Ukraine

Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale Excerpts

Friday 31st October 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Lab)]

My Lords, while noting in the Lords register the interests in relation to my advice to PricewaterhouseCoopers and RIDNE, I strongly welcome this debate and the excellent opening speech by my noble friend Lord Coaker, bringing this debate to life—as he did 12 months ago, too. It is a real pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Ricketts, and I strongly endorse his final point about the need to ensure that the British public understand the importance of the defence of Ukraine and the skills that they are developing in our own defence and development. I strongly support and welcome the Government’s commitment to the defence of Ukraine and to combating Russian aggression. I add to the long list that my noble friend provided in his opening speech particular praise for the training of Ukrainian recruits, in which this country has played a significant role. I am sure that has saved many lives on the front line and has helped in other ways too.

I strongly support the coalition of the willing and that development, not just for this conflict but in general terms, as we need to take a global stance against aggression and authoritarianism. In particular, it is important that we remember that that coalition is wider than just our European allies; it includes Japan, for example, and other countries that are as strongly committed to the defence of Ukraine and combating Russia as we are. I would like some indication from the Government, towards the end of this debate, that that understanding of the importance of a global coalition of the willing, not just a European one, will be something that we maintain.

As part of that effort, I hope that the Government, while building up our hard power—long overdue and definitely essential—recognise the importance of soft power too. At times over the past 12 months, it has been suggested that we would perhaps replace our efforts at soft power by more efforts on hard power. They have to go hand in hand, as we need to ensure that we have global support for this effort and are building a strengthening of democracy and the rule of law around the world, not just in this particular conflict on the eastern border of Europe.

I welcome the commitment to increased action on sanctions generally by the Government over this past month, but I highlight the issue of the more than £2 billion raised in the sale of Chelsea Football Club over three years ago. While the Government of the day definitely made some mistakes in the speed at which that was done and the nature of the agreement with Mr Abramovich, there was definitely some action happening and momentum building, towards the end of the previous Government, to secure the use of these assets for humanitarian purposes under the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, as Foreign Secretary and Andrew Mitchell as Minister for Development. I urge the new Foreign Secretary—perhaps this is a message that both my noble friends, as Ministers, could take back to her—to put the foot back on the pedal on this issue. It is criminal that these resources are still waiting to be used, when they could make such a difference in Ukraine and have such an impact elsewhere to ensure that the humanitarian purpose, agreed back in May 2022, could be fulfilled.

Finally, I endorse the comments already made by noble Lords about the stolen children of Ukraine who still lie behind Russian borders. Organisations such as Bring Kids Back UA and others have highlighted this issue very effectively and continue to campaign and work for the release of individual children, to bring them back across the border to their homeland. In another place, Johanna Baxter MP has been at the forefront of raising this issue. She recently wrote to Minister Doughty in the Foreign Office, raising specific issues that the UK could usefully support—the tracing of these children, the data that is available and the support for rescue missions, reintegration and, crucially, the rehabilitation of these children, who have been subjected to such trauma. There are thousands, potentially tens of thousands, of children still in this position. It is a weapon of war being used by President Putin to strike fear in the heart of every Ukrainian family. We need to stand firmly with those children and not, as happens far too often in war around the world, forget about them shortly after the war comes to a conclusion with a ceasefire. We must maintain the pressure over the years to bring every child back.