Repurposing Russian Assets to Rebuild Ukraine

Debate between Margaret Hodge and David Lammy

Tuesday 27th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

The right hon. Gentleman is right. He is right about the football team we both support—it is not the only thing he is right about, but he is right about that—and he is right that more than $300 billion of Russian state assets have been frozen by our global partners, with £25 billion here in the UK. The central point is that those assets are frozen, so the question is, what are we going to do now?

[Dame Margaret Hodge (Barking) (Lab)]

My right hon. Friend is making a very powerful contribution. I think there is large consensus in the House on this issue. I just want to draw attention to the facts. We actually do not know how much money has been frozen, either Russian state money or money relating to sanctioned individuals. There is a figure I have seen from the Bank of Russia which suggests £26 billion and figures from the Government that suggest £18 billion. Does he not agree that it is imperative the Government should openly tell us how much money has been frozen, who it comes from and where it sits, so that we can follow the money and ensure that justice is done for the Ukrainians in their country?

[Mr Lammy]

My right hon. Friend has been so assiduous on these issues over many, many years. She is absolutely right that we cannot have the necessary quality of debate without transparency. That is what we need. I do not think that that ought to be a matter of dispute between us and the Government; I should have thought that it was something on which we could agree. I hope the Minister will be able to tell us whether those figures can, in a transparent fashion, be put in the Library and made available to the Foreign Affairs Committee, so that we can all work on a common basis.

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[Mr Lammy]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. That has been a standing issue that the official Opposition have taken up. We do think further reform is necessary at Companies House, and we were slightly concerned that that was not supported by the Government in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill.

[Dame Margaret Hodge]

I too have been provoked, by the intervention from the hon. Member for The Cotswolds (Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown). He was right to say that the reform of Companies House and greater transparency about beneficial ownership are vital, but that will give us information only about companies, as opposed to trusts. Last week Lord Agnew of Oulton, a Conservative peer, successfully moved an amendment that would have provided some visibility in who controls trusts. We know that Abramovich, for instance, has transferred a large amount of his money into trusts controlled by his children, including a daughter aged about nine. If we do not have transparency, we cannot follow the money, and we cannot ensure that the assets of sanctioned individuals are really being held so that they can be repurposed to help the people of Ukraine.

[Mr Lammy]

I am, again, grateful to my right hon. Friend—first for raising the issue of transparency, and secondly for raising the issue of Lord Agnew’s amendment and endorsing the point that has already been made. I hope the Minister will tell us whether the Government might give that amendment some support, so that we can benefit from the satisfaction we should gain from this debate. I recognise that it is an Opposition day debate, and we are using our time as an Opposition to bring these issues to the forefront because it has been many months since the Government said that they wanted to act, but the debate is being held in a spirit of the national interest, and I hope everyone can recognise that.

The question, then, is “Who should pay for Ukraine’s recovery?” The Labour party’s view is that the answer is Russia, and one way of ensuring that this happens is repurposing Russian state assets that have been frozen in the United Kingdom. The Government have said at least since October 2022 that they are supportive of seizing Russian state assets to fund Ukraine’s reconstruction, but in the eight months since, no specific proposals have been forthcoming. From the very beginning of Putin’s invasion, Labour has worked with the Government to ensure that our sanctions framework is as effective as it can be, notwithstanding the issues that have been raised from both Back Benches today.

Countering Russian Aggression and Tackling Illicit Finance

Debate between Margaret Hodge and David Lammy

Wednesday 23rd February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

My hon. Friend is so right. These properties are pricing out young people and challenging working people. Often, the lights are off and no one knows who owns them. If that is not an urgent issue, I do not know what is. I was staggered when the Prime Minister said that it did not merit action until the next Session.

[Dame Margaret Hodge (Barking) (Lab)]

It is not just about urgent action. Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is outrageous that legislation on publishing the beneficial ownership of UK properties owned by entities abroad was promised by the Government in 2016, there was consultation on a draft Bill—I think a Bill is sitting in Government, ready to go—and it was promised again in the 2019 manifesto and at G7 meetings but has yet to appear? Is that not an utter scandal?

[Mr Lammy]

My right hon. Friend is right. In six years, there has been promise after promise—we have had more promises from the Dispatch Box today—and we are still waiting. It is not worthy of our great democracy. The public deserve better.

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[Mr Lammy]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We note, do we not, individuals who are the target of sanctions in Europe and who have been the target of sanctions in the United States since 2018? And we wait and we wait and we wait. And we wonder why this Government are so slow to act.

Today, we call on the whole House to come together to end the tidal flow of dirty Russian money flooding into our country by: ending our openness to fraud and money laundering with an economic crime Bill that should be brought forward this month; fixing our inadequate regulation of political donations by reversing the Conservative’s Elections Bill that is setting us back; strengthening our lax mechanisms of corporate governance; enabling our national agencies to clamp down on economic crime; and blocking the threat of foreign interference in our politics. We need transparency with an overseas entities Bill and the reform of Companies House to shut down the shell companies that obscure the origins of wealth and hide corruption, and reveal who owns land from abroad. Finally, this House must come together and recognise the urgency of implementing the Russia report, which was published in July 2020—nearly two years ago.

[Dame Margaret Hodge]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for giving way and I welcome the commitments he has made on the sort of action a Labour Government would immediately put in place. There is one area he has not covered, which I think is of great importance: the role played by the financial services sector and the enablers here in London in supporting money laundering and illicit finance. Whether lawyers, accountants, the banks or other advisers, they are often complicit in this activity. Does he agree that the economic crime Bill also needs clauses that tackle the role of enablers in enabling illicit finance?

[Mr Lammy]

My right hon. Friend is exactly right. Over two thirds of our economy is the service sector. The consultants, lawyers and accountants are absolutely a part of the process of dirty money and the laundromat. We must act to deal with them. [Interruption.] Of course not all of them, but there are facilitators and we expect to see the appropriate clauses in the economic crime Bill.

Defeating Putinism starts with leadership that represents our values. If we are to be taken seriously on the world stage when we talk about democracy, we cannot be watering it down at home with unfair reforms such as voter ID and loose rules about overseas donations. If we are to be credible champions of international law, our leaders must practise the laws they set at home. The best way to defend the rule of law is to follow it.