Tag: Yvette Cooper

The comments made by Yvette Cooper, the Foreign Secretary, on 14 February 2026.

Since Yulia Navalnaya announced the loss of her husband here in Munich two years ago, the UK has pursued the truth of Alexei Navalny’s death with fierce determination

“Only the Russian Government had the means, motive and opportunity to deploy this lethal toxin against Alexei Navalny during his imprisonment in Russia.

Today, beside his widow, the UK is shining a light on the Kremlin’s barbaric plot to silence his voice.

Russia saw Navalny as a threat. By using this form of poison the Russian state demonstrated the despicable tools it has at its disposal and the overwhelming fear it has of political opposition.

The statement made by Yvette Cooper, the Foreign Secretary, on 9 February 2026.

British National Jimmy Lai was today sentenced to 20 years in prison in Hong Kong for exercising his right to freedom of expression, following a politically motivated prosecution. Beijing’s National Security Law was imposed on Hong Kong to silence China’s critics.

For the 78-year-old, this is tantamount to a life sentence. I remain deeply concerned for Mr Lai’s health, and I again call on the Hong Kong authorities to end his appalling ordeal and release him on humanitarian grounds, so that he may be reunited with his family.

The Prime Minister raised Mr Lai’s case directly with President Xi during his visit. That has opened up discussion of our most acute concerns directly with the Chinese government, at the highest levels. Following today’s sentencing we will rapidly engage further on Mr Lai’s case.

We stand with the people of Hong Kong, and will always honour the historical commitments made under the legally binding Sino-British Joint Declaration. China must do the same.

The statement made by Yvette Cooper, the Foreign Secretary, in the House of Commons on 5 February 2026.

I wish to update the House on the situation in

Sudan.

On Tuesday night, I returned from the border between Sudan and Chad, where I witnessed from the camp of 140,000 people in Adré—85% of them women and children who have fled the most horrendous violence and violations—the devastating human toll of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. In January, Sudan passed 1,000 days of conflict between the Sudanese armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces. This is a regionalised conflict of power, proxies and profit, defined by unimaginable atrocities, by millions pushed into famine, by the horrific use of rape as a weapon of war, and by suffering that should strike at the core of our shared humanity.

That should mobilise the world’s resources and resolve, yet too often the response is to hold back and look away—catastrophically failing the people of Sudan, and Sudan’s women and girls. I am determined that we do not look away, and that we put the spotlight firmly on Sudan. That is why this week I travelled to the region to see at first hand the extent of the crisis, to listen to the testimony of traumatised women and children whose lives will never be the same again, to see how UK support is making a difference, and to see what urgently needs to be done by the international community to help arrest the spiral of bloodshed and drive urgent momentum towards peace.

In Adré, I met families who had been torn apart, mothers who had survived appalling violence only to find their daughters missing, and frightened children who had travelled vast distances in search of some semblance of safety. I met teachers, nurses, students, market traders, small businesswomen and political activists—impressive women whose lives and livelihoods back home had been stolen from them.

I met a mother separated from her children who told me she still does not know where they are and whether they are alive; a young woman who told me that most of the women she knew had been through “bad violence” on their journey, but they would not talk about it “because of the shame”; and a Sudanese community worker who told me she thought more than half the women in the camp had directly experienced sexual assault or abuse. I have heard from others in recent weeks, including a Sudanese emergency response room worker who described three sisters arriving at the response room who had all been raped. The oldest was 13, and the youngest was eight. This is a war waged on the bodies of women and girls.

But here is what I also saw: an incredible group of Sudanese women who have set up a makeshift support centre for women who have suffered sexual violence and for children with trauma. They have activities for children and support for mums. More survivors need that kind of help, so this week I announced that the UK will fund a new £20 million programme to support survivors of rape and sexual violence in Sudan, enabling them to access medical and psychological care, given the terrible stigma endured by survivors and children born of rape. That is part of our international action to tackle a global emergency of violence against women and girls.

What I did not see in Adré is just as disturbing: the fathers, husbands and brothers missing, either killed, drawn into the fighting or migrating further and leaving family behind. Reports from El Fasher after the RSF attacks were of atrocities so appalling that they could be seen from space—blood-soaked sand, multiple piles of bodies and mass graves—but aid agencies are still facing barriers to getting in. There are reports that the Sudanese Armed Forces are refusing to let desperately needed humanitarian aid through, even though right now some 30 million people need lifesaving assistance due to this war, and up to 7 million face famine. That is nearly equivalent to the entire population of London—every person across the entire city we stand in today.

In December, the UK provided an additional £21 million for food, shelter and health services, and we have committed £146 million to support over 800,000 people this year alone. Since the conflict began, we have reached over 2.5 million people, delivering water and medicine to hard-to-reach areas. We will continue to make Sudan a top priority for UK humanitarian support, and we will support reforms such as the steps advocated by UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher and the International Rescue Committee to strengthen prioritisation and closer work through local partners on the ground. But for aid to save more lives, the deliberate barriers to humanitarian access must be lifted.

Aid alone will not solve this crisis; we need an immediate and urgent ceasefire, we need those responsible for these atrocities to be held to account, and we need a pathway to peace. There is no military solution to the conflict—that only results in devastation for Sudan—yet the military men driving this conflict still refuse to agree a truce, and there is disturbing evidence that they are seeking and getting hold of ever more dangerous weapons.

This crisis is compounded by regional rivalries and vested interests, with the real risk of further escalation within Sudan and beyond as fighting spreads to the Kordofan regions. I am very fearful that the RSF advances on the city of El Obeid risk turning it into another El Fasher. Co-ordinated and determined international pressure are needed to halt this bloodshed and pursue an immediate truce, with a halt to the arms flows, tangible pressure from all those who have backed the RSF and SAF or who have influence upon them to deliver a ceasefire, and pressure from the entire international community too.

The US has been working intensively to secure a truce, drawing together other Quad countries—the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt—and discussing humanitarian support, military withdrawal, civilian transition and action to stop arms flows. I am in close contact with all members of the Quad, including Secretary Rubio and the President’s senior adviser on Africa, as we urgently push for a way forward. The UK is particularly involved in a process to support Sudanese civilians to build their capacity.

African partners in the region also have a critical role. In Addis Ababa earlier this week, I met Foreign Ministers from Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, Chad, and the African Union’s chairperson and peace and security commissioner, to discuss what more can be done by border countries, and their assessment of the action needed to achieve a ceasefire. We need to build the same focus and momentum behind a peace process for Sudan as we had last year around Gaza, with countries from across the world coming together to back a ceasefire. That is why I am so determined that the UK will keep the international spotlight on Sudan. This month the UK holds the presidency of the United Nations Security Council, and we will use it to press for safe, unimpeded humanitarian access, accountability for atrocities, and international co-operation for a ceasefire. We will use it to ensure that the voices of Sudan’s women are heard in the Security Council Chamber.

As we look to the third anniversary of this devastating conflict in April, the UK and Germany will jointly convene a major international conference on Sudan in Berlin. In November, UK leadership at the UN Human Rights Council secured international agreement for an urgent UN inquiry into crimes in El Fasher, following its capture by the RSF. Later this month we will receive the report of that UN fact-finding mission, because as well as pursuing peace, we must also hold the perpetrators to account.

Today I can announce new action that the UK is taking to apply pressure deliberately on the belligerents, with fresh sanctions targeting senior figures in the SAF and RSF who have committed atrocities across Sudan. We are also targeting a network of individuals operating behind the scenes to procure weapons and recruit mercenary fighters. These designations send a clear message that the UK will hold accountable those suspected of perpetrating and profiteering from the most egregious violations of international humanitarian law.

To look away from crises such as Sudan is not just against our values but against our interests. Wars that rage unresolved do not just cause harm to civilians, because their destabilising effects ripple across borders and continents through migration and extremism. Let 2026 be the year that the world listens to the women of Sudan, not the military men who are perpetuating this conflict. Let 2026 be the year that the world comes together to drive urgent new momentum for peace. I commend this statement to the House.

STORY

Five years on from the military’s coup, the people of Myanmar face a deepening crisis.

By overthrowing Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government, the will of the people was overturned and their political freedom taken away.

Amidst this crisis, the UK remains committed to supporting a stable future for the people of Myanmar.

In the past year we have supported over 1.4 million people with humanitarian assistance and provided 1.3 million people with essential health services. We will continue to stand by those most affected.

Yet conditions on the ground remain dire.

Half of Myanmar’s children are now out of school, while women and girls face persistent violence.

Crimes that affect us in the UK, like drug production and cyber scams, have flourished.

The recent military-run elections were neither free nor fair.

For the aspirations of the Myanmar people to be met, there is much that still needs to be done.

We continue to urge all parties to protect civilians.

We call on the military regime to end its airstrikes; to allow unhindered humanitarian access; to release all political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi, and to engage in genuine dialogue towards a democratic and peaceful transition.

Today and always, we stand in unwavering solidarity with the people of Myanmar.

The speech made by Yvette Cooper, the Foreign Secretary, on 26 January 2026.

I am pleased to gather with you here on such a significant and important day.

As we remember the 6 million Jewish men, women and children who were murdered by the Nazis. And as we remember all victims of Nazi persecution – from Roma communities to gay and disabled people.

Alongside all victims of genocide across history. An occasion for us to commemorate and to learn. And also, to combine remembrance with resolve.

To spur us to work even harder to tackle the scourge of antisemitism. And to relentlessly confront prejudice, persecution and hate.

The violent and corrosive effects of which are all too present in our own society today. And so tragically evident across the world. 

Thank you to Daniela for co-hosting today’s event – a joint initiative with the FCDO that goes back over a decade.

And thank you to the Holocaust Educational Trust, the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, and to the Association of Jewish Refugees. For their essential, longstanding work and their contributions to this event, and for creating such powerful exhibitions that I encourage you all to view today.

The theme of this year’s Memorial Day is ‘bridging generations’. Reminding us that responsibility for remembrance does not end with the survivors.

Instead, it must reverberate through those that follow. Through all of us. A bridge across years. But also a bridge to join memory and action. A bridge across generations. So that our engagement with horrors past animates our engagement with horrors present.

Something that I discussed earlier with Holocaust survivor Mala Tribich who I am honoured is with us today. Huge thank you for being with us today. She has now spoken at countless national events and, perhaps most importantly, to tens of thousands of students across the country.

Mala, who for many years found it too painful to talk about her experiences and who has shown such strength and bravery speaking out, and will kindly speak shortly to share her story.

For decades, Holocaust survivors have carried the truth across time. Sharing achingly distressing experiences with extraordinary courage, so future generations would know what happened – and would never forget.

Each personal testimony an act of generosity to humanity. Bestowing the gift of truth, of wisdom so that we may honour their suffering. By reckoning with the meaning of their experiences. And by taking action in our own lives to make real the all too easy phrase of ‘never again’.  To make that real.

Each year, fewer survivors remain. Each time a survivor’s voice falls silent, we are reminded that soon there will be no first‑hand witnesses. Their absence does not bring an end to remembrance. It simply places it firmly in our hands. So that we carry and reinforce it through education, dialogue and action.

I’d want to say how pleased we are  to have the presence today of Meg Davis – Young Ambassador of the Holocaust Educational Trust – who has contributed so much to this cause.

And because education remains our strongest defence. Lest the passage of time dulls the urgency of the lessons. Or is exploited for the distortion of truth, the manipulation of facts, or – even more shockingly – the antisemitic denial of Holocaust altogether.

Because truth does not endure on its own. It endures because people chose to humanise it, to share it and to defend it. 

That is why I’m so pleased that Parliament has now, finally, passed the Holocaust Memorial Act, which received its Royal Assent late last week and passed through Parliament.

A vital step towards establishing the national Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre that this government has so long championed. And that we want to see built just a few hundred metres from where we stand today, at Victoria Tower Gardens. A location so close to Parliament is fitting because we must never forget that the road to the Holocaust began in a democracy.

I am also pleased to announce that Jon Pearce will be appointed as UK Special Envoy for Post-Holocaust issues. To give advice and push forward UK policy – including promoting Holocaust education, remembrance and research here and around the world.

Jon who brings his deep personal commitment, having spoken movingly in the House exactly a year ago of his trip to Yad Vashem and of standing in the Hall of Names, overwhelmed by Pages of Testimony detailing the individual lives so brutally cut short.

We mark Holocaust Memorial Day at a time of successive repugnant attacks on Jews here in the UK and overseas. Jews killed for being Jews, in the twenty first century.

The appalling Manchester synagogue attack of 2 October during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.

The terrorist murders in December as Australian families gathered at Bondi Beach to celebrate the joyful time of Chanukah.

Instead facing an unimaginable ordeal and loss of life. And the ever-present, horrific October 7 Hamas attacks – the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.

All the grieving families and friends are in our thoughts today.

The loved ones of Adrian Daulby and Melvin Cravitz and all the congregants of Heaton Park Synagogue.

The parents of Ran Gvili in such anguish and pain as the wait continues for the return of his remains. And all communities mourning victims and facing hate today. 

Here in the UK, I want to pay tribute to the light of the Jewish community that shines so brightly in our country, enhancing in so many areas our communal life.

The volunteers from Community Security Trust guarding against attacks and protecting communal events. The fantastic, life-saving work of Jewish Women’s Aid, who support victims of domestic abuse.

The brilliance of Mitzvah Day – with thousands of people volunteering in their communities up and down the country.

The humanitarian work of World Jewish Relief, helping keep Ukrainian families warm this winter in the face of Russian aggression.

And I want to say clearly on behalf of this Government. That we stand with the Jewish community today and every day. Unresolving in our resolve to tackle those who spread the poison of antisemitism online and on our streets. Unrelenting in our determination to stand against antisemitism.

Hence further allocations to the CST through the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant. Including for additional security staff and equipment following the Manchester attacks.

The Home Office’s independent review of public order and hate crime legislation. Steps in the education sector to tackle antisemitism in schools, universities and colleges.

In the NHS through Lord Mann’s review of the regulatory system for healthcare professionals.

And in my role as Foreign Secretary, I will continue to work with counterparts around the world to tackle the global of rise of antisemitism. Including close collaboration with Canada and Australia in the wake of recent attacks.

Just as I am committed to preventing atrocities and pushing for accountability wherever they occur – from Sudan to Iran.

We cannot only be witnesses to memory. We are its custodians. How we remember shapes how we act for the future. And how we act shapes the world we pass on.

By bridging generations, we honour those who were lost. We defend those who remain. And we protect those yet to come.

Thank you.

The statement made by Yvette Cooper, the Foreign Secretary, in the House of Commons on 5 January 2026.

I want to begin by expressing my condolences to all those affected by the terrible tragedy in Crans-Montana, and my support for the Swiss authorities. The British embassy has been supporting the family of Charlotte Niddam, who was educated in Hertfordshire and in north-west London. I can confirm that yesterday Charlotte’s family were given the devastating news that her remains had been identified. Charlotte was just 15. The whole House will be thinking of her and her friends and family now.

Let me turn to Venezuela. Over the weekend, the United States conducted air strikes on a series of Venezuelan targets, and confirmed that it had captured Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. They have been indicted on narcoterrorism, drug smuggling and weapons charges. I can confirm to the House that the United Kingdom was not involved in these operations.

UK policy on Venezuela has long been to press for a peaceful transition from authoritarian rule to a democracy that reflects the will of the Venezuelan people, maintains security in the region and is in line with international law. That remains our position and our determined view about what must happen in Venezuela now. Over the weekend I discussed this with the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and the UK Government are in close contact with our international partners on the issue.

The first duty of government is the safety and security of our citizens, and my Department is working tirelessly to ensure the safety of British nationals. Over the weekend I also spoke to the UK chargé d’affaires in Caracas. All our embassy staff are safe and accounted for, and working to support the approximately 500 British nationals in Venezuela. Our travel guidance currently advises against all travel to Venezuela, and British nationals in Venezuela should closely follow that travel advice, which will be kept up to date.

We should be under no illusion as to the nature of the Maduro regime. A once functioning democracy has become a hub for very dangerous organised criminal gangs—corrupt links have involved Iran, with Hezbollah increasingly present in recent years, as well as malign support from Russia—and a regime that has facilitated illicit finance, sanctions evasion and organised criminal activity, including narcotics trafficking and illegal gold trading. That undermines the security of the whole region, including UK overseas territories, as well as the United States and other regional partners. The country has been driven into economic ruin, with an 80% drop in its GDP in a decade. More than 8 million people have left, which has caused instability elsewhere in the region.

We have seen Maduro’s regime systematically dismantle democratic institutions, silencing dissent and weaponising state resources to maintain power through fear and corruption. The International Criminal Court has opened an investigation into possible crimes against humanity, following reports of hundreds of extrajudicial killings, including at the hands of Venezuela’s security services and paramilitary groups under the regime’s command. UN investigators have repeatedly reported a pattern of arbitrary detentions, tortures and killings.

In the July 2024 presidential election, millions of Venezuelans voted, but the official results have never been published. The opposition leader, María Corina Machado, was banned from standing by Maduro. International observers cited basic failures of election integrity. Independent tallies covering 80% of polling stations showed a clear victory for Edmundo González, yet Maduro claimed victory.

Most recently, in October, the UN independent fact-finding mission reported on state security forces using firearms against protesters after the elections 18 months ago, where 25 people died. González has been forced to leave the country and claim political asylum in Spain. Machado was forced into hiding for her own safety and had to be spirited out of the country to receive her Nobel peace prize in Norway last month.

These are the hallmarks of a regime that clings to power through fear, coercion and violence, not through democratic consent. That is why, as the Prime Minister said on Saturday, we can shed no tears for the end of Maduro’s rule.

Let me turn to UK policy. The UK has long been an advocate for a democratic Venezuela and a vocal critic of the Maduro regime. Since 2019, successive UK Governments have refused to recognise the regime. Through the G7 and the UN, with partners and directly, we have continued to call out the Maduro regime and its appalling human rights violations.

We have also, in some areas, taken a different policy approach from some of our allies. Our other Five Eyes partners have closed their embassies, but we have maintained our diplomatic mission in Caracas at a much more senior level than many of our partners and are seeking dialogue, sustaining direct contact with the opposition, supporting Venezuelan civil society and advocating for British interests.

A year ago, around Maduro’s inauguration, the UK acted alongside partners and announced a wave of new sanctions. We targeted 15 individuals, including judges and senior-ranking officials in Maduro’s regime responsible for undermining democracy and the rule of law, and for human rights violations. We have imposed sanctions on individuals, but not on sectors of the economy, and we have not supported or been involved in blockades or strikes against drug boats. We have continued to directly promote the interests of the British overseas territories, which need to see stability in the region.

Of course, throughout we have promoted and maintained support for international law. The commitment to international law, as the Prime Minister set out on Saturday, is immensely important to this Government. Those principles guide the decisions that we make and the actions that we take as part of Britain’s foreign policy. That commitment to international law is part of our values; it is also strongly in the UK’s national interest. Our manifesto talked about a foreign policy that is progressive and is also realistic, engaging with the world as we find it, in the interests of UK security, prosperity and our values. That means upholding international law and defending democracy, and it means confronting the complex, evolving and hybrid threats that we and our allies face in the world today.

Those principles and values also guide the conversations that we have with our allies across a range of issues where we agree and disagree. In my discussions with Secretary Rubio, I raised the importance of complying with international law, and we will continue to urge all partners to do so at every stage. It is, of course, for the US to set out the legal basis for its actions. The UN Security Council is discussing Venezuela this afternoon. These issues will continue to be matters for international discussion.

I discussed with Secretary Rubio what should happen next and our continued commitment to a transition to a peaceful and stable democracy. Our collective immediate focus must be on avoiding any deterioration in Venezuela into further instability, criminality, repression or violence. That would be deeply damaging for the people of Venezuela, our own overseas territories, our allies in the US and other regional partners.

The UK has long been clear that the leadership of Venezuela must reflect the will of the Venezuelan people, so the international community must come together to help achieve a peaceful transition to a democratic Government who respect the rights and will of their people. That must mean action on the economic crisis, the release of political prisoners, the return of opposition politicians, an end to political repression, respect for human rights, and plans for the holding of free and fair elections. I urge the acting President, Delcy Rodríguez, to take these steps forward, because the people of Venezuela have a right to decide their own future.

The US Secretary of State and I discussed the particular role that the UK can play to support a peaceful democratic transition and stability. Drawing on our embassy in Caracas and on the work that we have done over many years to build up relationships and dialogue with Venezuelan opposition parties and with the current authorities and regime, and of course our relationship with the US, to that end I have also spoken today with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado. Her unwavering fight for democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Venezuela, and against oppression, is inspirational. We will keep in touch over the days and weeks ahead.

Finally, let me turn briefly to another matter. The House will have seen recent comments from the United States and from Denmark regarding Greenland. Let me be very clear on the UK’s position: Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Our close European partners, our long-standing NATO allies and all our countries work closely together on security issues and will always do so. The future of Greenland is a matter for the Greenlanders and Danes, and no one else. I commend this statement to the House.

The speech made by Yvette Cooper, the Foreign Secretary, on 9 December 2025.

Thank you very much, your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, let me welcome you to the Foreign Office, as we commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the Treaty-signing from which these great rooms derive their name.

Je suis desolée, que – contrairement a mon predecesseur – Austen Chamberlain, I am unable to preside over today’s events in fluent French.

But thank you to Dominique for that introduction and to the Swiss Mission in London for co-hosting today’s event.

And let me also welcome the Mayor of Locarno, here today to represent the ‘City of Peace’ where the Treaties were negotiated one hundred years ago.

And I’m pleased to say that we are also joined by representatives of other countries that signed the Treaties in this room in 1925, as well as our friends from other nations who share a common interest in the search for peace on our continent, and a resolution to conflicts across the globe today.

So this afternoon, I want to commemorate the signing of the Locarno Treaties, and to reflect on what the Spirit of Locarno can teach us about responding to the rapidly changing security challenges facing our world today.

Looking back at the coverage of the Treaty-signing from 1925, I was struck by how modern some of the discussion felt. There was even what we would nowadays call a ‘spin row.’ It seems that exclusive filming rights for the ceremony were sold to the Gaumont Company and the British media were furious. And even worse, in an attempt to protect that exclusive deal – over-zealous Foreign Office officials called for police to remove press photographers from the courtyard below us.

The result was that, in the three weeks after the ceremony, there were four separate debates in Parliament about the filming row – and just one about the military consequences of the Locarno Pact.

But beyond all the noise, it’s clear from every contemporary account of the Treaty ceremony that the unmistakable sense there was among all of those present about the weight and importance of what they were trying to achieve, and the duty that they owed to the peoples of Europe to succeed.

Every delegate spoke about the cause of international unity. Seven years on from the end of the Great War, the memory of the millions lost and the debt of peace owed to them weighed heavily on all involved.

Millions of people like Lieutenant Eric Henn, who – in the summer of 1914 – had come second in the entrance exams for a place here at the Foreign Office. But instead of starting his new job in this building, he volunteered to join the army. He shipped out to France in 1915, and was killed just a month later.

All that potential, stolen too soon. And for his mother and father, their only child lost. In 1925 millions of parents were in that same situation, still mourning their lost sons and daughters. Which explained why men and women standing in this great room a hundred years ago openly wept when the French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand quoted a letter that he had received after the Locarno Conference.

It said: “Allow the mother of a family to congratulate you. At last, I shall be able to look at my children without apprehension, and love them with security.”

King George V wrote in his diary that night: “I pray this may mean peace for many years. Why not forever?”

Of course, forever was not to be.

We could spend hours debating how far the flaws in the Treaties led to their demise – the weakness of the guarantees of Polish and Czech sovereignty, the limited institutional underpinnings, or lack of resilience within the signatory nations.

But as contested as the letter of the Locarno Treaties still is, we should not forget that it was the spirit of the common endeavour that in 1925 was so striking and that matters still. And we should not forget how brave and radical it seemed at the time.

As the award speech at the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony stated the following year, and I quote, “If we are to appreciate fully what these statesmen accomplished, we must not overlook the violent nationalistic opposition in their own countries which several of them had to overcome to push through the peace programme.”

A group of political leaders choosing to pursue peace and unity, and recognising that partnerships with nations abroad made them stronger and more secure at home.

And that is the spirit that matters just as much today, at a time of huge global instability, in a world where we face ever more complex hybrid security threats.

The most acute of which for us right now lies in Russia’s war against Ukraine.

It has been nearly four years since Vladimir Putin led his illegal invasion into Ukraine.

Unprovoked.

Unjustifiable.

And unforgivable.

In the period since, Ukraine has been subjected to drone and missile strikes day-in, day-out targeting civilians.

While Russia has embarked on an appalling campaign to abduct Ukrainian children and ‘re-educate’ them to adopt pro-Russian views.

But each time, the Russians have underestimated Ukraine and underestimated their friends.

No one wants this war and the suffering and destruction it has wrought to continue.

Least of all Ukraine.

That is why the attempts by the US and President Trump to broker a ceasefire and pursue a sustainable end to this war are so important.

It is why just over the road in 10 Downing Street yesterday, the Prime Minister hosted President Zelenskyy alongside E3 counterparts to talk about the prospects for peace.

And yesterday, I met Secretary Rubio and others in Washington D.C. to discuss the negotiations and the path towards an agreement.

An agreement which must be just.

Which must be lasting.

And which must deter Russia.

Not give them simply a platform to come again.

And it must be acceptable to Ukraine.

But while we have two Presidents pursuing peace, the Russian President has continued to escalate the war with drones and bombs.

Russia’s aggression and security threats go far beyond Ukraine. We’ve seen sabotage in European cities. Reckless breaches of NATO airspace. Relentless cyber-attacks. A full spectrum campaign. To test us. To provoke us. And to destabilise us.

And that is why the UK has so consistently supported Ukraine in its efforts to resist Russian aggression.

Because this is the right thing to do.

Morally, and strategically.

For Ukraine yes, but also because it is our security that is at stake too.

But while those ceasefire discussions for Ukraine continue, I want to just take a step back and reflect on how the current security challenges that we and partner nations face relate back to the principles established through the Locarno Treaty 100 years ago.

And I want to offer two reflections – firstly, on the transformed nature of security threats compared to a century ago, and how that means we need to respond.

But secondly, on the changing partnerships and the renewed multilateralism we need if we are to confront the full range of shared threats we face.

So first on the threats.

Armed conflict is of course the threat uppermost in our minds as we think of Ukraine. Other traditional security threats have not gone away – from border disputes through to terrorism and nuclear proliferation.

But novel and hybrid threats to our collective security have emerged which would have been inconceivable a century ago.

From tampering with undersea communications cables to using biotechnology and AI as new kinds of weapons of war, those threats come in many different forms, and from many different quarters.

Some of these threats are flagrantly visible – the spy ships in our waters, or the acts of violence, terror or sabotage in our cities.

Some have not always been recognised for the threats that they pose, in particular on issues of economic security, for example the over-reliance of European nations on imports of energy from Russia or also on China for the critical minerals that we need.

And across Europe we are witnessing an escalation in hybrid threats – from physical through to cyber.

Designed to weaken our critical national infrastructure, undermine our interests or destabilise our democracies, all for the advantage of malign foreign states.

Some of these threats have echoes a hundred years ago. Two years before Locarno in 1923, the Soviet Union coined the expression ‘Dezinformatsiya’ and set up their first office to deploy disinformation.

But the term disinformation does not begin to capture the industrial scale approach from some malign actors today.

A hundred years ago, state-sponsored disrupters may have relied on expertly forged documents or carefully planted stories to manipulate public opinion. Today’s technology gives them the ability to do that on steroids.

And in 2024, evidence suggests that automated online traffic surpassed human activity for the first time, with some evidence of malicious bots accounting for more than a third of all messages.

In the Moldovan elections, two months ago, we saw fake websites designed to be the spitting image of legitimate outlets fabricating policies for politicians they sought to discredit. Across Africa we see videos laundered through apparent news portals with false claims about the Ukrainian president and his wife, seeking to undermine support for Ukraine. And across Europe, we see Russian agencies responsible for vast malign online networks like Doppelgänger that seek to flood social media with counterfeit documents and deepfake material in English, German, and French, to advance Russia’s strategic aims.

This isn’t about legitimate debate on contentious issues. We have wide-ranging debates, with strong views on all sides, on many things. But this is about state-backed organisations who seek to do us harm pursuing malign aims.

So we should call this out for what it is – Russian information warfare. And we are defending ourselves.

That is why we have built world-class cyber security, expert law enforcement and intelligence capabilities.

Why, since October 2024, this government has sanctioned 31 different organisations and individuals responsible for delivering Russia’s information warfare.

And why today I have gone further in exposing and sanctioning Russian media outlet Rybar, whose Telegram channel and network of affiliates in 28 languages reaches millions worldwide. Using classic Kremlin manipulation tactics, including fake ‘investigations’ and AI driven content to shape narratives about global events in the Kremlin’s favour.

Masquerading as an independent body, Rybar is in fact partially coordinated by the Presidential Administration. And receiving funding from Russian state corporation Rostec and working with members of the Russian Intelligence Services.

We have also sanctioned Pravfond, attributed by Estonia as a front for the GRU. Leaked reports suggest that Pravfond finances the promotion of Kremlin narratives to Western audiences as well as bankrolling legal defences for convicted Russian assassins and arms traffickers.

And our new measures will also hit Moscow-based ‘think tank’, the Centre for Geopolitical Expertise, and its founder Aleksander Dugin, whose work closely informs Putin’s calculations. And an organisation whose senior leaders are involved in Storm-1516, a malign influence network which produces content designed to create support for Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine.

But it isn’t just Russia.

Other countries are also enabling or ignoring this kind of undeclared action or cyber threats.

And that is why today, with support from our international partners and allies, we are also sanctioning two of the most egregious China-based companies, i-Soon and Integrity Technology Group, for their vast and indiscriminate cyber activities against the UK and its allies.

Attacks like this impact our collective security and our public services, yet those responsible operate with little regard for who or what they target.

And so we are ensuring that such reckless activity does not go unchecked.

And our message to those who would harm us is clear – we see you in the shadows; we know what you are doing, and we will defend ourselves and the international partnerships on which we depend.

And it is those partnerships with our allies around the world that have enabled the steps we have taken today.

The growing cooperation between teams in the UK, in France, Germany, Poland, Brussels and other countries that has led to these sanctions.

Pooling expertise, understanding and evidence.

And that’s what takes me to my second reflection on the collective Locarno spirit, and why multilateral action matters more than ever, but why it needs to modernise and adapt.

Because faced with growing global instability, there is a tendency to talk of two clashing perspectives.

One – that the era of traditional multilateral partnerships or collective commitments is over.

That, as we move into the second quarter of the twenty-first century, only great power politics matters.

Or alternatively, that at a time of global turmoil, we need to revert solely to the multilateral architecture built up since the Second World War as the only safe refuge, and dare not risk stepping outside it or asking it to change.

Neither are true as an account of the world or as an account of UK foreign policy and our national interests today.

The first ignores the lessons of history; that we are stronger if we tackle shared threats together.

But the second ignores the realities of today, where longstanding institutions, important as they may be, can be too constrained or too slow to respond

What we need instead in today’s world is to approach every challenge and tackle every threat by finding the most effective means of cooperation to get each job done.

Creative diplomacy.

Diplomatic entrepreneurialism.

A new and reinvigorated and more agile form of multilateralism, adapting to the demands of the task. Drawing on our long-standing relationships and multilateral institutions but also adapting, reforming and building new partnerships too.

That’s the approach the UK is taking. But it also reflects what we also see around us.

Just look at the range of new and old groupings that helped to create the conditions for peace in the Middle East and the ceasefire in Gaza.

In the last few months, we have seen the world come together to support the US-led peace process in Gaza.

The 20-point plan drawn up by President Trump, working with mediators from Qatar, Türkiye and Egypt.

All following the commitments made by the whole of the Arab League to isolate Hamas, the recognition of Palestine by the UK and dozens more nations at the UN, and a Declaration then endorsed by 142 countries.

And a ceasefire agreement supported by over 25 nations at Sharm El-Sheikh, followed weeks later by a UN Security Council resolution to support implementation on the ground and provide the mandate to move forward.

So that was leadership by the US, with new and agile partnerships for peace coming together from across the globe but underpinned by multilateral institutional agreement. It’s not multilateralism as we have always known it, but it is essential in today’s world and must be matched by further work to reform and adapt.

But look at other examples. The E3 cooperating on the nuclear threat from Iran, or the vital work now underway that we are supporting in the Quad and at the UN to seek to secure a humanitarian ceasefire in Sudan.

And the new deals that Britain has agreed with France on migration returns, and with Germany on tackling smuggling gangs, as pilots for broader cooperation in future.

In each case, we see new partnerships of like-minded countries with the agency and will to secure rapid breakthroughs, supported by later, broader agreements, rather than having to wait for them.

And nowhere does that matter more than on our collective response to that most immediate national security challenge that we face – that I have already talked about – on Russia and Ukraine.

So there too, we have worked to strengthen and reinvigorate NATO – the cornerstone of European security. But we’ve also worked flexibly and creatively to bring likeminded countries together in Europe and beyond.

Working with the US on the peace process. But also, thanks to the leadership the Prime Minister has shown, working with France to establish the Coalition of the Willing. More than 30 countries signing up – including all the original Locarno signatories – and not just in Europe, but beyond, because we all recognise the threat Russia poses.

For too long, Europe has relied too heavily on US support to protect ourselves from the threats to Euro-Atlantic security.

And we can do so no more.

Europe must step up.

Because it is fundamentally in our own interests. And because our continent, is, first and foremost, our responsibility.

And because the Transatlantic partnership will be stronger and more durable if that burden is properly shared.

And so earlier this year, the Prime Minister took the decision to boost defence spending up to 5% of GDP by 2035 – making difficult trade-offs in the meantime.

But it’s also why we are deepening cooperation and partnerships on security around the world, including for example, our Carrier Strike Group. Conducting operations with partners beyond NATO across the Indo-Pacific, but then placed directly under the command of NATO on its return leg, reflecting still that centrality of NATO in all that we do.

That is how UK will operate – agile and pragmatic partnerships for the sake of our national security, our shared interests, and the principles we champion across the world.

So yes, that’s why I believe the centenary we mark today is so important. A vital reminder – that when we discuss the modern threats that we face, whether it be from information warfare to the shared risks to our economic security, to cyber security, border security and beyond – that the Locarno spirit is not a quaint relic of times long gone, but an essential lesson from history.

A reminder that for us in the UK, the partnerships we build abroad make us stronger and more secure here at home.

And to reinforce that, let me quote the words of German Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann, spoken in this great room one hundred years ago after he added his name to the Treaties.

He said, “One fact has emerged, namely that we are bound to one another by a single and a common fate. If we go down, we go down together; if we are to reach the heights, we do so not by conflict but by common effort.”

And Doctor Stresemann’s words are as vital and as powerful now as they were one hundred years ago. He reminds us of the duty we all have – every person, every leader and every nation – to work together in the pursuit of peace, security and democracy, and to stand together against anyone who threatens that goal.

That is our task today as surely as it was 100 years ago, and that is the Locarno spirit which we must now keep alive.

Thank you very much.