Request for the government’s Ukraine and Russia policies to be fully scrutinised as to whether they are in the UK’s interests

For the kind attention of Alicia Kearns, MP, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and for all the Committee Members

I write to ask for the Committee to fully investigate all aspects of the government’s Foreign policies on Ukraine and Russia, to examine whether they best serve the interests of the UK in world affairs, whether they serve the interests of the UK economy, public services, energy and living costs and in all other relevant subject areas.

At a time when Opposition parties are supporting the Ukraine and Russia policies of the UK government, and therefore the public are being denied the detailed scrutiny they would normally expect to have from Parliament, it is vital that Parliament’s Scrutiny Committees fill the gap and carry out their duties and responsibilities even more diligently.

So far, some the of the key Committees, including, Defence and Public Accounts, need to be even more vigilant on examining the merits or otherwise of these policies.

I ask you and your committee to consider this letter:

UK government’s self-defeating Ukraine and Russia Foreign policies started by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson with NO mandate

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson created the distinct impression that the needs of “Ukraine” were 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,( unlike many other Foreign policy decisions).

Minor debates about aspects of the Ukraine policy are insufficient due to the gravity of the commitment Boris Johnson originally made on behalf of the government (and consequently the people of the United Kingdom), at the start of this conflict, and then in April 2022, in particular.

There had been a brief period with Liz Truss being Prime Minister and then she was replaced by Rishi Sunak, both of whom have continued with these policies without any serious questioning or analysis.

We now have a new Prime Minister who, rather than review the policy started by Boris Johnson and continued by Liz Truss, has decided to also continue with it, but with even heavier commitments than before.

The public are being let down in the following ways:

1. 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
2. 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.

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the government are using their powers and influence to suppress any debate on their Ukraine and Russia policies.

There was enough of this suppression of information and debate during the covid-19 pandemic period, (which has now been publicly admitted), and it is quite unacceptable to continue with it on other policies.

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.

 

 Huge direct costs of government’s Ukraine and Russia policies

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 a position of neutrality with no arms for Ukraine and no sanctions against Russia – a position broadly taken up until the end of February 2022.

Instead of neutrality, the 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. However, with all cost increasing and the government needing to be questioned about how honest they are being with their Ukraine spending, we do don’t know the true costs of these policies, but they are likely to be upwards of £15bn, when all factors are taken into account. However, these are important figures which Select Committees should be investigating.

 

Foreign policy affects Ukraine refugees, and the longer UK government Foreign policy perpetuates the conflict, the more refugees there will be.

There would have been many less refugees if the conflict had been settled a year ago. The cost to the UK, is upwards of £2billion a year, with the number rising over 200,000, and that is concerning.

Many countries have Ukrainian refugees, so it is a major issue, with nearly 25% of the Ukraine population having left, and nearly 3 million have gone to Russia, which is a factor which cannot be ignored. Why would any sane Ukrainian man want to stay in his homeland if he is going to be compulsorily conscripted and have a high chance of dying or being injured?

 Heavy financial commitments made by UK government.

 The position of former Prime Minister, Liz Truss, when Foreign Secretary, stated at the 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 had stated they required a staggering $750 billion to rebuild – their annual GDP is only $160 billion! The UK commitment given then was £99m of fiscal grants of the World Bank and to underwrite £429m of World Bank lending. The question should be asked, “what is the UK being committed to,” and are there better areas to which our money could be committed?

Corruption in Ukraine

 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 issue of the Hunter Biden laptop and any connection there may be between the Biden family and Ukraine must be seriously investigated.

There needs to be examination of whether the “special relationship” between the UK and the USA is not being inappropriately abused.

 

Past mistakes related to Foreign policy decisions.

The government spent over £400 billion of taxpayer’s money, much of which was misspent, on ineffective and damaging Covid-19 policies. Many of these decisions were related to Foreign policies and going along with the policies of other countries and organisations ( such as WHO). Some of all of this is at least being investigated but it is a bit like closing the stable doors after the horses have bolted.  It is important to learn lessons from public expenditure blunders, and make sure there are none made on other expensive government policies, such as those on Ukraine and Russia

 

UK Foreign policies have created a cost-of-living crisis

.The very real issue of the rising costs of food, fuel and many other household items in the UK must also be considered.

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. People cannot pay their energy bills and that is just one of many factors.

 

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 in this respect. 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 were about to sign a peace deal in April 2022, 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.

Since then, the former Prime Minister has received hefty sums, and these need to be seen to be above board.

It is important to be aware that the foreign policy decisions of the UK ( and indeed a lot of countries) can have serious ramifications for millions of people and that it is therefore essential for vested interests to not be able to influence or even be in control of those decisions.

It is thus vital that the Foreign Affairs Committee works hard to ensure that no bribery and corruption affects foreign policy decisions.

There have been a number of efforts by various organisations such as Stop the War, No2NATO and NotOurWar, to name a few, to end the warmongering.

There have been at least two Parliamentary petitions asking in different ways for the UK government to end their Ukraine and Russia policies.

Both of these have suffered immense censorship so that none of the mainstream media have even mentioned them, let alone debated the issues involved.

It is a worrying state of affairs, to have a situation in the UK where there is no free speech, no free debate, no free media, unless the government allows it.

Is that not what is called a police state?

The first petition is here and is closed:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/617939

The second one is here and is open:

shttps://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/629895

There is no taking of sides with these Petitions, 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,( if the government does not voluntarily change its policies)

The first Petition was 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 second Petition became necessary because the situation became worse. If this continues there will be a third Petition or more, in order to bring about an end to the insanity of UK Foreign policy on this issue.

We now have British military officers in Ukraine itself, being NATO planners for the Ukraine Armed Forces!

Since when has it been a NATO principle to attack, and especially on behalf of a country which is not a NATO country?

Since when did the UK Parliament authorise British Armed Services personnel to be involved in Ukraine, or for that matter to set up a Flying School to specifically train Ukraine combat fighter pilots?

Reputational damage caused by the UK government’s Ukraine and Russia Foreign policies

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 and maturity, with no name calling, is needed to bring about harmony, understanding and peace.

The conduct of the UK government’s senior Ministers and their policies have been noticed on the world stage. These have seriously damaged the reputation of not just the government, but the UK itself. These policies and comments have weakened the UK’s position in the world. The UK is seen as a lapdog of a USA which is under very dubious leadership. There are now new political groupings in the world which are making fresh trading and other economic arrangements.

There is a great reduction in respect for the UK, which has been brought about by the government not considering the consequences of their actions.

Democratic Russia has been brought closer to communist China, and both countries have increased their influence in the world to the detriment of the UK, USA, the EU, and a small number of other nations. Quite frankly, most world nations have become fed up with threats if they don’t comply with the so called “western” perspective of Ukraine. This division and lessening of prestige and influence can be reversed, but it requires major policy changes.

The question needs to be asked: “How did the UK get itself in this Foreign policy mess?”

will take many years to repair the damage done to Russia relations in particular, but if you employ pure hatred against another country, what could be expected?

All previous efforts to build up trade and relations, involving Royal visits to Russia and President Putin to the UK, will take a lot of re-building effort.

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.

The facts are that the countries which are not sanctioning Russia ( the majority) are the ones least affected economically.

The UK 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 was inadequate and people will find it difficult to cope looking ahead, alongside dealing with other price rises.

The help for business and other users was 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. Alre The recent tranche of financial energy support cost approximately £150bn. The exact figures are unclear, but the government are still subsidising the public with their own (taxpayer’s) money That money was sorely needed elsewhere.

The attempt to partially mitigate the costs for people through the mini budget cost 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 have put back the Green agenda

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.

CO2 emissions as a result of the warmongering equal those of Belgium, which is horrendous. Yet the government does not take this into account. There has been the blowing up of the Nord Stream pipeline, which Ukraine is accused of doing, which has made the green transition more difficult too. On top of this, Ukraine has been accused of blowing up the Nova-Kakhovka dam, which has caused huge environmental damage and much more. It serves no one any good to deny that Ukraine did these horrendous acts because they will continue to perpetuate them whilst they can get away with accusing Russia for all and sundry.

It also serves no good purpose to ignore Russia claims at the UN that Ukraine has been funding the making of biological weapons in laboratories in a number of parts of Ukraine.

UK Foreign policies on Ukraine and Russia are promoting a new type of NATO which has an agenda of weakening Russia

NATO was founded to counter the threat of Soviet communism, which no longer exists.

There is no threat to NATO countries by modern day Russia, yet for years NATO has been preparing non-NATO member Ukraine for conflict with Russia.

NATO has seemingly been taken over by a changed USA which has become aggressive and intent on promoting its own interests which have become linked with globalist vested interests. The UK needs to be careful to ensure that another country does not use NATO to further its own interests, to the detriment of the interests of the UK.

There is thus an urgent need to review the UK’s membership of NATO  and to examine whether the UK’s economic, strategic and political needs are best served by other alliances or a reformed NATO type alliance.

There is no official Foreign Policy to weaken Russia by perpetuating a prolonged conflict between that country and Ukraine.

If such a policy unofficially exists, then it should not be promoted in any way until and if it receives democratic sanction.

 

The Ukraine and Russia Foreign policies have weakened the UK’s Defence capabilities

The UK Armed Services know that any involvement they have in the conflict in the Ukraine does not have democratic mandate.

Therefore, they are put in an unenviable position as this is not seen as a just conflict, as were the campaigns in Afghanistan and the Falklands, for example.

The logistics needs of the Armed Services have been put secondary to those of the Ukrainian military.

This has put a strain on morale and after a derisory set of new pay arrangements, their pay is well below inflation.

On top of that, they feel less valued and have suffered many cases of poor family housing..

They see there is endless money for financing Ukrainian military expenditure, but they are cut to the bone, with reductions in the size of the Army.

They see expensive weaponry of all types being given to Ukraine, yet they are told there is not the money for their needs.

Even with pilots where there is a queue of people waiting for training, the government has set up a Flying School just to train Ukrainian fighter pilots.

On top of that, with a UK shortage of helicopters, three Sea King helicopters have been given to Ukraine.

This is despite the fact that even hospital ambulance services have been told that they are not a priority for government funding!

The whole situation has depleted the UK’s stock of military hardware and put the operational ability of many units at risk or low performance level.

The Ukraine cannot be a priority over extensive UK Defence needs, yet that is what has happened.

There is no cause for freedom and democracy in Ukraine

The government maintains that their support of the President Zelensky government in Ukraine is to defend “freedom and democracy.”

The reality is that 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 referenda 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.

In the Ukraine there is increasing evidence of Nazi and neo-Nazi political and military influence. Many of those organisations have their links back to the Second World War when large numbers of Ukrainians supported and fought for Nazi Germany against then Soviet Russia.

UK support to Ukraine seems to take no account where it goes to.

 

Is the Foreign policy on Ukraine and Russia morally and economically acceptable?

In the UK it is not 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 8^TH’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 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.

 

Afghanistan exit in order to enter Ukraine conflict

The UK government has blood on its hands and this reflects poorly on UK citizens.

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 same people, politicians and military, who were happy to sell out the people of Afghanistan to the Taliban “deal,” to lose their human, democratic and women’s rights, are the same people argue who say the UK should be fighting for “rights” in Ukraine!

The annual cost of the UK 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!

Giving propaganda help to the Zelensky government

There are reports that the government has been helping the President Zelensky government with the effective use of propaganda.

This is all aspects of propaganda involving staff and training in the UK, events in the UK and elsewhere, and anything which will promote the cause of the current Ukraine government.

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. Remember that the UK Foreign policy on Syria was to assist the Islamist fundamentalist terrorists against the secular and multi-faith government  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 or elsewhere, 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.

I hope your Committee will agree to see a small group of us, so we can put across the case for peace and for the government’s Ukraine and Russia policies to be thoroughly scrutinised and changed.

Anthony Webber

On behalf of the Committee for the Petitions:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/617939  ( closed)

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/629895 ( open )

and Not Our War

anthonywebber@cwgsy.net