Corruption: Low and Middle-income Countries

Earl of Effingham Excerpts

Wednesday 29th October 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

It is not my job to speak for the Deputy Prime Minister, but our resolve on this remains unchanged and is shared by the newly appointed Foreign Secretary. My noble friend is right to raise the issue of the overseas territories. My colleague, Minister Doughty, recently met the overseas territories. There is progress. We have transparency measures, and fully transparent interest registers are available with Gibraltar, St Helena and, I think, Montserrat as well. There is more to do. Other OTs are taking steps in the right direction, but we want to see them go much further. We have taken the significant step, which I think my noble friend will appreciate, of sending the noble Baroness, Lady Hodge, to meet BVI to try to encourage it to do what we would like it to do because, as my noble friend says, this is so important in our international fight against illicit finance.

[The Earl of Effingham (Con)]

My Lords, strengthening existing powers is, of course, welcome, but we already have £25 billion in frozen Russian assets, £13 billion in frozen Libyan assets and £5 billion in frozen cryptocurrency. When are the Government going to take action to put these funds to good use to help our allies in Ukraine, and with the crypto to help our own citizens?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

Of course, the noble Earl is right, and nobody would like to see that money released and able to be spent in Ukraine more than me. We have to act within the law as it currently stands and as his Government left it last year. We do not have the power, as he knows, to seize those assets in a way that is straightforward, but we will work through the courts and with our neighbours and allies, across Europe specifically, to make sure that the people who caused the damage in Ukraine are held to account and that, whenever possible, they are the people who end up paying for it.