Russian Shadow Fleet

Lord Cromwell Excerpts

Tuesday 16th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Cromwell (CB)]

While the Minister may have handed this off to the Department for Transport, can he comment on the likely fate of the crews of the ships that are being detained and on the future expectation of what will happen to the oil and to the ships themselves, many of which may be poorly maintained? I have a vision of our anchorages becoming full of these oil-filled rust buckets, which pose a real risk to our maritime environment. Anyone who remembers what happened with the Armada will know what happened to the ships that tried to go around the north of Scotland and down the coast. That poses a substantial environmental risk to us, should one of them come to grief. Could the Minister comment on that?

[Lord Coaker (Lab)]

I can comment on the environmental risk. Obviously that is important, and we will do all we can to ensure that we do not see any adverse impact or consequence of what we have done in that respect. As I have said, apart from the captain, who is in custody with the police in Bournemouth, the 24 others remain on board. The only legal way that they could come on to the UK mainland would be if they were to be repatriated—in other words, if they were coming here to be sent back to their country of origin. That answers that specific point. As for the ship, then noble Lord will remember the “Bella 1”, which was interdicted a few months ago. It was just off the coast of Scotland for a time, but, as I understand it, it is now in the Caribbean, far away from our shores. That is, I hope, an example of how, while we deal with the specific consequence of the interdiction, we are mindful of the potential environmental consequence. We are also mindful of what we do with the crew, but we do not want any environmental damage from the ships. However, that should not alter the fact that we will take action where we need to do so.