Labour must put Britain first and back the action needed to protect us
In times of threat, Britain is strongest when its people stand shoulder to shoulder against adversity. That was what drove Clement Attlee, Ernest Bevin and others to join Winston Churchill’s war cabinet to defeat Hitler.
It is why government and opposition unequivocally condemned terrorist attacks on UK cities during the Troubles, and why the overwhelming majority of the British Left rejected the siren Soviet voices of communism during the Cold War.
Today, parliament must rise to the occasion and speak as one on Russia.
There are legitimate questions for both main parties over their links with that country. It is indeed strange that the Conservatives have recently received so much in donations from Russians. And the strident public views on Russia from at least one of Jeremy Corbyn’s senior team raise fears over the nature of the advice the Leader of the Opposition is receiving at this critical time. The Government should also be held to account for the fact the supposedly tough posture already in place to deter the KGB from launching attacks on UK soil seems manifestly to have failed.
But throughout the crisis triggered by the nerve agent attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal, the focus should not be on the past but on a strategy that will treat Russia as a rogue state until it turns back to the rules-based system that protects civilians.
The new strategy to contain and deter Vladimir Putin’s violence must be several degrees more robust than before. On the table should be more severe sanctions, targeted at the state and at any individual linked to aggression; the expulsion of Russian diplomats; and a review of military doctrine that will make clear the UK is prepared to use its well developed yet unpublicised cyber capability.
Even withdrawing England’s participation in the World Cup should be considered. That is not a step to be taken lightly and any decision must involve players who would of course be dismayed to lose the chance to play on football’s greatest stage. But affording Russia the implicit international respect in hosting the tournament is deeply troubling while they are launching chemical attacks on our soil and committing war crimes daily in Syria. So at the very least we should say now that no minister, dignitary or senior FA official will attend matches, and we should ask our allies to make the same pledge.
Mrs May must also call for solidarity from Nato, which makes clear an attack on one is an attack on all. Beyond that we should be vocal about the damage being done to the UN Security Council by having a permanent member that repeatedly violates a system it agreed to uphold.
If the Government’s response is sufficiently strong in these areas, Labour should stand behind it. The public will forgive people having an occasional off day and striking the wrong tone in parliament. They will be less forgiving of a party that seeks to govern if it refuses to acknowledge the severity of the situation. Several colleagues received hate mail for striking a different tone to our leader. But no amount of angry messages will stop us from protecting our nation.
We hope everyone in Labour will put the country first today and support necessary action to protect its citizens.
John Woodcock is Labour-cooperative MP for Barrow and Furness