Tonight we welcomed our new Lord Mayor with a a banquet and he told us of his plans to re build trust in financial Servies. He was also joined by the Prime Minister who used her speech to condem Russia’s ‘meddling’ in Western democracies.
The Prime Minister spoke about how Russia has repeatedly attempted to undermine open economies and free societies, including:
· Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, the first time since the Second World War that one sovereign nation has forcibly taken territory from another in Europe.
· Russia’s fomenting of conflict in the Donbas, along with repeated violations of the national airspace of several European countries.
· The sustained campaign of cyber espionage and disruption carried out by Russia, which has included meddling in elections, hacking the Danish Ministry of Defence and the Bundestag, among many others.
The Prime Minister set out the steps the Government is taking to counter this Russian activity, stating: ‘The UK will do what is necessary to protect ourselves, and work with our allies to do likewise. That is why we are driving reform of NATO so this vital alliance is better able to deter and counter hostile Russian activity. It is why we have stepped up our military and economic support to Ukraine. It is why we are strengthening our cyber security and looking at how we tighten our financial regimes to ensure the profits of corruption cannot flow from Russia into the UK’.
It was not what we all expected, as many hoped for more on our EU future but it was a strong statement that the UK is still engaged on far wider foreign affairs.