The last week has been a very busy one in Parliament. Like many MPs across the political parties, I’ve been heavily involved in discussions about the very serious situation in Ukraine. This is a really important issue to us here in our area because the Russian state continues to pose a real threat to our day-to-day life. We’ve seen the Putin regime cyber attacking NHS Trusts, interfering with the underwater cables that bring the internet and other services to our country and engaging in a whole range of other actions designed to undermine our way of life. These are real and constant threats that it’s crucial we take more steps to defend our country against.
It’s because of these ongoing Russian threats and the continuation of Putin’s illegal and appalling invasion of Ukraine that the Prime Minister is taking such strong action. As I’m sure local residents have seen in the press, Keir Starmer has been leading from the front to tackle these very serious issues. The Prime Minister held urgent talks with President Trump in the White House to discuss how Britain and America can continue to work hand in hand to tackle Russian aggression. America remains our most important ally in security and defence and building a strong relationship with the new President is crucial. Following this, the Prime Minister brought together national leaders from across Europe and the President of Ukraine for a summit in London. This summit agreed clear ways that Britain and our European allies can step up the defence of our nations and increase support for the people of Ukraine.
As I said to the Prime Minister in the Chamber of the House of Commons, the reason this is important is clear. The security of our country rests on a secure Europe, a secure Europe relies on peace in Ukraine and peace in Ukraine requires unified action by Britain and our allies to end Russian aggression. Given Putin’s actions, the defence of our country is intrinsically linked to the defence of other countries in Europe who are also being threatened. Britain has stood against tyranny before and since Putin’s brutal invasion three years ago, we have shown our determination to do so again. We cannot allow British democracy and the freedom we enjoy in our country to be threatened by a dictator like Putin. A dictator who illegally invaded an independent democracy, a dictator who has sanctioned the kidnapping of tens of thousands of innocent Ukrainian children and who continues to bomb and terrorise innocent citizens day in, day out.
In this incredibly serious situation, I’m very proud of the decisive leadership Keir Starmer has shown. It was heartening to hear tributes paid to the Prime Minister’s efforts from politicians of all major parties in the House of Commons for the urgent debate we held on this matter.
I’m very clear that defence of our nation is the highest duty of government. Alongside Labour ministers and parliamentarians from across the political spectrum, I will continue to work incredibly hard in the coming weeks and months to ensure Britain and our defences are in the strongest possible position.
I’d like to finish by paying tribute to the many servicemen and women who live in our town and communities in the area. It was a real privilege to meet Royal Air Force personnel including elite F-35 pilots during the week and I will continue to do all I can to support the brave men and women who are working 24 hours a day to protect us from harm.