Category: Foreign Affairs

The statement made by David Lammy, the Deputy Prime Minister, on 22 June 2026.

I am making this statement on behalf of the Prime Minister. I spoke earlier today on the Prime Minister’s record across the country—stabilising the economy, driving down waiting lists in the national health service, and lifting half a million children out of poverty—but I want to start this statement by paying tribute to his record on foreign policy, which is second to none.

As Foreign Secretary when we entered government, I saw at first hand the Prime Minister rebuild our relationships across the world. The EU reset that we led put Britain at the heart of Europe once again. Embracing President Zelensky on the steps of Downing Street, on one of Ukraine’s darkest days, was symptomatic of the leadership that the Prime Minister has shown across Europe and in relation to the threats from Vladimir Putin—principled, courageous and on the right side of history. He drove investment for working people, with five trade deals in two years.

When it came to the most sober decision that a Prime Minister has to make—on a matter of life, death and war—and others were pushing for the UK to jump head first into another war in the middle east, Keir Starmer stood strong, stood firm and said, “No, this is not our war,” putting British soldiers and the national interest first. He made Britain safer, rebuilt Britain’s reputation around the world, and drove investment and growth that will support working families in Britain for decades to come. Regardless of their politics, everyone in this House owes a debt of gratitude to the Prime Minister on foreign affairs.

I turn now to the specifics of the G7 summit, and let me start with Ukraine. Once again, Russia chose to launch a huge attack on Ukraine on the eve of an international summit. In a show of its disdain for diplomacy, Russia killed innocent civilians in Kyiv and Kharkiv, and hit the 11th-century Pechersk Lavra, a sacred site at the very heart of Ukrainian culture. The G7 has a shared sense of outrage at Russia’s conduct, but we also have a shared sense that the situation is changing. Ukraine has a new-found momentum. It is increasingly able to push Russia back on the battlefield, and the mood in Moscow is turning against the war. Almost half a million Russians have now lost their lives. Each month Russia mobilises around 30,000 people, and each month it loses the same number on the battlefield, with no progress to show for it.

At the same time, the Russian economy is struggling and may already be in recession, so we will seize this moment by continuing our military support. We are providing more air defence missiles and our biggest package of drones to date, financed with the profits of seized Russian assets. We are providing vital export finance to help rebuild Ukraine’s energy system, and we are going further to increase the pressure on Russia’s economy, because we know the impact that this is having.

At the summit my right hon. and learned Friend the Prime Minister announced 70 new sanctions, bringing the UK up to around 500 sanctions on Russia this year alone, aimed at breaking up its military procurement supply chains and the illicit finance networks it uses to circumvent sanctions and, of course, targeting the Russian shadow fleet. I am sure the whole House will pay tribute to the Royal Marines who interdicted a shadow fleet vessel in the channel last weekend alongside officers from the National Crime Agency.

This is the moment to ramp up the pressure, and President Zelensky is clear that he is ready to talk, but this must recognise the reality on the ground and Ukraine’s new-found momentum. Any negotiations would need to be on the basis of the current line of control, not on Putin’s unrealistic demand for territory that he has failed to win on the battlefield. Russia should note the level of unity shown on this point and the G7’s pledge of unwavering support for Ukraine that will continue until we reach a just and lasting peace.

Let me turn to the middle east. Getting to the deal between the United States and Iran has been bumpy, but it creates a moment of opportunity to bring down the cost of living for the British people and put the middle east on a better path, which is vital for global stability. We are now working to help implement this deal to ensure that the region does not go back to war and that the 60-day negotiation period ends in a longer-term settlement.

Negotiations are the best way to secure our aims: first, that Iran is never allowed to have a nuclear weapon; secondly, that it stops its attacks across the region; and, thirdly, that the strait of Hormuz is reopened to shipping, with no restrictions and no tolls. That is why, with President Macron, we have brought together an international coalition ready to help reassure shipping. We are in talks now about how to deploy this multilateral military mission in support of the deal and to explore immediate support for de-mining in the strait.

We should also place this in the broadest possible context, recognising the need to make progress across the region. The extremely fragile ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon must be implemented in full, and I call on the Israeli Government to show restraint to that end, including in their use of inflammatory language. The G7 agreed to work together in support of their process and to strengthen the Lebanese Government, so that they can regain the monopoly on the use of force in the country.

On Palestine, I want to speak very frankly. Israel must stop blocking aid into Gaza, stop settlement expansion in the E1 area of East Jerusalem, which threatens the viability of the two-state solution, and stop settler violence across the west bank. We have a precious opportunity now to move on from the violence of the last three years in the interests of innocent people across the region. This should be our aim, bringing all our partners together in that effort.

Significant progress was also made last week on migration, with a strong G7 statement outlining practical common steps on returns and sanctioning the criminal gangs. With President Macron, my right hon. and learned Friend the Prime Minister took a big step in our bilateral co-operation by agreeing to extend the groundbreaking Sandhurst agreement, which has already prevented more than 40,000 migrant crossings into the UK. Under this deal, new police units and riot squads will be deployed to French beaches to stop migrant boats before they take to the water. This is vital and important work.

It is because of steps like that and the approach of this Government that we have removed 67,000 people with no right to be in our country. We have removed 9,000 foreign national offenders, and we are closing asylum hotels. We are turning the tide on these issues after years of failure. Under the last Government, net migration reached almost 1 million. We have reduced it by 82% in two years. UK immigration figures are the lowest today since 2012. Where the last Government failed, we are delivering.

The same is true on growth and investment. On the eve of the summit, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister welcomed the Prime Minister of Japan to Downing Street, to deepen our strategic partnership after they met in Tokyo in January. They agreed more than £18 billion-worth of investment in this country, creating tens of thousands of new jobs in infrastructure, offshore wind and financial services. That shows the value of building such bonds. This was followed, at the summit, with deals for a further £1.3 billion of investment from France and India in clean energy and artificial intelligence, creating more than 1,300 new jobs in Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister agreed with India’s Prime Minister Modi the entry into force of the UK-India free trade agreement. This is the UK’s quickest ever turnaround from signing to entry into force, and it is one of the biggest deals either country has ever done. It will boost British GDP by £4.8 billion and boost real wages for British workers by £2.2 billion.

Finally, the House will note that tomorrow marks the 10th anniversary of the Brexit referendum. We know the world has changed fundamentally since 2016. We know that Brexit has damaged the economy, so there is no doubt in our mind where the national interest lies today—in closer co-operation with Europe. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister agreed to intensify work to deepen our economic ties. We look forward to a forthcoming second UK-EU summit at the earliest opportunity.

Unity on Ukraine to protect our collective security; unity on the middle east to bring down the cost of living and bring back stability; progress on tackling illegal migration, driving down the numbers day after day; and huge new investments in the UK, creating new opportunities and changing people’s lives—real results for the British people. At the same time, the Government have brought down mortgage rates and inflation to help with the cost of living, and have held them flat to fight what is happening globally.

We are supporting families with the summer savings package, so that they can spend time together this August. We are banning social media for children to keep them safe, lifting half a million people out of poverty, boosting workers’ rights and renters’ rights, and bringing down NHS waiting lists at the highest rate for 17 years. This Government are focused on what really matters: serving the national interest and delivering for the British people. I commend this statement to the House.

The speech made by David Lammy, the Deputy Prime Minister, on 18 June 2026.

London has stood at the heart of the world’s gold trade for centuries and remains one of its most important bullion centres. Holding around 20 percent of global financial gold.  

But today’s subject matter actually carries more of a personal significance for me. 

My grandfather was a gold miner in Guyana. It’s what Guyanese people called a “pork-knocker”. Named for the pickled pork they would eat after a long day’s mining. 

And like prospectors before him, he travelled in search of gold, opportunity and a better life. 

His story speaks to both the hope and hazard of gold. 

The hope of work, of course of discovery – I have to say there weren’t many discoveries! – and prosperity, but also the hazard of a precious resource that, if exploited can scar landscapes, endanger lives and enrich the wrong people. 

And while illicit gold rarely captures headlines in the way other crimes of course do its consequences are real in the lives of our citizens and they are far-reaching. 

So we are here in common purpose: to ensure that gold is sourced, is traded and used responsibly. To ensure sustainability, higher standards and integrity. But above all, to ensure that it is trust that defines the global gold market, and not any sense of criminality. 

That matters enormously here in the United Kingdom. As home to one of the world’s leading bullion markets London has both an interest and a responsibility in maintaining the very highest of standards. 

The LBMA, the World Gold Council, civil society and others here in this room have shown genuine leadership in strengthening responsible sourcing, in improving due diligence and building confidence in global markets. And the London Good Delivery system remains a globally recognised benchmark for trust, and quality. 

So I think we are making real progress. But of course there is more to do. 

This is not simply a British challenge. Nor even an industry challenge. It is a global challenge, worth at least £90 billion every year. 

And a challenge of that scale demands a response of equal ambition. 

For criminals, the golden glimmer of opportunity is the means of moving and concealing illicit wealth. 

Easily transportable, gold can fit a fortune into the palm of unscrupulous hands. 

Unlike cash, it does not need a bank account, a password or an internet connection. It is harder to trace, once it flows into formal supply chains and so uniquely attractive to criminals the world over. 

The consequences are felt everywhere, in different ways. First, in conflict. In Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine and the war in Sudan, both bankrolled by dirty gold. 

Second, at the sharpest end, in the poorest nations children exposed to dangerous working conditions, rivers poisoned by mercury, citizens deprived of schools, hospitals and public services as resources that should be creating opportunity. 

Instead line the pockets of kleptocrats and their cronies. 

And third, in organised crime, I say in my capacity as Secretary of State for Justice. It is so easy to think of these harms as distant problems, confined to remote mines, far away. They are not. 

The same criminal networks that profit from illicit gold are the gangs involved in drug trafficking, people smuggling, cybercrime and fraud. 

What begins thousands of miles away has direct consequences on the streets of British towns and cities and other towns and cities around the world. And that is the human cost of illicit gold. 

So tackling it is not just a matter of market integrity. It is a matter of public safety and it is a critical front in the wider fight against illicit finance. 

Gold is also being abused as a means of conducting criminal transactions and we are seeing an increasing relationship between gold and crypto to further hide illegal activity.  

Ancient and modern forms of finance being pressed into service to fund illegal wars, circumvent sanctions or launder proceeds of crime.  

And as gold prices soar even higher, a 140 per cent rise since January 2023 and the world around us is ever-more turbulent the rewards for criminal gangs become even greater and so does their determination to exploit this trade. 

And that is why our response must be even stronger. 

The good news is that we are not starting from scratch here. 

As I mentioned earlier – we are seeing progress, much of it represented here in this room. And the UK Government is committed to building on that progress. 

Last year, my ministerial colleague at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Stephen Doughty announced a new, dedicated Public-Private Partnership on illicit gold flows with a domestic UK focus through the Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce. 

Chaired by the Foreign Office and the industry, it brings together government, law enforcement, civil society, the UK gold industry and the financial sector to share intelligence, identify threats and close the gaps that criminals seek to exploit. 

Its early success has reinforced the fact that criminal networks do not operate in silos. 

So neither can we. 

Just as criminals collaborate across borders, jurisdictions and markets, those who seek to stop them must collaborate even more effectively. 

Together, we must ensure there is no safe haven for illegally produced gold. No route to market for gold smuggled across borders and no opportunity for criminal networks to profit from exploitation and corruption.  

Having seen first-hand, when I was Foreign Secretary, the effort refineries put into diligence and scrutiny I am convinced that lasting progress depends on partnership across the entire supply chain. 

That is why I’m pleased my colleagues at the FCDO are pursuing a new international public-private partnership on illicit gold flows.  

This will bring together governments, industry and civil society to tackle illicit gold across the global supply chain and together, we can strengthen responsible sourcing, improve information sharing, support the implementation of OECD guidance, and FATF  standards and disrupt the criminal networks that profit from illicit gold trade. 

No business can solve it alone. No government can solve this alone. And no country can solve it alone. 

So our response must be international, must be coordinated, and must be sustained – principles at the heart of the UK’s Illicit Finance Summit which my friend the Foreign Secretary will host this December.  

The purpose is clear: to expose the scale of illicit finance, to strengthen transparency, enforcement and international standards and to build the partnerships needed to turn shared commitments into collective action. 

But while we strengthen our response to illicit gold flows, we must also address the harms they cause at source. From mercury-polluted rivers and deforestation, to the exploitation of communities and Indigenous Peoples who depend on these environments. 

That is why, alongside today’s focus on international supply chains, and the Illicit Finance Summit’s focus on illicit flows London Climate Action Week will highlight how the UK is working internationally to address the environmental, social and climate damage wrought by the global trade in dirty gold. 

The challenge is clearly complex, but the direction is clear. We must make it harder for criminals to hide wealth. Harder for corrupt actors to exploit global markets and harder for organised crime to profit from human suffering. 

Because, ultimately, that is what the fight against illicit gold is about. 

It is about whether valuable resources benefit communities, or criminal networks. Whether wealth serves citizens, or corrupt elites and whether organised crime continues to grow stronger.  

Or whether, together, we cut off the golden oxygen supply that sustains it. 

Gold should be a source of prosperity, not exploitation. A source of opportunity, not criminality and ensuring that that remains true is a responsibility that belongs to all of us.