The Belarus dictator is President Putin's closest foreign ally. Only recently Putin flew to Minsk for talks with Alexander Lukashenko who has allowed Moscow to use his country as a staging ground for its offensive in Ukraine. So it is surprising that the UK continues to import timber and timber products from Belarus, at least £2m worth since Russia's "special military operation" was launched against Ukraine. Even worse, Cahal Milmo of the i newspaper reports that "the country's authoritarian regime uses forced prison labour to supply customers who include Western furniture companies".
You would expect this revelation of the 3rd of this month to have raised questions in parliament before honourable members broke up for the holidays, but there was not a word in the Commons. It may not be possible to debate the matter before the new year. However, a ban on Belarus imports is surely in the spirit of sanctions already applied to Putin and his supporters and should be accepted by parliament. Would an Order in Council do the trick?
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