-
will say Putin’s illegal
invasion of Ukraine has highlighted that many of the UK
government’s assumptions about foreign policy were false.
- He will call for a ‘rethink’ of the Government’s Integrated
Review of foreign policy which de-emphasised the importance of
European security and call for new UK-EU security agreements.
- He will argue that cutting the UK’s dependence on fossil
fuels is the only way to achieve independence from authoritarian
states, that we need to ending our role as a facilitator of dirty
finance, end army cuts, and restore of the UK’s soft power.
Shadow Foreign Secretary will use his Dr. Jean Mayer
Global Citizenship Award Address to the Institute for Global
Leadership and Tufts University (on Thursday, 31 March) in Boston
to call for a ‘radical re-think in foreign policy and a reboot of
diplomacy’.
Lammy will warn that Boris Johnson’s declaration that the ‘the
old concepts of fighting big tank battles on European land mass
are over’ just months before Putin’s invasion, the shift away in
focus from European security to the Indo-pacific in the
Government’s Integrated Review, the Conservatives’ tolerance of
dirty money from authoritarian states, and energy dependence on
them, are symptomatic of the Conservative Government’s strategic
failure on foreign policy.
Lammy will set out four principles of Labour’s foreign policy in
response to the ‘age of authoritarians’:
- Ending Government cuts to our defences and forming new UK-EU
security agreements.
- Ending Britain’s dependence on dirty fossil fuels from
authoritarian states, with Labour’s £225 billion in investment in
a Green recovery.
- Ending Britain’s role as a facilitator of dirty finance from
corrupt elites from across the world.
- Restoring the UK’s soft power by reinstating the UK’s aid
commitment to 0.7%, as well as supporting the BBC World Service
and the British Council.
Ends
Notes to editors:
-
MP will deliver the Dr. Jean
Mayer Global Citizenship Award Address at Tufts University in
Boston, at 10am Eastern Time (3pm UK time).
- On his trip to the USA, Lammy will meet with legislators in
Washington D.C. and other senior figures in New York.
On the Government’s strategic failure, is expected to say:
“Putin’s invasion is shocking. The images of tanks rolling across
the borders of European nations have reopened some of the deepest
wounds from our continent’s history. Many have said the
world changed on …
… dependence on Russian oil and gas, funding Putin’s war chest,
regardless of his aggression and despite the urgent need to
decarbonise. Dirty Russian money, the loot of Putin’s
dictatorship, was embraced…”
On a security pact with Europe, he is expected to
say:
“Britain has left the EU. The task now is to make Brexit work. It
is time to leave behind the petty diplomatic spats with our
neighbours pursued by this government, designed only to serve
short term domestic …
… to put past Brexit divisions behind us, stop seeking rows with
European partners, and use this moment to explore all
possibilities to renew relations with European allies through a
new UK-EU security pact...”
On energy independence, he is expected to say:
“Our Prime Minister’s moves to fill the gap of Russian energy
have so far been to look for new authoritarians from which to buy
oil. Whether Iran, Saudi Arabia or elsewhere: short-termist,
ill-judged and not learning the lessons of Putin. Fossil fuels
empower the worst sorts of dictators. The only true form of
energy independence is through clean energy. This is why a Labour
government in Britain would quadruple investment in a Green
recovery: £225bn over the next 8 years.”
On dirty money, he is expected to say:
“Dirty Russian money, the loot of Putin’s dictatorship, was
embraced. From our football clubs to our politics, oligarchs and
kleptocrats used Britain’s capital as both the hiding place and
service industry for …
… and cleanse our society from dirty money, not just from Russia,
but from corrupt elites across the world who have used Britain
and our overseas territories to hide their ill-gotten wealth
under our noses.”
On restoring the UK’s soft power, he is expected to
say:
“It is not only tyrants’ actions we must change, but the minds of
their publics. The United States and the UK together do so much
good through the development we lead across the world. But
Britain has stepped …
… leaving them less than the sum of their parts … "A Labour
government would truly value the BBC World Service, alongside a
refreshed British Council, and be a beacon for our values around
the world.”
