Keir Starmer has urged Boris Johnson to get on with ending the “era of oligarch impunity” in the UK following Russia’s “invasion” of Ukraine.
Shouts of “get on with it” could be heard from the Labour benches as the prime minister insisted “even more” sanctions against Russia are coming, when pressed to “unleash a full package” of measures by Starmer.
Labour MPs were also seen tapping their watches and repeatedly shouting “when?” after Johnson told the Commons that “any Russian entity, any Russian individual” and members of the Russian parliament could now be targeted by UK sanctions and that further legislation is planned.
Speaking at PMQs, Starmer said: “Putin has invaded a sovereign European nation, he’s attacked because he fears openness and democracy and because he knows that given a choice people will not choose to live under erratic violent rule.
“He seeks division, we must stay united. He hopes for inaction, we must take a stand. He believes we’re too corrupted to do the right thing, so we must prove him wrong – and I believe that we can.
“So will the prime minister work across the House to ensure that this is the end of the era of oligarch impunity by saying that this House and this country will no longer be homes for their loot?”
Johnson claimed in his reply: “I don’t think any government could conceivably be doing more to root out corrupt Russian money – and that is what we’re going to do, and I think we can be proud of what we’ve already done and the measures we have set out.
“It is absolutely vital that we in the UK should stand united and people around the world can see that the UK was the first to call out what President Putin was doing in Ukraine, we’ve been instrumental in bringing the western world together in lockstep to deal with the problem, to bring together the economic package of sanctions that I have set out.
“There is still time for President Putin, as I’ve said, to de-escalate.
“But what is at stake, be in absolutely no doubt, is not just the democracy of Ukraine but the principle of democracy around the world, and that is why the unity of this House is so important today, and it is absolutely vital that the United Kingdom stands together against aggression in Ukraine.”
