Russian Attacks on Civilian Infrastructure

Earl of Clancarty Excerpts

Monday 8th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I hesitate to be too definitive in response to this, because it is a really interesting question about how government works. Sometimes it works very well, but the noble Lord points to changing demands upon government that we do need to give more thought to in how we interact. Where it works well, it is brilliant. It is seen when we go into crisis, such as in response to the hurricane in Jamaica. At the moment, I am working very closely with colleagues in the Department of Health on Ebola. It can work very well. Whether those moments of working so effectively can become the daily norm is something the Cabinet Secretary will be bending her mind to as we speak.

[The Earl of Clancarty (CB)]

My Lords, further to what the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, said about infrastructure, Russia is a signatory to the 1954 convention on the protection of culture in time of war, and its recent attacks have been absolutely appalling and need to be called out very strongly.

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

Clearly, Russia pays no regard to the commitments it has made previously on the protection of culture in times of war, or on anything else. The noble Earl is right that we should be condemning its actions on this, just as we do in so many other areas.