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At the European Movement and Mayor of London’s UK with Ukraine rally, Anna Bird, CEO of European Movement will say:

Freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law, human rights – these are the true values that unite our continent.

But just as these fundamental values have their champions, they too have their opponents.

That is why we've come to Trafalgar Square today, the centre of national democracy and protest.

With 100 years of important and necessary acts of protest and solidarity before us.

I wish it were not the case but contributing to that legacy of protest is deeply, deeply necessary.

So today — we join citizens across Europe to oppose Putin's aggressive war in Ukraine.

Because it cannot be that President Zelensky and the people of Ukraine must put their very lives on the line for the basic right to live in peace.

A right we take for granted.

The question now asked of us is, will we, as a country stay true to our values and defend the rights of our neighbours?

For me, for the European Movement, the answer to this is rooted in our belief that a closer, more united and peaceful Europe is in all of our interests.

For one day, our children and our grandchildren will learn about this horrifying time in their history lessons.

They will come home and ask us what we did in these moments that mattered.

What did we do when we saw a senseless, immoral and illegal attack on our neighbour?

I want to be able to look my children in the eye and say I — and all of us here — did everything possible.

That we spoke up, protested and marched.

That we donated, petitioned and demanded action.

That we opened our homes, opened our arms and brought the world closer together.

That is the duty of all of us here.

And whilst it is easy for opponents of peace to say that Putin doesn't care about what's happening here today or that he isn't listening.

The world is watching.

The people of Ukraine are listening and looking for hope. They need to know we're on their side.

I am certain of this: The only route to a peaceful future is one where we unite with our neighbours in Europe and around the world.

And that means me. That means you. That means all of us. Here today. Together. Protecting and fighting for Ukraine's right to live in a peaceful and united Europe.

So today — together — as Britons, as Europeans and internationalists we tell the world that Ukraine is with us, and we are with them.

Today — together — we tell Putin he will fail.
Today — together — we draw the line.
Today — together — and each day until Ukraine prevails.

Thank you.

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A devastating consequence of Putin’s invasion has been millions of people forced to flee Ukraine.

In just the first 3 weeks since the conflict started three million people have been forced to leave their homes in Ukraine to find a place of safety.

Right now, in response to this humanitarian crisis European solidarity, collaboration, and action could not be more important. And that’s why our latest event brought together organisations working on the front lines with refugees to discuss - What can we, as Europeans, do?

You can watch the event here: 

Europe's response to the Ukraine refugee crisis. What can we do? https://t.co/eoW0a3vYiD

— European Movement UK (@euromove) March 15, 2022

In the face of a humanitarian crisis like this, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. But already we have been moved by the response of individuals across the UK and Europe who want to help.

During the event, we asked every organisation who was a part of the event what European Movement UK supporters, activists, and members can do to help. You can watch back here to find out more, or we have put together a list of actions that you can take right now: 

Here’s how you can help: 

• Ask your MP to act 

Ukraine is under attack. Appallingly, so is the UK's refugee protection system. You can ask your MP to stand with refugees here on Refugee Action's website and against the punishment the Anti-Refugee Bill promises to dish out to people seeking safety.

• Do you speak Ukrainian? 

If you speak Ukrainian or Russian, you can help by volunteering your time and helping to get clear and simple information to refugees in Ukrainian and Russian. 

You can volunteer with Care4Calais here or Settled here: 

Or you could even work in the Settled team by contacting them at this email address: [email protected].

• Chip in to help the work of people supporting refugees 

Your support could make a real difference to refugees who have been forced to flee. You can donate or fundraise for various charities, including the ones that took part in the event: 

• Donate to Care4Calais here
• Donate to Refugee Action here. 
• Donate to Settled here. 
• Support the UN High Commissioner for Refugees

• Host a refugee in your home. 

We have been amazed by the response of individuals who want to help. Over the past 24 hours in the UK, we've seen over 100,000 families register to offer a place in their homes to people or families who need a place to stay. You can do this here.

• Attend more events in our Ukraine series

This week’s event was just one of many in our series on Ukraine. If you would like to attend events like this in the future, you will have access to our exclusive member events by becoming a member. 

We will be hosting more events in this “What Putin's invasion of Ukraine means for Europe” series, become a member now to avoid missing out:

European Movement UK supports the statement issued by European Movement International:

“The Ukraine crisis has escalated into a further blatant and unlawful violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. Russia’s actions, which started with the recognition of Russian-backed non-government-controlled region of eastern Ukraine, in violation of the Minsk Agreements, must be rebuffed in the firmest terms.

The European Union must respond in unison to this violation of international law and impose appropriate sanctions to deter further acts of aggression, while continuing to provide assistance to Ukraine in cooperation with its international allies. The EU, in close collaboration with NATO, must take the necessary action to guarantee the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders.

The collective strength of EU member states can best be expressed and articulated when delivered with one European voice.”

Senior Vice-Chair of European Movement UK Molly Scott-Cato said, “We are all holding the Ukranian people in our hearts in these dark days, but my thoughts are also inevitably focused on peace in Europe and considering how we can build lasting peace across our continent.

Peace in Europe was something that few would have dreamed possible when bombs were falling during World War II. Yet the founders of the European Union built one of the most successful peace projects in history out of the rubble of the war.”

Richard Corbett CBE, Vice-Chair of European Movement UK added, “Peace and prosperity. We spoke about it so often in the 2016 referendum campaign. We spoke about how together we are a stronger force on the international stage.

The EU Withdrawal Agreement’s Political Declaration in which both the UK and EU committed to ‘establish a broad, comprehensive and balanced security partnership’ that would allow them to work together on ‘evolving threats, including serious international crime, terrorism, cyber-attacks, disinformation campaigns, hybrid threats, the erosion of the rules-based international order and the resurgence of state-based threats.’

This is exactly the threat that Putin poses to Ukraine and the rest of Europe.

Boris Johnson reneged on that agreement.

It's another example, not that we needed it, of how Brexit isn’t working. It's another example of how Brexit has weakened Britain, undermined our friends and allies, and played its part in breaking such a hard-earned peace in Europe.”

European Movement UK has produced a briefing for members on the Ukraine crisis. This document has details on how our membership can best volunteer their time and where to get verified or first-hand information from journalists on the ground in Ukraine. The briefing can be found here.

After waking up to the news this morning I couldn’t just sit back and not contact you. It is so distressing to see the scenes in Ukraine. My thoughts are with the Ukrainian people and their families who call the UK home. We must be there for them at this time.  

We now face the biggest security crisis in Europe since the Second World War with Britain in a weakened and compromised position.

We have a government that is utterly compromised by taking Russian cash to fund its elections. It is telling that our government’s first response was a fraction of the sanctions sought by EU leaders.

It is led by an inveterate liar, currently being investigated under police caution, lacking any moral authority to speak on behalf of our country.

Above all, this government has undermined European security, not just by walking out of the main framework for cooperating with its neighbours, but by doing so in such a way as to engender mistrust and distance us from our friends and allies.

The EU Withdrawal Agreement’s Political Declaration in which both the UK and EU committed to "establish a broad, comprehensive and balanced security partnership" that would allow them to work together on "evolving threats, including serious international crime, terrorism, cyber-attacks, disinformation campaigns, hybrid threats, the erosion of the rules-based international order and the resurgence of state-based threats".

This is exactly the threat that Putin poses to Ukraine and the rest of Europe.

Boris Johnson reneged on that agreement.

It's another example, not that we needed it, of how Brexit isn’t working. It's another example of how Brexit has weakened Britain, undermined our friends and allies, and played its part in breaking such a hard-earned peace in Europe.

Peace and prosperity. We spoke about it so often in the 2016 referendum campaign. We spoke about how together we are a stronger force on the international stage.

Just as European Movement president Lord Heseltine has said, once there was a time, not so long ago, that the United Kingdom would have led in the defence of European democracy. It has now absented itself, just as it will on every other threat facing our world that yearns for strength through international union.

It is why we must do everything we can to reverse it.

Best wishes,

Richard Corbett CBE

European Movement UK

There is an air of desperation in attacks from those on the right and their supporters in the press. They fear if Johnson falls, the Brexit deception will crumble too.

id something change this month? Having proclaimed the Brexit referendum triumph of 2016 as the unique achievement of Boris Johnson and praised his historic success in the election three years later with the slogan “get Brexit done”, did the wreckers of the European dream slowly begin to realise that if Johnson goes, it shifts the sands from beneath their feet?

I’m the president of European Movement – Andrew Adonis is chair – and between us we agreed that this link needed a public airing. Learning from the direct and simple messaging of the anti-European newspapers, we felt the phrase: “If Boris goes, Brexit goes” said it clearly enough. Adonis duly tweeted it, to the horror of the pro-Brexit press.

The past few weeks have been a torrid time for the prime minister. He designed a set of restrictions he said were of critical importance for our safety and for the ability of the NHS to cope with the pandemic. He was right to do so. But disclosures since give the clearest impression that he not only broke the rules, but that he also misled parliament.

Johnson said he would accept the findings of Sue Gray’s inquiry, in stark contrast to his treatment of Sir Alex Allan’s report into the home secretary’s behaviour in 2020.

I believe he is entitled to insist that matters are not prejudged prior to the release of the full findings of the Gray inquiry, and the completion of the Metropolitan police investigation. I do not believe in the rule of the mob.

But a great deal hangs on this. If the prime minister is found to have lied to parliament and to the people, what defence is there to the allegation that the Brexit cause – mired in similar controversy over lies and dissembling – was conducted with the same disregard for the truth?

We all have a clear memory of the Brexit campaign and what was said. That we were being run by Brussels. That European restrictions were holding back our economy and lowering our living standards. That we could keep all the benefits of the single market and customs union, while negotiating trade deals with faster-growing countries in a world that was shifting east. That we had to regain control over our borders. That there would be no new border between Northern Ireland and mainland Great Britain, and that the Good Friday agreement, having ended years of strife, would be fully honoured

Theresa May became prime minister and immediately handed important offices of state to the three leading Brexiters. Boris Johnson went to the Foreign Office. David Davis went to the Department for Exiting the European Union, and Liam Fox to the Department for International Trade. They had their hands on the levers of power for two years before Johnson and Davis resigned, claiming their jobs were impossible.

Having ousted May, they claimed that a barebones trade deal – without most of the benefits of the customs union and the single market – was “oven ready” and would “get Brexit done”. In a straight contest with the unelectable Jeremy Corbyn, Johnson secured his mandate.

Except their deal didn’t “get Brexit done”. Within months it had seriously frustrated trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, and the government threatened to tear up the very deal it had itself negotiated to safeguard the position of Northern Ireland. Lord Frost resigned from the cabinet as Brexit minister last December after less than a year, complaining of the Covid strategy but also bemoaning that, regarding Brexit, the correct agenda was not being pursued.

Characteristically he gave no detail as to what that agenda should have been or who was holding it up, but the villains were familiar: the metropolitan elite, the civil service, the BBC, Brussels, the remoaners – more or less anybody, and now including myself and Andrew Adonis. Everyone except the actual people in positions of power.

That is why February 2022 feels so significant. The cry has been growing louder. The rightwing has been circling. Letters have been landing on the chairman of the 1922 committee’s desk. Something must be done. Reshuffle the pack, create a new government department and put yet another Brexiter in charge to pluck all those low-hanging plums that proved beyond the reach of predecessors.

Anyone with experience of Whitehall knows what happens next. The nameplates will change and the same civil servants will have new titles without actually moving their offices. But they will face exactly the same questions that have now been unanswered for five years. What is Brexit all about?

Jacob Rees-Mogg, Lord Frost’s spiritual successor in his new role as minister for Brexit opportunities, has a novel approach. He told the Sun last week that he is bypassing the civil service to ask if anyone else in the country has any ideas about Brexit benefits. Sun readers are invited to write to him with suggestions and he will see what can be done. But that too is revealing. One of the first tests officials apply to new ministers is to ask if they know what they want and to assess whether they have the ability to communicate that to them. I am afraid that Rees-Mogg has not passed this test, which is all the more surprising as he had plenty of time lounging on the government frontbench, listening to suggestions from Brexit-supporting Tory MPs.

So did something happen in February 2022? Maybe it’s just a feeling, a cloud no bigger than a man’s fist, the first breath of wind before the storm when the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph employ two of their most renowned columnists to attack Andrew Adonis and myself, merely for making the point that their hero may have feet of clay and take the Brexit house down with him. Perhaps they have smelled the wind, just as I have.

- Michael Heseltine

Responding to today’s news that Boris Johnson plans to slash Brexit red tape by introducing new restrictions on devolved powers, Anna Bird, CEO of European Movement, said:

“The very name Brexit Freedoms Bill is an insult to all the families facing rising prices, lorry drivers stuck in massive queues and businesses mired in red tape caused by Brexit.

“What Boris Johnson’s hard Brexit government means by Brexit freedom is freedom to slash standards and protections. Freedom to import food that does not meet EU standards. Freedom to dump sewage in rivers. Freedom to destroy the rights of hardworking Brits.

“What is more, devolved administrations are right to be concerned that this smells of a central government power grab – taking away control from Edinburgh, Cardiff and Stormont and giving it to Boris Johnson.”

Written by Rt. Hon. Lord Michael Heseltine, President of European Movement UK

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