My Lords, the specifics of shipping—the noble Lord had also raised wider issues such as bullion—are very much part of our thinking. On shipping specifically, the noble Lord will know that we have already taken the lead. My right honourable friend the Transport Secretary introduced certain measures that restrict the movement of Russian vessels and their landing in UK ports. The noble Lord is right to raise the broader issue of insurance and the hub and the role that the United Kingdom plays. We will be taking further measures in this respect and the details of them will follow.
As I have said throughout this whole process, as these measures are coming in, it is a very fluid situation. We are working as quickly as we can. There is the legislation in front of us that we are approving today—I hope that will be the case—and other measures already under way, some announced and some not. I do not want to pre-empt them. However, the noble Lord is quite right to raise the shipping sector. I hope that the steps specific to that sector that we have already taken indicate the Government’s route in terms of our intention to work further to limit, as the noble Lord says, the effectiveness of Russian activity in that sector.
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If there are more specifics, as I said to the noble Baroness, Lady Wheatcroft, I will write specifically on those questions, but I assure noble Lords that we will continue to work very closely both within your Lordships’ House but also beyond. I am particularly grateful to the Front Benches and other noble Lords for their advice and insights, but also, I say, once again, for their strong support for the actions the Government are taking as we stand up to the regime which is now persisting. I use that word quite deliberately. Ministers are often questioned when we waver between the use of “Government” and “regime”. The distinction I would draw is that when the Government of a country seek to suppress their own people in a way that does not allow anyone the right to protest, when a Government seek to eliminate and eradicate the right of a neighbouring country to exist, it is right that we use that different word and call it a regime. That is what Mr Putin’s regime currently is. Its ability to wage war in Ukraine must be disabled.
It is important that we work to ensure that the economic impact is felt by those oligarchs and businesses that support the Russian regime. It is important that we take action but, equally, at the same time, we must send a strong signal to the Russian people that this war, this challenge, the economic war we impose against the Putin regime, is not against them; these are actions
to ensure that we act against Mr Putin and his supporters. We continue to stand by those brave, courageous people in Russia who protest against his actions. Most important is that this House sends a very clear message, as it has done today, that we stand with the people of Ukraine. We will continue to have debates on this specific issue and once again I thank all noble Lords for their strong expressions of unity on the actions the Government are taking in support of Ukraine and the people of Ukraine.