The Trumpet Newspaper Issue 567 (March 23 - April 5 2022)

FortheRecord
MARCH 23 - APRIL 5 2022
We must end our dependence on
Putin’s oil and gas
TheTrumpet
Page11
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been in a total panic about a so called
colour revolution in Moscow itself.
And that’s why he’s trying so
brutally, to snuff out the flame of
freedom in Ukraine, and that’s why it
is so vital that he fails, because a
victorious Putin will not stop in
Ukraine and the end of freedom in
Ukraine will mean the extinction of
any hope of freedom in Georgia and
then Moldova, it will mean the
beginning of a new age of
intimidation across the whole of
Eastern Europe, from the Baltic to the
Black Sea... and if Putin succeeds in
crushing Ukraine, it will be the green
light for autocrats everywhere in the
Middle East, in the Far East.
This is a turning point for the
world. And it’s a moment of choice.
It’s a choice between freedom and
oppression. And I know there are
some around the world, even in some
Western governments who invoke
what they call realpolitik. And you say
that we’re better off making
accommodations with tyranny. I have
to say I believe they are profoundly
wrong. And to try to renormalise
relations with Putin, after this, as we
did in 2014, would be to make exactly
the same mistake again. And that is
why, and that is why Putin must fail.
And I know that it’s the instinct of
the people of this country, like the
people of Ukraine, to choose freedom,
every time, I can give you a couple of
famous recent examples. When the
British people voted for Brexit, in
such large, large numbers, I don’t
believe it was because they were
remotely hostile to foreigners. It’s
because they wanted to be free to do
things differently and for this country
to be able to run itself. Give you
another example, where the British
population came forward to be
vaccinated at such incredible speed
voluntarily. Unlike many other
countries, I’m sure it was partly
because they wanted to avoid catching
Covid, very sensible thing to do, by
the way, I hope you’ve all had your
boosters. You have? Well we’re
getting ready for a fourth jab, because
we’re going to need it. But I’ll tell you
why people did it. Why? Why did the
British people come forward? I mean,
90%, we got entirely voluntary.
Entirely voluntary. It was because
they wanted to get on with their lives.
They were fed up with being told what
Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Kiev, Ukraine in Feb 2022 (Picture by Andrew Parsons - No 10 Downing Street)
to do, by people like me. They were!
We wanted to take back control of
our lives. And so I’m proud that this
government has done the things that
so many people said were impossible.
We got Brexit done. I’m proud that we
deliver the fastest vaccine rollout in
Europe, not once, but twice and the
fastest booster route rollout. And, of
course, yes, I am proud that this
government has been in the lead in
sticking up for freedom in Ukraine.
This was the first European country to
send defensive weapons to help the
Ukrainians. And now dozens are
following our lead. And I’m very
grateful to my friend Ben Wallace also
there in the front row for his foresight
many months ago. And for getting me
to read Putin’s crazy essay, which I
did, and we are talking continuously,
Liz, Ben and I, we’re talking
continuously to our colleagues in the
in the Ukraine support group to
discuss what more we can do. And
those conversations go on literally
every day, and there will be more.
I’m proud of what we did on
sanctions. We were in the lead in
sanctioning swift and the bank certain
banning Aeroflot, we’ve now
sanctioned more banks and
individuals than any other European
country, and we will be detaining their
yachts and their assets. And, of course,
there is a cost to all these actions. Of
course there is but the cost of doing
nothing will be far, far higher. Putin’s
war is intended to cause economic
damage to the west and to benefit
him. And he knows that with every
dollar increase in the price of a barrel
of oil, he gets billions more in
revenues from the sales of oil and gas.
And that’s the tragedy of the situation.
He’s been preparing for this moment,
by pushing hydrocarbons on the west
like a back street pusher, feeding our
addiction, creating a dependency. And
now he wants to weaken the collective
will to resist by pushing up the cost of
living, hitting us at the pumps, and in
our fuel bills. And so we must respond
and we’ve got to do everything we can
to help people with their daily costs
help people with the cost of living and
of course that means doing all the
things that we’re doing, lifting the
living wage, cutting council tax bills,
helping with fuel costs, giving billions
to councils, millions more to help
people in particular hardship.
The best possible answer, of
course, is to make sure that this is the
traditional Conservative answer to
make sure that we have a strong
economy and strong economic
fundamentals with well paid jobs. And
thanks to the speed of that booster
rollout, we have the fastest growing
economy in the G7. Unemployment
now actually back to the level it was
before the pandemic, virtually a
record low, 3.9%, youth
unemployment at or near record lows.
But if we’re going to deal with a
particular cost, the biggest cost that
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