Brexit blamed again! ‘Leaving EU and Lords’ at fault for catastrophic flop Putin sanctions – Express

Not a single close ally of Vladimir Putin has been hit by economic measures yet, despite Prime Minister Boris Johnson announcing sanctions last week. MPs are growing impatient at the delay, accusing the UK of being slower to take action against the Russian President's cronies than other countries.

Officials are eager to ensure that oligarchs set to be hit the measures being introduced have no chance of challenging the economic penalties in the courts.

It has been claimed the UKs sanctions regime became significantly more complex to implement after leaving the EU due to amendments made to legislation in the House of Lords.

Express.co.uk understands ministers are considering emergency legislation to help speed up the implementation of sanctions.

This website can also reveal the Foreign Office is hiring extra sanctions policy advisers in a bid to help roll out sanctions as quickly as possible.

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In 2018 when EU legislation was being rolled over onto the statue book in preparation for Brexit, Theresa May's Government accepted amendments put forward by senior lawyer Lord David Pannick.

The peer wanted to make sure outside the EU that British legislation "provided for procedural fairness" for those being sanctioned.

He also wanted to include provisions stating that sanctions imposed on individuals were done in a "proportional manner" and in accordance with "human rights principles".

Government minister Tariq Ahmad at the time said the amendments would help ensure Britain's sanctions safeguards stronger than the EUs.

According to the news website Politico, Westminster insiders are blaming the amendments on the current slow progress.

Voicing frustration at the slow progress in implementing sanctions, veteran Tory MP Sir Roger Gale demanded the UK move "hard and fast".

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He said: "It does seem to me that you don't say we are going to punish you and give people however many days it is to move their assets.

"If you are going to do a drugs raid, you do a drugs raid. You go in the middle of the night and smash the door in, you don't say we're going to raid your house in 12 hours."

Tom Tugendhat, the chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee added: "We should be looking immediately to seize those assets linked to those who are profiting from Putin's war machine, holding it in trust and returning it to the Russian people as soon as possible."

Meanwhile, senior Tory MP Tobias Ellwood warned there will be "increasing public anger that we're not doing enough to help our fellow Ukrainians in their hour of need".

The Prime Minister's official spokesman admitted earlier today that "we do have laws that we need to abide by" when applying sanctions.

"When it comes to individuals it is the case that we need to do the preparatory work, the requisite work, to make sure it is legally sound before introduction," the said.

In a tacit acceptance that the current legislation may not be fit for purpose, he added: "We will keep that under review and if there are ways to further speed it up then we will."

This afternoon, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said threats of legal action would not deter her from imposing economic restrictions.

She said: "I'm very clear that legal threats will have no impact on our ability to sanction oligarchs and we will continue to work through our list, we will continue to sanction oligarchs and there is nowhere for any of Putin's cronies to hide."

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Brexit blamed again! 'Leaving EU and Lords' at fault for catastrophic flop Putin sanctions - Express