Ukraine

Viscount Chandos Excerpts

Friday 25th October 2024 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Chandos (Lab)]

My Lords, as the noble Lord, Lord Robathan, said, there is a limit to what can be added, as nearly the 30th speaker, to a debate where there is such a heartening and profound level of consensus on all sides of the House, particularly as I am acutely conscious that this is not my usual field, unlike those other noble Lords who speak with deep expertise in defence, security and foreign affairs. Before I address one specific issue, I will therefore do no more than add one further small voice in support of the Government’s sure-footed execution of policy in relation to Ukraine, following in the footsteps of the previous Government, for which the noble Lord, Lord Ahmad, was such an excellent Minister in this House.

Even when there is such a high degree of cross-party agreement, however, there are still difficult and potentially controversial judgments to be made, such as on the use of Storm Shadow. I wish the Government well in making those judgments with the benefit of their consultation and communication with both Houses of Parliament. I very much enjoyed and was informed by the maiden speech of my noble friend Lord Spellar. In the months and years to come, your Lordships’ House may give time—not too much, I hope, given the many other pressing issues—to the question of this House’s composition. Over the years, I have heard suggestions from some quarters that too many former MPs were being appointed. I have always disagreed with this and believe that my noble friend’s speech powerfully supports that argument.

I should like to use the rest of my time to talk about the challenges for independent news reporting in Ukraine generally and for journalists individually. I declare my interest as entered in the register as chair of the Thomson Foundation, which trains journalists and supports sustainable independent media, principally in countries with low incomes and/or low press freedom. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 17 journalists and media workers have been killed in the conflict since Russia’s invasion in February 2022. These numbers may seem small in the context of the horrifying numbers of deaths of combatants and general civilians, but as a proportion of those journalists and photographers still reporting from the war zone, it is significant and a tragic reminder of the risks that are being incurred every day by those who are determined to report truthfully to the people of Ukraine and internationally on the events of the war and the political developments around it.

That reporting is completely vital to broad understanding of the conflict on which public support is based. Government, of course, has its own intelligence, but even then independent journalism can be an important additional source of information. My noble friend Lord Spellar and the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, talked about the need to counter the disinformation of the Putin regime. The UK and other Governments have supported media in Ukraine throughout the conflict in the form of physical assistance and grants to support reporting, establishing new networks and finding an audience in exile. Can my noble friend the Minister reassure your Lordships’ House that however much the cost of supplying military and reconstruction aid rises, the support for media will be maintained and, I hope, increased? Emergency support during the peak period of conflict is vital, but so too is support post conflict, whenever that may be, when organisations such as the Thomson Foundation, its cousin the Thomson Reuters Foundation and BBC Media Action can more easily play a role.

Following the invasion and annexation of Crimea, for instance, the Thomson Foundation—funded in this case principally by the EU—trained over 1,000 journalists in Ukraine, including on conflict-sensitive reporting about the thousands of internally displaced people. The online news site Kyiv Independent, of which a Thomson alumnus was a co-founder, was established three months before the 2022 invasion. It was a breakaway from an established Ukrainian news outlet whose proprietor had sought to impose editorial censorship on its journalists. It has become a vital source of day-to-day reporting on the war and all other matters Ukrainian, of the sort advocated so strongly by the noble Baroness, Lady Smith of Newnham.

I will end by briefly broadening the issue beyond Ukraine. The noble and gallant Lord, Lord Stirrup, described how Russia is using grain supply to strengthen its support among African countries, where China has also systematically and strategically sought to build geopolitical alliances. The FCDO has already provided vital funding for media development work in Africa, as well as in other regions such as the western Balkans. Can my noble friend the Minister ensure that, even with the public spending challenges of these times, the Government maintain and increase their commitment to this spending, as a highly cost-effective part of the defence of the international rules-based order?