Russian Shadow Fleet

Lord Howell of Guildford Excerpts

Tuesday 16th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

I shall make a solemn commitment to the noble and learned Baroness, who is one of the most esteemed Members of this House. It will no doubt be noted by many of those who support me in my ministerial role that I am making a solemn parliamentary commitment that I will ensure that the House is informed of what happens to the oil, the ship and the crew. There we go. I cannot do much better than that.

[Lord Howell of Guildford (Con)]

One of the problems is that we do not know where these hundreds of ghost ships are at any one time or where they are going. There is a need to identify that. We should have a better system of international port links, possibly working with the Commonwealth, to achieve that.

While I am on my feet, I add that, having heard the mention of Lord Howard of Effingham keeping the Armada to the windward side of Britain, with the result that the ships all got smashed up and their goats and ships are on the islands of Scotland to this day, we have in this House his descendant, my noble friend Lord Effingham. We should be very proud that our contribution shows that the descendants of these brave people who saved England again and again is memorised and enshrined in that fact.

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

I have not got that in my briefing, but it is important to recognise the contribution that many have made through the ages, which is reflected in their families and their descendants today, and I take the noble Lord’s point. Alongside that, it is important that we look at how we more effectively work together across the international community to ensure that the sanctions regime is implemented much more effectively. As many people know, through history, economic sanctions and the denial of economic benefit to a country undermine its war effort, so we have taken action to do that. Can we do more working with our international allies? Of course we can.