Kemi’s statement on Ukraine

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Mr Speaker, I thank the Prime Minister for advance sight of his statements and also for our conversation earlier today.

The United Kingdom is a free, democratic and sovereign country.

We recognise that Ukraine is fighting for her survival and fighting to have the same freedom, democracy and sovereignty which all of us here enjoy.

And that is why both the opposition, and the government are fully committed to supporting Ukraine and President Zelenskyy.

And I was also glad to see His Majesty the King welcome President Zelenskyy at Sandringham.

As I said at the weekend, President Zelensky is a hero. He is a symbol of the bravery of the Ukrainian people.

There are, of course, many areas where the Prime Minister and I disagree.

But now is the time for us to discuss where we do agree.

I welcome all of his actions this weekend to convene European leaders, as well as the focus on economic security, using UK export finance to support British jobs.

As the Prime Minister knows, we welcomed the uplift in defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027.

We also support the use of foreign aid to achieve this.

We welcome a commitment to reach 3% in the years ahead, and we will support him in taking difficult spending decisions, including on welfare.

And we will return to the details of how the government will fund this in the near future.

But for now, it is right that the Prime Minister is working with allies in Europe and with the United States to bring peace to Ukraine and not a surrender to Russia.

As part of this, the Prime Minister has suggested the British troops could be deployed in Ukraine. There are obviously a range of possible options for what such a deployment could look like, and we are keen to work with the government, but we will need details of any such plan.

This will be a difficult but significant step.

I know many in Parliament and across our country will be interested in what this entails. And I ask him to work with us so there can be effective scrutiny.

I also welcome the coalition of the willing to support Ukraine and agree that Europe must do the heavy lifting.

So can I ask the Prime Minister to update us on what European and other allies are willing to offer towards this coalition?

Can I welcome the use of the proceeds from frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, and ask the Prime Minister if he has plans to go further and use the frozen assets themselves.

Can I ask him for an update on the government sanctions on Russian linked individuals, and for confirmation that such sanctions would not be lifted in the event of a cease fire?

Can I ask the Prime Minister to update us on the steps he and other allies are taking to ensure that Ukraine is at the negotiating table for any peace plan, and what he thinks can be done to heal the rift with Washington.

As the Prime Minister referenced in his speech, the Minsk agreements of 2015 failed to stop Russian aggression and ultimately did not return Ukraine's territorial integrity.

His second principle is that any lasting peace guarantees the sovereignty of Ukraine.

So can I finally ask how the Prime Minister will work to ensure we avoid a repeat of the Minsk agreements, and how we can ensure that any peace fully protects Ukrainian sovereignty?

At times like these, it is so important that we stand together to defend shared values and the fundamental basic principle that aggressors should not win.

The Prime Minister will have our support to do that and to ensure that we continue to uphold those values all of us in this Parliament hold dear.