Ukraine

Baroness Suttie Excerpts

Friday 31st October 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Suttie (LD)]

My Lords, I too thank the Government for initiating this debate today and very much look forward to hearing the maiden speech of the noble Lord, Lord Barrow.

It is nearly four years since the full-scale and unprovoked invasion in February 2022. Ukraine faces a fourth harsh winter, with constant drone attacks, concerns about energy supplies, power cuts and, for many women and men, continued gruelling life on the front line, in the trenches. The huge psychological impact and disruption to family life, most particularly for children, is hard for us to imagine.

It is hugely important, as through the debate today, that the Ukrainian people know that there is no wavering in the UK’s support for Ukraine. There is strength too, as other noble Lords have said, in the continued cross-party consensus in this country on Ukraine. With the notable exception of some in Reform UK, Ukraine and Ukrainians can feel secure that they continue to have the support of all mainstream political parties in the UK.

It was very welcome that both the Prime Minister and the King continued to give public demonstrations of support during President Zelensky’s visit to London last week. Such things are symbolic but none the less remain incredibly important. For that reason, I profoundly disagreed with the leader of Kent County Council, from Reform UK, when she said in May that flying the Ukrainian flag was a “distraction” and removed it from County Hall. Flying Ukrainian flags on public buildings is a powerful symbol, and one that I know all my Ukrainian friends hugely appreciate when they come to London and see their flag flying all over Whitehall.

Ahead of the debate today, I was in contact with former colleagues and friends in Kyiv. Their messages to me this week have been characteristically determined, but they have made for sober reading. They fear that, once again, we will do too little, too late, and will not take the brave decisions that need to be taken now. One of their greatest fears is the rise of the populist right in Europe. Disinformation, political interference and manipulation are now very real threats across Europe and beyond. As President Zelensky has said on many occasions—and the Minister repeated—the war in Ukraine is our war too. Ukraine is fighting for our values of freedom, democracy and the rule of law. For this to be more than just words, we have to find ways to continue to take the people in this country with us.

Last month, I had the privilege of attending the Sarajevo Security Conference; I refer noble Lords to my entry in the register of interests. I was struck by the conversations I had with military representatives from some of the Nordic and Baltic states. Clearly, those countries that have borders with Russia feel and fear the consequences of the war in Ukraine much more directly. It is not surprising that they are rapidly changing their approaches to defence spending, military service and civil defence. The head of the Norwegian Civil Defence talked to me of their all-society approach to defence and security in Norway, an approach very much embraced in Finland and other Baltic states. It is an approach that puts trust, building resilience and public engagement at its centre. As people face an increasing number of hybrid threats, from power outages to disinformation campaigns and electoral interference, it is incredibly important that people understand that this is now the reality of hybrid war in the 21st century. It is directly connected to the war in Ukraine, and combatting it is all part of our wider defence and security policy. Developing such an all-society approach to defence is contained in the Government’s recent strategic defence review by the noble Lord, Lord Robertson. I would be grateful if, in her closing remarks, the Minister could say a little more about the plans to implement this in practice, as well as about the Government’s wider approach to implementing Article 3 of NATO.

Although people in the UK remain firmly supportive of Ukraine, as all recent opinion polls show, I think that, for many people, it is regarded as something that is happening far away that is not directly relevant to their lives. I genuinely worry that, if the conflict were to escalate, we have not yet built up the resilience or capacity in this country to deal with such a situation. As we substantially increase our defence spending, we have to take people with us. We need to do this through public engagement, as well as through education. We have much to learn about resilience, as well as about technologies and the realities of hybrid war, from Ukraine. In that, I very much agree with what the Minister said.

As the fourth winter of this war approaches, the backdrop remains bleak. President Trump continues to constantly change his mind about his relations with President Putin. The sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil are welcome, if late in the day. We must hope that the reality will one day finally dawn on President Trump that he has been humiliatingly played by the Kremlin.

With the exception of Hungary and Slovakia, it is welcome that the European allies remain united. The principle that only Ukraine should be able to decide Ukraine’s future remains the dominant view in Europe. It is welcome too that a move to increase European defence spending is agreed in principle. This will inevitably mean strengthening Europe’s military industrial capacity and streamlining procurement, but progress is slow and the processes cumbersome.

We face an incredibly difficult period ahead in relations with both Russia and China. New Russian weaponry, including hypersonic missiles, are a threat not just to Ukraine but to us all. When we now look back at the West’s response to Russia’s invasion of Crimea and eastern Ukraine in 2014, I would argue that the absence of a powerful and united response was a strategic error. It allowed President Putin to believe that he could carry out the full-scale invasion of 2022. He gambled on Ukraine being weak and divided, as well as on the West’s inability to unite. If he utterly misjudged the response of the Ukrainian people, he also largely misjudged the West’s response. This has, however, been made significantly more complex since President Trump returned to the White House in January this year.

It is hard to know if the current US-led discussions will lead to a ceasefire and an eventual peace. However, I very much hope that the UK will continue to play a pivotal role in ensuring that any such discussions adhere to two key principles: namely, that boundaries must never be redrawn by force and that only Ukraine should be allowed to decide upon its own future. I believe that history will harshly judge any solution that does not adhere to those principles.

King’s Speech

Baroness Suttie Excerpts

Thursday 25th July 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Suttie (LD)]

My Lords, I commend the noble Lord, Lord Polak, for that appeal. I associate these Benches with his appeal for the release of hostages.

I congratulate both noble Lords on the Government Front Bench and look forward to working with them. I also congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Robertson, on his appointment to carry out the strategic review—that is no small challenge.

I am deeply relieved, as other noble Lords including the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, have said they are, by the reset of relations with the EU. One can begin to hope that the psychodrama we have been living through since 2016 is finally over, but I hope that the Government will soon feel able to be more ambitious about our relationship with the EU. Is it fair, for example, that today’s young people and students, who did not vote for Brexit, have lost so many of the advantages of studying and working in EU countries? At the very least, I strongly urge the Government to rejoin Erasmus.

I will concentrate my remaining remarks on wider Europe and Ukraine. Like the noble Baroness, Lady Helic, I am very concerned by Putin’s activities in the wider Europe. On Monday this week, I met a Georgian fellow of the John Smith Trust—I declare an interest as a trustee—who was telling me about the deeply worrying recent developments in Georgia. It is a country where young people, particularly, so much want to look west and become part of the European family, but where the current Government in Tbilisi are increasingly controlled by the Putin regime. There is a very real risk of more violence and the repression of civil society, the media and political opposition in the run-up to the elections in Georgia in October. The knock-on consequences for neighbouring Armenia would be profound. Can the Minister say whether there are any plans to impose targeted sanctions on high-level Georgians who are supportive of the Putin regime?

Young people in the Caucasus and central Asia want closer academic and business relations with the UK; they want an alternative to their big neighbours of China and Russia. Most of all, they want to know that we understand their security concerns. The noble Lord, Lord Cameron, should be commended for the work he started in this regard, and I urge the new Government to develop a comprehensive strategy towards the countries of the former Soviet Union, including central Asia. The John Smith Trust fellows have an extremely well developed network of young leaders across the region. I am sure they would be very happy to work on such a strategy with the Government.

I will conclude with a few remarks on Ukraine. The continued cross-party consensus on Ukraine is very welcome. It remains the most critical area of foreign and defence policy that this country faces. Ahead of the debate, this week I was in touch with some Ukrainian friends who are close to the Administration in Kyiv, and they asked me to highlight two key issues of concern.

The first is sanctions. There are too many loopholes, and it is debatable whether they are having sufficient impact on the Putin war economy. For too many Russians in the Putin regime, sanctions are just an occasional inconvenience. I believe the UK is extremely well placed to take a lead on a substantial review of sanctions, to see whether there are ways they can be strengthened to be smarter and more targeted against those who support and enable Putin’s war of aggression against the people of Ukraine. The second area is the plight of the energy sector in Ukraine. Russia has consistently and cynically directed its missiles towards Ukrainian power stations. This has led to near-permanent power cuts. At the moment, power is on for two hours at a time in Kyiv and then switched off for five. There is an urgent need to build or rebuild power stations; my Ukrainian friends are already fearful of the winter ahead.

I know we already give generous financial contributions through the Ukraine energy support fund, but I urge the Minister to urgently do more to support the Ukrainian energy sector, including making it greener and more efficient—“building back better”, as the Ukrainian Government like to say. It is an area where we could make a big difference, relatively quickly, and I would be happy to meet the Minister to discuss this matter further. If the power stations are not rebuilt, Ukrainians will face another cold and dark winter, with many forced into another wave of emigration—perhaps as many as 5 million people. The effects on Ukrainian industry will be catastrophic in lost workforce and power. On this, as well as on so many other issues, Ukraine needs and deserves our urgent support.