Boris Johnson has been accused of dragging his feet on sanctions over Ukraine, after he rejected a Labour offer of support for emergency legislation to crack down on illicit Russian money in the UK.
Keir Starmer has called for the immediate escalation of sanctions to hit the Russian economy, such as exclusion from the international Swift money transfer system and halting trade in Moscow’s sovereign debt. He today offered Labour’s help to rush through the Economic Crimes Bill, which was promised in last year’s Queen’s Speech but has been delayed until the next session of parliament.
But the prime minister dismissed the offer, telling MPs that "no country is doing more than the UK to tackle this issue".
After the UK’s first round of sanctions on Tuesday were blasted as under-powered, Mr Johnson and foreign secretary Liz Truss have said that tougher measures are under preparation for deployment in case Putin steps up his aggression against Ukraine.
However, The Independent understands that it is regarded as inconceivable in Whitehall that the UK will hold back from further measures in co-ordination with US and EU allies.
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Mr Johnson was this afternoon expected to attend a meeting hosted by Treasury minister John Glen with leading City firms, banks, regulators and trade associations to discuss how future sanctions could operate.
Ms Truss today said that “nothing is off the table” in the UK’s efforts to hit the Putin regime hard, and official sources have pointed to measures against the Russian financial defence and energy sectors, restrictions on high tech and blacklisting of oligarchs close to the Kremlin.
But Sir Keir told the House of Commons that there should be no further delay in imposing tougher sanctions and implementing the recommendations of the 2020 Russia Report to crack down on Russian influence in the UK financial and political systems. The Labour leader has called on Tories to return around ￡2bn received from individuals of Russian heritage since Mr Johnson became leader.
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“At the weekend the prime minister said that if Russia invades Ukraine he will open up the Matryoshka dolls of Russian-owned companies and Russian-owned entities to find the ultimate beneficiaries within,” said Sir Keir.
“Well, Russia has invaded and it’s time to act. If the Prime Minister brings forward the required legislation to do this, he will have Labour’s support, so will he commit to do so in the coming days?”
Mr Johnson insisted he was “accelerating” the bill, but said he would not bring it forward from the next parliamentary year, despite it having featured in the agenda for this session.
He insisted it was essential for all allies to move in unison in order to avoid opening up backdoor routes for targeted individuals to bypass controls.
“We are bringing forward in the next wave of sanctions measures that will stop all Russian banks, all oligarchs, all Russian individuals, raising money on London markets,” he said.
“And we are also accelerating the Economic Crime Bill which will enable us in the UK to peel back – in the next session – to peel back the facade of beneficial ownership of property in the UK and of companies.”
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford called on the Conservative Party to return money “raised from Russian oligarchs”.
He told the Commons: “The truth is that Russian oligarchs who give the right people in power a golden handshake have been welcomed into London for years. Their activities weren’t stopped, they were encouraged.”
But the PM insisted that all donations to Tories came from “people who are registered to vote on the UK register of interests”.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said that the Ukraine crisis should mark a “turning point” in the UK’s approach to Russian money.
"It’s not right that such huge sums of dark money linked to the Russian regime are allowed to flow through the UK,” said Ms Reeves.
"The Conservatives have chosen to delay the Economic Crime Bill, breaking the promise they made to introduce it in this session. This is a mistake and sends entirely the wrong message. The government must think again and immediately speed up action on tackling illicit finance and drawing a line on oligarch impunity in the UK."
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