Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Con)

My Lords, I am grateful to be able to contribute to this debate. I should say that I welcome these regulations. After all, they introduce a number of new sanctions into the Russia sanctions regime, which aims to encourage the Russian Government to cease their invasion of Ukraine—a noble aim. My concern, however, is about not so much the regulations themselves but the licences that were put in place on the same day to help mitigate some of the impact in the UK. It is to that end that I want, if I may, to ask the Minister a few questions. First, I ask for clarity on the overall strategy between the pressure of the sanctions and the flexibility introduced by the licences. The Government have set out that these measures are intended to increase pressure on Russian energy resources and revenues while temporary licences are used to manage the market disruption. Can the Minister set out how the Government will evaluate the effectiveness of that balance in practice? What indicators will they use to demonstrate that that pressure on Russia is being materially sustained despite the use of these flexibilities? The Government have also stated that these measures will reduce Russia’s energy revenues. Can the Minister provide an estimate, even at a high level, of the anticipated scale of that impact once the measures are fully operational? I also ask for clarity on the end state of the licensing approach. The licensing framework is described as a temporary and phased implementation mechanism. Can the Minister clarify the intended end state of the policy? She mentioned an end time but not necessarily the specific market conditions under which the Government expect the prohibitions to operate and fall without licences. On the review process and accountability, given that the licences are subject to ongoing review, can the Minister elaborate on the governance of that process? Who takes decisions on continuation or revocation? What evidential thresholds are applied? How frequently are reviews undertaken in practice? Will the outcomes of those reviews be systematically communicated to Parliament? The Minister mentioned alignment with international partners, but can she update the Committee on the extent to which allied jurisdictions are adopting comparable approaches to licensing? How far is there convergence on managing the balance between sanctions pressure and market stability? On the transparency of policy presentation, key elements of the implementation, in particular the licences, were not fully reflected in the Explanatory Memorandum. Can the Minister outline how the Government intend to ensure that future regulations are presented to Parliament with a complete picture of both the restrictions and the practical mechanisms used to phase them in? On the oil licence only, what assessment has been made of the risk that the licensed categories—in particular, diesel and jet fuel refined from Russian crude oil—could create unintended pathways for sustained Russian revenue, contrary to the stated aims of the regulations?