Newspaper Column – The Voice – 03/03/25

• Praise where praise is due. Prime Minister Starmer has played a blinder in his support for Ukraine. The contrast between the Zelensky’s shocking White House ambush and the warm and supportive reception by Starmer and the King re-instilled pride in our country. On this at least the Prime Minister speaks for me. 

It was also encouraging to see the UK again taking a lead in Europe and drawing in wider cooperation and support for Ukraine, and keeping diplomatic channels with the US open, in spite of the unpredictability across the pond. 

For my own part I will propose that our Government raises a ‘voluntary’ tax on the wealthiest in our country, rather than hit the poorest to pay for our “stepping up” with an increase in defence spending and military support for Ukraine. It is wrong to make the poorest pay to fund military investment (important as it is) which will benefit the wealthiest most. 

The PM and Chancellor should break out of their fiscal straitjacket by inviting the wealthiest to contribute say 10% on earnings over say £200k and x% on capital and investments over say £2m, with an opt-out for those who don’t wish to help at this time of need. 

• Putin was the only winner from the Vallance/Trump ambush of Zelensky last week. The rest of us lose. It was clearly pre-planned. Orchestrated by Vance. Shouted at and talked-over by the Putin appeaser in chief.
  Zelensky did well to remain dignified while the bullying onslaught took place. This stage-managed attempt to humiliate a man fighting for his country sadly exposed the very worst of the current US administration. Solidarity with Ukraine.  

• On a related matter I recently met Defence Minister Luke Pollard MP in Parliament regarding efforts on one important front in our ‘phoney war’ with Putin’s Russia – ie our vital underwater comms cables. This is especially relevant to west Cornwall, where many of these cables land. The Royal Navy has stepped up its activities and monitoring of maritime activities around our shores.

  The world has just become more unstable. Putin will feel emboldened by his new and powerful appeasers/supporters and their extraordinary and infantile behaviour in Washington recently. There are of course many other fronts which need to be monitored to keep the UK secure.

  Luke Pollard explained that with more than 100 individual undersea cables carrying more than £1.4 trillion worth of data to and from the UK each day, the security of our offshore infrastructure is paramount to our daily lives. This isn’t theoretical. There’s been serious damage to these vital data lifelines in the Baltic recently.  Russia’s malign activity is increasing in this space.

  He explained that, in a more dangerous world, it’s critical we continue to work across Government and in lockstep with industry to ensure we are alert to the risks to our offshore infrastructure and that we continue to invest in new capabilities to safeguard it and our economy from these threats.