimes being committed in Ukraine by Russia 'almost hourly'
Here are the main points from the post-PMQs Downing Street lobby breifing.
- No 10 said a “significant proportion” of people who are set to appear on a published UK government list of people in Briton deemed to have links with Vladimir Putin’s regime will be hit by sanctions. At PMQs Boris Johnson said a list would be published of people associated with the Putin regime. Asked about the list, the PM’s spokesperson said:
I think it is in the interest of transparency [to publish the list]. We want to highlight the individuals – and I think you will have seen some MPs doing that in the house, using privilege - and where possible we will publish further details so the public can see where we believe there are individuals who are benefitting from the Putin regime.
Asked if those on the list could face sanctions, he replied: “I think you would expect that a significant proportion would end up on our sanctions regime or indeed sanctions we are coordinating with the EU and the US.”
- The spokesperson said businesses should think “very carefully” about associating themselves with Russians on the forthcoming list. Asked whether the list would serve as a warning not to do business with those who featured on it, the spokesperson said:
It may well have that effect. I think what we are trying to do across the board, whether it is with businesses or oligarchs or in the cultural sector as well, is to make clear that, even where we are not taking legislative action, people should think very carefully about how they engage with any organisations that may be assisting Putin – even inadvertently – in the attack and invasion of Ukraine.
Asked if the Conservative party would take that advice on board, the PM’s press secretary said: “Yes.” (At the weekend the Sunday Times reported that Quintessentially, the luxury service company founded by the Conservative party co-chair, Ben Elliott, employs 50 people in its Moscow office and does a lot of work for wealthy Russians.)
- The spokesperson said that the government thought war crimes were being committed in Ukraine “almost hourly”. During PMQs Boris Johnson said he thought it was clear that war crimes had already been committed by the Russians. He said:
What we have seen already from Vladimir Putin’s regime, in the use of the munitions that they have already been dropping on innocent civilians, in my view already fully qualifies as a war crime.
At the briefing, asked whether Boris Johnson regarded the Russian attack on the Kyiv holocaust memorial at Babi Yar or the targeting of apartment blocks as war crimes, the PM’s spokesperson said:
I think all of those you’ve listed could fall in that category.
Obviously, formally it will be for a criminal court to make that ruling but I think no one can be in any doubt that what we’re seeing daily, almost hourly now, are horrific acts that would certainly appear to be war crimes.
The spokesman confirmed it was the first time No 10 had explicitly stated that view.
Updated
PMQs - snap verdict
We’re on day seven of the Ukraine war and generally, so far, it has been going rather well for Boris Johnson. He has been denouncing Russia in terms supported by most of the country, his updates to the Commons have been well received, the Ukrainian president clearly has warmly welcomed the military support he is getting from the UK, and on the international stage Johnson seems to have had some success in nudging allies towards tougher stances (particularly on Swift). The standing ovation given to the Ukrainian ambassador was moving (especially for people in the chamber, colleagues tell me) and Johnson may have finished the applause thinking he would be able to spend the next 30 minutes avoiding harsh attacks, and engaging in consensual Putin-bashing.
But he did not get an easy ride at all. It may not have been a disaster, but it was a deeply uncomfortable PMQs for the prime minister, that left him looking compromised and exposed.
Johnson faced repeated criticism, on two issues. First, there were complaints that the UK should be following the EU and adopting a much more generous approach to Ukrainians fleeing the war and seeking sanctuary. Labour has been pushing this argument, and at PMQs it was also made strongly by the Scottish and Welsh nationalists (who represent countries where the political consensus on immigration is quite different to England’s). Johnson is probably only PM because he adopted a political cause fuelled by public concern about migration from eastern Europe, but he must be wondering whether, on this issue, he is now on the wrong side of public opinion. The polling certainly suggests he is. (See 11.56am.)
But on Ukrainian refugees, Johnson at least at an answer. When questioned by Keir Starmer on sanctions, and in particular on the government’s failure to impose sanctions yet on named oligarchs, Johnson was floundering badly because he did not have credible answers at all.
To illustrate the point here (from PA Media) are Starmer’s first three questions. He started with this:
We must stand up to Putin and those who prop up his regime. Roman Abramovich is the owner of Chelsea Football Club and various other high-value assets in the United Kingdom. He’s a person of interest to the Home Office because of his links to the Russian state and his public association with corrupt activity and practices. Last week, the prime minister said that Abramovich is facing sanctions. He later corrected the record to say that he isn’t. Well, why on earth isn’t he?
Johnson said it would not be “appropriate” to comment on individuals cases at this point - before saying that later the government would publish “a full list of all those associated with the Putin regime”.
Starmer’s next question was about another oligarch.
Last week, Putin summoned to the Kremlin the cronies who prop up his regime, they dip their hands in the blood of Putin’s war. Among them was Igor Shuvalov, Putin’s former deputy prime minister. Shuvalov owns two flats, not five minutes walk from this house. They’re worth over £11m. He is on the EU sanctions list, but he’s not on the UK sanctions list. When will the prime minister sort this out?
Johnson dodged this one too, saying he was “proud of what we have done already”.
Starmer then asked about Shuvalov again.
We only know which oligarch lurks beneath [the shell company that owns Shuvalov’s flats] because of the information obtained and disclosed by Alexei Navalny. Navalny, of course, was poisoned by the Russian state and he now sits in a Putin jail. Transparency is essential to rooting out corruption. It should be built into our law but it’s not. And I’m ashamed that we only know about Shuvalov’s Westminster flats because a dissident risked his life. Is the prime minister?
In reply, Johnson claimed the UK was “doing everything that we can to expose ill-gotten Russian loot”. But this boast is untrue - as Chris Bryant illustrated when he returned to the government’s failure to sanction prominent Russians. Starmer did not directly raise the large sums given to the Conservative party by Russian linked donors over the years, but another Labour MP, Bill Esterson did - perhaps a sign that Labour MPs are coodinating their questions with the frontbench?
If so, it’s working, because collectively Starmer and his colleagues built a strong case against the government. (A Tory MP, Bob Seely - a leading Commons hawk on Russia - also chipped in, compounding the PM’s embarrassment.) Journalists have been writing about Tory links with wealthy Russians for years, but it has been hard to prove that ministers are in the pocket of pro-Kremlin oligarchs. That’s because a) it is never quite clear how close to Vladimir Putin these donors are (although they tend not be be fierce Putin critics - because those are the Russians who end up dying in the UK in mysterious circumstances); and b) it is not obvious what they are getting for their money (favours for Putin, or protection from Putin?).
But the impression remains that there is something murky going on, and Johnson’s inability today to explain why sanctions are not being pursued more vigorously won’t have helped.
Updated
Angela Crawley (SNP) asks why the UK will not match the EU’s offer of visa-free entry for Ukrainians.
Johnson says the EU has the visa-free Schengen zone. The UK is different, and so giving up checks would not be appropriate, he says.
Alexander Stafford (Con) says he has a Ukrainian grandfather. He is proud of his heritage. Will the PM continue to look at every possible option to punish Putin and his inner circle?
Johnson will do that. He says the Ukrainians contributed 10 million people to the fight against fascism in the second world war.
Updated
Alec Shelbrooke (Con) asks the PM to do what he can to protect Kyiv from the Russian convoy heading towards it.
Johnson says he spoke to the Ukrainian president this morning. He says people might think it is easy to attack this convoy. But “unfortunately it turns out, military, it is not as easy as you might think”, he says.
John Penrose (Con) asks why the government abandoned the “one in, two out” approach to regulations.
Johnson says we have a new secretary of state for post-Brexit freedoms, Jacob Rees-Mogg.
(In fact, Rees-Mogg is a minister of state - a more junior minister - not a secretary of state.)
Chris Bryant (Lab) says the UK signed an agreement guaranteeing the territorial integrity of Ukraine. But we are not doing that. He names several Russians who he says should be sanctioned and who are not being sanctioned. Why does the government not use parliamentary privilege to identify these people (giving ministers protection from libel action).
Johnson says he does not want a direct military confrontation with Russia. That would play into Putin’s narrative, about Nato being the aggressor. He says the UK is already imposing sanctions, and it will continue to go further.
UPDATE: Bryant said:
Putin is the only enemy but I do feel ashamed. The United Kingdom signed the Budapest Accord in 1994, guaranteeing the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
The 23 men who once sat on these benches gave their lives for plucky little Belgium; they have shields [commemorative shields in the Commons chamber] down that end, 22 did the same for Poland; they have shields down this end.
And we are not guaranteeing the territorial integrity of Ukraine. I don’t want war, nobody wants war. We are not even sanctioning Sergey Shoygu, the Russian defence minister, yet. Nor Igor Osipov, the commander of the Black Sea fleet ...
Why don’t we use parliamentary privilege to get this out there so the lawyers can’t attack the sanctions that we must surely bring, rapidly, today?
Updated
In response to a closed question from Bob Seely about a foreign lobbying bill, Johnson says the government will update parliament in due course.
Seely says law firms and finance companies are working on behalf of Russians. This is how corruption happens, he says.
Johnson says law firms are regulated. They are told to comply with sanctions. They have obligations to protect the reputation of the UK.
UPDATE: Seely said:
Key oligarchs enforce the Kremlin’s hybrid conflict. In Britain one of its aims is to ensure safe passage for money flows offshore whilst law firms intimidate into silence those who would investigate, be it the media or even the National Crime Agency.
Does the prime minister understand this is how state corruption happens and this is systemic, planned subversion? Does he realise the seriousness of what has been happening with the law firms and the finance companies in recent years?
Johnson replied:
The law firms in this country are regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. They were reminded on February 23 the need to comply with sanctions regulations and legislation.
There are regular checks to ensure they are doing so. They have responsibilities under that regime to safeguard the UK and to protect the reputation of the Untied Kingdom legal services industry. Cleary they will face sanctions if they fail to do so.
Updated
Johnson says people who are clinically vulnerable should continue to have access to free Covid tests.
Bill Esterson (Lab) asks if the PM will instruct the Tory party to return the £2m it received from Lubov Chernukhin. He says she received money from a Russian MP who was sanctioned.
Johnson says it is essential to show that this is not about the Russian people.
Updated
Ruth Edwards (Con) asks about a constituent who collapsed and died during a football game. She asks for VAT to be removed from commerical defibrilators.
Johnson offers his condolences to the family of the constituent who died, and says he will meet with Edwards to discuss the VAT point.
Andy Carter (Con) says life expectancy for some of his constituents is 12 years below the national average. Is tackling health inequalities key to levelling up? And he asks for a new hospital in his constituency.
Johnson claims the govenrment is building a record number of hospitals.
Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid Cymru leader at Westminster, says Ireland has waived visa requirements for Ukrainians for three years. Why won’t the UK do the same?
Johnson claims the arrangements in place are “very generous”.
Johnson criticised the clean air zone proposed by Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester.
Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, says Putin is a war criminal. The full range of war crimes offences should be used, including the crime of starting an aggressive war. But the UK has always refused to back prosecutions for the crime of aggression in the past. Will that change?
Johnson says what we have already seen, such as the use of munitions against civilians, justifies a war crimes prosecution.
Blackford says we need to help the Ukrainians right now. This is a moment for Europe to stand united. The EU has waived visa requirements for Ukrainians. But the UK hasn’t. Will the government waive waive all visa requirements for them?
Johnson says the situation is different in the EU because Ukrainians can enter freely under the Schengen agreement. But the UK will not abandon all checks. There are reasonable security concerns about people coming from that war zone, he says.
Neil Parish (Con), chair of the environment committee, says Ukraine is a great wheat producer. He urges the PM to strengthen the UK’s food security. Johnson welcomes the comment.
Starmer says he hopes the government can work with the opposition and pass amendments to the bill on Monday. He says now is the time to sanction all oligarchs.
Johnson says nothing being done to root out corrupt money in London should distract from where the blame for this lies - with President Putin. He says Putin must fail in his venture.
Updated
Starmer says he has already acknowledged the point Johnson made. He says Labour is willing to fast-track the economic crime bill. They could vote it through on Monday. And will the government include ID checks for directors?
Johnson claims the government is bringing forward measures at an accelerated pace. He repeats the point about how the government plans to publish a list of people linked to Putin.
Starmer says the register of ownership included in the economic crime bill will not come into effect for 18 months. Why are oligarchs getting 18 months to sell their property?
Johnson avoids the question again, and claims the UK is leading the way. The Russian stock market has not been able to open for three days in a row, he says. He says the UK has been leading the way. Starmer should acknowledge that, he says.
Starmer says there should be transparency. We only know about this oligarch’s Westminster flats because of someone who risked his life. He says that is shameful.
Johnon avoids the question, and claims the government is doing everything it can.
Starmer mentions another oligarch, sanctioned by the EU but not the UK. When will he be sanctioned?
Johnson says the UK should be proud of what it has done already, and there is more to be done. The squeeze is growing, he says.
Starmer calls for Roman Abramovich to face sanctions
Keir Starmer says the Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is a person of interest to the Home Office because of his links to corrupt practices. He says Johnson last week said Abramovich was subject to sanctions, and then corrected himself. Why isn’t Abramovich subject to sanctions?
Johnson says it would not be appropriate to discuss individual cases. He says sanctions are having an impact. He says the government will subsequently publish a full list of people associated with the Putin regime (who will be sanctioned, he implies).
Updated
Johnson announces £20m in humanitarian aid
Boris Johnson says President Putin has gravely miscalculated, and underestimated the resolve the world in opposing him. He says he hopes other countries will back the UK at the UN today in voting for a resolution telling Putin to turn back his tanks.
He says an appeal for Ukraine is being launched today. Every pound donated will be matched by the government, starting with £20m.
Updated
Hoyle (a stickler for the rules) says applause is not generally allowed in the chamber, but he tells the ambassador MPs wanted to show their support for his country.
Ukrainian ambassador receives rare standing ovation from MPs at start of PMQs
The Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, starts by saying he expects MPs to be courteous. And he welcomes the Ukrainian ambassador to the Commons. He is in the gallery to watch PMQs.
MPs are giving him a standing ovation. This is very, very unusual - and rather moving.
Updated
From the Mirror’s Pippa Crerar
Ukrainian ambassador to U.K. Vadym Prystaiko is in the House of Commons chamber for #PMQs.
— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) March 2, 2022
From Politics Home’s Kate Proctor
Boris Johnson arrives to quite a fullsome cheer from his side.
— Kate Proctor (@Kate_M_Proctor) March 2, 2022
From the i’s Paul Waugh
Lot of MPs on all sides wearing Ukraine 🇺🇦 badges in Commons, whips handing them out to those who haven't had chance to get one
— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) March 2, 2022
From the Sun’s Kate Ferguson
Boris arrives for PMQs. Looks like he has had a haircut
— Kate Ferguson (@kateferguson4) March 2, 2022
PMQs
PMQs is about to start.
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
Momentum condemns threat to withdraw Labour whip from John McDonnell over Stop the War rally attendance
John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor, is scheduled to speak at a Stop the War rally tonight. But, according to a report by Kevin Schofield for HuffPost, McDonnell has been told that he will lose the Labour whip if he attends because it will be taken as support for Stop the War’s anti-Nato stance. Yesterday Keir Starmer said:
We were the party that was there at the foundation of Nato. It’s been absolutely integral to the security and safety of Europe ever since.
And there’s no place for anybody in the Labour party who makes the false equivalence between the aggression of Russia and defensive action of Nato and we’re very, very clear about where we stand.
HuffPost says McDonnell has not yet said whether or not he will attend.
Momentum, the Labour group set up to support Jeremy Corbyn and his agenda, has condemned the threat to McDonnell.
The flagrant misuse of the whip to silence left-wing MPs is shameful.@johnmcdonnellMP and @socialistcam MPs have strongly condemned Putin's aggression and led calls to welcome refugees and adopt a Magnitsky Act.
— Momentum 🌹 (@PeoplesMomentum) March 2, 2022
But still Starmer threatens them. https://t.co/rk3nDFiEGp
Updated
According to polling by YouGov, more than three-quarters of Britons are in favour of Ukrainian refugees being allowed to come to the country.
Three quarters of Britons now say we should take in Ukrainian refugees, and in greater numbers
— YouGov (@YouGov) March 2, 2022
Support: 76% (+13 from 24-25 Feb)
Oppose: 11% (-7)https://t.co/QGaz7YUpcL pic.twitter.com/fJISGKDBgF
The polling also shows that the proportion of Britons saying the UK has a moral obligation to offer asylum to Ukrainian refugees has been rising and now stands at 65%. Labour voters believe this very strongly. As the war was starting Conservative voters were more likely to say the UK did not have a moral obligation of this kind, but that has now changed and now, by almost two to one, they say the country is morally obliged to offer asylum to Ukrainians fleeing the war.
Does the UK have a moral obligation to offer asylum to Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian invasion?
— YouGov (@YouGov) March 2, 2022
ALL BRITONS
Does: 65% (+15)
Does not: 22% (-10)
CON VOTERS
Does: 58% (+20)
Does not: 31% (-16)
LAB VOTERS
Does: 82% (+15)
Does not: 12% (-6)https://t.co/QGaz7YUpcL pic.twitter.com/5gTimOp3XD
These figures probably help to explain why the government announced a shift in policy yesterday (opinion is shifting because the situtation in Ukraine is deteriorating - ministers don’t need polling to tell them when the context has shifted), but ministers are still a long way off offering asylum to any Ukrainian who wants to come to the UK. (See 10.56am.)
Updated
Johnson wants sanctions against Russia to 'go further', No 10 says
Boris Johnson spoke to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, this morning. We got the Ukrainian readout in the form of a tweet, but No 10 has now sent out its account of what happened. It says that Johnson wants sanctions to “go further”.
A No 10 spokesperson said:
The prime minister spoke to Ukrainian president Zelenskyy this morning to condemn the abhorrent attacks on Ukraine in the recent hours and days.
The prime minister told President Zelenskiy that the UK was rallying UN general assembly members today, to ensure the strongest possible condemnation of Russia at this afternoon’s UN meeting in New York.
Sharing his disgust at the attacks on Ukraine, the prime minister said the UK was doing everything possible to support the Ukrainian people and their resistance.
President Zelenskiy thanked the prime minister for the UK’s support and leadership in ensuring defensive aid reached Ukraine and said it had been vital in holding back Russian forces.
Both leaders agreed on the need for sanctions to go further to exert maximum pressure on President Putin in the coming days.
The prime minister said his thoughts and prayers, and those of the UK, were with the Ukrainian people.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, has posted a message on Twitter thanking the UK for its continued support as his country defends itself against Russia.
Coordinated actions with 🇬🇧 Prime Minister @BorisJohnson. Reported on the course of 🇺🇦 defense and the latest crimes of Russia against the civilian population. We are grateful for 🇬🇧 continued significant assistance in combating aggression. Together with partners we defend 🇺🇦!
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 2, 2022
In the Commons yesterday, in response to claims that the government should be making it easier for Ukrainians fleeing the war to come to the UK, Priti Patel, the home secretary, suggested Ukrainian officials did not want the UK to operate an open visa regime. Claiming that her policy reflected advice from ambassadors in the region, she told MPs:
We are being told clearly that people want to stay in the region. It is a fact that what is happening in Ukraine right now, with the amazing and heroic resistance being shown, is that people are fighting for the freedom of their country, and family members and loved ones want to stay in the region.
In the Times today (paywall) Matt Dathan and Steven Swinford are more explicit, claiming the Ukrainian government has told the UK it does not want its citizens to qualify for visa-free entry to the country. They report:
Priti Patel, the home secretary, told a cabinet meeting on Monday that allowing visa-free travel would undermine the “express wishes” of the Ukrainian government. She said that Ukraine wanted people to return and remain invested in its future and that is why they expected most refugees to remain in neighbouring countries.
Another cabinet minister warned that making the policy too generous would be like “throwing in the towel”. A government source said: “There’s a danger that a narrative gets hold that ‘they’re all fleeing, they’re off to Berlin, Paris and London’. Putin would take advantage of this and put out the message that the Ukrainians are fleeing, they’re not putting up a fight. It would give Putin a propaganda tool, which is why the Ukrainian government is saying: ‘We need people to stay, and we need people armed with guns.’”
Updated
Scottish Labour is planning a significant rebrand, switching the traditional New Labour red rose for a thistle, in order to communicate a far more distinctive Scottish identity.
The move will be announced by the party leader, Anas Sarwar, at this weekend’s party conference in Glasgow; reportedly focus groups say the rose is tired with little political resonance, and also a symbol of England.
Particularly since the 2014 independence referendum, the Scottish party has struggled to carve out a separate identity and escape former leader Johan Lamont’s crushing assessment that the party was little more than “a branch office” to London HQ.
Sarwar, who became leader only weeks before last year’s Holyrood elections, which again saw Scottish Labour take third place behind the Scottish Tories, has spoken at length about the need for a culture change throughout the party in order to reconnect with voters.
Updated
Welsh government announces plans to make second home ownership more expensive
The Welsh government has announced two measures that could make owning a second home in Wales much more expensive.
First, the council tax premium that local authorities can impose on second homes will rise from 100% to 300% in April next year.
And, second, homes let out as holiday accommodation will have to be let out for at least 182 days a year to qualify for business rates instead of the (more expensive) council tax, instead of at least 70 days, the current threshold.
Announcing the changes, Rebecca Evans, minister for finance and local government in the Welsh government, said:
These changes will give more flexibility to local authorities and provide more support to local communities in addressing the negative impacts that second homes and long-term empty properties can have.
Will Hayward from Wales Online has a good Twitter thread explaining the changes here.
The Welsh Government has announced some pretty tough measures to tackle the issue of second homes in Wales.
— Will Hayward (@WillHayCardiff) March 2, 2022
This is a joint policy and part of the Co-operation Agreement with Plaid Cymru.
Let's take a look at what it means:
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The Electoral Commission has published figures this morning showing donations to political parties in the final quarter of 2021. The Conservative party accepted £4.9m, Labour accepted £2m, the Lib Dems accepted £610,000 and the SNP accepted £87,000.
Stephen Kinnock, the shadow immigration minister, told Sky News this morning he was “mystified” as to why the government had not published more names of Russian oligarchs facing sanctions. He said:
I am just mystified as to why the British government is not publishing the names of the people that we are sanctioning and getting on with the job. It’s too slow and just looks like foot-dragging.
The government’s got to step up and show the leadership that we must show just to reflect the tremendous courage and leadership that the people are showing.
Yesterday in the Commons his Labour colleague, Chris Bryant, claimed that Roman Abramovich was worried about being sanctioned and selling property in the UK quickly in the hope of getting rid of it before sanctions took effect.
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Wallace says Russia will face 'years of resistance' if it tries to occupy Ukraine
And here is a full summary of what Ben Wallace said in his morning interviews.
- Wallace, the defence secretary, said the Russians were “considerably behind” their invasion schedule and this was putting pressure on their supply lines. (See 8.51am). He told the BBC:
The Russians are considerably behind their schedule, by days not hours, and that leads to stresses on their logistical supply chains. That’s why you have seen some of these columns fairly grind to a halt.
- He said that, although none of the major cities in Ukraine had yet fallen to the Russians, the invaders were likely to resort to carpet bombing. He told the BBC that siege tactics were in the Russian military doctrine, with forces surrounding a city before they “bombard it indiscriminately and then eventually close in on a population that they hope to have broken, and indeed take over what’s left of the city”. He added: “We’ve seen that in Chechnya before.
- He claimed imposing a no-fly zone would help the Russians. (See 8.55am.)
- He said Russian soldiers were demoralised and had been deceived by their leaders. He said:
We have definitely seen cases of very quick surrenders by Russian forces, we have seen lots of abandonment of incredible pieces of equipment.
That is what happens when your military leaders don’t prepare you, lie to you or deceive you and also you base a military plan based on an arrogant assumption that you are the liberator.
- He said the Russians would face the sort of insurgency seen in Afghanistan and Iraq. He said:
Invading a country with overwhelming force is one thing, occupying a people of 44 million who don’t want you in it is a very different thing.
Russia would face “years of resistance” if it sought to occupy the country, he said.
- He rejected a suggestion that Russian deserters should be offered asylum in the west. He said:
I take the view that the best thing that Russian deserters can do is go back to Russia, tell the Russian people they are being deceived, tell the Russian people that their military leaders are causing huge amounts of unnecessary suffering and losses because of either incompetence or arrogance, and they can go back and tell the mothers, who are wondering where their thousands of disappeared sons are.
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Imposing no-fly zone over Ukraine would help Russia, says Wallace
Six days ago, when Boris Johnson was asked by Tories in the House of Commons if he would back the implementation of a no-fly zone over Ukraine to help the Ukrainians resist the Russian invasion, he was unwilling to rule out the idea. Although he made it clear he was not keen, he said he was keeping all options open.
Ministers soon firmed up their opposition to the idea, arguing that it would lead to Nato going to war with Russia. Yesterday Johnson was very explicit about this, saying a no-fly zone was “not on the agenda of any Nato country”.
But the pressure from Ukraine for Nato to impose a no-fly zone has not eased up, and in his interviews this morning Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, rolled out a new argument. As well as saying it would trigger war with Russia (a fairly strong argument in the Whitehall debate), he said a no-fly zone would help the Russians. He told Times Radio:
There’s been a lot of no-fly zone suggestions, and no one seems to actually analyse what no fly zone means and what it would mean for Ukrainian armed forces.
The Ukrainian armed forces are outnumbered on the ground massively by Russian armour and Russian army. One of the few weapons they have against those soldiers on the ground and forces, like those big armoured columns, is the ability to fly their fast jets and to use UAVs to strike logistical chains and their air defences etc.
If you have a no-fly zone, it will favour the force with the massive armed forces, which will be Russia because they will be able to carry on regardless. They also have lots of long range missiles. So they can substitute air attack with missiles attacks. So from a military point of view, it wouldn’t help Ukraine.
Secondly ... it would require British fighter jets to, to enforce it by using force against Russian fighter jets. And you would end up with potentially a Nato conflict with Russia across all of Europe.
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Russian invaders trying to switch tactics, says defence secretary
Good morning. Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, has been giving interviews this morning and he has been fleshing out the latest assessment of the state of the war in Ukraine from his department, the Ministry of Defence.
Latest Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/CeKxZDHRDk
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) March 2, 2022
This is what he told Sky News this morning when asked why the enormous Russian convoy heading for Kyiv seems to have stalled. Asked if this was because of logistical problems, or if this was a tactical decision, he replied:
Well, I think it’s a combination ... What we have seen is that the tactics weren’t correct, they were rather confident they would take many of these cities in a few hours rather than six days or longer. And when any army on the move takes longer to do things, your logistical supply chain is stretched. If you’re given enough rations for two days, and it takes you six, you’ve suddenly got a problem. And I think what we’ve seen is a lot of those issues are coming to bear.
They’ve also been surprised by the Ukrainian strength of the resistance. And the Ukrainians have been also carrying out a very clever plan. We’ve seen footage of Ukrainians using UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] to attack petrol train convoys, to go off logistical lines. We’ve seen railway lines blown up. All the things that you and I think about when you come to resistance, so I think that is effectively coming home to roost.
But it is also a switch in Russian tactics. The Russians have realised that the Ukrainians, by fighting, are costing them lots of casualties, and the Russians have taken significant casualties, far more than they would have planned.
What they are therefore doing is trying to switch tactics. What you’re seeing now is those heavy bombardments at night. They won’t come into the cities as much. They will, by the looks of thing, carpet bomb cities, indiscriminately in some cases. They will fly their air at night rather than daytime, because they get shot down in the daytime. And they slowly but surely try and surround the cities and then either bypass them or bombard them.
That is the brutality that we are witnessing and it’s going to get worse.
I will post more from his interviews soon.
Mostly I will be focusing on the UK response to the war today, but there will be some non-Ukraine politics here too. For more Ukraine coverage, do read our global live blog.
Here is the agenda for the day.
10am: Sir Tom Winsor, chief inspector for fire, gives evidence to the Commons home affairs committee on the state of fire services.
10.15am: Prof Graham Medley, chair of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M), gives evidence to the Commons science committee.
12pm: Boris Johnson faces Keir Starmer at PMQs.
12pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, is questioned by the Scottish parliament’s convenors’ group (Holyrood’s version of the Commons liaison committee).
2.30pm: Kemi Badenoch, the equalities minister, gives evidence to the Commons women and equalities committee.
5pm: Bishop Kenneth Nowakowski, bishop for Ukrainian, Belarusian and Slovak Eastern Catholics in GB, and Olesya Khromeychuk, director of the Ukrainian Institute, hold a press conference.
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