UK Politics

Priti Patel is being urged to send emergency help for at least 150 Ukraine refugees stranded in Calais by what France calls the UK’s “lack of humanity”.Labour and a Conservative MP called on the home secretary to act – after women and children were told to travel back to Paris to apply for visas giving permission to cross the Channel.Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, called the situation “shocking”, asking if the government had “lost all humanity and solidarity”.“Ukrainian families turned away by UK at Calais and told to go back to Paris for a visa. Priti Patel needs to get a grip,” she said.Ms Patel needed to “send an emergency team to Calais immediately to sort this out today and get desperate people swiftly through,” Ms Cooper added.Roger Gale, a Tory MP in Kent, asked: “What are we doing to relieve the pressure on those frontline states that have already taken in more than a million people?“Time, surely, to cut the red tape and admit any refugees with a valid Ukrainian passport and any accompanying children.”The crisis has sparked another cross-Channel spat, the French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin criticising the way British officials turned away refugees for not having the necessary visas.“I have twice contacted twice my British counterpart, I told her to set up a consulate in Calais,” Mr Darmanin told Europe 1 radio, referring to the home secretary.But, in a statement, the Home Office made no mention of opening a consulate in the port town, while insisting it is “doing everything possible to help those fleeing the war in Ukraine”.The government has declined to waive visa rules to allow fleeing refugees to come to the UK, although it is allowing family members to join Ukrainians already in this country.In contrast, the EU – confronted with 1.5 million refugees just 10 days after Russia’s invasion – has offered asylum to all Ukrainians for three years.Mr Darmanin, in a letter to Ms Patel, attacked the UK’s “lack of humanity” towards refugees “in distress”.France had announced its expectation that Britain would set up a pop-up visa centre in Calais – prompting hundreds of Ukrainians to travel there, in an attempt to reunite with their families in the UK.“Our coasts have been the scene of too many human tragedies. Let’s not add to that those Ukrainian families,” Mr Darmanin added.A government spokesperson said: “The UK is focused on doing everything possible to help those fleeing the war in Ukraine, with an unprecedented scheme to quickly help tens of thousands of people from Ukraine to reunite with their families in the UK. Many have already successfully applied.“Staff have been surged across Europe to support people in coming to the UK and all visa application centres remain open, with thousands of appointments available to carry out essential security checks, and a dedicated helpline has been set up.” More

The UK has a “direct line” to Russia’s war room to ease tensions during the Ukraine crisis, a defence chief has revealed – but it is “not as strong” as wanted.Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said the link is being used for direct conversations with Vladimir Putin’s chief of the general staff, Valery Gerasimov, when asked about ways to “de-escalate” the risk of wider conflict.“We have a line in the Ministry of Defence that goes direct to the Moscow operational headquarters. That’s tested every day,” the head of the armed forces said.“We’ve used that line for me to, to say to General Gerasimov that we need to speak and I’m waiting for him to come back to me.“Other countries also have direct lines in, but these lines of communication are not as strong as we would want them to be. And that’s why we’re furthering them as best as we can.”The admiral was also strikingly more cautious about the risk of nuclear war, after Dominic Raab dismissed Putin’s threats as “rhetoric and brinkmanship”.“We have got to be very cautious about President Putin’s threats,” he told the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme.The UK is able to detect “warning signs if this was going to start to chart a path towards nuclear escalation”, the defence chief said.He also delivered the strongest rebuke yet to Liz Truss, after the foreign secretary’s support for Britons – even those without military training – to fight for Ukraine.“We’ve been very clear that it’s unlawful as well as unhelpful for UK military and for the UK population to start going towards Ukraine in that sense,” the admiral said.“Support from the UK, support in whatever way you can. But this isn’t really something that you want to rush to in terms of the sound of gunfire. This is about sensible support based in the UK.”On Ms Truss’s comments, he added: “We can all understand that sentiment and that sentiment needs to be channelled into support for Ukraine.“But we’re saying as professional military people, that actually that is not necessarily the sensible thing to be doing.”He also denied it is “inevitable” that Russia succeeds in taking over Ukraine, after it made slower than expected progress in the first 10 days of the invasion.“No. I think we’ve seen a Russian invasion that is not going well,” the head of the armed forces said.“I think we’re also seeing a remarkable resistance by Ukraine, both its armed forces and its people.“We’re also seeing the unity of the whole globe coming together with a cohesive approach, whether that’s economically, diplomatically, culturally, socially, militarily, applying pressure to Russia, and that needs to continue so that Russia stops this invasion.” More

The government is considering using its new Brexit regulatory freedom to allow pesticides banned in the EU on food imported to the UK.Brussels announced it was banning 10 pesticides on imported fruit and veg in February last year and the UK was at the time widely expected in to follow suit. But over a year later the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) says no decision has yet been made on whether Britain will follow the EU or continue to permit the chemicals on food.All the pesticides have not been allowed for use by domestic farmers in either the UK or EU for some years, but were still allowed for imports from outside the bloc subject to “maximum residue levels” checked by border staff.But last year Brussels regulation 2021/155 cut the maximum residue levels (MRLs) for all the chemicals to the lowest possible level allowed under EU law – effectively banning their use on food destined for the continent. The change was announced by the European Commission in February 2021 and took effect in September last year, but the UK has not yet decided whether to follow suit for most of the chemicals.The chemicals in question are carbon tetrachloride, chlorothalonil, chlorpropham, ethoprophos, fenamidone, methiocarb, propiconazole and pymetrozine. Two further chemicals, dimethoate and omethoate, were also banned by the regulation and have also since been banned on food imported to the UK.The eight chemicals that are still permitted on imports to the UK but not EU were banned for a variety of reasons: chlorothalonil, a fungicide, is considered potentially carcinogenic and is judged to be a possible groundwater contaminant. Propiconazole, another fungicide used by American rice farmers, is considered “toxic to reproduction”, meaning it is classed as potentially dangerous to babies in the womb. Meanwhile chlorpropham, a chemical used to prevent potato sprouting by American farmers, is banned for domestic use in the EU and UK due to toxicity concerns.The widespread use of the chemicals by US farmers and the foot-dragging by the UK government has raised eyebrows among campaigners, who are suspicious that the UK may be concerned banning the pesticides could jeopardise a future trade agreement with the US and other countries with lax standards.The US rice industry described the ban on propiconazole as “frustrating” in April last year and while the country’s potato industry has described steps to restrict chlorpropham as “disappointing”.The Defra press office declined to provide a quote for this article but confirmed that no decision had yet been taken on the eight chemicals that were as yet not banned for import to the UK. The department did not give a timescale but said decisions would be made in “due course” and independently of the EU.Defra highlighted that it had taken action equivalent to the EU import ban on two of the chemicals, dimoethoate and omethoate, and said that decisions about which pesticides to permit on food were based on robust scientific assessments.Friends of the Earth campaigner, Kierra Box, told The Independent: “We’ve known for years that these pesticides pose health risks, which is why the UK already has some restrictions in place to limit residues of these chemicals on imported food.“However, the EU has already tightened the rules, so why hasn’t the UK followed suit“Any suggestion that prospective trade deals with countries that commonly use these pesticides may have influenced delays to these reassessments would be deeply concerning.“We mustn’t trade away health and environment safeguards for the sake of a few pounds or use the UK’s newfound ‘regulatory freedom’ to trash standards that protect people and planet, rather than raise them.”An investigation by Greenpeace’s Unearthed unit published in February found that British companies had shipped more than 10,000 tonnes of banned pesticides overseas in 2020, including propiconazole.Greenpeace UK’s policy director Dr Doug Parr, described the practice of exporting chemicals banned in the UK to be used overseas on food to be imported back to Britain as a “toxic boomerang”.“Our European neighbours have realised that flogging abroad harmful pesticides that are banned at home doesn’t make sense,” he told The Independent. “It makes even less sense if traces of those chemicals come back to the sender and on our dinner plate via imported food like a toxic boomerang. “And yet the UK government continues to allow companies to export thousands of tonnes of highly toxic, banned pesticides while showing little appetite for restricting the amount of harmful chemicals in the food we import. “Ministers should not let our environmental standards fall behind those in force across the Channel. Britain should be leading out in front by banning this toxic trade and promoting a healthier food system for people and nature.” More

Boris Johnson will shrug off criticism of the UK offer to refugees from Ukraine by calling for an “international humanitarian coalition” to step up help for the country.A six-point “plan of action” must also include delivering more weapons, fresh economic pressure on Vladimir Putin’s regime and wider strengthening of the west’s security, the prime minister will say. In meetings with other world leaders, Mr Johnson will also warn against the “creeping normalisation” of Russia’s brutal actions as it pursues its invasion of Ukraine.Diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the crisis should be pursued, but only on the basis of full participation by “the legitimate government of Ukraine”, he will say.The plan will be set out when Mr Johnson welcomes the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, to Downing Street on Monday.The following day, he will host the leaders of the “V4” group of central European nations – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia – at the heart of the humanitarian crisis engulfing Europe.The government has been criticised for refusing to waive visa rules to allow fleeing refugees to come to the UK, although it is allowing family members to join Ukrainians already in this country.In contrast, the EU – confronted with one million refugees little more than a week after the invasion – has offered asylum to all Ukrainians for three years.Nevertheless, Downing Street said the first point of Mr Johnson’s six-point plan would be to “mobilise an international humanitarian coalition for Ukraine”.The UK has increased its aid to Ukraine and the region to £220m, No 10 says, and is continuing to supply defensive and lethal weaponry to the country.The prime minister is setting out his plan after a planned mass evacuation of civilians from Mariupol was aborted, after Russia continued shelling the key southern city.Ukraine accused Moscow of breaching a ceasefire designed to allow thousands of people to leave – with civilians also been unable to escape the nearby city of Volnovakha.Protests broke out in Kherson on Saturday, the only big city to have been captured by Russian forces so far.Meanwhile, Putin warned the west that he would regard any no-fly zone over Ukraine as an act of war, after Ukraine’s president condemned Nato for ruling out the move.Mr Johnson will say, in an essay in The New York Times: “Putin must fail and must be seen to fail in this act of aggression.“It is not enough to express our support for the rules-based international order – we must defend it against a sustained attempt to rewrite the rules by military force.“The world is watching. It is not future historians but the people of Ukraine who will be our judge.”The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered.To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page. More

Dominic Raab has dismissed fears that Vladimir Putin will use nuclear weapons in the Ukraine crisis, calling his threats “rhetoric and brinkmanship”.The Russian president alarmed the world by putting his arsenal on high alert – and, overnight, the Kremlin is reported to have claimed that Ukraine is developing a dirty nuclear bomb.But, asked if that suggested Moscow is seeking an excuse to use battlefield nuclear weapons, Mr Raab replied: “I think it is rhetoric and brinkmanship.”The Russian president had “a track record of misinformation and propaganda”, the deputy prime minister said.The comments came as Mr Raab also rejected calls for the UK to make a more generous offer to some of the one million-plus refugees fleeing the conflict as “the wrong thing to do”.The UK has refused to waive visa rules – in stark contrast to the EU, which has offered asylum to all Ukrainians crossing its borders for three years.Mr Raab claimed that extending help beyond family reunions and a sponsorship scheme which has yet to start would mean removing “security checks on those coming from a war zone”,“We have got to look at our security,” he told Sky News’ Trevor Phillips on Sunday programme – claiming the public opposed greater generosity.“Public support has been incredible, very moving, overwhelming. I think you would start to see that fray,” Mr Raab said.Fiona Hill, a former member of the US National Security Council, is among Russia experts who have warned that Putin is willing to use nuclear weapons.“Every time you think, ‘No, he wouldn’t, would he?’. Well, yes, he would,” she said recently.But Mr Raab brushed fears that an “isolated Kremlin” would reach for its most deadly weapons, saying: “No, I think the debate and rhetoric is just that.”The justice secretary again ruled out imposing a no-fly zone – despite the pleas of Ukraine’s president – which would lead to a “massive escalation” and would fuel Russia’s claims of a war against the West.“We’re not going to get ourselves into a direct military conflict with Putin because that would be a massive escalation, but also that feeds Putin’s narrative,” Mr Raab said.“Putin wants to say that he’s actually in a struggle with the west – he’s not.” No-fly zones are “very difficult, very challenging”, he added.Mr Raab also dismissed Putin’s claim that the sanctions levelled against him and Russia are a declaration of war, calling them “both legally justified but also proportionate.”He warned Russian commanders and Putin’s close associates that they risk being prosecuted for war crimes at the International Criminal Court (ICC).“What they do now, whether they give or whether they follow illegal orders to commit war crimes, they will be held to account for it – and they need to know that,” Mr Raab said. More

An emergency law must be passed to stop Russian oligarchs using the notorious UK legal system to threaten and silence critics, Labour has told Boris Johnson.Keir Starmer is stepping up pressure for the government to get tougher with Vladimir Putin’s “rich cronies” with a demand to stamp out so-called “strategic lawsuits against public participation”, or Slapps.The high-cost legal claims are widely seen as a way for the powerful to use the law to intimidate journalists and activists, by burdening them with enormous legal costs.Senior Tories have also called for action – but a crackdown on Slapps is not currently part of the anti-Putin Economic Crime Bill to be rushed through parliament on Monday.Sir Keir called that an “abject failure” that would go down as a “missed opportunity that could cost lives”, arguing that Australia, Canada and 32 US states all have anti-Slapp laws.“We are already behind the rest of the world in enforcing sanctions against oligarchs funding Putin’s murderous invasion of Ukraine,” he said.“We can’t then also give room for them to sue their way out of sanctions, while gagging the UK’s media. ‘Lawfare’ is not the way we do things in this country.”“The Russian leadership is fuelled by a thuggish brutality that we cannot allow to filtrate through his rich cronies to clog up our courts, muzzle our press, and avoid just, fair and effective sanctions,” he addedIn recent days, there have been suggestions that both the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Justice are examining possible reforms.Their concerns are believed to centre on fears that the lawsuits will be used to allow rich Russians with links to Putin or the Kremlin to evade threatened sanctions.But Sir Keir added: “Ukraine does not have weeks to wait for the justice secretary to consult on his options, or the foreign secretary to hear back from her lawyers – with every passing day the threat to civilians grows from Putin’s barbaric shelling.”In a recent Commons debate on the misuse of British courts, Tory MPs David Davis and Bob Seely were among those demanding action on Slapps.Mr Davis warned that people with “exceptionally deep pockets” are able to “threaten, intimidate and put the fear of God into British journalists, citizens, officials and media organisations”.Mr Seely said: “The abuse of UK courts by organised crime, oligarchs and authoritarian states and their wretched proxies is, I believe, a significant threat when it comes to the corruption of the UK legal system.”In response, James Cartlidge, justice minister, agreed that “Slapps represent an abuse of the legal system”, attacking “threatening tactics to silence free speech”.But he told MPs: “We must be cautious to respond to Slapps in a proportionate way that continues our tradition of balancing individual rights with the public good.” More

Sir Keir Starmer has revived the controversy over No 10 lockdown parties, accusing Boris Johnson of breaking the rules and attempting to cover up “wrongdoing”.For the first time since the Ukraine invasion, the Labour leader turned his fire on the prime minister over the scandal – while stopping short of his previous demand for Mr Johnson to quit.Returning to domestic political issues, Sir Keir said the pandemic had left every family “touched by worry or tragedy”, yet they had “followed the rules”.“But, some – and one man in particular – felt that the rules just didn’t apply to him,” he told the Scottish Labour conference. “I refuse to accept that. I refuse to accept the pain and sacrifice of so many British families being cheapened, or laughed at.”Warning that “trust in politics is now at an all-time low”, Sir Keir added: “That’s inevitable, when we have a government that is misleading the public and covering up their own wrongdoing to save the prime minister’s job.”The speech appeared to be a calculated gamble that the public was ready to be reminded of the Partygate row, nine days after political divisions were put on ice by the shock of Russia’s brutal assault on Ukraine.Mr Johnson is still waiting to hear whether he will be fined by the Metropolitan Police for breaching his own Covid rules, and for the full Sue Gray report that will follow.A fixed-penalty notice had seemed likely to force him out of Downing Street, but Conservative MPs are unlikely to seek to topple him while war rages in Ukraine.Sir Keir also urged his party to recognise that power will not fall easily into its hands at the next election, despite the current unpopularity of Mr Johnson and his government. “Trust in us declined, too,” he warned, adding: “Too many working people came to see us as far removed from their lives. We put our priorities above theirs; our ideas as more important than their experiences,” referring implicitly to Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.Urging his party to leave behind “political purity”, he said: “Our duty to win does mean keeping our discipline. Never losing sight of who it is that we need to convince – working people, and especially those who voted for electoral opponents.“We can win and we can make change, or we can pursue apparent political purity inside this party – but please, make no mistake, we cannot do both.”On Ukraine, the Labour leader again warned the public to be ready to make “sacrifices” to help confront what he called the “imperialist aggressor” in the Kremlin. “But those sacrifices are as nothing compared to the suffering of the people of Ukraine,” he told his audience in Glasgow.Putin “believes the west is too corrupted to do the right thing”, he said, “so we must prove him wrong.” More

Zelensky attacks Nato in nighttime address: ‘People will die because of you’Boris Johnson has said that Russian president Vladimir Putin will “double down” on his invasion of Ukraine and “continue with the destruction”.The prime minister said Western nations needed to respond to Mr Putin’s aggression with an “intensified package” and thanked European neighbours for “delivering support for the Ukrainians and support for the Ukrainian right to self-defence.”It comes as Russia announced a ceasefire in two cities in Ukraine to allow residents to evacuate. In an interview with foreign newspapers, Mr Johnson added: “Putin also underestimated Western unity, and the governments of all the countries represented around this table have really worked together, very effectively, to produce a package of economic sanctions that has had a very considerable effect on Russia.”Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky made clear in a late-night address on Friday that he felt the West needed to do more to defend Ukraine, criticising Nato for its refusal to impose a no-fly zone.Meanwhile, British nationals in Russia whose presence is “not essential” have been told to consider leaving the country, updated travel advice on the Foreign Office website said today.Show latest update

1646484012Cost of living crisis: Snapshot of how biggest squeeze in 60 years is set to batter millions of BritonsMillions of households across the UK are bracing themselves to feel the pain when the cost-of-living crisis deepens next month.Energy bills will skyrocket from 1 April when the current price cap is lifted, while National Insurance Contributions are set to rise four days later. Petrol prices and food costs are all already climbing steeply.Taken together, it all means the country is set to experience the worst financial squeeze in 60 years, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Some 2.5 million families will be plunged into fuel poverty by the spring, the Resolution Foundation think tank predicts. Food banks are already recording unprecedented numbers of visitors.Colin Drury reports.Joe Middleton5 March 2022 12:401646482743British nationals told to leave Russia unless it is ‘essential’ to stayBritish nationals who are still in Russia have been told they should leave if it is not essential they stay in the country.The Foreign Office updated its advice on Saturday to say Britons should use the remaining commercial routes to flee the nation.A post on the Foreign Office website said: “If your presence in Russia is not essential, we strongly advise that you consider leaving by remaining commercial routes.”Joe Middleton5 March 2022 12:191646481715Cost of living crisis: Snapshot of how biggest squeeze in 60 years is set to batter millions of BritonsMillions of households across the UK are bracing themselves to feel the pain when the cost-of-living crisis deepens next month.Energy bills will skyrocket from 1 April when the current price cap is lifted, while National Insurance Contributions are set to rise four days later. Petrol prices and food costs are all already climbing steeply.Taken together, it all means the country is set to experience the worst financial squeeze in 60 years, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Some 2.5 million families will be plunged into fuel poverty by the spring, the Resolution Foundation think tank predicts. Food banks are already recording unprecedented numbers of visitors.Colin Drury has the details.Joe Middleton5 March 2022 12:011646481337PM praises journalists in ‘terrifying and dangerous situations’Boris Johnson has praised British journalists in “terrifying and dangerous situations” after a correspondent was shot and wounded in an ambush near the Ukrainian capital.Stuart Ramsay, chief correspondent at Sky News, was hit by a bullet in the lower back as shooting rained down on a car carrying his crew towards Kyiv on Monday.Camera operator Richie Mockler was also hit with two rounds to his body armour before the team managed to escape and take cover. They were later rescued by Ukrainian police.It is understood that the whole crew, including Sky News’ Dominique van Heerden and Martin Vowles, and local producer Andrii Lytvynenko, are now safe.Shocking footage of the incident was played on Sky News on Friday evening.The prime minister said on Twitter: “The courage of these journalists, putting themselves in terrifying and dangerous situations, is astonishing to watch.“They’re risking their lives to ensure that the truth is told.“Free press will not be intimidated or cowed by barbaric and indiscriminate acts of violence.”Joe Middleton5 March 2022 11:551646480352Ex-Brexit Party MEP under fire for saying Northern Ireland Protocol as bad as invasion of UkraineA former Brexit Party MEP has claimed the EU’s treatment of Northern Ireland is on a par with Vladimir Putin’s bloody invasion of Ukraine, sparking criticism.“The only difference is we bowed to the EU without a single shot being fired,” Ben Habib said – stepping up Unionist attacks on the trade rules in the Northern Ireland Protocol.The comments come as Boris Johnson admits he is backing away from triggering Article 16 of the agreement, because it would be wrong to be “talking about this subject” while the conflict rages.Joe Middleton5 March 2022 11:391646479167Boris Johnson suggests fear of ‘brick wall of lawyers’ has stalled sanctions on Roman AbramovichBoris Johnson has pointed to a fear of running into a “brick wall of lawyers” when asked why the UK has not imposed sanctions on Roman Abramovich.Labour has demanded action against the Chelsea football club owner after a leaked Home Office document flagged his “links to the Russian state and his public association with corrupt activities and practices”.The prime minister had insisted he could not discuss individual cases, but opened up about Mr Abramovich in an interview with various European newspapers.Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick has the details.Joe Middleton5 March 2022 11:191646478542British nationals told to leave RussiaBritish nationals in Russia whose presence is “not essential” have been told to consider leaving the country.Travel advice on the Foreign Office website on Saturday said it had been “updated to advise British nationals whose presence in Russia is not essential to consider leaving by remaining commercial routes”.The department said it may not be possible to fly directly to the UK, or via EU countries, but that travelling via the Middle East or Turkey may be possible.Previously, the advice had been that those outside Russia should not travel to the country.The Foreign Office pointed towards “the increased volatility in the Russian economy” as one of the reasons Britons should not go to the country.A post on the Foreign Office website said: “If your presence in Russia is not essential, we strongly advise that you consider leaving by remaining commercial routes.”Joe Middleton5 March 2022 11:091646477526British army vehicles seen in Estonia as UK bolsters Nato ally forcesBritish army vehicles seen in Estonia as UK bolsters Nato ally forcesJoe Middleton5 March 2022 10:521646476327Ukraine ceasefire ‘welcome’ but only a ‘small step’, says Tory MPThe reported temporary ceasefire in Ukraine is welcome but it is only a “small step”, economic secretary to the Treasury John Glen has said.Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Mr Glen said: “The events that are going on in Ukraine are appalling and this is obviously an illegal war that Putin is prosecuting.“But this is welcome, anything that can assist the people of Ukraine the Government will support.“But (the) big picture is that Putin’s aggression shows little signs of abating and the humanitarian crises that are unfolding are appalling and they are entirely his responsibility.“The number of cities that are apparently under threat remain high and the level of the aggression and the nature of the shelling is becoming more and more desperate and indiscriminate as each day goes by.”Get the latest on the Ukraine situation by following our live blog below:Joe Middleton5 March 2022 10:321646474880Putin’s ‘character’ demonstrated by Novichok attack, says Tory MPThe Novichok attack on Salisbury four years ago showed the character of Vladimir Putin, the city’s MP has said.John Glen, who is also the economic secretary to the Treasury, said the invasion of Ukraine was of an “utterly different scale and the humanitarian crisis, the loss of civilian life, is of a completely different scale”.He added: “But in terms of the character of the man, clearly that was demonstrated in what he did to my constituents, the destruction he brought to our way of life here in Salisbury.“But where we are now in the Ukraine is just another manifestation of somebody who is beyond democratic accountability and is prosecuting an illegal war that is going to greatly damage both his people, the economy of Russia, but also the people of the Ukraine’s way of life.”Joe Middleton5 March 2022 10:08 More