Sir Keir Starmer has publicly only committed to “look at the possibilities” of seizing Russian cash frozen when Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine three years ago.
Speaking with The i Paper Emily Thornberry said London was leading a growing consensus in European capitals that the measure was a justified response to the damage caused by Russia to its neighbour.
“If you aggressively go into another country and smash it up in the way that the Russians have then actually it’s within international law for the international community to seize their assets and to use them to rebuild the country.”
She acknowledged that some international lawyers believed the move could not be justified and critics worried that the move would undermine faith in the Western central banks.
Thornberry was passed over for a Cabinet job by Starmer but has been generally supportive in her new role of as head of the FAC, one of the Commons’ most influential committees.
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She applauds Starmer’s approach of seeking not to overreact to every move by US President Donald Trump.
“We have been missed by the international community so much because we have spent all these years fighting amongst ourselves, taking fluff out of our navel, arguing about Brexit, breaking international law, having a foreign secretary people openly laughed at – and now we’re back.”
Labour’s aid cuts ‘risk tidal wave of misinformation’
And she says it would be a mistake to cut funding for the BBC World Service given a coming tidal wave of misinformation she predicts will come from Putin whatever happens over Ukraine.
Sir Keir Starmer is pushing Donald Trump for US protections for a European-led peacekeeping force in Ukraine (Photo: Carl Court/Reuters)She also wants the UK to be more proactive in preparing the ground in case the Israeli government attempts to wreck the remaining chances of a two-state solution.
“We all know that it’s definitely on the agenda of some people in the Israeli government and we have to have a response ready. It isn’t going to be enough for us to just say, ‘This is terrible’. I want to know that there is a plan B, that the international community will work as one to stop it.”
She reveals that she was told to stop working on plans while in the shadow Cabinet for fear of giving ammunition to Tory attacks that Labour wanted to reverse Brexit.
Emily Thornberry wants the Government to do more to reset relations with the EU following Brexit (Photo: AFP/Getty)“When I was shadow trade [secretary], I was putting together lists and was told to stop. It’s disappointing that we haven’t been able to get going faster.”
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Read MoreBut as a Labour “loyalist” she said she wanted him to succeed.
But Labour faces a growing rebellion over benefits cuts.
Thornberry believes the party will rightly be judged to have failed if levels of child poverty are higher at the end of the parliament than they were when Starmer took power.
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