Parliament should spend more time talking about Ukraine and less about the Middle East

Parliament is the nation’s conversation. It is where the big issues of the day are debated, and where big problems are solved. Parliament is where the government is questioned and held to account. And it is where loose thinking is exposed and held up for all to see.

Parliament is highly responsive to British public opinion. Government statements allow breaking news to be debated almost as the news is being made – and this is one of parliament’s great strengths. It is truly a privilege to serve Parliament, and as a new MP, my first few months have been fascinating.

That said, I have always been struck that Parliament sometimes ends up spending time debating some things out of all proportion to their relative importance. This has been the case for a long time: famously, the ban on fox hunting was debated for longer than whether the UK should have gone to war in Iraq. And I think this is happening now.

I think the House of Commons is spending relatively too much time debating the terrible situation in the Middle East, as compared to the time that it spends debating Ukraine, Russia and European security. And I am concerned that it is the same for the government: the Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, told me in the chamber last month that he had spent more time on Gaza than any other issue since the election in July.

Why do I think that Ukraine is more important than the Middle East to the UK? The most important job of Parliament, and of the government, is to keep the UK safe. And to keep the UK safe you need to think about, and speak to, what is in the UK’s strategic security interests.

And as important as the Middle East situation is – and it is extremely important – when it comes to the UK’s security, and its strategic interests, Ukraine, Russia and European security is by an order of magnitude more important.

Put simply, Ukraine is more important because it is a land war on European soil on the border with Nato. The aggressor in the conflict – Russia – is both historically and currently extremely antagonistic towards the UK and our closest allies in Nato. And I repeat – as appalling as the continued bloodshed is in the Middle East it is simply not as important to the UK as what happens in Europe.

Ukraine is currently at an impasse where it is not clear whether it will win or lose. And by lose, I mean some sort of grubby deal where the country is partitioned, and Russia remains in control of part of it. This is an outcome that all of Europe should fear. We failed to deter the Russian invasion in the first place, and a Russian “victory” would have a number of strategic consequences for Europe and the UK.

First, Russia would be emboldened to look at other countries that it sees as part of her sphere of influence, such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Already in the last few weeks we have seen Russian interference in elections and referendums in Georgia and Moldova.

Secondly, the spread of nuclear weapons would become a severe worry. After all, one of the key lessons that a non-nuclear armed state could take from a Russian victory would be that threatening nuclear escalation, as Russia has done repeatedly, is a good way to achieve your geopolitical goals.

And thirdly, Taiwan. China is watching very closely how the West responds to Ukraine, and in particular to the outcome. A Ukrainian and Western loss would merely embolden China further.

Finally, there is something else that we should always consider, when we look at how we should spend Parliament’s and government’s time. Because not only is Ukraine more important than the Middle East to the UK and its security, but the UK has a much greater ability to influence the outcomes in Ukraine and Europe than it does in the Middle East, where even the United States fails to make any progress with their agenda.

We should spend more time – and the British public’s money – thinking and talking about things that we can do something about. And the government should be using its huge majority to spend more time thinking and talking about Ukraine, and the threat the Russia poses to the UK’s interests.

Mike Martin is Liberal Democrat MP for Tunbridge Wells