Liberal Democrats disappointed with Ukraine ‘snub’

York’s Liberal Democrats have expressed disappointment at Labour-run City of York Council’s failure to progress efforts to adopt Lviv as a York’s sister city following recent developments in the war in Ukraine.

Liberal Democrat councillors proposed a motion in 2022 which asked the Council to reaffirm its commitment to stand with Ukraine, welcome those fleeing the war to our city and support Ukrainians and those affected directly by the war.

The motion, which was backed unanimously by all Councillors, approved the principle of adopting the war-torn city as its sibling.

Since the motion passed, Labour took over the Council and, disappointingly, little progress has been made in signing the planned “Memorandum of Understanding” and completing the sisterhood of the two cities. Liberal Democrats have been told that there is a “lack of funds” to complete the process.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Chris Cullwick said:

“The situation in Ukraine is on a knife edge, the western alliance backing Ukraine against Russian aggression is looking more and more fragile every day

“Now is the time for everyone in the UK to unite behind Ukraine and show our support. Our partners in Lviv are very grateful for the support York has shown them thus far. We call on the Council to complete the sisterhood process.” 

Councillor Darryl Smalley said:

“It’s disappointing that we have been told that a lack of funds is the reason for dropping the sisterhood process between York and Lviv. We understood at the time that an official twinning process would be lengthy and expensive which is why we proposed a much quicker ‘Memorandum of Understanding.’ We urge Labour to rethink this and take forward the Sisterhood process. 

“It is deeply troubling that we are seeing President Trump parroting Putin’s propaganda and prioritising America’s enemies over its friends

“Whilst the Government have already made positive steps to increase our defence spending following calls from the Lib Dems in Parliament, Keir Starmer needs to stand up to Trump and seize tens of billions of pounds worth of Russian assets in our country and use them to support Ukraine.”