Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2024

Catherine West Excerpts

Thursday 14th March 2024 General Committees

[Catherine West (Hornsey and Wood Green) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under chairmanship, Mr Paisley. I thank the Minister for setting out the regulations.

Last month, we reached the two-year point since the initiation of this phase of President Putin’s egregious and unlawful war against the people of Ukraine. For more than two years, Ukraine has stood defiant against Putin’s warped imperial ambitions, and the price its people have been forced to pay has been immense. I reiterate Labour’s unwavering support for Ukraine and NATO, and our commitment to continue to support the UK Government. Despite the vast political difficulties currently facing our country, in supporting Ukraine we are wholly united.

We will continue to support measures such as the regulations, but we will also be candid and frank with the Minister when we believe that progress is not being made quickly enough, or where we see enduring oversights and gaps in the UK regime. Given the precarious global outlook, the prevalence of conflict elsewhere around the world and Putin’s growing tyranny at home, we must ensure that Ukraine’s victory remains a priority for the UK Government, as well as holding the criminal Russian regime to account, and our sanctions regime is integral to doing that.

Labour will support the regulations and will not seek to divide the Committee. The banning of the import of Russian diamonds processed in third countries is a common-sense measure, which represents a necessary additional step by the UK to cut off streams of finance that continue to flow into Russia’s war machine. Time and again, the shadow Europe Minister—my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty)—and others have made clear the challenge posed by third-country refinement as a means to illicitly import various Russian-origin goods and commodities into the UK, and it is welcome to see the Government finally taking our legitimate concern seriously.

I have some questions for the Minister. First, what steps are the Government now taking to seriously act on the alleged importation, via third countries, of Russian-origin oil to the UK? I am sure all Committee members agree that it would be absolutely unconscionable if Russian-origin oil refined elsewhere was still reaching UK shores. I hope the Minister can reassure us that the Government are taking our concerns seriously, and that commensurate action will be taken to address them.

Secondly, will the Minister elaborate on why the regulations will in the first instance apply only to stones equal to or larger than 1 carat from 1 March, and why that will not drop down to stones equal to or larger than 0.5 carats until 1 September? It seems like an unduly long time for the regulations to be expanded. I hope the Minister can account for why that is the case, and explain what assessment has been made of the delay in terms of the volume of imports and their value for the Russian Federation.

Thirdly, why has it taken so long for the measures to be devised and enacted? As I said, we are more than two years into this egregious war and obvious gaps in the regime are still being papered over. Will the Minister speak to the current resourcing levels at the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, and explain what recent assessment has been made pertaining to the speed at which we are acting?

Finally, are our allies and partners implementing the same ban on third-party imports? There seems to be less utility in bringing in such a prohibition if our allies and partners are not doing so alongside us. Will the Minister set out how effectively the Government are co-ordinating with our allies to reach shared goals on the implementation of sanctions?

I hope the Minister can provide the Committee with some answers to those questions and assure us that these issues still have the Government’s focus, what with everything else going on. As I said, we will support the regulations and we will not seek to divide the Committee. Ukraine’s victory against Russian barbarism should remain a key foreign policy priority in an increasingly precarious global outlook, and we will continue to do our part to support the Government in taking the necessary steps to achieve that.