A UK Government minister repeatedly ducked questions as he was confronted about Labour relaxing sanctions on Russian oil.
Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson defended the Government’s “strong set of sanctions” as he was grilled on changes which mean Britain will now import Russian oil refined in a third country.
Asked by Sky News’s Sophie Ridge four times whether he was “comfortable” with the Government’s shift, Tomlinson failed to answer.
He said: “There's a whole range of other sanctions that have been announced yesterday, by the government because we do have to make sure that we are standing up to Putin's aggression and making sure that we are protecting Ukraine.
“And at the same time, when there's a very significant international conflict happening, when we do need to make sure that we keep security and supply across the world, we're looking at time limited changes on some very specific aspects.”
The move, slipped out on Wednesday evening without a major announcement, has already sparked fury, with Foreign Affairs Committee chair Emily Thornberry saying that her contacts in Ukraine were “very disappointed”.
Jack Middleton, the SNP MSP for Aberdeen Central, accused the Westminster government of betraying Ukraine.
He said: “At a time when we should be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Ukraine and strengthening Europe's energy security, Labour has instead chosen to line Putin’s pockets with wads of cash.
“It’s reckless, it’s a betrayal of the people of Ukraine, and it represents an abandonment of the UK’s responsibilities as a European ally at a moment of real global instability.”
The move also comes after Labour confirmed its plans to ban new exploration licences for oil and gas.
Middleton added: “It's also a disgusting insult to thousands of Scottish workers in the North Sea sector who have powered the UK for decades. Labour would rather give Russia a handout than support those Scottish workers – let that sink in.
“Scotland is an energy superpower and projects like Jackdaw and Rosebank ready to go if Labour would end its mission to kill off the North Sea.”
Arguing that the exploitation of the Jackdaw field would provide enough gas to power around 1.4 million homes, he said: “Turning our backs on domestic energy resources won’t reduce demand for oil and gas overnight – it simply increases reliance on imports from murderous regimes like Putin’s and puts thousands of Scottish jobs on the scrapheap.
“Labour should stop pandering to ideology, back Scotland’s energy sector, and put our national security first.”
Scottish LibDem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: "What kind of message does this send to our Ukrainian allies? Every pound we spend on Russian oil is a pound towards Putin’s war chest.
"This decision is an utter betrayal of the fighting men and women of Ukraine. Their brave fighters are making huge sacrifices every day and civilians are facing aerial bombardment from Russia on a nightly basis.
"The UK Government must reverse these weak waivers, focus on diplomatic efforts to reopen the Strait, and implement Lib Dem plans to cut the cost of travel."
The UK Government earlier this week signed a G7 statement reiterating its “unwavering commitment” to imposing “severe costs” on Russia over its illegal invasion of Ukraine.
It had previously said that sanctions on Russian oil would “restrict the flow of funds to the Kremlin”.
But the Prime Minister defended the changes during PMQs on Wednesday, insisting the Government had put in a stricter package of sanctions and the new relaxation on imports was part of a "phased" approach.
Accusing Tory leader Kemi Badenoch of having not "done her homework", he said: "Let me address the sanctions head-on, because we have been united across this House on these issues since the beginning of the conflict.
“What we announced yesterday was a strong new package of new sanctions going well beyond existing sanctions, so it is a new package. This includes new bans on maritime services on LNG and new bans on refined oil products from Russia.
“We also issued two targeted short-term licences to phase the new sanctions in and to protect UK consumers. That is standard practice.
“This Government has phased in sanctions in this way before and the last government used exactly the same technique when they introduced sanctions. And when they did so, we supported them, because we could see the sanctions were the right thing to do to bear down on Russia.
“So, these are new sanctions being phased in. This is not a question of lifting existing sanctions in any way whatsoever, and we will continue to work with our allies on further sanction packages.”
