By Anthony Webber:
There are a number of MP ‘s who only take notice of communications sent to them by their own constituents, so it is important that everyone sends their MP an email or letter asking them to support the Petition. It can be very easy to do this, as all that needs to be done is to add the following letter from the constituent at the beginning of the email or letter as follows:
For the kind attention of ……………..,…..MP
As a constituent of yours I kindly ask you to read the undermentioned letter by the Campaign to end the economic crisis by the UK becoming neutral in the Ukraine conflict.
I would be grateful if you would respond by confirming that you support or don’t support the Petition. Its aims are detailed below in the campaign appeal.
I thank you for your attention to this very important issue and look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely
Name of constituent…………………
Address of constituent……………..
Campaign appeal for your support with Parliamentary Petition, link attached:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/617939
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson created the distinct impression that the needs of “Ukraine” are a priority over and above the needs of the British people. However, it is the responsibility of the government and Parliament to place the interests of the people of the United Kingdom first and foremost.
It is concerning that the policy on Ukraine has never been subject to major Parliamentary debate despite such policy affecting every single person in the United Kingdom. Minor debates about aspects of the Ukraine policy are insufficient due to the gravity of the commitment Boris Johnson originally made on behalf of the government (and consequently the people of the United Kingdom), many months ago.
We now have a new Prime Minister who rather than review the policy started by Boris Johnson, has decided to continue with it, but with even heavier commitments than before.
The public are being let down in the following ways:
- The major opposition parties are supporting the government’s Ukraine policies, so are failing to ask those questions which are expected of an opposing party; and
- the Parliamentary Scrutiny Committees have failed to enter a serious analysis of the benefit, or otherwise, of Ukraine policies in the interests of the people of the United Kingdom.
It appears that any serious questioning of the government’s position on Ukraine is prohibited – free, open and transparent debate should be at the heart of any democracy as without it there is no democracy, Parliamentary, or otherwise.
Increasing numbers of the public are unhappy with Government policies on Ukraine with seemingly few MPs to turn to because virtually everyone has remained silent on this important issue. Those Labour MP’s who spoke up at the start were quickly silenced by party leader Sir Keir Starmer.
Ukraine was not an election issue and consequently no political party, or MP has a mandate to make policy on this issue. The required mandate can only come from electoral consent via referendum. In the absence of such a referendum the United Kingdom must return to its position of neutrality with no arms for Ukraine and no sanctions against Russia – a position broadly taken up to February 2022.
Instead of neutrality, Government has committed to over £4.6 billion (and increasing) in military expenditure for Ukraine from “emergency” funds thereby exacerbating the funding shortages for numerous Government departments to the further detriment of the British people. In addition, it has committed over £2.4 billion of non-military aid to Ukraine, thus totalling approximately £7 billion of taxpayer’s money spent without the mandate of the electorate.
The position of Prime Minister, Liz Truss, when Foreign Secretary, stated at the recent Ukraine Recovery Conference in Switzerland that the United Kingdom “will continue to lead in supporting the Ukrainian Government’s Reconstruction and Development Plan” and that “[the UK] will push for immediate investment and to drive economic growth because it is absolutely imperative [the UK] get the Ukrainian economy going.” This is further evidence that the economy of Ukraine is being prioritised over our own. Ukraine has stated they require a staggering $750 billion to rebuild – their annual GDP is only $160 billion!
The allegations of extensive corruption in Ukraine should not be ignored either ( according to the UN, in the topmost corrupt countries in the world) – any funding to Ukraine should be heavily scrutinised and made with great caution. There are reports of arms being sold on by criminal gangsters to other parts of the world, as well as reports that funds are not spent on what they were intended for. Indeed, there are concerns that the billions of UK and other funds going to Ukraine are potentially open to massive money laundering. The use of taxpayer’s money should be transparent and subject to rigorous accountability and audit.
The very real issue of the rising costs of food, fuel and many other household items in the UK must also be considered. Government spent over £400 billion of taxpayer’s money, much of which was misspent, on ineffective and damaging Covid-19 policies. Now the British public is experiencing an ever-worsening cost of living of crisis and inflation rates are the highest in decades. This country is not able to fund Ukraine. The situation is obviously untenable. The government and Parliament must now focus attention towards assisting the people of the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom cannot continue with the current policy on Ukraine and Russia. It is unfair and is inflicting unnecessary suffering on the British people.
Most citizens of the world want peace not war – the British people and the people of Ukraine are no different. If the history of Russia and Ukraine is considered impartially, it is evident there is plenty of potential for peace. It is concerning that it appeared that the Ukraine and Russia appeared to be about to sign a peace deal in April, but that the former Prime Minister travelled over to see Ukraine’s President Zelensky then and persuaded him by means of more arms and aid, to not sign, but to carry on with the conflict.
The Petition we ask you to support has been made necessary because of the steady drift, initially by stealth, of Government policy from small scale help to Ukraine, to ever increasing involvement just falling short of declaring war against Russia. This is reckless and dangerous, and all without a mandate.
The comments on the world stage by the Prime Minister and some of the government Ministers have been undiplomatic and even rude about other world leaders, particularly about Russia. At a time of international crisis, statesmanship, no name calling, is needed to bring about harmony, understanding and peace.
UK government policies on Ukraine and Russia have been the main cause of our economic crisis:
The UK government’s policies on Ukraine and Russia have proved to be self-defeating. This should have been known from the start and Parliament plus the British public should have been informed and a full and proper debate should have taken place.
If the consequences of these policies were not known at the time, then there should be a full public inquiry as to why such key advice was missing.
It has been obvious for some months that the UK was suffering in many ways because of the Ukraine and Russian policies, especially promoting and taking part in sanctions against Russia, which have rebounded against the UK.
We have had the rising energy price rises, which would never have happened if the government had not pursued a policy of war in Ukraine.
The same applies to the high costs of fuel, rising food and other essential goods and other items. There has been virtually no financial help with these.
The financial help with rising energy costs is inadequate and people will find it difficult to cope, alongside dealing with other price rises.
The help for business and other users is especially poor too, and for such a short period of time.
It is inevitable that more businesses will fold, and this would all have been avoided if the UK government did not have its Ukraine/Russia policies.
We have many more problems, with government borrowing reaching astronomical levels, inflation running at an ever-increasing rate, the value of the pound falling, interest rates rising, wages and salaries losing their value due to inflation, exceptional harm to the economy, looming recession and the danger that unemployment will rise. On top of this there are reports of cuts in local and national services and public sector projects such as new hospitals being postponed.
The costs and consequences of the government’s Ukraine and Russia policies are increasing every day and there is a big unknown factor which is unlikely to be favourable. Already the financial energy and support announced so far will cost approximately £150-£250 billion but could be more.
The attempt to partially mitigate the costs for people through the mini budget is costing another £45 billion but will still see most taxpayers worse off because of the huge rises in the costs of living.
In the past there have been plenty of occasions when the UK has not become involved in foreign conflict situations for costs and other reasons, and those reasons have been very much less than the costs of what the UK government is doing with its Ukraine and Russia policies.
UK government policies on Ukraine and Russia put back the cause of world peace:
There is no justifiable economic, political, or military reason for the UK to be involved in taking sides in the Ukraine conflict. Russia is no threat to the UK. Indeed for some years the late Queen Elizabeth 2nd and other members of the Royal Family have been involved with visits each way between the UK and Russia.
The late Queen made clear that her Christian principles involved the promotion of peace and harmony in the world and she lived by her word. Out of respect to her, the UK should become a peacemaker in Ukraine.
The policies on Ukraine and Russia have many other consequences. One of these is the effective putting back of the green agenda. Having use of Russian energy and other fuel supplies in Western Europe was making the transition to a green economy smooth and financially feasible. Now the government is proposing to increase the use of nuclear power, which is both expensive, dangerous, and certainly not green. All these factors mean extra costs for the government and for the economy.
The government maintains that their support of the President Zelensky government in Ukraine is to defend “freedom and democracy.”
If there is a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, it will not affect the continuance of their respective democracies.
However, if the government says it does not agree with the referendum results in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine, then surely that is denying democracy and is hypocritical? Especially when the British public should by now have been given a referendum on the government’s Ukraine and Russia policies, which have never had any democratic mandate from the people.
On the issue of freedom, there is no freedom of the media in the Ukraine and opponents of the government are locked up and even killed.
The UK government have sanctioned a British journalist working in eastern Ukraine, simply because they disliked his reporting. This is not freedom.
Nor is it freedom for there to such limited opportunity in the UK for free public debate on the Ukraine/Russia issue, as any view contrary to that of the government’s is shut down or no platformed.
It is noticeable that most countries in the world, involving seven 8TH’s of the world’s population, do not sanction Russia.
Such countries are looking after their economic interests and those of their citizens. This surely is what the UK government should be doing.
The Petition does not take sides, rather it simply maintains it is in everyone’s interests for the United Kingdom to shift from a promoter of war to a promoter of peace and that the people should have a say in that:
The UK government, by sending arms and training Ukrainian military for combat is effectively bringing about a longer period of loss of life, injuries, more refugees, more damage to the infrastructure of the country, and sewing of hatred of Ukrainians towards other groups of Ukrainians and of Russians. It is a policy which is inhumane and is morally unjustifiable.
The policy is full of double standards as the government could have reduced refugees and misery if they had decided to stay in Afghanistan.
The annual cost of being there was £1 billion, which was worthwhile because democracy was protected, as were women’s and human rights.
The government was prepared to do a deal with the Taliban yet has been telling the Zelensky government to not do a deal with the Russians!
There are reports that the government has been helping the President Zelensky government with the effective use of propaganda.
This has apparently also involved terrorists like the “white helmets” ( fake Syrian civil defence), who were trained by the UK to make propaganda films about so called atrocities which either never happened or were committed by their own side against their own people. It seems there has been a lot of that in Ukraine.
In the UK there needs to be a commitment from the government that they will not use any of their resources or influences in the British media to stifle fair and free debate about their Ukraine and Russia policies.
Thank you for your attention to this very important issue and we look forward to hearing from you.
Anthony Webber
On behalf of the Committee for the Petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/617939
Lead Correspondent | David Clews is the Lead Correspondent for UNN, with over 20 years of political/campaigning experience and a wealth of social media and communication skills David gets to the heart of what is really important to the real people of the UK.
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