Orkney MP moved by Ukrainian President’s speech

President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, addressed a packed House of Commons yesterday, outlining the challenges faced by Ukraine as it is attacked by Russia.

Mr Zelensky used the speech to call for further action and aid from the UK, echoing the famous “we will fight them on the beaches” speech made by Winston Churchill during the Second World War.

Speaking after the President’s address, Orkney and Shetland MP, Alistair Carmichael, said: “Parliament has seen some moments of high drama and real emotion over the years but I am pretty certain that we have never witnessed anything quite like that. In fact I hope that we never have the grim cause to witness anything of this sort again: the image of a man who is fighting for his life and for his nation’s democracy, addressing the mother of parliaments, will have been seen around the world.

“The House of Commons has a unique atmosphere when it is full and when the moment really matters. The mood was electric. I could see several MPs around me were enormously moved by what they were witnessing and by the enormity of what is at stake.

“The response that we and other countries take must be more than just words. Anything less than the strongest measures would be to dishonour the concept of liberal democracy and the sacrifice being made for it right now by the people of Ukraine.”