Labour presses PM to act on Russian oligarchs as activists sent to Erdington

“The vice is tightening on the Putin regime and will continue to tighten,” Boris Johnson declared at Prime Minister’s Questions. But are the oligarchs actually being sanctioned – or are they being given a substantial notice period in which to “quietly launder their money out of the UK property market and into another safe haven”, as Keir Starmer put it? The economic crime bill is finally being brought forward, thanks to all the talk of dirty money in London amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but it would not come into force for existing UK property owners until 18 months after its approval by parliament. This was Starmer’s focus at PMQs: his backbenchers are keen to press ministers on it, and he knows many Tories have been calling for the Prime Minister to take action. Labour has unveiled its amendments to the bill and business lead Jonathan Reynolds has asked the government to support the changes.

Update: The Times has reported that the government has been unable to build a case against Roman Abramovich and other oligarchs and will be unable to sanction them for “weeks and months”.

We saw another battle in the war between the Labour leadership and left MPs yesterday, when it was reported that John McDonnell would have the whip withdrawn if he attended a Stop the War rally. It turned out that attendance on its own was not considered grounds for removing the whip, but the party did intend to look closely at what was said about NATO and the war in Ukraine. In the end, LabourList exclusively revealed that McDonnell would not be going. “I have seen all the speculation,” the MP told us. “My response is that people are dying on the streets of Ukrainian cities. This is not the time to be distracted by political arguments.” He urged socialists to “stay on the pitch for as long as it takes”. Tensions will no doubt flare up again before too long.

Labour could be about to welcome a new MP to its ranks. Paulette Hamilton contests the Birmingham Erdington by-election today, triggered by the death of well-liked trade union veteran Jack Dromey. If you missed my interview with her last week, give it a read. It starts with tears but doesn’t end in them. She talks about the possibility of becoming Birmingham’s first Black MP, returning to the NHS frontline for the Covid vaccine rollout, disputes with trade unions, her political priorities and more. Erdington is typically a low turnout seat, so the Labour Party is keen to get as many people out on polling day as possible. Can pop into the campaign office and help the GOTV operation? There will be activity until 10pm.

Also on LabourList, we have the latest on which candidates are being backed by which factional groups for the upcoming internal Labour elections (it never stops… it never stops). And if you’re interested in how ministers are finally scrapping the criminalisation of homelessness, I recommend Ben Twomey’s interesting piece on the Vagrancy Act. Finally, if you’re not on the doorstep at the time, I’m chairing a Labour Together event from 7pm tonight with James Murray MP, Miatta Fahnbulleh, James Meadway and David Edgerton on Labour’s economic programme. Sign up to LabourList’s morning email for everything Labour, every weekday morning.