Sadly, our government have spent the past few weeks talking tough about a war on the edge of Europe, without implementing serious sanctions on the Russian interests in the UK who are so intertwined with the Conservative Parties own finances. I supported tough sanctions when the Labour frontbench proposed them in 2018 and I support them now.

The Conservatives are too interested in defending the financial interest of a select few for whom Russian money is extremely valuable, rather than acting in the national interest. At the same time, they have failed to undertake anything meaningful to reduce tensions. The actions of Russia and Putin overnight now creates the serious potential for the conflict to spiral out of control, bringing the misery of war to millions of people. We need to seek an immediate withdrawal of troops with a full de-escalation so diplomatic efforts can resume, sadly I think Putin is beyond this.