Mps ‘weekending while ukraine burns’ by waiting until next week to punish vladimir putin

Dominic Penna 25 February 2022 2:46pm GMT Ukraine war - featured articles MPs are “weekending while Ukraine burns” by not sitting on Saturday and Sunday to speed up new sanctions against

Russia, it has been claimed. Asset freezes against all Russian financial institutions and sweeping additions to existing financial curbs are expected to come into law next week as part of

secondary legislation on top of measures that came into effect on Thursday. However, there have been calls for Parliament to sit at the weekend in order to speed up the introduction of

punitive measures after Vladimir Putin’s declaration of war on Thursday. “The Government’s response to the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine has been far too slow,” said Layla Moran, the

Liberal Democrats’ foreign affairs spokesman. “With Russian troops already menacing Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv, sanctions next week are simply not good enough. “Liberal Democrats have

called for Parliament to sit as long as needed into the weekend to enable more vigorous measures to be brought forward sooner. Yet sadly the Government looks content to carry on with

business as normal – meaning MPs are off weekending while Ukraine burns.” Ten-point barrage of sanctions against Russia Her comments were echoed by Sir Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, who

said: “Parliament must sit this weekend, day and night if we have to, to pass the necessary measures and impose the most punitive of sanctions upon Putin’s regime.” Alicia Kearns, a

Conservative MP and member of the Commons foreign affairs select committee, said any decisions on when Parliament sits must be determined by events in Ukraine. “You first have to draft and

debate the legislation and I’m not convinced that sitting [this weekend] would be the answer,” she said. “In terms of whether we want to sit, in terms of debate and urgent questions,

Parliament has made clear what action it wants to see and how quickly. The situation on the ground has to steer whether or not we’re sitting. There’s definitely a place for a debate around

the humanitarian relief we can provide. “I think ultimately this is down to the Government and it’s down to the Government to make the right calls, which they are now doing. My instinct is

that Parliament feels very reassured that the Government has listened, and has the wholehearted, cross-party support of the whole chamber.” A Labour spokesman said ministers should have

“legislated months ago” and noted that the Economic Crime Bill was in the Queen’s Speech. Boris Johnson confirmed in the Commons that Number 10 plans to sanction major state-owned Russian

banks in addition to the asset freezes on more than 100 new entities and individuals confirmed on Thursday. “Diplomatically, politically, economically and eventually militarily, this hideous

and barbaric venture of Vladimir Putin must end in failure,” he told MPs. “These powers will enable us totally to exclude Russian banks from the UK financial system, which is of course by

far the largest in Europe, stopping them from accessing sterling and clearing payments through the UK.” On Friday, Number 10 said it was not aware of any plans for Parliament to sit on

Saturday or Sunday.