Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the 2018 Sanctions Act on the Government's ability to sanction individuals implicated in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The UK has used the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (SAMLA) to implement the strongest set of economic sanctions ever imposed against a major economy. These include new financial powers to limit access for Russian individuals and entities to international finance and exclude them from the UK financial system.

Using SAMLA powers via the Russia sanctions regime, the UK has designated key Russian individuals and entities since the start of the crisis, including Roman Abramovich, Vladimir Putin and Sergei Lavrov. These individuals and entities now have their assets frozen and no British citizen or business can make funds or economic resources available to them.

The UK is legislating for new powers under the Economic Crime Bill to further streamline SAMLA and speed up sanctions against individuals, allowing us to go even further in our action against individuals associated with the Russian regime. The new legislation will speed up processes by allowing the UK to quickly match sanctions imposed by our allies such as the United States, Canada and the EU It will also ensure the Government can designate groups of individuals to give the Government maximum flexibility.