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Tag: Keir Starmer

  • Keir Starmer – 2022 Comments on Attacks at Funeral of Shireen Abu Aqla

    Keir Starmer – 2022 Comments on Attacks at Funeral of Shireen Abu Aqla

    The comments made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on 14 May 2022.

    The attacks on mourners at the funeral of the journalist, Shireen Abu Aqla, have shocked the world.

    The Labour Party unequivocally condemns the violence by Israeli forces.

    Our thoughts are with Shireen’s family and all those who mourn her death.

    For them, this violence is only deepening their pain.

    The Labour Party stands with all those demanding accountability for the killing of Shireen Abu Aqla. International law and human rights must be upheld. There must be an independent and impartial inquiry to secure accountability for Shireen’s death.

    We will continue to support justice and the protection of human rights for the Palestinian people, and a sovereign Palestine alongside a secure Israel.

  • Keir Starmer – 2022 Loyal Address Speech

    Keir Starmer – 2022 Loyal Address Speech

    The speech made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, in the House of Commons on 10 May 2022.

    Before I turn to the Address, I thank His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales for delivering the Address this morning. I, too, pay tribute to Her Majesty in the year of her platinum jubilee. Her dedication to Britain has been a reassuring constant in an ever-changing world, her commitment to public duty a reminder of the responsibilities that we all owe each other, and her dignity and leadership an inspiration to all of us. She will forever have all our thanks for 70 years of service to our country. We all wish her well.

    I congratulate the Prime Minister, who has achieved a new first: the first resident of Downing Street to be a constituent of a Labour council. I am sure that it will serve him well. I also congratulate the mover and seconder on their fine and funny speeches. I understand that the hon. Member for Beverley and Holderness (Graham Stuart) owns over 900 copies of Eagle comic books. He is no old duffer. He is an extensive collector of the adventures of Dan Dare from the Inter-Planet Patrol: a comic book with a hero with a moral message, a spirit that he has channelled into his 17 years in this House. Although there is some mischief in him, as he demonstrated in his speech—I particularly liked his advice that you should not make an enemy of your party leader—so I think he is a little bit more Dennis the Menace.

    The hon. Member for Brecon and Radnorshire (Fay Jones) is dedicated not only to what was obviously a punishing consultation exercise on what to put into her speech but a punishing exercise regime. She is a former cox with Twickenham Rowing Club, a half-marathon runner and even an ironman competitor. Maybe she is an iron lady in the making.

    I know that if they were here, David Amess and James Brokenshire would have been proud of both the mover and the seconder. We all miss them both. I know that the pain on the Conservative Benches is still raw, with their friends taken too soon, but their passing leaves us united in our resolve to defeat the evils of both extremism and cancer.

    I also want to pay tribute to my dear friend, Jack Dromey. Jack picked fights on behalf of working people, and he won them. In 1975, he led the first Equal Pay Act strike. He campaigned for the rights of cleaners everywhere, from the House of Commons to MI5, and, in the last year of his life, he campaigned for a public inquiry on behalf of the families bereaved by covid. The only way in which we on the Labour Benches can really pay tribute to Jack is by aspiring to champion working people as well as he did.

    Times are hard, but they are much tougher than they should be. As we emerge from the pandemic, find a new place in the world outside the European Union and transition to a carbon-neutral economy, our country faces great challenges, but at the same time, great opportunities are within our reach. We can rebuild stronger, learning where our society and our services need more resilience. We can do more than just get Brexit done; we can ensure that Britain is in the best position to thrive outside the European Union, and we can lead the world in zero-carbon industries, generating high-skilled, high-wage jobs across the country. But for that to happen, we need a Government of the moment with the ideas that meet the aspirations of the British public. This thin Address, bereft of ideas or purpose and without a guiding principle or a road map for delivery, shows just how far the Government are from that. Too out of touch to meet the challenges of the moment, too tired to grasp the opportunities of the future, their time has passed.

    The first great challenge our country faces is the cost of living crisis. Inflation stands at 7% and rising; household bills have gone up by hundreds of pounds; the cost of the weekly shop has rocketed; and people are seeing their wages run out much earlier in the month and the value of their savings fall. I wish I could say that the worst is over, but last Thursday the Bank of England revised down Britain’s growth and revised up inflation. This Government’s failure to grow the economy over a decade, combined with their inertia in the face of spiralling bills, means that we are staring down the barrel of something we have not seen in decades: a stagflation crisis. That is a truly shocking legacy of this Government. It should humble those on the Conservative Benches who have ignored the red lights on our economy even while wages were frozen for over a decade, and whose complacency is best summed up by a Prime Minister whose response to the crisis was to make fun of those who were worrying about inflation.

    A Government of the moment would use the great powers they have to tackle this head on and bring forward an emergency Budget with a windfall tax for oil and gas producers which would raise billions—money that could be used to slash the cost of energy bills and help businesses keep their costs down. Even the bosses at BP do not agree when the Prime Minister says it would deter investment. It is a common sense solution, but instead the Government are bereft of leadership: the Chancellor ruling the windfall tax in, the Business Secretary ruling it out, and a Prime Minister who does not know what he thinks.

    It is not just about the short-term measures. A Government of the moment would take a step back from the crisis and ensure that Britain is never again so vulnerable to a surge in international prices, forced to go cap in hand from dictator to dictator looking for a quick fix of imported oil. That means standing up to those vested interests who oppose onshore wind, the cheapest and most reliable source of electricity that we have, but this Prime Minister is too weak to stand up to his Back Benchers. It means investing in the insulation we need to use less energy in our homes. That would take £400 off energy bills every year and cut gas imports by 15%, but this Prime Minister is far too concerned with vanity projects ever to prioritise investment in insulating homes. So we are left with an energy Bill not up to the moment. It is the latest chapter in a pathetic response to the cost of living crisis. Where there should have been support, it has been tax rise after tax rise on working people—the only country in the G7 to do so during a cost of living crisis.

    The low growth that led to the stagnation we see today is the same reason wages have been frozen for so long. Over 12 years of Tory Government the economy has grown far slower than when Labour was in power, and it is set to go even slower in coming years—the slowest-growing economy in the G7 next year. As the director general of the CBI said:

    “For a country that is used to growth at 2 – 2.5%”—

    the Conservative record—

    “is simply not good enough.”

    We cannot afford to go on like this. If the Tories had simply matched Labour’s record on growth in Government, people would have had higher incomes, boosting public finances, and we could have spent over £40 billion more on public services without having to raise a single tax.

    So the second great challenge our country faces is to get Britain growing again. A Government of the moment would have grasped the nettle and set out a new approach to the economy; an approach based on a stronger partnership between Government and businesses; a partnership dedicated to growth. There would have been an industrial strategy to grow the industries of the future, with the Government providing initial investment that brings confidence and security and acts as a catalyst for the private sector to invest in gigafactories, hydrogen and steel—in high productivity jobs right here in Britain. A Government of the moment would finally abolish business rates and replace them with a fair system that creates a level playing field with online giants, so that our businesses can compete, invest and grow. And a Government of the moment would have a plan to revive our town centres with new businesses, providing finance for a new generation of start-ups in our town centres and giving councils the power to take over empty shops and fill the space with workshops and offices offering the jobs of the future.

    Instead of that new approach to the economy, we have a Chancellor who thinks it would be silly to do anything different; a Chancellor who, rather than partnering with business, has loaded them up with debt and wonders why they are struggling to invest; a Chancellor who seems content to have the slowest growth of any G20 country bar one, Russia; a Chancellor whose legacy will be low growth, high inflation and high tax, and with it, the diminishing of Britain’s living standards—no hope of taking on the big challenges, no hope of seizing the great opportunities, hopeless. And because the Government are not up to the challenge of growing the economy, all those tax hikes are not going into improving public services, with no chance of a doctor’s appointment, people forced to wait months for urgent mental health treatment, and super-sized classrooms the norm again. Never before have people been asked to pay so much for so little.

    The third great challenge we face is ending the poverty of ambition that this Government have for our public services. That means a Government of the moment relentlessly focused on school improvement. Labour would improve leadership and teaching standards at state schools, funding it by ending tax breaks for private schools. It means a Government of the moment that would finally deliver world-class mental health provision that matches years of empty rhetoric on parity with physical health. Labour would hire new clinicians so that we can guarantee mental health treatment in four weeks, paid for by closing loopholes to private equity firms.

    Instead, we have a Government that went into the pandemic with record waiting lists and have no plan to get them down any time soon; a Government that take the public for fools by pretending that refurbishing a wing of a hospital is the same as building a new hospital; a Government that cannot hire the GPs they promised or get the GPs we have to see more patients—lost in spin, with no ambition, not up to the challenge of the moment.

    It is not just education and health that need reform. Fraud has become commonplace, with 7 million incidents a year and Britain routinely ripped off, but the Business Secretary has suggested that it does not even count as crime. Fraud is just the tip of the iceberg. Victims are being let down while this Government let violent criminals off. The overall charge rate stands at a pathetic 5.8%, meaning that huge swathes of serious offences like rape, knife crime and theft have effectively been decriminalised.

    A Government of the moment would say, “Enough is enough”—[Interruption.] Nobody can be proud of this record of 12 years. A Government of the moment would invest in community policing, pulling resources away from vanity projects like the Prime Minister’s ministerial yacht. They would strengthen protection for victims of crime and antisocial behaviour and increase the number of specialist rape units in the justice system so that it stops routinely failing women. Instead, we have a Government who talk tough while letting the justice system fall apart—no care for victims or their communities, not good enough, not up to the moment. We have a Government whose time has passed, a Cabinet out of ideas and out of energy, led by a Prime Minister who is entirely out of touch.

    It does not have to be this way; it will not always be this way. A Labour Government would tackle the cost of living crisis head on, get Britain growing again after 12 years of failure, and improve public services so that they deliver for the people paying for them. A Labour Government would rise to the moment where this Government have badly failed.

  • Keir Starmer – 2022 Speech on Referring Boris Johnson to the Committee of Privileges

    Keir Starmer – 2022 Speech on Referring Boris Johnson to the Committee of Privileges

    The speech made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, in the House of Commons on 22 April 2022.

    Thank you, Mr Speaker. I beg to move,

    That this House

    (1) notes that, given the issue of fixed penalty notices by the police in relation to events in 10 Downing Street and the Cabinet Office, assertions the Rt hon Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip has made on the floor of the House about the legality of activities in 10 Downing Street and the Cabinet Office under Covid regulations, including but not limited to the following answers given at Prime Minister’s Questions: 1 December 2021, that “all guidance was followed in No. 10”, Official Report vol. 704, col. 909; 8 December 2021 that “I have been repeatedly assured since these allegations emerged that there was no party and that no Covid rules were broken”, Official Report vol. 705, col. 372; 8 December 2021 that “I am sickened myself and furious about that, but I repeat what I have said to him: I have been repeatedly assured that the rules were not broken”, Official Report vol. 705, col. 372 and 8 December 2021 “the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times”, Official Report vol. 705, col. 379, appear to amount to misleading the House; and

    (2) orders that this matter be referred to the Committee of Privileges to consider whether the Rt hon Member’s conduct amounted to a contempt of the House, but that the Committee shall not begin substantive consideration of the matter until the inquiries currently being conducted by the Metropolitan Police have been concluded.

    The motion seeks to defend the simple principle that honesty, integrity and telling the truth matter in our politics. That is not a principle that I or the Labour party have a special claim to. It is a British principle. It is a principle that has been cherished by Conservatives for as long as their party has existed. It is embraced by Unionist and nationalist parties alike and still guides members from every political party in this House.

    Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)

    I lost my mother to covid in the first lockdown. It was a very painful experience because she was in a hospital bed and, as we obeyed the rules, we could not be by her side when she passed. I have made my disquiet known to the Prime Minister a couple of times, and he has taken that on board. I am deeply unhappy about how No. 10 performed over the period in question. However, I suggest to the right hon. and learned Member that it is perfectly natural in this country to weigh all the evidence before deciding on intent. As the central issue is whether the Prime Minister misled Parliament, does he agree that, in us all accepting that the matter should be referred to the Privileges Committee, that Committee needs to weigh all the evidence before coming to a decision, and that that includes the Sue Gray report?

    Mr Speaker

    Order. May I say to Members that interventions are meant to be short? If you are on the list to speak and you intervene—I know that the hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay (Mr Baron) is not and would not want to be as he has made his speech—you will go down the list.

    Keir Starmer

    I am sorry for the loss in the hon. Member’s family. We all send our condolences. I know how difficult it has been for so many during this period. In relation to the substantive intervention, I have two points, which I will develop later. First, there is already a clear case before the House: the Prime Minister said “no…rules were broken”, and 50 fines for breaking the rules and the law have already been issued, so there is already a reasonable case. Secondly—I understand the sentiment behind the intervention—if the motion is passed, the Committee will not begin its substantive work until the police investigations are complete, so it will have all the evidence before it, one way or the other, to come to a view. That is within the body of the motion and is the right way; the way it should work. I hope that addresses the concerns raised.

    Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)

    Further to the point made by the hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay (Mr Baron), many of us in the Chamber have lost loved ones in the last period of time and feel greatly aggrieved that we have not had our day in court, if that is perhaps the way to put it. We feel the need to have justice seen for all those who have lost loved ones—those who passed away and whom we miss greatly. Does the right hon. and learned Gentleman feel that, when it comes to justice, while we do need to see all the evidence, there must be accountability in the process, and accountability means that people have to answer for their actions?

    Keir Starmer

    Again, I express my sadness at the loss that the hon. Member and his family have endured. I was particularly struck—I think we all were—by how he spoke about that in this House just a few months ago.

    On the substantive point, which is the point of the motion, this is about honesty, integrity and telling the truth in this place. It is an important principle, and one that we all share—as I say, I do not claim it as a Labour party principle—because we know the importance of it. That is why it is a matter for the House to consider. But it is a principle under attack, because the Prime Minister has been accused of repeatedly, deliberately and routinely misleading the House over parties held in Downing Street during lockdown.

    That is a serious allegation. If it is true, it amounts to contempt of Parliament. It is not, and should never be, an accusation made lightly. Nor should we diminish the rights of Members to defend each other from that accusation. But the Prime Minister’s supporters do not seek to do that. Instead, many of them seek simply to dismiss its importance. They say, “There are worse crimes,” “He didn’t rob a bank”, “He only broke the rules for 10 minutes” and, “It was all a long time ago.” Every time one of those arguments is trotted out, the status of this House is gradually eroded and our democracy becomes a little weaker. The convention that Parliament must not be misled and that, in return, we do not accuse each other of lying are not curious quirks of this strange place but fundamental pillars on which our constitution is built, and they are observed wherever parliamentary democracy thrives. With them, our public debate is elevated. When Members assume good faith on behalf of our opponents, we can explore, test and interrogate our reasonable disagreements about how we achieve our common goals. Ultimately, no matter which Benches we sit on, no matter which Whip we follow, fundamentally we are all here for one reason: to advance the common goals of the nations, of the peoples, that make up our United Kingdom.

    Layla Moran (Oxford West and Abingdon) (LD)

    I am grateful to the Leader of the Opposition for giving way. He mentioned some of the arguments around, “Well, it was just nine minutes.” I met a woman, the daughter of a serviceman who lost his life the week before that birthday party. She said to me, “What I wouldn’t give for just nine more minutes with him.” I congratulate the right hon. and learned Gentleman on the way he is rising above party politics here. To diminish nine minutes as just anything diminishes us all across both sides of the House. Would he not agree?

    Keir Starmer

    I am grateful for that intervention, because it goes to the heart of the matter. Some have tried to suggest equivalence between these fixed penalty notices and speeding. That just does not understand the enormity of the difference. It is very rare that the whole nation goes through something together—a trauma together, that was covid. There are awful cases of funerals, of weddings that were missed, of parents who did not see the birth of their children. They are awful cases, but I think almost every family was marked during this period, including my own, by things we did not do that we would have liked to have done—usually visiting elderly parents and seeing children. There was a huge sense of guilt that we did not do it, including in my own family: guilt that because we followed the rules, we did not do what we thought was actually right by our elderly relatives. That is why it hurts so much. That is why anybody trying to say, “This is just like a speeding ticket” does not understand what this goes to politically and emotionally.

    Going back to the principles, I want this debate to be about the principles, because that is where I think the debate should be. The Committee will be charged, if the motion goes through, with determining whether there was any misleading. But this is about the principles we all care about. That is why I think everybody should simply vote for the motion this evening to uphold those principles. Those principles, that we do not mislead the House and in return we do not call each other liars in this House, ensure that we make good decisions and avoid bad ones. It is what makes our democracy grow in ways that reflect the hopes and tackle the fears of those we represent. It is what makes our democracy thrive. It is what makes this House thrive. It is what makes Britain thrive.

    Mr Speaker, we do not have to look far to see what happens when that faith is lost and there is no hope of reason resolving disagreements. When nations are divided, when they live in different worlds with their own truths and their own alternative facts, democracy is replaced by an obsession with defeating the other side. Those we disagree with become enemies. The hope of learning and adapting is lost. Politics becomes a blood sport rather than a quest to improve lives; a winner-takes-all politics where, inevitably, everyone loses out.

    Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)

    The Leader of the Opposition was big-hearted enough to say that he unwittingly misled the House. I am sure he would agree that it is very important to stick to the convention that we do not call each other liars, and there is a good reason for that. Two of our colleagues have been killed and there have been a lot of attacks on colleagues. In this debate, can we just accept that everybody here is an honourable Member and that when they speak here, although they may unwittingly mislead the House, they think that they were, for instance, abiding with the rules? Can we tone down the whole nature of this debate?

    Keir Starmer

    I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that intervention; I will try to keep within those parameters and elevate this debate to the principles that we apply when we debate in this Chamber.

    Mr Toby Perkins (Chesterfield) (Lab)

    I am grateful for what my right hon. and learned Friend said about the fact that we do not want Opposition Members to have a monopoly on truth. He makes a very important point, but does he agree that the fundamental point is about whether we as Members of Parliament are fit to hold our powers to hold people to account or whether politics will always get in the way? It was disturbing to hear that Conservative Members might vote against the motion because a Labour Chair was involved, and it is disappointing that my hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) felt that he had to step down. The principle of whether we either have an independent process or do it ourselves is very important.

    Keir Starmer

    That is very important. We have these procedures to hold us all to the rules of the House, and it is very important that they are applied in the right way with the right principles.

    Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion) (Green)

    The right hon. and learned Member is making a very powerful speech. On procedures, does he agree that there is a bigger point about Parliament’s governance structures? Our whole system of checks and balances is completely out of date. It is beyond ludicrous that the arbiter of whether the ministerial code has been broken is the person who is accused of breaking it—in this instance, the Prime Minister. Does the Leader of the Opposition agree that we also need a wider look at those governance structures, which are simply not fit for purpose?

    Keir Starmer

    I am grateful for that intervention, because it raises a very serious point. A lot of our conventions, rules and traditions are based on the principle of honour and on the fact that Members of this House would not, other than inadvertently, mislead the House. That is why the rules are set, and they are set on that proposition. If a Member of the House—whoever that is—does not abide by those honourable principles, we have that stress test of the rules.

    Several hon. Members rose—

    Keir Starmer

    I will take one more intervention and then I will make some progress.

    John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington) (Lab)

    I understand completely the point made by the right hon. Member for Gainsborough (Sir Edward Leigh) about toning down the rhetoric—[Interruption.] I understand that position, but let me make this point, because I have known him over the years: we cannot tone down the seriousness of this matter. I was in the Prime Minister’s constituency earlier this week; it is the neighbouring constituency to mine and we are campaigning for the London Borough of Hillingdon in the election. There is some shift in the vote from Tory to Labour because of this issue, but that is not the significant point. What is significant is the number of people we found who were totally disillusioned, who had had enough of the system and who were blaming the system itself. That is what we are fighting and campaigning for. We are campaigning to restore the credibility of our country’s democratic processes.

    Keir Starmer

    That is a really important and powerful point, because if we do not pass this motion and take this opportunity to restate the principles, we are all complicit in allowing the standards to slip. We are all complicit in allowing the public to think that we are all the same, that nobody tells the truth and that there are alternative sets of facts.

    Jacob Young (Redcar) (Con)

    Will the right hon. and learned Member give way?

    Keir Starmer

    I will in a minute; I have given way a lot and I want to make some progress, but I will try to come back to the hon. Member.

    Felicity Buchan (Kensington) (Con)

    Will the right hon. and learned Member give way?

    Keir Starmer

    I will make some progress and try to come back to hon. Members when I can.

    The conventions and the traditions that we are debating are not an accident. They have been handed down to us as the tools that protect Britain from malaise, extremism and decline. That is important, because the case against the Prime Minister is that he has abused those tools, that he has used them to protect himself rather than our democracy, and that he has turned them against all that they are supposed to support. Government Members know that the Prime Minister has stood before the House and said things that are not true, safe in the knowledge that he will not be accused of lying because he cannot be. He stood at the Dispatch Box and point-blank denied that rule breaking took place when it did, and as he did so he was hoping to gain extra protection from our good faith that no Prime Minister would ever deliberately mislead this House. He has used our faith and our conventions to cover up his misdeeds.

    Mike Wood (Dudley South) (Con)

    Will the right hon. and learned Gentleman give way?

    Keir Starmer

    I will just finish this point. After months of denials, absurd claims that all the rules were followed and feigned outrage at his staff discussing rule breaking, we now know that the law was broken. We know that the Prime Minister himself broke the law, and we know that he faces the possibility of being found to have broken it again and again and again.

    As the police investigation is ongoing, we do not need to make final judgment on the Prime Minister’s contempt of Parliament today. When the time comes, the Prime Minister will be able to make his case. He can put his defence—of course he can. He can make his case as his defence that his repeated misleading of Parliament was inadvertent; or that he did not understand the rules that he himself wrote, and his advisers at the heart of Downing Street either did not understand the rules or misled him when they assured him that they were followed at all times; or that he thought he was at a work event, even while the empty bottles piled up. He can make those defences when the time comes.

    Sir William Cash (Stone) (Con) rose—

    Keir Starmer

    I will give way in just a minute.

    We already know that he has a case to answer. The Prime Minister said that no rules were broken, but more than 50 fines for breaching the rules and the law have now been issued, including to the Prime Minister. Anybody who denies that simple fact has their head in the sand or has given up any interest in the truth and in the traditions of our nation in order to prop up a lawbreaking Prime Minister.

    Today’s motion would refer the matter to the Privileges Committee, a Committee that has a Government majority. No one can say that the Prime Minister is not being judged by his peers. The Committee would investigate the Prime Minister for contempt only once the police had concluded their investigation. No one can say that there is prejudice to the rest of the inquiry. And, of course, any findings the Committee comes to and any sanctions it might propose would then come back before the House as a whole, so no one can say that it is too soon for the House to decide. It is a system of self-governance, and it should be, because with the great privilege that comes from sitting in this place comes the great responsibility to protect the conventions that underpin our democracy.

    Jacob Young

    On conventions, does the right hon. and learned Gentleman agree that language is equally important? Will he therefore take this opportunity to distance himself from the right hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell), who said that he wanted to lynch another hon. Member, and from the right hon. Member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Angela Rayner), who is sitting right next to him and who called Members on this side of the House Tory scum? He should distance himself from them.

    Keir Starmer

    That is a shame. I thought that we were having a reasonably serious debate—[Interruption.]

    Mr Speaker

    Order. The hon. Member for Kensington (Felicity Buchan) needs to sit down. In fairness to the right hon. and learned Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Keir Starmer), he has taken a lot of interventions, but I certainly do not need her standing up and waiting to catch somebody’s eye.

    Keir Starmer

    If the debate descends into a shouting match, Mr Speaker, we lose the principle that is there to defend all of us, including all the Conservative Members. We are not claiming a principle to support those on the Opposition Benches and not those on the Government Benches; it is a principle that supports us all. If we fail—

    Sir William Cash rose—

    Keir Starmer

    I will take the intervention from the hon. Gentleman.

    Sir William Cash

    The Leader of the Opposition has just said, quite rightly, that this issue affects everyone in the House. Does he accept that at this moment there is a complication, namely that the Committee on Standards is conducting a report, under the aegis of Sir Ernest Ryder’s recommendations, which raises questions about whether a fair trial and natural justice are possible at this juncture? That is currently under discussion in the House. The same rule applies with regard to the question of the Committee of Privileges, which has already been criticised. I was on the Joint Committee on Parliamentary Privilege, and I can assure the Leader of the Opposition that serious problems arise in relation to the need to rectify those omissions in procedural fairness.

    Keir Starmer

    I have heard the hon. Gentleman put his case on natural justice a number of times, and of course he has every right to do so. I disagree, but that is the point of the debates we have. However, a debate about natural justice, or due process, need not hold up the current process. This motion can and should be passed today, and everyone should support its being passed today to uphold the principles to which I have referred. There is a discussion to be had about natural justice—an interesting debate, in which we will take different views—but it need not hold up this process.

    Mr Alistair Carmichael (Orkney and Shetland) (LD)

    The right hon. and learned Gentleman is entirely correct to prosecute the case on the basis of principle, but there is still an amendment on the Order Paper, even if the Government will not move it, which would indicate that not everyone in the House shares his view of the importance of these principles. Does he share my view that at the conclusion of this debate there should be a Division, so that we know where every single Member of this House stands on the principles? At a time like this, on an issue like this, there should be no hiding place for anyone.

    Keir Starmer

    I agree. We have a duty here today, in relation to this motion and these principles. If we fail in that duty, the public will not forgive and forget, because this will be the Parliament that failed—failed to stand up for honesty, integrity and telling the truth in politics; failed to stand up to a Prime Minister who seeks to turn our good faith against us; and failed to stand up for our great democracy.

    It is not just the eyes of our country that are upon us. There will also be the judgment of future generations, who will look back at what Members of this great House did when our customs were tested, when its traditions were pushed to breaking point, and when we were called to stand up for honesty, for integrity and for truth.

  • Keir Starmer – 2022 Speech on Parties in Downing Street

    Keir Starmer – 2022 Speech on Parties in Downing Street

    The speech made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, in the House of Commons on 19 April 2022.

    What a joke!

    Even now, as the latest mealy-mouthed apology stumbles out of one side of the Prime Minister’s mouth, a new set of deflections and distortions pours from the other. But the damage is already done. The public have made up their minds. They do not believe a word that the Prime Minister says. They know what he is.

    As ever with this Prime Minister, those close to him find themselves ruined and the institutions that he vows to protect damaged: good Ministers forced to walk away from public service; the Chancellor’s career up in flames; the leader of the Scottish Conservatives rendered pathetic. Let me say to all those unfamiliar with this Prime Minister’s career that this is not some fixable glitch in the system; it is the whole point. It is what he does. It is who he is. He knows he is dishonest and incapable of changing, so he drags everybody else down with him. [Interruption.] The more people debase themselves, parroting—[Interruption.]

    Mr Speaker

    Order. I cannot hear what is being said because there is so much noise. [Interruption.] Mr Fabricant, I am all right.

    Hon. Members

    Withdraw!

    Mr Speaker

    Order. What I will say is that I think the Leader of the Opposition used the word “dishonest”, and I do not consider that appropriate. [Hon. Members: “Breaking the rules!”] We do not want to talk about breaking rules, do we? I do not think this is a good time to discuss that.

    I am sure that if the Leader of the Opposition withdraws that word and works around it, he will be able—given the knowledge he has gained over many, many years—to use appropriate words that are in keeping with the good, temperate language of this House.

    Keir Starmer

    I respect that ruling from the Chair, Mr Speaker. The Prime Minister knows what he is. As I was saying, he drags everyone else down with him. The more people debase themselves, parroting his absurd defences, the more the public will believe that all politicians are the same, all as bad as each other—and that suits this Prime Minister just fine.

    Some Conservative Members seem oblivious to the Prime Minister’s game. Some know what he is up to but are too weak to act, while others are gleefully playing the part that the Prime Minister cast for them. A Minister said on the radio this morning, “It is the same as a speeding ticket.” No, it is not. No one has ever broken down in tears because they could not drive faster than 20 miles an hour outside a school. Do not insult the public with this nonsense!

    As it happens, however, the last Minister who got a speeding ticket, and then lied about it, ended up in prison. I know, because I prosecuted him.

    Last week, we were treated to a grotesque spectacle: one of the Prime Minister’s loyal supporters accusing teachers and nurses of drinking in the staff room during lockdown. Conservative Members can associate themselves with that if they want, but those of us who take pride in our NHS workers, our teachers, and every other key worker who got us through those dark days will never forget their contempt.

    Plenty of people did not agree with every rule that the Prime Minister wrote, but they followed them none the less, because in this country we respect others. We put the greater good above narrow self-interest, and we understand that the rules apply to all of us. This morning I spoke to John Robinson, a constituent of the hon. Member for Lichfield (Michael Fabricant), and I want to tell the House his story.

    When his wife died of covid, John and his family obeyed the Prime Minister’s rules. He did not see her in hospital; he did not hold her hand as she died. Their daughters and grandchildren drove 100 miles up the motorway, clutching a letter from the funeral director in case they were questioned by the police.

    They did not have a service in church, and John’s son-in-law stayed away because he would have been the forbidden seventh mourner. Does the Prime Minister not realise that John would have given the world to hold his dying wife’s hand, even if it was just for nine minutes? But he did not, because he followed the Prime Minister’s rules—rules that we now know the Prime Minister blithely, repeatedly and deliberately ignored. After months of insulting excuses, today’s half-hearted apology will never be enough for John Robinson. If the Prime Minister had any respect for John, and the millions like him who sacrificed everything to follow the rules, he would resign. But he will not, because he does not respect John, and he does not respect the sacrifice of the British public. He is a man without shame.

    Looking past the hon. Member for Lichfield and the nodding dogs in the Cabinet, there are many decent hon. Members on the Conservative Benches who do respect John Robinson and do respect the British public. They know the damage that the Prime Minister is doing; they know that things cannot go on as they are; and they know that it is their responsibility to bring an end to this shameful chapter. Today I urge them once again not to follow in the slipstream of an out-of-touch, out-of-control Prime Minister. I urge them to put their conscience, their country and John Robinson first; to remove the Prime Minister from office; to bring decency, honesty and integrity back into our politics; and to stop the denigration of everything that this country stands for.

  • Keir Starmer – 2022 Comments on Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak Being Fined for Breaking Rules

    Keir Starmer – 2022 Comments on Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak Being Fined for Breaking Rules

    The comments made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on 12 April 2022.

    This is the first time in our country’s history that a Prime Minister has been found guilty of breaking the law – at a time when Britain made unimaginable sacrifices.

    And then lied about it.

    Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have dishonored their office.

    They must resign.

  • Keir Starmer – 2022 Comments on Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak Being Fined for Breaking Rules

    Keir Starmer – 2022 Comments on Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak Being Fined for Breaking Rules

    The comments made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on 12 April 2022.

    Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have broken the law and repeatedly lied to the British public.

    They must both resign.

    The Conservatives are totally unfit to govern. Britain deserves better.

  • Keir Starmer – 2022 Comments on David Amess After Murder Conviction

    Keir Starmer – 2022 Comments on David Amess After Murder Conviction

    The comments made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on 11 April 2022.

    Today I am thinking of Sir David Amess, of the dedicated public servant that he was.

    A champion of Southend and of his constituents. My heart goes out to David’s wife and children, and all those who knew him.

    Threats to our democracy will never prevail.

  • Keir Starmer – 2022 Speech at the Scottish Labour Party Conference

    Keir Starmer – 2022 Speech at the Scottish Labour Party Conference

    The speech made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, in Glasgow on 5 March 2022.

    Thank you, Bea, for that fantastic introduction, it’s great to see you again and to be back in Glasgow making my first address to you as Labour Leader – as Anas did yesterday.

    Isn’t he bringing new energy, and a focus on the future.

    I know, because we are working so closely together, that he has the ideas and the determination to change the course of Scottish politics.

    He is leading us into important local elections here in just two months’ time.

    Anas, you have my support to make the changes that we need, to take Scottish Labour forward – thank you for everything you’re doing.

    With a rejuvenated Scottish Labour Party and a UK Labour Party, laser-focused on doing what it takes to win a General Election, we have huge opportunities ahead of us and the chance to change Britain again.

    Labour can win a General Election. Scotland can choose not just to oppose the Tories but to replace them with a Labour Government.

    A Labour government that I will lead, founded on a new contract with the people – the people of Scotland and people in every part of the United Kingdom.

    A Labour government like those that have went before that will forge, for our times, a new Britain. A new Britain that Scottish people aren’t just part of, but are proud of.

    Conference, I also want to say how important it is for us all to be together in the same room together. Because, I was elected to lead our party during lockdown.

    At the height of the pandemic, I so looked forward to gathering again like this again.

    I could scarcely have believed that when we did come back together, it would be against the backdrop of war in Europe.

    The events we are witnessing right now will stay with us forever. These are dark days, peace in Europe has been threatened by an imperialist aggressor.

    Images I didn’t think I would see in my lifetime – Russian tanks rolling into a European country, soldiers kissing their children goodbye, as they stay to fight, and families fleeing for the border.

    The world has reacted with anger and dismay, nowhere more so than here in Britain, where British people continue to show steadfast support for the people of Ukraine.

    We are in a new world. This will mean making sacrifices, our sacrifices will be like nothing, compared to the suffering of the people of Ukraine.

    Their courage is inspiring the world, just as the actions of Putin repel the world.

    Let me be crystal clear, there is no justification for Putin’s actions.

    They are an affront to the values of this country, to this party, and the international institutions, which we helped to build.

    For what crime does Putin accuse the people of Ukraine?

    It is their yearning for openness and democracy. To be free to determine their own future, and decide for themselves what alliances they make.

    Labour is the party of collective security. Labour is the party of NATO. And Labour stands with the people of Ukraine.

    We are demanding the strongest sanctions against Putin – we must tackle the oligarchs here and go after their money, and while we’re at it, clean up our own politics, once and for all.

    And yes, the next Labour government will also rebuild our own defences.

    Royal Navy ships, built here on the Clyde have been crucial to keeping safe passage in the international waters of the Black Sea.

    RAF personnel and Royal Navy men and women, playing their part from bases in the North and West of Scotland, responding to the regular testing of our own territorial security, by Russia.

    Conference, let us thank our own military for all that they do to keep us safe. Let us thank all of our military families, as they follow these events anxiously.

    But let’s also be clear that what Putin is afraid of – his fear, is order, and liberty.

    Afraid of democracy, of openness, of progress, and of a world which will move on without him. He is afraid of everything that we are most proud of.

    We know Putin’s playbook. He seeks division so we must meet him with unity.

    He believes the benefits of aggression outweigh the consequences, so we must take a stand. And he believes the West is too corrupted to do the right thing, so we must prove him wrong. I believe we can.

    The rule of law and the pursuit of justice have been important to me all my life. Playing by the rules is part of who I am.

    My dad was a toolmaker in a factory and my mum, a nurse in our beloved NHS.

    I became the Chief Prosecutor for England and Wales.

    My parents taught me that in life you need to stick up for yourself, but also stick up for those who can’t always resist the bully on their own, and we will.

    Friends, like me, Anas is a father. And he spoke to you yesterday about one of his hardest times as a parent. I want to say to Adam, Anas’ son, and to all of you here. It matters that you have elected our first leader who looks like Anas, and his family. It matters.

    Together, as Labour leaders, we won’t just talk the talk, we will walk the walk, and we will keep challenging ourselves too. In your words, Anas: it is a fight for all of us.

    Conference, you know, I try to see the best in people. I am an optimist, I believe in the politics of optimism.

    Yet we are living in a time, when right and wrong doesn’t seem to matter to those in government.

    At the height of the pandemic, every British family was touched by worry or tragedy. Everyone was affected because they followed the rules.

    But, some – and one man in particular – felt that the rules just didn’t apply to him. I refuse to accept that.

    I refuse to accept the pain and sacrifice of so many British families being cheapened, even laughed at. No wonder then that under the Tories, trust in politics is now at an all-time low.

    Two-thirds of the public think that the way British politicians act undermines democracy. Six out of ten people think politicians are likely to lie to them.

    That’s sadly inevitable, when we have a government that is misleading the public and covering up their own wrongdoing to save the Prime Minister’s job. It is also deliberate.

    This Tory government is so disreputable that even the Scottish Tories are actually embarrassed by it. It is a government that wallows in cynicism.

    It wants the public to believe that politics is no longer a force for good. And, of course, they don’t care about the consequences of their actions, including the consequences for the Union.

    It might suit the Tories – as much as it suits the SNP – to keep Scotland stuck on pause in the politics of 2014 forever, but I am calling Boris Johnson out.

    I want to lead Britain because I believe in it. I believe in all its parts and all of its differences. In all of our home nations, in all of the good and decent people who share the same hopes and dreams, fears and frustrations, the same land and the same coasts. A common language and inheritance, and the same threats to our way of life.

    Boris Johnson and his Tory party pose as patriotic defenders of the Union. But, every day that he remains in power, he weakens it. He breaks everything he touches and he won’t change.

    Even the Scottish Tories know that. Weakening the bonds between people, weakening the promises of one generation to the next, weakening the legitimacy of the office that he holds.

    Left to their downward spiral, the Tories would destroy everything that they profess to hold dear.

    So when I am asked ‘how will we win’, this is where I start. I refuse to accept that we are stuck where we are now. There is another way to lead this country.

    This United Kingdom – and the nations that come together within it. Our best days are ahead of us.

    I refuse to accept that there is no place to talk about the future and no way to bring people together on the things we have in common and the change we need to make.

    I refuse to accept that all that matters is where people were in the Scottish referendum, or the Brexit referendum.

    Just as I refuse to accept that the British people no longer care about what happens in Europe. Or that we will tolerate child poverty rising again, here at home.

    I refuse to accept that the biggest cost of living crisis of our lifetimes should break the backs of ordinary families.

    It is because I believe in the British people that I am angry that they have a government more concerned with handing contracts to their mates than addressing our challenges.

    It is because I believe in our United Kingdom, that unique partnership of Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Because I believe in us, that I am angry that we have Tories who have allowed the UK to be a place that is laughed about abroad.

    And conference, I am angry that we have allowed these Tories to beat us.

    This is on all of us to fix and we can fix it. It is our duty to win. I believe that we can. But still our greatest hurdle might not be the Tories, but ourselves.

    There is no rule in politics that disillusionment with the Tories delivers a Labour government.

    Labour wins, as it always has done, when we have the ideas, the optimism, and the trust of the British people. So we need to be honest with ourselves – trust in us declined too.

    We are the party of working people; our founding and defining mission. But too many working people came to see us as far removed from their lives.

    We put our priorities above theirs; our ideas as more important, than their experiences. So yes, our duty to win does mean keeping our discipline.

    Never losing sight of who it is that we need to convince – working people and especially those who voted for our electoral opponents.

    We can win and we can make change, or we can pursue apparent political purity inside our party. But please make no mistake, we cannot do both. Running away from the mainstream is running away from voters – and we will never do that.

    As Gordon Brown, our last Prime Minister, said: “It is the fighters and believers that change the world.”

    He is right. We have changed our world. We did it before and we can do it again.

    In Gordon’s day, the lights in Downing Street burned late into the night. Not for parties. But they burned because here was a Scottish MP who never rested from the task at hand. Restless always to improve the lives, not just of Scots, but of families struggling to pay their bills in every part of Britain.

    The Minimum Wage, the Winter Fuel Allowance, the Child Trust Fund, the Child Tax Credit, and paid paternity leave – thank you Gordon, for your leadership in office, and since. Global leadership on vaccines, for the poorest countries, and closer to home – leadership of our commission on the UK’s future.

    That commission will create a new blueprint for a new Britain, that the next Labour Government – my government- will build. It will be a new Britain which puts security, prosperity and respect, at the heart of our politics again.

    A new Britain with a government that knows to serve the public is a privilege, not a birth right.

    Ours will be a government that works for every part of the country, every region, and every nation of Britain.

    For us “levelling up” isn’t a slogan. It is in our DNA. It’s what Labour Governments are for.

    As we come out of the pandemic, I have spent my time in the places where we need to win. Talking to people about the rising cost of living, their ideas for their town, their experiences at work, their hopes for their kids, the things that matter to them. And their hopes for a better society, after the trauma of Covid.

    I can tell you this – they have ideas, they want change, they have ambition. All they want is a government that shares their ambition.

    Labour’s new contract with the British people is rooted in those thousands of conversations. Something tangible. So you know how a Labour government will lead.

    This contract is founded on three principles – security, prosperity, and respect.

    The first term in the contract is security.

    Everyone has the basic right to feel safe in their own community. We all need to know that the NHS is there for us when we need it. And if we work hard we should also have a right to job security.

    The second term in the contract is prosperity.

    Everyone should have the opportunity to thrive. To realise our ambitions and make a good life for ourselves and our families. To have the skills they need to prosper.

    And then there is a third term in my contract.

    Respect is a less obvious political virtue than security and prosperity, but it is every bit as important. Everyone has the right to live in places we care for and to have our lives and ambitions taken seriously, and to be valued for who we are and what we do.

    Let me be clear, that means respect for Scotland within our Union. That’s why Gordon’s commission is so important because it is examining how to reform the UK. Not just to acknowledge or accommodate devolution, but to give it proper respect and unleash the true power of the idea.

    Not the devolution of grievance, or one-upmanship. But the vision of devolution that Anas is talking about and that our mayors in England are also talking about – pushing power away from parliaments and towards people – and towards great cities like Glasgow, which is being let down so badly by the SNP.

    That’s why the next Labour Government will govern for all of Britain. We will change Westminster, and Whitehall, and we’ll clean it up at the same time.

    Under the Tories, our country has become increasingly unequal. The Tories talk of levelling up is not serious.

    In contrast, Labour in power will always be alongside people. Not weary of finding solutions to problems new and old.

    As North Lanarkshire Labour have with their school meals and activities programme all through the holidays to make sure no child there was left behind. Thank you.

    Or as North Ayrshire Labour are doing with their solar farms and wind turbines – turning their communities into net exporters of energy. Thank you again, this is the difference.

    This is the difference that being in power makes.

    This Tory government is so distracted, it has no plan for household finances and no economic planning at all. And I ask you, what do these Tories and the SNP have in common?

    Well, beyond being joined at the hip in wanting to turn every election into the same referendum again, and again, they have no industrial strategy to meet the challenge of our age. They don’t have the credible policies we need to create and sustain decent jobs.

    Decades of power between them – neither the Tories nor the SNP – has done enough to secure the jobs and industries of the future.

    The so-called party of British business is barely able to talk to business. Whilst the party of North Sea nationalism is now selling Scotland’s offshore wind to every foreign energy interest imaginable.

    So we have a new opportunity now to have a Labour government that will be in partnership with business, to create work. Because Labour is the party of work, we always have been.

    There is no challenge ahead of us, whether its automation or climate change, that we can’t rise to.

    President Biden said: “When I hear climate change, I think jobs.” He is right, and this must be our mind-set too.

    That’s why the Shadow Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is out talking to business every week about our plan to buy, make and sell more in Britain. That’s why we have proposed Labour’s Climate Investment Pledge.

    We will meet the challenge of the next generation and the urgency of the climate emergency with £28bn of green capital investment every year until 2030. That’s equivalent to more than half of the current defence budget. That’s what we’re about – decent jobs with a future.

    Jobs that support communities and allow individuals and families to prosper and live well. Jobs for those workers in Fife who can see the offshore industry of the future being constructed while political failure in Edinburgh and London, leaves them idle.

    No one should support the Labour Party simply to oppose the Tories or for that matter the SNP.

    It is the honour of my life to be the Leader of our Party but I tell you this – I have no ambition to be Leader of the Opposition. We gather here not just to oppose the Tories but to replace them.

    Throughout our history, our leaders have been driven by our love of our country but also full of passion for what more it can be. Each time, Labour has built a new Britain – Attlee, Wilson, Blair and Brown – each has sought office to change this country. That is my ambition too, not just to oppose the Tories, but to replace them.

    Scotsmen and women, including from this city, have been integral to the great Labour governments of which we are so proud.

    The next Labour government, the Labour government that I will lead, needs those Scottish voices again – to help us build our new Britain.

    Conference, I want to welcome Scottish Labour MPs to join Ian Murray in our task. Thank you, Ian.

    I wants to win more seats in Scotland, not just to achieve Labour’s majority, but to have more MPs like Ian – forthright and determined that Scotland is not just stuck between two governments, fighting the same constitutional battle day after day, year after year.

    I do understand why there are people in Scotland on both sides of the constitutional divide who despair of this Tory government. Who could blame them?

    But just as we must defeat the cynicism of the Tories, we should be confident that ours are the bigger ideas, tat working together, we can achieve more than we achieve alone.

    That is the difference between simply opposing this Tory government and replacing it. That’s the difference between Labour MPs using their votes to make a change and not just posture. That’s the difference between the SNP failing to support our windfall tax on big energy to cut the bills of millions of families. That’s the difference between backing Labour’s plans, and an SNP that fails to turn up.

    Scottish votes have never carried more weight in a General Election. Those who pretend that Scotland can’t choose the government it wants are wrong.

    I understand the scale of the task that Anas and I have but, I’ve never taken on any job because I thought it was going to be easy.

    It was John Smith, the night before he died, who told us that the chance to serve our country was all that Labour sought. I have spent my own working life serving this country. My values, our Labour values, have changed Britain before. We can build a new future together.

    We must be clear-headed in our determination to win the people’s trust.

    Our party will continue to change, and I won’t apologise for that. Tony Blair said the only Labour tradition he’d wanted to change was losing – too right.

    We are changing Labour again for the challenges of our time. Don’t let us sit here in this conference and just oppose the Tories let us build the alternative.

    I am going to take my contract to the people of Scotland, and every part of Britain. It is my solemn promise that their priorities, are again the priorities of the Labour Party.

    A new Britain, that Scotland isn’t just part of, but proud of.

    A United Kingdom, reengaged in the world. Fierce in our defence of liberty, forever alert, and apologists for no one.

    Conference, Downing Street should be a place where the lights are always on. Where no matter the time, work is being done by serious people in the service of our country.

    A Labour government, a chance to serve. This is who I am, and that is my ambition.

    Thank you.

  • Keir Starmer – 2022 Televised Address on Ukraine

    Keir Starmer – 2022 Televised Address on Ukraine

    The televised address made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on 24 February 2022.

    In this dark hour, our thoughts, our solidarity, and our resolve are with the Ukrainian people.

    They have been cast into a war, not through fault of their own. But because Putin knows that no people will choose to live under his bandit rule unless forced to at the barrel of a gun.

    The consequences of Putin’s war will be horrendous and tragic for the Ukrainian people but also for the Russian people, who have been plunged into chaos by a violent elite who have stolen their wealth, stolen their chance of democracy, and stolen their future.

    And we must prepare ourselves for difficulties here. We will see economic pain, as we free Europe from dependence on Russian gas, and clean our institutions from money stolen from the Russian people.

    But the British public have always been willing to make sacrifice to defend democracy on our continent. And we will again.

    Russia’s democratic neighbours and every other democracy that lives in the shadow of autocratic power are watching their worst nightmare unfold.

    All those who believe in democracy over dictatorship, the rule of law over the reign of terror, in freedom over the jackboot of tyranny, must unite and take a stand and ensure Putin fails.

    We must make a clean break with the failed approach to handling Putin, which after Georgia, Crimea and Donbas fed his belief that the benefits of aggression outweigh the cost. We must finally show him he is wrong.

    That means doing all we can to help Ukraine defend herself -urgently reinforcing and reassuring our NATO allies in Eastern Europe, and the hardest possible sanctions must be taken against the Putin regime. It must be isolated. Its finances frozen. It’s ability to function crippled.

    And there are changes we must make here in the UK. For too long our country has been a safe-haven for the money that Putin and his fellow bandits stole from the Russian people. It must end now.

    And this must be a turning point in our history, we must look back and say what this terrible day was actually when Putin doomed himself to defeat.

    He seeks division, so we must stay united. He hopes for inaction, so we must take a stand. He believes that we are too corrupted to do the right thing, so we must prove him wrong.

    I believe we can. But only if we stand together.

  • Keir Starmer – 2022 Statement on Russian Invasion of Ukraine

    Keir Starmer – 2022 Statement on Russian Invasion of Ukraine

    The statement made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on 24 February 2022.

    Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine is unprovoked and unjustifiable. His actions will have horrendous and tragic consequences that will echo throughout the world and throughout history.

    All those who believe in the triumph of democracy over dictatorship, good over evil, freedom over the jackboot of tyranny must now support the Ukrainian people. They have been cast onto the frontline of a war, simply for existing.

    There can be no space for equivocation when faced with the evil that Putin has unleashed. His actions pose a grave threat to the international order on which we all depend.

    There will be dark days ahead. But Putin will learn the same lesson as Europe’s tyrants of the last century: that the resolve of the world is harder than he imagines and the desire for liberty burns stronger than ever. The light will prevail.

    I know people in this country will be feeling worried and uncertain. And I know that Ukrainians and Russians here in the UK will be worrying for friends and family back home. Our hearts are with them today.

    We must now match our rhetoric with action. We must urgently reinforce our NATO allies. The hardest possible sanctions must be taken against all those linked to Putin. The influence of Russian money must be extricated from the UK. And those who have for too long turned a blind eye to Russia’s actions must reckon with their own consciences.