UK Politics

Conservative donations rose to £4.9m at the end of last year, new figures show, as the party comes under huge pressure to hand back money from Russia-linked supporters.Electoral Commission figures show Boris Johnson’s party continues to accept money from Lubov Chernukhin – wife of a former minister in Vladimir Putin’s government.Ms Chernukhin gave another £80,000 in donations in the final months of 2021, sums reported to the electoral watchdog by the Tories in February.The British citizen has donated more than £2m to the Conservative HQ, local Tory parties and Tory MPs over the past eight years, as well as paying to play tennis with Mr Johnson at a fundraising auction.Labour MP Bill Esterson asked Mr Johnson at PMQs on Wednesday whether he would ask the Tory party to give Ms Chernukhin’s donations to “Ukrainian humanitarian causes”.Dismissing the request, the prime minister said: “It’s absolutely vital that if we are to have a successful outcome in what we are trying doing … that we demonstrate that this is not about the Russia people – this is about the Putin regime.”Foreign Office minister James Cleverly recently defended donations by Ms Chernukhin, saying: “She has every right to donate to us or any other political party.”The senior figure told LBC all Tory donors “are registered, are legitimate” and suggested Russia-linked donors “support our aims or objectives.”Asked on BBC Breakfast if she was embarrassed to have attended a diner with Ms Chernukhin, foreign secretary Liz Truss replied: “No I am not.”Labour has called on the Tories to hand back Russia-linked donations, estimating that almost £1.9m has been given by such individuals either to the party HQ or Tory MPs since Mr Johnson entered No 10.The latest Electoral Commission figures show £4.9m was donated to the Tories in the final quarter of last year, a marked increase from the £3.7m received by the party in the previous quarter.Liz Truss ‘not embarrassed’ by photo with Russia-linked Tory donorLabour has warned ministers that the government was “taking too long” to bring in sanctions against Russian oligarchs.Chris Bryant MP suggested in the Commons that Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich was “terrified” of facing such measures – and claimed the billionaire was considering selling his home in London.Sir Keir Starmer also used PMQs on Wednesday to demand to know why Mr Abramovich has not yet been sanctioned.The Labour leader also pointed out that a register of the real foreign owners of property will not come into force until autumn 2023 at the earliest – “far too long for the Ukrainian people”.Speaking at PMQs, Tory MP Bob Seely claimed UK lawyers were working on behalf of Russian oligarchs – accusing them of putting pressure on British media organisations.Mr Johnson replied: “The legal profession – everybody involved in assisting those who wish to hide money, assisting corrupt oligarchs – have been set on notice that their actions are under scrutiny.” Ms Truss told MPs last week that British government moves to sanction Russian oligarchs was being slowed down by law firms based in London.Officials have to draw up detailed cases for action against each individual and business, with the aim of making the justification watertight in the case of a court challenge.In a possible hint that the government could still go further in terms of individual sanctions, Mr Johnson said the silence of Russian oligarchs who had investments in the UK over the Ukraine invasion was “inexplicable”.The prime minister pressed them to “denounce this act of aggression”. More

Sir Keir Starmer has told Ukrainians living in Britain that he will speak to the government over their pleas to support a no-fly zone over the nation.The Labour leader was urged to back the enforcement of the zone after Russian planes dropped bombs on the city of Kharkiv on Tuesday.Prime minister Boris Johnson has rejected the calls, echoed by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, and warned that it would trigger a wider war with Russia.Labour does not support a no-fly zone either, because of the risks of provoking a clash between Russia and Nato, but Sir Keir said he would pass on the concerns expressed to him. More

The west is ready to maintain “unrelenting” diplomatic and economic pressure over the long term to ensure the failure of Vladimir Putin’s imperial ambitions, even if the Russian president succeeds in his immediate goal of overrunning Kyiv and seizing parts of Ukraine, Boris Johnson has vowed.In some of his gloomiest comments since the start of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of its neighbour on Thursday, the prime minister said Putin appeared intent on unleashing indiscriminate firepower against Kyiv as he did on Grozny, which was razed to the ground in the 2000 Chechen war.The world was faced by a struggle between “good and evil” in Ukraine, and Russians involved in atrocities should be aware they will face prosecution in the international courts for war crimes, he said.But Mr Johnson insisted that a successful Russian seizure of part of the country would result only in a “prolonged crisis”, with guerrilla warfare from Ukrainian resistance backed by crippling economic sanctions from the international community.Speaking during a one-day visit to frontline Nato states Poland and Estonia, the prime minister warned Putin that any attempt to hold Ukraine over the long term will be “militarily exhausting and economically ruinous” for Russia.And he urged the Russian president: “There is only one way out of this morass and that is to stop the tanks, to turn back the tanks on their way to Kyiv, turn them round and take the path of peace.”With a 40km-long convoy of armoured Russian vehicles approaching the Ukrainian capital, Mr Johnson’s comments indicated that he expects Putin to respond to the frustration of his hopes for swift victory by stepping up the scale of violence inflicted by his troops.Putin has been forced into a “cul-de-sac” by the unexpectedly tenacious resistance offered by Ukraine’s army and people, said Mr Johnson.And he has already demonstrated his readiness to resort to atrocity with a rocket attack on residential areas and on Freedom Square in the heart of the country’s second city Kharkiv.“If you’re sitting where he is, his only instinct is going to be to double down and to try and ‘Grozny-fy’ Kyiv and to reduce it to [rubble] ,” Mr Johnson told ITV News.“I think that that would be an unalterable moral humanitarian catastrophe and I hope he doesn’t do that. I hope he has the wisdom to see that there must be a better way forward.” More

Britain has slapped sanctions on Belarus in response to the eastern European country’s support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, foreign secretary Liz Truss has announced.The Foreign Office said the government was imposing its “first tranche” of sanctions against Belarusian military chiefs and organisations for assisting in Vladimir Putin’s aggression.Four senior defence officials working for Alexander Lukashenko’s government and two Belarusian military enterprises have been sanctioned with immediate effect under the UK’s sanctions regime.“The Lukashenko regime actively aids and abets Russia’s illegal invasion and will be made to feel the economic consequences for its support for Putin,” said Ms Truss.The foreign secretary said: “We are inflicting economic pain on Putin and those closest to him. We will not rest until Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is restored.She added: “There will be nowhere to hide. Nothing – and no one – is off the table.”Belarusian state enterprises JSC 558 Aircraft Repair Plant and JSC Integral, a military semi-conductor manufacturer, have been sanctioned, the Foreign Office announced on Tuesday evening.The four individuals hit be sanctions includes chief of the general staff Major General Victor Gulevich. The Foreign Office claims he has directed joint military exercises with Russia, and consented to the deployment of Russian troops along the border of Belarus with Ukraine.The other sanctioned individuals are Major General Andrei Burdyko, the deputy minister of defence for logistics, Major General Sergei Simonenko, the deputy minister of defence for armament, and deputy minister of defence Major General Andrey Zhuk.The move means the named individuals will not be able to travel to the UK and any British-based assets will be frozen.It comes as ministers were warned that sanctions against Russia need to “go even faster and further” so that a “sanction gap” with the UK’s allies does not open up.Calls from both Labour and Conservative MPs to strengthen the sanctions regime came as MPs approved new measures against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.The package announced on Monday includes a full asset freeze for all Russian banks, as well as new powers to limit them from clearing payments in sterling.Labour shadow foreign minister Stephen Doughty urged the government to do more, warning in some cases the sanctions have been “off the pace” compared with allies.Cabinet Office minister Michael Ellis said the ban on all Russian companies from lucrative UK funding goes further than steps taken by many allies.The government has also introduced an Economic Crime Bill, vowing to use the legislation to tackle “dirty money” and expose foreign oligarchs who launder their wealth through the UK’s property market.The legislation aimed at setting up a new register of overseas entities requiring foreign owners of property in the UK to declare their true identity, in a move intended to ensure criminals cannot hide behind secretive webs of shell companies.But some MPs said the government had been much too slow to sanction individuals with close ties to the Kremlin.Labour veteran Margaret Hodge used parliamentary privilege on Tuesday to read out the names of 10 Russian oligarchs with “links to the UK” from a list of 105 who she said should be sanctioned.Conservative MP Bob Seely called for a public inquiry “into what has gone wrong in the last 10 to 15 years because this system is becoming rotten at so many levels”. More

The watchdog governing MPs’ pay has decided to increase the salary of the UK’s elected representatives by £2,200 from next month.The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) said basic pay would rise from £81,932 to £84,144 in April – a move likely to spark outrage given the cost of living squeeze faced by millions of families.The annual increase to MPs’ salaries will be 2.7 per cent, the same as the average increase in pay for public sector employees, following a two-year freeze in the wake of the Covid crisis.Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has spoken out about a pay rise for MPs this April – saying recently that it “shouldn’t go ahead” given the severe cost of living squeeze facing the public.He added: “The mechanism is independent but I think it’s for me, as leader of the opposition, to say that I do not think we should have that pay rise.”A Labour source told The Independent that Sir Keir stood by his position and believed the pay rise next month was inappropriate.However, Richard Lloyd, IPSA’s chair, defended the decision – arguing that it was “right” that MPs were paid fairly and pointing out the increase was in line with public sector pay rises on the way.“This is the first increase in pay for MPs in two years and follows the average of increases across the public sector last year. MPs play a vital role in our democracy and this is reflected in their pay,” said the watchdog chief.Mr Lloyd added: “It is right that MPs are paid fairly for the responsibility and the unseen work they do helping their constituents, which dramatically increased last year. For parliament to reflect society, it is vital that people from all walks of life can be an MP.”The Taxpayers’ Alliance said working households were likely to be “furious” about MPs’ earnings being increased while they “face crippling tax hikes”.Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson said earlier this year that the prime minister expected Ipsa to show “restraint” when setting MPs’ pay for the year ahead given the cost of living crisis.In October, chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the end of the public sector pay freeze introduced the previous November in response to the Covid crisis.Annual growth in public sector pay in the three months to October 2021 was 2.7 per cent, according to the official figures from the Office for National Statistics.Meanwhile, Sir Keir made clear on Tuesday that he is calling for a review of the operating licence for Russian state-owned media outlet RT, formerly known as Russia Today, amid outrage over its coverage of the Ukraine invasion.He told journalists: “I’ve called on the government to review the operating licence for Russia Today, which frankly is the propaganda tool of Putin.“The sooner that they get on with that, the better, because there’s a gulf of difference between journalism and free journalism … and some of these outlets which are a personal propaganda machine for Putin and his cronies.” More

Scrapping free Covid tests could cost parents and teachers in England £390m a year and leave schools “flying blind” in their efforts to prevent the spread of the disease, Boris Johnson has been warned.The eye-watering bill was calculated by Liberal Democrats as the likely cost if students, teachers and families continue with twice-weekly tests after charging begins on 1 April.A family with two school-aged children who stick to the government’s previous advice for controlling Covid in schools would face costs of £633 a year, said the party’s health spokesperson Daisy Cooper.The warning came after polling for The Independent found that 66 per cent of voters believe lateral flow and PCR tests should continue to be free for all, despite a monthly cost of £2bn to the Treasury.An overwhelming 86 per cent of those questioned by Savanta ComRes said they would pay no more than £10 for a pack of seven lateral flow tests – despite expectations that a typical box will cost around £15-40.Boots last week said it would charge £5.99 per test or £17 for a pack of four to be delivered to customers’ homes, or £2.50 for one and £12 for a pack of five in-store.With as many as 1.25m tests being taken weekly by staff, pupils and close family in English primary schools, Ms Cooper said the total bill could reach £7.5m a week – or £390m a year – if take-up remains at the same level.And if parents and staff give up on regular tests, schools will be “flying blind” over whether they have infectious people in their classrooms.“Parents and their children have been trying hard to do the right thing throughout the pandemic by getting tested regularly. The government should not be making that harder.“Saddling parents with the cost of regular Covid tests is the wrong thing to do when many are already struggling to pay the bills. It also risks leaving our schools flying blind, leading to more Covid infections amongst children and school staff leading to more disruption to our children’s education.“As the cost of living crisis bites, parents will have to fork out thousands of pounds to test their children for covid to keep vulnerable family members safe.These eye-watering costs will simply make covid testing too expensive for many. The Government’s decision is completely reckless and irresponsible.”According to the UK Health Security Agency, more than 560,000 lateral flow tests were taken by primary and secondary school teachers via the NHS test and trace service in the week of 3 to 9 February. Another 470,000 tests were taken by secondary school students in the same week.The same figures show that more than 215,000 tests were taken by students’ and teachers’ families. More