DELEGATES at the Scottish TUC in Dundee rejected a motion today calling for urgent peace talks in Ukraine.

Prospects of a negotiated peace have been talked up internationally since French President Emmanuel Macron visited China last week, with reports on Tuesday in the Telegraph and Independent that Mr Macron is working on a “secret peace plan” with Beijing.

The STUC backed a general council statement that “agreed... that talks to resolve the conflict in Ukraine should be actively pursued, but [we] do not believe that effective peace negotiations can take place if support for Ukraine is withdrawn,” specifying that support should continue to include “military equipment.”

Moving the motion, which called on the STUC to back a “Russian troops out, no to Nato escalation” position and call for union affiliation to Stop the War and Scottish CND, Aberdeen trades council’s Mike Martin said “you don’t put out a fire in your neighbour’s house by pouring petrol on it.”

He stressed the way Nato expansion to Russia’s borders had helped provoke the war, and the growing clamour from the global South for a negotiated peace.

Opposing, Aslef’s Jim Baxter said it was possible to oppose Nato expansion without blaming it for Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine. 

The adopted statement reiterated opposition to direct Nato engagement in the war — but Clydebank TUC’s Tommy Morrison said following leaked documents showing British special forces are already in Ukraine, this should not be described as a hypothetical scenario.

“Nato is involved. Nato boots are on the ground,” Mr Morrison stressed, pointing to the risk of the conflict escalating into a nuclear war.

Defending the general council statement, STUC general secretary Roz Foyer said support for Ukraine was analogous to support for victims of other illegal wars such as Iraq, and for the people of Palestine under Israeli occupation.

Stop the War coalition convener Lindsey German said the STUC’s adopted position was “disappointing and contradictory.

“It says there should be no direct Nato involvement but that is effectively what there is already.

“It makes no mention of the UK government scuppering peace talks or of the demands of ever higher military spending which comes at the expense of health and education funding. The victims of continued war will above all be the Ukrainian people.”