Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he is not lifting sanctions on Russian oil “in any way whatsoever”.
The Prime Minister said the “strong new package” of sanctions announced on Tuesday go “well beyond” existing measures.
A trade licence which allows for the import of jet fuel and diesel refined in third countries amid surging costs due to the Iran war came into effect on Wednesday.
It has been heavily criticised by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch who said it is “insane” to water down sanctions when the UK Government is refusing to fully exploit North Sea resources.
The Labour chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Dame Emily Thornberry, also criticised the move.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We are talking about our allies in Ukraine who have been fighting a war bravely against Russia for years and years with our support.
“They have looked to Britain as one of their most important allies, and they don’t understand, given that we promised that we would stop this loophole in October, and we still haven’t done it. In fact, it seems to have got worse. People feel very let down.”
Trade minister Sir Chris Bryant later apologised to MPs for the Government’s “clumsy” handling of the issue and said he wanted the licence to be as “temporary as possible”. He insisted the measures would strengthen the sanctions regime on Russia.
The sanctions were imposed as part of measures targeting Vladimir Putin’s economy after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
A trade licence permits the imports “indefinitely”.
After 18 months of “standing up to Putin” the Labour govt quietly issued a licence allowing imports of Russian oil refined in third countries.
— Kemi Badenoch (@KemiBadenoch) May 20, 2026
Yesterday Labour MPs voted AGAINST UK oil and gas licences.
We are now importing from Russia instead of drilling in the North Sea.… https://t.co/UBOyWRRiEt
At Prime Minister’s Questions, Mrs Badenoch accused the Government of having “snuck out an announcement that it was removing sanctions on Russian oil”.
She also said Sir Keir “is now choosing to buy dirty Russian oil, that money will be used to fund the killing of Ukrainian soldiers”, adding: “Isn’t he ashamed?”
However, Sir Keir claimed she “hadn’t done her homework”.
Sir Keir said: “Let me address the sanctions head-on, because we have been united across this House on these issues since the beginning of the conflict.
“What we announced yesterday was a strong new package of new sanctions going well beyond existing sanctions, so it is a new package. This includes new bans on maritime services on LNG and new bans on refined oil products from Russia.
“We also issued two targeted short-term licences to phase the new sanctions in and to protect UK consumers. That is standard practice.
“This Government has phased in sanctions in this way before and the last government used exactly the same technique when they introduced sanctions. And when they did so, we supported them, because we could see the sanctions were the right thing to do to bear down on Russia.
“So, these are new sanctions being phased in. This is not a question of lifting existing sanctions in any way whatsoever, and we will continue to work with our allies on further sanction packages.”
He later added that to “misunderstand and misrepresent what is happening, this is a very serious issue”.
The Prime Minister continued: “Other countries do exactly the same, the EU has its own way of doing it. Australia and Canada have their own way of doing it.”
According to the licence the sanctions carve-out will be periodically reviewed as fuel prices rise due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.
Mrs Badenoch said: “The fact is more people are buying Russian oil because British oil isn’t being drilled.
“He’s sanctioning British oil but not Russian oil, and he should be ashamed.
“I cannot believe that this Prime Minister, even when he has nothing to lose, continues to defend banning new British oil and gas licences.”
She added: “Can he tell us why is he doing everything to save his job and doing nothing to save other people’s jobs?”
Sir Keir replied: “We are supporting those existing oil and gas fields throughout their lifespan. We made changes in November to allow neighbouring fields to be exploited.
“But it is because we are on the international market that our prices on businesses and households go up every time there’s an international conflict.”
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said there was a “trade-off” to be made over cost-of-living pressures and support for Ukraine and that his party would review the changes.
He told Sky News: “The Government has a real challenge here, because this appalling war in Iran … is pushing up the cost of living, is pushing up diesel and petrol prices.
“But we’ve also got to remember that we need to support our Ukrainian allies, they are fighting and paying a heavy, heavy price to beat that appalling Russian invasion, they’re on the front line of our defence and security, and the question is: has the Government got that trade-off right?”
Responding to an urgent question in the Commons, Sir Chris admitted the Government handled the issue poorly. He said: “We’ve handled this clumsily and that’s entirely my fault and I apologise to all honourable members.
“I think we’ve ended up giving the wrong impression of what we’re trying to do, we’re trying to strengthen the regime (of sanctions), not weaken it.”
Sir Chris added there had been a miscommunication between the Department of Business and Trade, which he represents, and the Foreign Office.
“I have to tell him that is entirely my fault and nobody else’s, so if anybody wants to have a go at anybody, they can just have a go at me,” he said.
He later told MPs: “The problems about the headlines this morning, where I think some journalists saw one half of the story and not the whole of the story, that’s entirely down to me and my fault.”
He said the new legislation meant it would ban imported Russian oil that had been refined in a third country.
He said: “I want to make sure that these licences will be as temporary as possible.”
