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There's going to be created by Brexit and our ideas will be | :00:08. | :00:14. | |
preliminary and incomplete. However I decided to speak in this debate | :00:15. | :00:19. | |
because I feel it is valuable to identify possibilities were doing | :00:20. | :00:25. | |
this by spending our interactions with the Commonwealth, even if, as | :00:26. | :00:34. | |
pointed out, the EU and Commonwealth are quite different constructs. I | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
will focus on what we might do narrowly with Australia but what I | :00:39. | :00:44. | |
will say applies equally to other developed Commonwealth countries and | :00:45. | :00:49. | |
I apologise for this narrowness but the breadth of the Commonwealth has | :00:50. | :00:53. | |
been talked about a great deal. I grew up in Australia and while I | :00:54. | :00:58. | |
have not lived there for almost 60 years, I have over the past 20 years | :00:59. | :01:04. | |
been involved in a number of activities, especially in Melbourne. | :01:05. | :01:08. | |
To declare an interest, I was for several years a member of the | :01:09. | :01:12. | |
Melbourne University Council have been a member of the advisory boards | :01:13. | :01:19. | |
of the Melbourne Energy Institute and held a visiting professorship | :01:20. | :01:24. | |
for the past six years and this year I am acting as a consultant in the | :01:25. | :01:29. | |
Commonwealth scientific and industrial research organisation. | :01:30. | :01:37. | |
They are a 6000 person agency, deciding scientific research in | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
Australia. Its chief role is to improve the economic and social | :01:42. | :01:45. | |
performance of industry for the benefit of the community. I have | :01:46. | :01:50. | |
also chaired an advisory council for new horizons, the $400 million | :01:51. | :01:57. | |
Government funded collaboration between two institutions. I have | :01:58. | :02:03. | |
been involved in a broad spectrum of activities both in academia and | :02:04. | :02:08. | |
industry and it is my observation there is considerable potential for | :02:09. | :02:14. | |
increased interaction with the UK. Put another way, there is very | :02:15. | :02:18. | |
little interaction with the UK. I have also been nonexecutive | :02:19. | :02:24. | |
president of the Australian Music Foundation, happened in my youth | :02:25. | :02:29. | |
been a singer and healthy coral, -- scholarship at Cambridge. There is a | :02:30. | :02:37. | |
charity that helps highly talented young Australian musicians further | :02:38. | :02:41. | |
the study in carriers, especially in the UK. It has limited resources but | :02:42. | :02:47. | |
accomplishes a great deal although it leaves a large reservoir of | :02:48. | :02:53. | |
untapped potential. Showing the potential for increased exchanges | :02:54. | :02:56. | |
spans cultures. My Lords, since the middle of the 19th century there | :02:57. | :03:03. | |
have been expensive interchanges between universities in the UK and | :03:04. | :03:06. | |
Australia and the oldest universities were largely based on | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
British universities. These exchanges spread into the 20th | :03:11. | :03:14. | |
century to the resurgence in Government and industrial... It is | :03:15. | :03:21. | |
an understatement to say that is a special relationship between | :03:22. | :03:24. | |
Australia and Britain. It is my view, having lived around the world, | :03:25. | :03:30. | |
and longest in the United States, that the culture of Australia is | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
closer to that of the UK than to that of any other country in the | :03:36. | :03:39. | |
world. I have not even mention cricket. This relationship have been | :03:40. | :03:48. | |
sustained despite the UK... There is little doubt educational and | :03:49. | :03:52. | |
academic and industrial research exchanges would have grown more of | :03:53. | :03:55. | |
the Commonwealth and especially Australia over the past 44 years if | :03:56. | :04:01. | |
the UK had not join the EU. This is also the case more generally with | :04:02. | :04:07. | |
trade, as has been pointed out by many noble lords. Now is the | :04:08. | :04:12. | |
opportunity to take another look at how we can expand our educational, | :04:13. | :04:16. | |
industrial and cultural exchanges with Australia. We cannot attract | :04:17. | :04:22. | |
more students to our higher education institutions, enhance our | :04:23. | :04:26. | |
research-based by attracting more postdoctoral researchers and tap | :04:27. | :04:29. | |
into Astoria's rapidly increasing industrial educational interactions | :04:30. | :04:35. | |
with China and India. Australia is broadly in the same time zone as | :04:36. | :04:41. | |
China and is taking advantage of this with rapidly expanding its | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
interactions with Chinese industry and educational institutions. I know | :04:46. | :04:48. | |
several Americans who've moved to Australia because of its proximity | :04:49. | :04:54. | |
to China, which makes it so much easier to pursue their Chinese | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
interests. Areas of scientific interest where we have similar names | :05:00. | :05:05. | |
to Australia, ranging from the square kilometre array, | :05:06. | :05:08. | |
biotechnology and medical advances. Melbourne is regarded as one of the | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
world's top biotechnology hops, having produced the first cochlear | :05:13. | :05:18. | |
implant which was invented by Professor Graham Clark in Melbourne | :05:19. | :05:24. | |
in 1979. There are world class and within projects and bionic eyes and | :05:25. | :05:28. | |
x-ray imaging, to name just two research areas. Next week at the | :05:29. | :05:32. | |
all-party parliamentary engineering group that I co-chair we are | :05:33. | :05:40. | |
debating medical imaging of three remarkable engineers and scientists | :05:41. | :05:45. | |
from the trick, Cambridge and Melbourne. These researchers all | :05:46. | :05:48. | |
know each other well but do not collaborate directly. There is great | :05:49. | :05:53. | |
potential for increasing research collaboration with Australia, | :05:54. | :05:57. | |
perhaps through joint ventures with joint funding. There are many | :05:58. | :06:03. | |
schemes that support student exchanges with Australia but there | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
is potential for expansion, in fact, some of these exchanges now receive | :06:08. | :06:14. | |
less support from the UK Government than they did as money was withdrawn | :06:15. | :06:20. | |
several years ago. We should look into how we can expand our exchanges | :06:21. | :06:26. | |
to make up for the reduction of an overseas student applications we are | :06:27. | :06:30. | |
already seeing as you look shift its attentions away from the UK. -- as | :06:31. | :06:39. | |
Europe shifts. Joint adventures in the Chinese market and another | :06:40. | :06:43. | |
possibility. High technology advances might be better brought to | :06:44. | :06:47. | |
far Eastern markets through collaboration with Australian | :06:48. | :06:50. | |
companies rather than trying to do it directly and ending up having to | :06:51. | :06:54. | |
compete with these companies. In conclusion, I believe this is a time | :06:55. | :06:59. | |
to renew and expand our academic and industrial interactions with | :07:00. | :07:01. | |
Commonwealth countries and especially with Australia and the | :07:02. | :07:07. | |
Commonwealth heads of Government meeting in 2008 provides an ideal | :07:08. | :07:16. | |
opportunity to do this. -- 2018. My Lords, in many ways the present | :07:17. | :07:19. | |
situation confronting the Government of the UK is similar to that | :07:20. | :07:27. | |
confronting the Government in 1621. Then the formation of the Council of | :07:28. | :07:34. | |
trade, and the mandate then given was to take into consideration the | :07:35. | :07:39. | |
true causes of the decay of trade and scarcity of coin and consult the | :07:40. | :07:45. | |
means for the removing of these inconveniences. Now, who has been a | :07:46. | :07:50. | |
growing tendency to dismiss the growth and balance of trade as being | :07:51. | :07:55. | |
of reduced importance to the British economy. The great board of trade | :07:56. | :07:59. | |
exists in name alone. The Department of trade has had they want trade | :08:00. | :08:06. | |
ignominiously -- expands from this title. -- expunged. The secretary of | :08:07. | :08:15. | |
state for trade and is in who also helped the Board of Trade and those | :08:16. | :08:21. | |
Cabinet ministers who have helped this job have usually been replaced | :08:22. | :08:25. | |
with them a year or so. These and other constant changes in structure | :08:26. | :08:30. | |
relate to the lack of continuity. This in turn has led to pick the | :08:31. | :08:34. | |
lack of continuity. This in turn has led to bet that there's an | :08:35. | :08:36. | |
understanding -- an understanding of the vital role a must play in the | :08:37. | :08:41. | |
creation of economic growth and prosperity. My Lords, British | :08:42. | :08:45. | |
international trade was historically described as export and imports and | :08:46. | :08:54. | |
concerned mainly the export and known as a visible exports and are | :08:55. | :08:59. | |
now replaced as trading goods. In the 1970s the importance of the | :09:00. | :09:02. | |
growth of the service industry sector emerged as part of the | :09:03. | :09:08. | |
decline -- as a part of replacement for the decline of the UK as a | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
manufacturing nation. This became known as invisible exports and now | :09:14. | :09:16. | |
has brought trade in services. My Lords, I am not sure why I'm | :09:17. | :09:21. | |
standing here today, I think the something to do with Australia. You | :09:22. | :09:28. | |
see, we the first... It all happen when the Scots, who -- we ran out of | :09:29. | :09:34. | |
money and could not find enough shape to knock off and sell at | :09:35. | :09:38. | |
market and somebody said, these sheep, the available somewhere in | :09:39. | :09:42. | |
much better climate. We cannot remember the name of the place but | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
it is a big ball on the map the bottom right of the chart. So we set | :09:48. | :09:53. | |
off -- set up a shipping line and found with chilling machinery | :09:54. | :09:58. | |
instead of just tipping emigrants out to Australia we could bring back | :09:59. | :10:04. | |
sheep frozen. That work very well for a while until we were stuck of | :10:05. | :10:09. | |
South Africa and the ship would not work and their work all these frozen | :10:10. | :10:17. | |
lamb and sheep beginning to moult. With the intelligence of those of a | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
different religion from certain religions like lamb and mutton much | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
better so we took when I sure and allowed them to melt a bit and | :10:27. | :10:30. | |
rather pretended but did not say anything, they had just been | :10:31. | :10:33. | |
slaughtered because no one would believe they had come from | :10:34. | :10:38. | |
Australia, first of all, no one knew what Australia was. This went on and | :10:39. | :10:41. | |
we then found instead of sheep we had been taking workers, emigrants, | :10:42. | :10:48. | |
back and I had a little moment when did not realise our family had lost | :10:49. | :10:54. | |
the shipping line in the Tasmania straight out of the blue I got a | :10:55. | :10:58. | |
letter from a bishop sending me a little parcel of three Stone jars I. | :10:59. | :11:08. | |
My diving days are over, at the age of 92 but this was the last bit of | :11:09. | :11:12. | |
kit I could find from the wreck of the ship which belong to your | :11:13. | :11:13. | |
family. This gives me some sort of good | :11:14. | :11:23. | |
feeling. When we come down to the practical moment of dealing with | :11:24. | :11:26. | |
balance of trade exports and imports, the value of sterling, I | :11:27. | :11:31. | |
presume we are talking of trade, but in many ways the situation is the | :11:32. | :11:37. | |
same as that confronting the government in the United Kingdom in | :11:38. | :11:41. | |
1621 at the time of the formation of the council of trade and | :11:42. | :11:47. | |
plantations. That was the mandate driven to take into consideration | :11:48. | :11:52. | |
the true causes of the decay of trade, scarcity of coin and to | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
consult the means for removing of these inconveniences. I wonder why | :11:57. | :12:02. | |
we do not teach geography at schools anymore. It seems there is a | :12:03. | :12:06. | |
shortage in how people cannot look and read a or a map. I suffer from | :12:07. | :12:11. | |
one really great disadvantage, I love charts. When I joined the house | :12:12. | :12:19. | |
sign I was unimportant, I did not realise how unimportant until they | :12:20. | :12:23. | |
were summoned and asked in the nationalisation of the shipbuilding | :12:24. | :12:26. | |
industry because my family were associated with ships and I must | :12:27. | :12:28. | |
know something about it would I please speak? I did rather nervously | :12:29. | :12:35. | |
and the Department for Transport very kindly came to see me | :12:36. | :12:38. | |
afterwards and said we would like to invite you for a drink and to give a | :12:39. | :12:45. | |
bit of donation. I went to see them and they pulled out a long sort of | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
box and on it was a, a rolled up chart, with lots of red on it, all | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
over the place, and it had little black dots as well, and those little | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
black dots I was told were British ships at sea or in a harbour. This | :13:01. | :13:08. | |
was effectively, the grid was British, and this is where we were | :13:09. | :13:12. | |
right around the world, and I found was amazing that a bad time it | :13:13. | :13:21. | |
happened and we forgot our shipping. If we bothered to say what can we | :13:22. | :13:27. | |
all do to help, the relationships with the Commonwealth are pretty | :13:28. | :13:38. | |
good and if it is the same situation confronting the government in 1621 | :13:39. | :13:41. | |
at the time of the formation of the council of trade, that mandate was | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
to take into consideration the true causes of the key of trade and | :13:47. | :13:51. | |
scarcity of coin and to consult the means for removing these | :13:52. | :13:55. | |
inconveniences. I am a great fan of the Commonwealth. I was wanted to be | :13:56. | :14:01. | |
a good cricketer. I wasn't. I was the wicketkeeper. I found that that | :14:02. | :14:08. | |
pays you back pretty hard 25 years later when you find you cannot | :14:09. | :14:11. | |
really work cause your joints have gone. Then a bright Australian | :14:12. | :14:18. | |
surgeon comes and says we will give you a new me, it is not difficult | :14:19. | :14:23. | |
these days. I in the difficult position of wondering whether I | :14:24. | :14:31. | |
should sit down and think about my knee. . There can be no greater | :14:32. | :14:42. | |
spectacle than the sight of the Commonwealth nations flowing down | :14:43. | :14:45. | |
Westminster Abbey carried by 52 young people each carrying their | :14:46. | :14:48. | |
country's flag. That is what I think. On this there Commonwealth | :14:49. | :14:55. | |
Bay, their youth, enthusiasm, sense of expectation, underlines both the | :14:56. | :15:01. | |
diversity and the unity of this there Commonwealth of Nations. The | :15:02. | :15:08. | |
new Secretary General of the Commonwealth Baroness Scotland was | :15:09. | :15:10. | |
absolutely right to recall Her Majesty The Queen's observation | :15:11. | :15:17. | |
during her silver jubilee in 1977 that her role as head of the | :15:18. | :15:20. | |
Commonwealth represents and I quote, transformation of the Crown from an | :15:21. | :15:29. | |
emblem of Dominion into a symbol of free and voluntary association. In | :15:30. | :15:36. | |
all history this has no precedent. Quoting further from the minister's | :15:37. | :15:41. | |
reference book to Commonwealth week, a sense of continuity and building | :15:42. | :15:45. | |
on the best of what we hold in common in able so as to flourish as | :15:46. | :15:51. | |
a powerful influence for good. The exchange of ideas as well as trade | :15:52. | :15:57. | |
are the lifeblood of Commonwealth connection. Acting early to prevent | :15:58. | :16:01. | |
violent extremism have to be one of the Commonwealth's top priorities by | :16:02. | :16:06. | |
offering support to strengthen and stabilise national institutions the | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
Commonwealth can be a steadying anchor in these turbulent times. I | :16:11. | :16:15. | |
should declare an interest. I have been a member or officer of the | :16:16. | :16:21. | |
common for some years and I am currently the chairman of the | :16:22. | :16:27. | |
Commonwealth forum for the Liberal club. In the forum to meet held in | :16:28. | :16:35. | |
April next year, we will find ourselves pretty well have way | :16:36. | :16:39. | |
through the UK's Brexit negotiations with the EU. The perceived wisdom is | :16:40. | :16:46. | |
we will be forming a picture as to what degree the revival of longer | :16:47. | :16:50. | |
collected trading links with the Commonwealth will be feasible. | :16:51. | :16:54. | |
Whether they can provide an essential push against the impact of | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
loss of preferential trade within the EU in 2019. The Commonwealth | :17:00. | :17:05. | |
trade committee's report of Commons last week on UK trade options | :17:06. | :17:10. | |
post-2019 provides interesting insights. 52 Commonwealth nations | :17:11. | :17:15. | |
ranging from developed to emerge into developing present an array of | :17:16. | :17:25. | |
trade options. A sanitary factors is the marked decline in UK exports to | :17:26. | :17:29. | |
the Commonwealth that have occurred since the UK join the EU more than | :17:30. | :17:34. | |
40 years ago. Anyone who has ever been involved in international | :17:35. | :17:37. | |
business development can tell you it takes years to build customer | :17:38. | :17:42. | |
confidence, trust and loyalty, and even longer to restore it when it is | :17:43. | :17:48. | |
lost. I well recall as a director for the UK international engineering | :17:49. | :17:54. | |
practice working in Malaysia the impact of a UK Government's | :17:55. | :17:58. | |
introducing a university fee structure for Commonwealth students | :17:59. | :18:00. | |
which doubled their costs compared to UK students. -- trouble. The USA | :18:01. | :18:08. | |
and Australia are almost immediately think nothing can be increased the | :18:09. | :18:12. | |
number of scholarship university Lacey is offered to Commonwealth | :18:13. | :18:17. | |
students and the Prime Minister of Malaysia issued an edict to the | :18:18. | :18:23. | |
public and private sector of his country to their procurement | :18:24. | :18:29. | |
managers like to buy British last. The director of the Malaysian supply | :18:30. | :18:33. | |
department reminisced with me over the wonderful times he had spent | :18:34. | :18:37. | |
reading engineering at Glasgow University and how he had followed | :18:38. | :18:39. | |
the producers and some specifications and equipment and | :18:40. | :18:43. | |
therefore bought Bridget goods and services throughout his professional | :18:44. | :18:48. | |
life. I doubt very much his successors have followed his example | :18:49. | :18:53. | |
particularly as many struggle to get a UK student Visa let alone | :18:54. | :18:57. | |
assistance to attend a UK university. According to the | :18:58. | :19:02. | |
Commonwealth Secretariat Brexit is likely to have far reaching | :19:03. | :19:07. | |
implications. Trade with the UK from the Commonwealth has been governed | :19:08. | :19:13. | |
through EU policies. Under Brexit exporters concerned that market | :19:14. | :19:16. | |
access into the UK and Europe could be disrupted. Brexit may also have | :19:17. | :19:25. | |
implications to take advantage of the apparent 19% Commonwealth trade | :19:26. | :19:30. | |
cost discount. Enhanced co-operation will also enable the Commonwealth to | :19:31. | :19:34. | |
be an effective force for global good in pursuit of realising the | :19:35. | :19:40. | |
sustainable development goals. There has been an unprecedented global | :19:41. | :19:43. | |
slowdown which is threatening the efforts to build the achievements of | :19:44. | :19:51. | |
people. There was a time for the government to play a pivotal role in | :19:52. | :19:54. | |
making international trade and effective means of realising the | :19:55. | :19:58. | |
sustainable development goals. Growth has slowed from 2.4% per year | :19:59. | :20:07. | |
down to 1.7% in 2016. Since 2008 there has been a lost decade of two | :20:08. | :20:13. | |
games which has had implications. We could find we have the slowest | :20:14. | :20:16. | |
decade of trade expansion since World War II. The SDG is outlined in | :20:17. | :20:24. | |
the 2013 agenda for sustainable development into reduced the amount | :20:25. | :20:31. | |
of people living on $1.25 a day, currently 14%, down to zero. Scope | :20:32. | :20:37. | |
to include challenges of environmental sustainability, | :20:38. | :20:42. | |
inclusiveness, urbanisation, and strengthening global partnerships. | :20:43. | :20:48. | |
Reviving global trade flows well mitigating the consequences of | :20:49. | :20:53. | |
Brexit is an important issue to keep SDG implementation on track. Their | :20:54. | :20:56. | |
UK and the EU have to work together to mitigate post Brexit risks | :20:57. | :21:02. | |
unmarried uncertainties. By continuing the trade preferences | :21:03. | :21:08. | |
countries currently and Rory in Europe and the UK. Isobars Flybe has | :21:09. | :21:15. | |
pointed out in 2014 total UK exports of the Commonwealth were worth ?40 | :21:16. | :21:20. | |
billion. 9% of the UK's exports overall. UK exports to the EU | :21:21. | :21:29. | |
amounted to around ?250 billion, five times that of the Commonwealth. | :21:30. | :21:35. | |
That requires a huge displacement to rebalance. In the inaugural meeting | :21:36. | :21:42. | |
last week the business unsustainability -- sustainability | :21:43. | :21:48. | |
was identified as one of the key pillars of the agenda for growth. | :21:49. | :21:53. | |
This was one of the areas which will contribute to greater enter | :21:54. | :21:57. | |
Commonwealth co-operation and utilisation of the Commonwealth | :21:58. | :22:02. | |
factor. Ministers anticipate this will unlock new trade and investment | :22:03. | :22:06. | |
opportunities from other countries. Recent research by the business and | :22:07. | :22:10. | |
sustainable development commission shows the SDGs will require | :22:11. | :22:16. | |
something like US dollars 2-3,000,000,000,000 each year in new | :22:17. | :22:22. | |
investment but can help unlock $12 trillion in new market value across | :22:23. | :22:29. | |
XT sectors, these figures are beyond the scope of my imagination but that | :22:30. | :22:34. | |
is what they are. It poses a number of key questions and I would be | :22:35. | :22:37. | |
grateful if she could share with us the answers ministers arrived that. | :22:38. | :22:46. | |
For example, do the SDGs provide a framework for businesses and | :22:47. | :22:49. | |
government to understand the scale of the sustainability challenge we | :22:50. | :22:55. | |
face and restore public trust to meet this challenge? What role can | :22:56. | :22:59. | |
the Commonwealth play in raising awareness and helping governments to | :23:00. | :23:04. | |
meet this challenge? How can private investment the best mobilised to | :23:05. | :23:13. | |
support sustainability goals in countries where the risk assessment | :23:14. | :23:14. | |
is out of reach? I welcome the debate and how it was | :23:15. | :23:24. | |
introduced. Over the past ten years or more I've mainly work in Africa | :23:25. | :23:27. | |
and come to understand the Commonwealth much better and what | :23:28. | :23:31. | |
links we have with the Commonwealth, what a powerful voice in the world | :23:32. | :23:37. | |
it is and could be and how important it is, particularly for the poorest | :23:38. | :23:41. | |
countries and particularly in Africa. These points are reflected | :23:42. | :23:46. | |
in the Commonwealth office's priorities and over the -- of the | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
last of the commonly thought of which is about promoting human | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
rights, democracy and the rule of law and enormous challenges in all | :23:57. | :24:01. | |
three of these areas. I think in particular, for example, the rights | :24:02. | :24:11. | |
of people who are ill BGP that was so eloquently discussed -- LGBT. As | :24:12. | :24:17. | |
the UK strengthens its role in the Commonwealth it is very important it | :24:18. | :24:21. | |
continues to speak up about these rights and to voice its concerns not | :24:22. | :24:27. | |
only about these rights but about other human rights abuses. The | :24:28. | :24:30. | |
fourth idiot of priority for the Foreign Commonwealth Office is | :24:31. | :24:35. | |
about supporting sustainable -- area of priority. Issues that are | :24:36. | :24:39. | |
important for the UK as well as other members. The final area is | :24:40. | :24:44. | |
championing understanding within this wonderful worldwide diverse | :24:45. | :24:48. | |
community. It is against this context I want to speak specifically | :24:49. | :24:53. | |
about health, development and development and prosperity and the | :24:54. | :24:56. | |
links between the three. I stress these links because too often they | :24:57. | :25:00. | |
are treated separately but that they are intimately connected. I want to | :25:01. | :25:05. | |
put forward the argument an emphasis on these three together should be | :25:06. | :25:09. | |
made within the Commonwealth and feature at the heads of Government | :25:10. | :25:15. | |
meeting next April. Doing so will contribute enormously to these wider | :25:16. | :25:20. | |
goals. I will make three main arguments and then give a current | :25:21. | :25:24. | |
example that is very effective and put forward a specific proposal for | :25:25. | :25:30. | |
the future. The first argument is about the economic impact of health. | :25:31. | :25:34. | |
This is often neglected and we think about health services as a cost and | :25:35. | :25:40. | |
it is time we showed this assumption is wrong, there are costs and | :25:41. | :25:44. | |
benefits from investment in health and it is true the wealthier a | :25:45. | :25:49. | |
country is it can spend more on public services but it is equally | :25:50. | :25:54. | |
true that good health is a driver of productivity and poor health | :25:55. | :25:57. | |
destroys it and we need only look at the HIV AIDS echo -- epidemic in | :25:58. | :26:02. | |
Africa to understand how that has reduced economic growth over many | :26:03. | :26:07. | |
years with a detrimental impact throughout the southern part of the | :26:08. | :26:11. | |
continent, at least. Equally must look at other countries where they | :26:12. | :26:16. | |
have improved health would lead to improved productivity and economic | :26:17. | :26:23. | |
performance. The demographic dividend, that is when children get | :26:24. | :26:26. | |
healthier and more often survived flowers become smaller and the | :26:27. | :26:29. | |
dependency ratio with an country produces. -- families become | :26:30. | :26:36. | |
smaller. It is something which should be very conscious of. That is | :26:37. | :26:42. | |
more, the recent UN commission on health, employment and economy | :26:43. | :26:45. | |
demonstrated employing more health workers is beneficial to the | :26:46. | :26:51. | |
economy, improving health, education and economic prospects. There is | :26:52. | :26:55. | |
more to it than that also, health is the fastest-growing major industry | :26:56. | :27:00. | |
in the world, 5% globally, 8% in south-east Asia and the column of | :27:01. | :27:06. | |
countries must have their share. In the UK we know the biomedical and | :27:07. | :27:10. | |
life sciences must be a major part of our industrial strategy. We have | :27:11. | :27:15. | |
4800 companies in this sector turning over more than 55 billion | :27:16. | :27:21. | |
and we heard earlier about the need to work with Australia but also | :27:22. | :27:24. | |
other Commonwealth countries to invest and grow the sector, whether | :27:25. | :27:28. | |
through the prosperity fund or other routes. My second argument is about | :27:29. | :27:35. | |
links between health and other aspects of development. There is | :27:36. | :27:39. | |
evidence in health and education are linked. We note in India girls with | :27:40. | :27:46. | |
five years of education, their children are 40% more likely to | :27:47. | :27:50. | |
survive to the age of five. We also know it is the other way round and | :27:51. | :27:57. | |
ill health impact on education and opportunities. Stunting, for | :27:58. | :28:01. | |
example, an African countries and some southern African countries | :28:02. | :28:06. | |
about 40% of children or stunted, we know this impact on their mental | :28:07. | :28:11. | |
development and all the achievement and subsequently on the economy and | :28:12. | :28:14. | |
everything else. We should not see these issues are separate. Human | :28:15. | :28:21. | |
development is essential, human flourishing. My third argument turns | :28:22. | :28:31. | |
to the house of Lord report on soft, by Lord Howell, with emphasis on the | :28:32. | :28:37. | |
UK being the best in the world at this and they have expanded on these | :28:38. | :28:42. | |
ideas of the Commonwealth is a network today. Health is an | :28:43. | :28:47. | |
extraordinary influential network, 6 million or so nurses in the | :28:48. | :28:50. | |
Commonwealth, doctors are intimately linked with their partners in other | :28:51. | :28:56. | |
parts of the world and there are any number of partnerships between UK | :28:57. | :29:00. | |
institutions and health institutions in the Commonwealth. I am reminded | :29:01. | :29:04. | |
of the importance of the health partnership scheme promoted by this | :29:05. | :29:08. | |
Government and hope it will only continue. People care about health, | :29:09. | :29:13. | |
the link with each other and share. Health is one of the themes that | :29:14. | :29:18. | |
will help us have greater understanding in the Commonwealth. | :29:19. | :29:22. | |
Investment in health provides wide-ranging economic and social | :29:23. | :29:25. | |
benefits and the Commonwealth should see it as a priority. But they | :29:26. | :29:29. | |
turned to my examples. The first is the current one. This is the Queen | :29:30. | :29:33. | |
Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee trust with money raised from the Commonwealth | :29:34. | :29:39. | |
and they have set up a an initiative of ?41 million that is being managed | :29:40. | :29:44. | |
by sight Savers, an organisation I had the privilege to cheer at the | :29:45. | :29:51. | |
time -- cheer at the time. It is having an extraordinary impact on | :29:52. | :29:57. | |
Commonwealth, treating 11 million people, develop great partnerships. | :29:58. | :30:00. | |
It benefits the poorest of the most, benefits and women the most because | :30:01. | :30:05. | |
women are more likely to be blind, surprisingly, and it allows people | :30:06. | :30:09. | |
suffering from disease to return to work and their carers to return to | :30:10. | :30:13. | |
work, also. My second example for the future is | :30:14. | :30:17. | |
to urge the Commonwealth should play a major role in a new global | :30:18. | :30:21. | |
campaign for the development of nursing. Members of this house will | :30:22. | :30:25. | |
well understand how vital nurses are in every country but perhaps | :30:26. | :30:30. | |
particularly in middle income countries where they may often be | :30:31. | :30:34. | |
the only health workers anyone sees. A recent study with the support of | :30:35. | :30:43. | |
the Commonwealth nursing Federation and including members of your | :30:44. | :30:47. | |
Lordship's house look at the development of nurses globally and | :30:48. | :30:52. | |
found three important points. Firstly, universal health coverage | :30:53. | :30:56. | |
would not be achieved without developing nurses globally, they are | :30:57. | :31:00. | |
the largest part of the professional workforce. Secondly, nurses are very | :31:01. | :31:06. | |
often undervalued and underutilised within the system. Perhaps because | :31:07. | :31:10. | |
the woman or because they are not all doctors but we often train them | :31:11. | :31:14. | |
to a high level and then in practice do not permit them to work to that | :31:15. | :31:20. | |
same high level. Nurses could have an even more significant impact in | :31:21. | :31:25. | |
the future. Thirdly, developing nursing will have the triple impact | :31:26. | :31:31. | |
of not just contributing -- contributing to three of the | :31:32. | :31:35. | |
sustainable goals, not just improving health promoting gender | :31:36. | :31:37. | |
equality and strengthening economies. As a result of the | :31:38. | :31:42. | |
popularity of a report from people around the world we have decided to | :31:43. | :31:49. | |
launch global campaign to raise the profile of nursing globally, support | :31:50. | :31:52. | |
the empowerment of women globally through employment and develop local | :31:53. | :31:57. | |
economies. I am delighted to say the world health organisation has | :31:58. | :32:00. | |
already given its support and we are then positive discussions with the | :32:01. | :32:05. | |
Commonwealth, partly with the Commonwealth Secretariat and mere | :32:06. | :32:07. | |
echo the other comments from Lord's at support Baroness Scotland and her | :32:08. | :32:15. | |
important and very difficult role she is playing at the moment. We | :32:16. | :32:19. | |
have also had discussions with the large number of members and all of | :32:20. | :32:22. | |
the ministers, healthy dose in countries as far apart as Jamaica, | :32:23. | :32:28. | |
India and Tanzania has given their support and my noble friend Baroness | :32:29. | :32:32. | |
Watkins and I are meeting with the Commonwealth advisory committee on | :32:33. | :32:37. | |
health next week to present this proposal and planning is underway. | :32:38. | :32:41. | |
I'd very much hope the Government will give serious consideration to | :32:42. | :32:45. | |
including health, development and prosperity are linked together and | :32:46. | :32:48. | |
in particular this global campaign on nursing and future corner of the | :32:49. | :32:53. | |
genders and at the Government -- heads of Government of Commonwealth | :32:54. | :32:58. | |
meeting next year and asked the noble lady if she would be willing | :32:59. | :33:02. | |
to meet with Baroness Watkins and myself to take this forward. | :33:03. | :33:12. | |
I Lord's, I am pleased to contribute to this important debate today. I | :33:13. | :33:18. | |
would like to thank my noble friend Baroness for introducing the subject | :33:19. | :33:21. | |
and would like to congratulate her on the excellence of her speech. My | :33:22. | :33:28. | |
Lords, I previously spoke in this house of my respect and admiration | :33:29. | :33:35. | |
for the Commonwealth. Covering 52 countries and one third of the | :33:36. | :33:40. | |
world's population it is an enduring symbol of unity. The Commonwealth is | :33:41. | :33:43. | |
perhaps one of the world's most diverse unions, yet shares of values | :33:44. | :33:51. | |
and democracy and the rule of law. Particularly the time when the world | :33:52. | :33:55. | |
seems so divided we must celebrate the strength of unity and harmony. I | :33:56. | :34:03. | |
am proud we sent High Commissioners rather than ambassadors to | :34:04. | :34:08. | |
Commonwealth countries, as we do not regard ourselves as foreign and | :34:09. | :34:12. | |
relation to each other. Next year the UK will host the Commonwealth | :34:13. | :34:19. | |
heads of Government meeting, this is an opportunity for us to drive | :34:20. | :34:24. | |
forward and ambitious and progressive agenda. The previous | :34:25. | :34:30. | |
summit in Malta in 2015 and made a great deal of progress in areas such | :34:31. | :34:39. | |
as climate change, peace and security and sustainable Government. | :34:40. | :34:43. | |
Indeed, given the size and breadth of the Commonwealth it seems only | :34:44. | :34:47. | |
natural that takes a lead in addressing some of the biggest | :34:48. | :34:53. | |
global challenges. I say this was particularly with particular regard | :34:54. | :35:02. | |
to our upcoming exit from the EU. We must now refocus our efforts on | :35:03. | :35:07. | |
tackling global issues through new metrics. I would like to speak | :35:08. | :35:14. | |
specifically about the importance of building bilateral trade | :35:15. | :35:21. | |
relationships. In an increasing globalised world there is a great | :35:22. | :35:25. | |
demand for bilateral trade agreements that help to build | :35:26. | :35:30. | |
economies without sacrificing national sovereignty. We know we | :35:31. | :35:39. | |
need to double a post Brexit trading plan as the EU acted as a | :35:40. | :35:45. | |
protectionist block against trade of outsiders so the Commonwealth can | :35:46. | :35:50. | |
open our trading borders to an entirely new world. The Commonwealth | :35:51. | :35:54. | |
in itself is effectively a ready-made trading network and | :35:55. | :35:59. | |
contains a diverse range of economies, both large and small, | :36:00. | :36:06. | |
developed and developing. Specifically, it contains some of | :36:07. | :36:10. | |
the most dynamic and fast growing economies, including two of the, | :36:11. | :36:18. | |
India and South Africa. India is also a member of the growth club, | :36:19. | :36:26. | |
Albom was fellow Commonwealth including Tanzania and Bangladesh. | :36:27. | :36:34. | |
Trade links with the UK and the wider Commonwealth are already | :36:35. | :36:41. | |
strong. In 2015 total trade flows between the UK and Commonwealth | :36:42. | :36:49. | |
countries was approximately $91 billion. The Commonwealth secretary | :36:50. | :36:55. | |
has said overall the UK is the fourth most important export market | :36:56. | :37:00. | |
for the Commonwealth, behind only the USA, China and Japan. 24 | :37:01. | :37:08. | |
countries said at least one quarter of the EU exports to the UK -- send | :37:09. | :37:14. | |
their exports. And it, both countries sent around 10% or more of | :37:15. | :37:20. | |
the total global exports to the UK. The long-standing reasons for the | :37:21. | :37:24. | |
success of trade within the Commonwealth. Our commonality of | :37:25. | :37:28. | |
language, as well as administrative and legal systems play a crucial | :37:29. | :37:39. | |
role in our values. Not this, we by definition share a proud heritage | :37:40. | :37:49. | |
and long historic ties. It has been estimated with both the bilateral | :37:50. | :37:55. | |
partners are, most members of the often trade around 20% more and | :37:56. | :38:02. | |
generate 10% more foreign direct investment. My Lords, I would like | :38:03. | :38:07. | |
to see more use of internet and social media to enhance trade | :38:08. | :38:12. | |
between the various Commonwealth countries. We must refocus on | :38:13. | :38:18. | |
channelling investment into sectors with the potential for new growth | :38:19. | :38:22. | |
was also helping developing countries to develop their | :38:23. | :38:29. | |
infrastructure and productive capacity. We will need to be very | :38:30. | :38:33. | |
ambitious and Liberal and our scope for new trade agreements and we also | :38:34. | :38:41. | |
need to ensure timely and efficient implementations of such agreements | :38:42. | :38:44. | |
in order to realise their full potential. | :38:45. | :38:49. | |
I can personally vouch for the level of interest from our friends in | :38:50. | :38:56. | |
increasing trade with the United Kingdom. Earlier this week I | :38:57. | :39:01. | |
intended a High Commission banquet at the Guildhall and discussed a | :39:02. | :39:06. | |
range of issues with High Commissioners from different | :39:07. | :39:11. | |
countries. As somebody who has a long-standing connection with the | :39:12. | :39:15. | |
City of London I was pleased to see that the City of London was hosting | :39:16. | :39:22. | |
such an event. At the dinner I sat next to the High Commissioners and | :39:23. | :39:28. | |
there was a clear appetite for closer trade ties in both cases. I | :39:29. | :39:36. | |
also discussed the matter of establishing educational links | :39:37. | :39:45. | |
between our academic institutions. I am a strong supporter of such | :39:46. | :39:49. | |
initiatives due to the culture benefits this can provide to young | :39:50. | :39:53. | |
students and the long-term economic benefits to our countries. When we | :39:54. | :40:00. | |
learn from each other we gain from the other and education like trade | :40:01. | :40:07. | |
brings people together. Kenya and Malawi are two of the countries | :40:08. | :40:14. | |
within the Commonwealth was an optimistic future for their growth | :40:15. | :40:19. | |
and prosperity. This presents us with fast opportunities for foreign | :40:20. | :40:24. | |
relations. I would like to mention Sri Lanka, a country with whom I | :40:25. | :40:35. | |
maintain close links. At a previous debate on the matter of bilateral | :40:36. | :40:38. | |
trade with Sri Lanka and recently asked the question about trade with | :40:39. | :40:47. | |
that country. Our two countries have sustained healthy political and | :40:48. | :40:54. | |
economic ties for over 200 years. Sri Lanka has experienced | :40:55. | :41:01. | |
significant growth over the past 15 years and its forecast is to grow by | :41:02. | :41:08. | |
at least 5.5% this year. It has signed three-year regional trade | :41:09. | :41:13. | |
agreements with other nations and one under negotiation with China. I | :41:14. | :41:21. | |
recently met with a minister of Sri Lanka last week. I had a meeting | :41:22. | :41:27. | |
with the country's Trade Minister. I will meet the noble Lord Price | :41:28. | :41:31. | |
accompanied by two Sri Lankan businessmen. I hope we can build | :41:32. | :41:37. | |
closer ties for the benefit of both of our countries. It is important to | :41:38. | :41:48. | |
note we already have many from the Commonwealth countries who bring | :41:49. | :41:50. | |
knowledge and expertise with them. We must be nurturing this pool of | :41:51. | :42:01. | |
talent. We must also encourage them to take the knowledge and skill from | :42:02. | :42:08. | |
here to their home countries. With regard to migration policy it is | :42:09. | :42:12. | |
imperative that our immigration system serves our national interest. | :42:13. | :42:18. | |
We should encourage some migration subject to certain criteria. But we | :42:19. | :42:23. | |
must assert control of our own borders which will bring once | :42:24. | :42:31. | |
again... Which will again once again be free. In any case the renewed | :42:32. | :42:36. | |
opportunities for responsible migration from the Commonwealth will | :42:37. | :42:40. | |
be most welcome. We must seek to promote the movement of the best | :42:41. | :42:43. | |
talent from the Commonwealth to provide us with adequate staff to | :42:44. | :42:48. | |
enable the country to progress further. I would like to ask if | :42:49. | :42:55. | |
consideration can be given to formulate a suitable plan for | :42:56. | :42:58. | |
immigration of people from the Commonwealth. We are entering an | :42:59. | :43:04. | |
exciting new phase in a relationship with the Commonwealth. I applaud the | :43:05. | :43:09. | |
noble meeting of Commonwealth trade ministers that was held in London | :43:10. | :43:13. | |
last week and pay tribute to the noble Lord for his tireless efforts. | :43:14. | :43:21. | |
I understand the meeting comprehensively identified many | :43:22. | :43:23. | |
opportunities as well as challenges across the Commonwealth. I commend | :43:24. | :43:28. | |
the establishment of the department for international trade and hoped to | :43:29. | :43:34. | |
see a heavy focus based on Commonwealth countries moving | :43:35. | :43:37. | |
forward. I hope we will begin to appoint a greater number of trade on | :43:38. | :43:42. | |
voice for Commonwealth countries to identify and investigate | :43:43. | :43:47. | |
opportunities. I would like to ask the minister if there is any | :43:48. | :43:52. | |
intention to appoint more trade envoys. I am pleased to note that | :43:53. | :43:59. | |
some workers being undertaken amongst Commonwealth countries to | :44:00. | :44:01. | |
combat radicalisation and promote human rights. Can I ask the minister | :44:02. | :44:12. | |
how we can enhance this activity as these two issues are very important? | :44:13. | :44:19. | |
I welcome this debate and the excellent speech by the lady to take | :44:20. | :44:24. | |
note of UK relations with the Commonwealth leading up to 2018 in | :44:25. | :44:30. | |
London and Windsor. Could perhaps we have an even wider ranging remit? I | :44:31. | :44:39. | |
spent part of my life in south India where we used to enjoy dancing | :44:40. | :44:49. | |
gobblers uncle Christmas Day -- cobras. I am director of a small | :44:50. | :44:58. | |
consulting company in Cambridge which is working with environmental | :44:59. | :45:01. | |
organisations in Malaysia and like many businesses we expect to work | :45:02. | :45:04. | |
closely with the Commonwealth and the EU. We celebrate the | :45:05. | :45:11. | |
Commonwealth for the common history, culture and science and language. In | :45:12. | :45:16. | |
2016 for those of mathematical bent we had the great celebration of | :45:17. | :45:20. | |
Indian and British mathematics with that great film about unity. Indian | :45:21. | :45:29. | |
and UK culture was celebrated last week in London at a certain museum. | :45:30. | :45:36. | |
Two weeks ago I was at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi | :45:37. | :45:39. | |
which to my amazement was covered with flags and posters and huge | :45:40. | :45:48. | |
cranes of the company GCB whose chairman is a member of this house. | :45:49. | :45:53. | |
UK engineering company which is a large factory in India and adding | :45:54. | :45:58. | |
the centre were celebrating scientific cultural weekend... This | :45:59. | :46:07. | |
is terrible. They were celebrating this weekend innovation and it was | :46:08. | :46:16. | |
rather interesting, I had never seen such an event on any other campers. | :46:17. | :46:19. | |
I think other Commonwealth countries could perhaps consider this. My | :46:20. | :46:26. | |
general observation from visiting many campuses around the world is | :46:27. | :46:29. | |
that Commonwealth countries that I've more benefit from these | :46:30. | :46:33. | |
exchanges if there was a cultural and general educational exchange | :46:34. | :46:39. | |
element connected with professional exchange. The UK provides this | :46:40. | :46:43. | |
element for selected few scholars but not to specialists. The United | :46:44. | :46:50. | |
States in their programme does not discriminate against scientists, | :46:51. | :46:54. | |
engineers and technical specialists. I have been on many British dental | :46:55. | :47:01. | |
academic visits and had visitors to the UK. In none of these | :47:02. | :47:05. | |
Commonwealth countries involved has there been briefing on information | :47:06. | :47:09. | |
about the general specific aspects of the countries in which the blood | :47:10. | :47:15. | |
travelling to. However there is progress. The British Council have | :47:16. | :47:18. | |
been warning about this for ten years. Made some progress and we had | :47:19. | :47:27. | |
a day here in the House of Lords addressed by the Foreign and | :47:28. | :47:29. | |
Commonwealth Office chief scientific adviser and members of the House of | :47:30. | :47:33. | |
Lords in which a whole range of technical specialists people were | :47:34. | :47:36. | |
allowed to talk about politics, culture and the ways in which our | :47:37. | :47:39. | |
different countries were working together. Scientists in some | :47:40. | :47:44. | |
countries rule countries like in China. We should be taking a broader | :47:45. | :47:49. | |
view of how we have technical exchange. The wider issues of | :47:50. | :47:56. | |
openness should I believe be for the Commonwealth a priority. We have | :47:57. | :47:59. | |
extraordinary sources of information which many other noble Lords have | :48:00. | :48:03. | |
discussed which have great economic value. People have been spoken | :48:04. | :48:09. | |
learnedly about networks, all networks need information. With IT, | :48:10. | :48:14. | |
satellites and so on. We need a much greater culture of openness in all | :48:15. | :48:20. | |
organisations and government but particularly governmental ones and | :48:21. | :48:25. | |
one of the ways of encouraging openness is through schools and | :48:26. | :48:29. | |
communities. There is a great deal of secrecy, we see this in this | :48:30. | :48:33. | |
country but I am afraid in many Commonwealth countries there is a | :48:34. | :48:36. | |
culture of secrecy and this is the only way we are going to solve | :48:37. | :48:40. | |
problems of health, environment, improving business and so on. I | :48:41. | :48:43. | |
wondered whether perhaps one of the themes of this meeting might be more | :48:44. | :48:51. | |
openness. People of talked about corruption but actually openness is | :48:52. | :48:54. | |
a much broader range we should be focusing on. One of the other | :48:55. | :49:02. | |
features is that openness comes with a greater breadth of knowledge and | :49:03. | :49:07. | |
learning and a cultural attitude to openness. It was interesting when | :49:08. | :49:13. | |
visiting a major university in India they commented that the traditional | :49:14. | :49:19. | |
or specialist degree in UK and European universities is noticeably | :49:20. | :49:21. | |
different to the broader research degree from the United States and it | :49:22. | :49:27. | |
is the latter training and teaching that equips people better for | :49:28. | :49:33. | |
getting the appropriate positions in developing countries such as India. | :49:34. | :49:37. | |
It would be useful for Commonwealth countries to consider the most | :49:38. | :49:41. | |
appropriate education policy for their countries and perhaps push the | :49:42. | :49:47. | |
UK in this more openness direction. One of the important features which | :49:48. | :49:53. | |
Lords have discussed is the question of global climate change. It is | :49:54. | :49:59. | |
accepted as an overarching policy, an issue in all Commonwealth | :50:00. | :50:06. | |
countries. This goal is pursued in conjunction with global programmes | :50:07. | :50:10. | |
of the United Nations. Despite the slightly negative remarks of some | :50:11. | :50:17. | |
noble peers this session, the United Nations is an extremely important | :50:18. | :50:20. | |
part of the functioning of the Commonwealth fund Commonwealth | :50:21. | :50:24. | |
countries and we have to know where we can have the best benefits. It is | :50:25. | :50:31. | |
noticeable that scientists from many Commonwealth countries are involved | :50:32. | :50:34. | |
in leadership positions in the United Nations notably in some of | :50:35. | :50:36. | |
the leading positions on climate change. One of the other interesting | :50:37. | :50:43. | |
features if you go to tropical countries you find that the tropical | :50:44. | :50:47. | |
countries are very interested in the polls in the Arctic and the | :50:48. | :50:52. | |
Antarctic. They claim they have the third poll which is the enormous | :50:53. | :50:58. | |
area of snow. Because of the melting of the Arctic ice, the two groups | :50:59. | :51:04. | |
may involve shipping going through the Arctic. That is why India for | :51:05. | :51:12. | |
example, Singapore, are part of the Arctic Council, observers in the | :51:13. | :51:16. | |
arts Council, which is a big new development, and there are other | :51:17. | :51:19. | |
areas in which the UK can collaborate. The essential issue is | :51:20. | :51:24. | |
to develop practical plans that connect health and economic and | :51:25. | :51:26. | |
environmental preservation with reducing carbon emissions and | :51:27. | :51:35. | |
reducing adverse impacts. We were provided about the importance of UN | :51:36. | :51:39. | |
sustainability goals and that is one way we look to seek about their | :51:40. | :51:44. | |
progress. It is important to see that technical and commercial | :51:45. | :51:48. | |
exchange between UK and Commonwealth countries are working in practical | :51:49. | :51:51. | |
areas. For example three weeks ago the Indian space research | :51:52. | :51:56. | |
Organisation sent up one rocket with 100 satellites on it, that is quite | :51:57. | :52:02. | |
something. We shall be discussing in the House of Lords this week or next | :52:03. | :52:07. | |
week the British space legislation to have more of these small missions | :52:08. | :52:13. | |
which focus on very specific applications. This is something we | :52:14. | :52:16. | |
shall learn with other Commonwealth countries. The other important point | :52:17. | :52:22. | |
is that Commonwealth countries have great experience in non-carbon | :52:23. | :52:26. | |
energy systems. In terms of large systems and Microsystems. There are | :52:27. | :52:31. | |
going to be many opportunities for collaboration. One of the | :52:32. | :52:35. | |
interesting features of many Commonwealth countries as there is | :52:36. | :52:38. | |
tremendous competition for space therefore we have to find systems | :52:39. | :52:43. | |
that are very economical of space, use of space, on the land, if not | :52:44. | :52:49. | |
using offshore. The City of London is noticeable for helping these new | :52:50. | :52:58. | |
systems. As has been said one of the important things is that have | :52:59. | :53:01. | |
connections between the developed and developing countries of the | :53:02. | :53:04. | |
Commonwealth. Canada for example has great experience in nuclear and wind | :53:05. | :53:08. | |
power systems that we shall look forward to these in the future. I | :53:09. | :53:17. | |
will declare my interest as Vice chairman on a committee and a | :53:18. | :53:21. | |
long-standing member of a group on HIV. This week the Prime Minister | :53:22. | :53:27. | |
said as we read to create a truly global Britain the deep partnerships | :53:28. | :53:31. | |
that we sure throughout the 21st-century Commonwealth and help | :53:32. | :53:34. | |
us in the prosperity and security of our citizens and those of our many | :53:35. | :53:36. | |
friends and allies across the world. The baroness talk about the cross | :53:37. | :53:49. | |
governmental work going into a reframing and fresh approach to the | :53:50. | :53:54. | |
Commonwealth and I want to talk about how we might work similarly to | :53:55. | :53:58. | |
deal with a long-standing problem. The international trade secretary is | :53:59. | :54:05. | |
meeting with representatives from Commonwealth countries to promote | :54:06. | :54:08. | |
free trade deals between Britain and African countries, automatically | :54:09. | :54:13. | |
Commonwealth Enterprise And Investment Council. The plan has | :54:14. | :54:18. | |
apparently entirely been dubbed Empire burgeoned to buy some | :54:19. | :54:23. | |
Whitehall officials, I hope that does not stay -- empire version two. | :54:24. | :54:29. | |
The word empire does not resonate around the world. If this is to work | :54:30. | :54:36. | |
we need to create a new relationship within the Commonwealth, one that | :54:37. | :54:39. | |
reflects the new business reality. We must create new conditions in | :54:40. | :54:45. | |
which modern business can thrive. In 2015 the human development trust | :54:46. | :54:51. | |
noted decriminalisation of homosexuality is undoubtedly a | :54:52. | :54:56. | |
specific, problem. It encompasses 2 billion of the 2.9 billion people | :54:57. | :55:01. | |
who live in countries where it is a crime to be gay. The World Economic | :55:02. | :55:07. | |
Forum produced a report in 2015 and the cost of discrimination but said, | :55:08. | :55:12. | |
on a range of social economic indicators LGBT people fear or they | :55:13. | :55:17. | |
compare to the general population and studies of multiples -- free up | :55:18. | :55:19. | |
early. Statistics represent untold personal | :55:20. | :55:28. | |
tragedies for the individuals concerned but they also reflect a | :55:29. | :55:34. | |
senseless waste of human potential on a grand scale. Every try and use | :55:35. | :55:40. | |
thrown out of the home are missing out on education is a loss for | :55:41. | :55:45. | |
society, every lesbian or gay worker or employer driven to leave their | :55:46. | :55:49. | |
job or even country is a lost opportunity to build more productive | :55:50. | :55:53. | |
economy. At a macro level the cost to the country's economy can be | :55:54. | :55:59. | |
counted in billions. The study from the Royal Bank in 2014 found | :56:00. | :56:02. | |
discrimination against LGBT people in India could cost them up to $32 | :56:03. | :56:09. | |
billion a year in lost economic output. Part of the solution lies | :56:10. | :56:16. | |
within Government and they have the power to change laws and the noble | :56:17. | :56:21. | |
lord set out some of the progress being made but the point of change | :56:22. | :56:27. | |
is way too slow. If that is to be further progress than Government | :56:28. | :56:32. | |
need the active involvement of a business and in all likelihood it | :56:33. | :56:37. | |
will be the big international businesses who are at the forefront | :56:38. | :56:43. | |
of change and the need to be certain they can send their employees and | :56:44. | :56:51. | |
two environments which are safe. -- into environments and it cannot send | :56:52. | :56:55. | |
them to places where their health will be compromised or cannot be | :56:56. | :57:01. | |
sustained. I want to pick up the point about HIV. The top ten | :57:02. | :57:07. | |
countries globally with the HIV highest prevalence of Commonwealth | :57:08. | :57:11. | |
nations. There are some nations like South Africa which are making great | :57:12. | :57:19. | |
strides because of political change, but laws and countries were | :57:20. | :57:22. | |
criminalisation makes it hard for people to access services without | :57:23. | :57:28. | |
fear of imprisonment are in the Commonwealth. The Academy of science | :57:29. | :57:33. | |
in South Africa notes the paradox of laws that criminalise same-sex | :57:34. | :57:39. | |
sexual contact us while their proponents justify them to improve | :57:40. | :57:43. | |
public health they actually have a very destructive effect on public | :57:44. | :57:47. | |
health. Criminalisation and stigmatisation not only do physical | :57:48. | :57:53. | |
health outcomes for those marginalised but they have an impact | :57:54. | :58:00. | |
on crime, economic empowerment and the rule of law, all of which are | :58:01. | :58:05. | |
essentials for business to thrive. My Lords, this is an issue that | :58:06. | :58:11. | |
needs political change, many Commonwealth leaders, deep down, | :58:12. | :58:15. | |
note this change has become but they are very few awful because of local | :58:16. | :58:23. | |
politics, often hand by hateful religious rhetoric funded by | :58:24. | :58:28. | |
Christian supremacists in the USA. In such circumstances politicians | :58:29. | :58:33. | |
are very fearful to speak out. We have had things like the declaration | :58:34. | :58:42. | |
in 1991 on the 2013 charter for the Commonwealth which do not talk | :58:43. | :58:46. | |
explicitly about LGBT communities but do talk about human rights and | :58:47. | :58:49. | |
freedoms without distinction of any kind. My Lords, in this country we | :58:50. | :58:57. | |
have led the way on this issue. We did it over a space of 50 years and | :58:58. | :59:04. | |
was a fraught process and not pleased for Mac members of the | :59:05. | :59:11. | |
benches opposite... We are uniquely placed because of our legacy and | :59:12. | :59:17. | |
contacts we have with the Commonwealth, to enable political | :59:18. | :59:21. | |
leaders in those countries to go through a similarly difficult | :59:22. | :59:24. | |
journey. It will not be easy but it is something we should do. I want to | :59:25. | :59:31. | |
ask the noble Baroness, the minister, if she will pick up on the | :59:32. | :59:35. | |
comments by the Prime Minister and how she will say how does the | :59:36. | :59:42. | |
Government see this summit is helping that process of developing | :59:43. | :59:48. | |
diversity and prosperity? My Lords, discrimination is a very expensive, | :59:49. | :59:53. | |
wasting talent, losing skills, keeping people in jail, so expensive | :59:54. | :59:57. | |
that we in this country cannot afford to do it and, most countries | :59:58. | :00:05. | |
on certainly cannot afford to do it. -- Commonwealth countries cannot | :00:06. | :00:09. | |
afford to do it. We have numinous mechanisms to help that process of | :00:10. | :00:12. | |
leadership, links and governmental level between various ministers, we | :00:13. | :00:20. | |
also have links with civil servants and across professions such as | :00:21. | :00:27. | |
courts and the judiciary. I want to ask the noble Baroness the Minister, | :00:28. | :00:34. | |
given the scale of this and the noble Baroness has started to | :00:35. | :00:39. | |
indicate this is a cross governmental priority, can she | :00:40. | :00:44. | |
explained how departments other than the two mentioned, such as the | :00:45. | :00:51. | |
business and trade division, will help with this key change which has | :00:52. | :01:00. | |
to happen? I say to the noble lord Eilish and intently to the stock -- | :01:01. | :01:04. | |
I listen to stop about the covenant. The of religion in building the | :01:05. | :01:12. | |
covenant in a manner respectful and inclusive of all is very important | :01:13. | :01:15. | |
and the Church is a key player and some of us will watch with interest | :01:16. | :01:20. | |
to the leadership rule the church plays in ensuring we are part of map | :01:21. | :01:27. | |
covenant and I invite him to come and talk when we start work on our | :01:28. | :01:35. | |
next report, due to be on the subject of religion, the role played | :01:36. | :01:42. | |
by religion in LGBT equality. My Lords, the head of the Commonwealth | :01:43. | :01:46. | |
said this, the Commonwealth is not an organisation with a mission, it | :01:47. | :01:51. | |
is a rather an opportunity for its people to work together to achieve | :01:52. | :01:57. | |
practical solutions to problems. It is time for us to change the debate. | :01:58. | :02:04. | |
The terms of the debate. Turn away from one of cultural imperialism and | :02:05. | :02:10. | |
exploitation by the North to one of mutual respect and development of | :02:11. | :02:14. | |
good business. This is for all Commonwealth citizens, especially. | :02:15. | :02:24. | |
Like the lady Baroness Barker I would like to address the issue of | :02:25. | :02:31. | |
LGBT rights and in doing so I reiterate some of the points made so | :02:32. | :02:38. | |
effectively, not just by her, but also by the noble lords and powerful | :02:39. | :02:46. | |
speeches earlier in the debate. All three are, to me, noble friends | :02:47. | :02:53. | |
engaged a common enterprise. My Lords, one recurring feature of our | :02:54. | :02:58. | |
welcome and valuable debates on the Commonwealth has been the | :02:59. | :03:03. | |
demonstration of strong cross-party support for action to remove the | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
suffering and discrimination endured by millions of homosexuals in its | :03:08. | :03:13. | |
member countries who would become criminals if they give expression to | :03:14. | :03:18. | |
the love with which they have been imbued. Some 90% of Commonwealth | :03:19. | :03:23. | |
citizens lived in jurisdictions where same-sex intimacy is a | :03:24. | :03:29. | |
criminal offence. It must be right on all sides of the house we should | :03:30. | :03:37. | |
stress again today the need to put a complete end to this grave violation | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
of human rights which soaked fragrant wood breaches international | :03:43. | :03:49. | |
law and is incompatible -- so strongly breaches international law. | :03:50. | :03:54. | |
When human rights are set aside human misery inevitably follows. | :03:55. | :03:59. | |
That view is widely supported on these benches and it has been | :04:00. | :04:03. | |
championed by my noble friend Lord Black in many debates. Unfortunately | :04:04. | :04:11. | |
he cannot be here today to renew personally his call for the removal | :04:12. | :04:16. | |
of the terrible injustice that gay people into an 36 of the 52 | :04:17. | :04:23. | |
countries of the Commonwealth. -- that they endure. Many of our | :04:24. | :04:26. | |
colleagues who share the sentiments. They were expressed with trench and | :04:27. | :04:31. | |
see as many noble lord will remember on a number of occasions by our Lord | :04:32. | :04:37. | |
Speaker before he took up his office. As has been pointed out, we | :04:38. | :04:45. | |
must be careful not to adopt an unduly strident or insensitive tone | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
in seeking to encourage the 36 Commonwealth countries to abolish | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
oppressive and discovered the real laws. They got them from us in the | :04:56. | :05:00. | |
days of Empire as the noble lord reminded us. As a Commonwealth | :05:01. | :05:08. | |
country, that has rid itself of these laws, is not natural for us to | :05:09. | :05:15. | |
want to extend the same legal rights and protections that we now enjoy to | :05:16. | :05:21. | |
gay people in other most countries, United to us by ties of kinship, | :05:22. | :05:27. | |
perfection and history. We would be untrue to ourselves if we repress | :05:28. | :05:32. | |
the desire to live others as we ourselves have been liberated. Many | :05:33. | :05:39. | |
-- liberates others. Many in the Commonwealth agree. It has over five | :05:40. | :05:46. | |
years since the group unanimously recommended the heads of Government | :05:47. | :05:49. | |
should take steps to encourage the repeal of the laws against | :05:50. | :05:58. | |
homosexuals. How well, were the words -- how WorldCom were the words | :05:59. | :06:04. | |
of the president of Malta in drawing attention to the blot on the | :06:05. | :06:08. | |
Commonwealth's reputation created by widespread disregard of the rights | :06:09. | :06:15. | |
of LGBT people, as the noble lord mentioned earlier? It was in Malta | :06:16. | :06:22. | |
itself to use do the affects of the denial of those rights were brought | :06:23. | :06:28. | |
closer than ever before to the Centre of Commonwealth discussion | :06:29. | :06:35. | |
and debate. The kaleidoscope trust, whose wonderful work has been | :06:36. | :06:41. | |
commended here today, they work in partnership with the Commonwealth | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
equality network, succeeded in raising LGBT issues in a number of | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
forums during the Commonwealth heads of Government meeting which Malta | :06:52. | :06:54. | |
hosted. It was an important breakthrough. The Commonwealth | :06:55. | :07:00. | |
summit in London at the Windsor next year must follow it up in a decisive | :07:01. | :07:08. | |
manner. In Malta the Commonwealth equality network's LGBT activist | :07:09. | :07:12. | |
from countries where gay people are criminalised were able to give | :07:13. | :07:17. | |
first-hand accounts of the perils and dangerous to which they are | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
daily subject. Both the network and the kaleidoscope trust are convinced | :07:22. | :07:28. | |
in their own words, an approach involving those directly affected is | :07:29. | :07:32. | |
essential for stimulating progress on LGBT rates. My noble friend will | :07:33. | :07:41. | |
know all about this. She has shown great receptiveness to the views of | :07:42. | :07:47. | |
LGBT organisations, whose respect she has one. They stand ready to | :07:48. | :07:52. | |
work with the Government in creating a firm place for LGBT issues on the | :07:53. | :07:59. | |
summits agenda. The Commonwealth equality network has proposed the | :08:00. | :08:03. | |
inclusion of presentations by countries and the global South which | :08:04. | :08:08. | |
have decriminalised, to enable others to learn from their | :08:09. | :08:13. | |
experience. What is the Government's view that suggestion? Countries that | :08:14. | :08:17. | |
want the criminalised homosexuality should be able to look to the | :08:18. | :08:21. | |
Commonwealth Secretariat for advice and guidance and for that the | :08:22. | :08:27. | |
Secretariat will need adequate resources. That, too, deserves a | :08:28. | :08:35. | |
place on the summit's agenda. This summer, my Lords, could provide a | :08:36. | :08:41. | |
turning point for LGBT issues in the history of the Commonwealth and we | :08:42. | :08:42. | |
must not let the opportunity slip. May I please the touch on one other | :08:43. | :08:54. | |
wholly unrelated matter? Our debates often include references always | :08:55. | :09:00. | |
couched in the warmest terms to the Republic of Ireland. My noble friend | :09:01. | :09:06. | |
made a brief reference to it today. There are so many of us who would | :09:07. | :09:12. | |
rejoice if our close neighbour and partner in so many enterprises could | :09:13. | :09:17. | |
be persuaded to consider coming back into the Commonwealth family. They | :09:18. | :09:22. | |
would find an organisation utterly different from the one they left | :09:23. | :09:29. | |
nearly 70 years ago. 52 wholly independent states working together | :09:30. | :09:40. | |
on terms of equality which have a collaborative group that would be | :09:41. | :09:43. | |
enriched with the Republic of Ireland. It is accepted there can be | :09:44. | :09:49. | |
no change in the constitutional position without the democratic | :09:50. | :09:54. | |
consent of its people. With its own links to many different parts of the | :09:55. | :09:59. | |
world going back centuries the Irish Republic would find unnatural home | :10:00. | :10:03. | |
as part of the Commonwealth's great global partnership. This is not an | :10:04. | :10:12. | |
issue which has so far had widespread interest in political | :10:13. | :10:16. | |
circles in the Irish Republic but with the Commonwealth at an | :10:17. | :10:18. | |
important crossroads in its history those at the helm of it of its fears | :10:19. | :10:24. | |
should surely be encouraged to reach out to all parts of these islands | :10:25. | :10:32. | |
that the Commonwealth is a unique family of nations. The Republic of | :10:33. | :10:41. | |
Ireland belongs within our family. I thank the noble Baroness for | :10:42. | :10:48. | |
ensuring a generous amount of time for this important debate. That has | :10:49. | :10:52. | |
never been a time when the diversity and unity the Commonwealth | :10:53. | :10:55. | |
represents has been more urgently needed. One of the continued chat | :10:56. | :11:01. | |
Dominic challenges within the Commonwealth of the family including | :11:02. | :11:05. | |
discontent between the developed and developing nations, small states and | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
large states, tiger and fragile economies, let us not forget the | :11:11. | :11:13. | |
considerable achievements, for example the decoration of the | :11:14. | :11:20. | |
Commonwealth principles in 1971, the declaration of 1991, the human | :11:21. | :11:22. | |
rights initiative and the Commonwealth ministerial action | :11:23. | :11:26. | |
group, and of course there's always the underpinning of the work carried | :11:27. | :11:31. | |
out the world over in co-operation with civil society operations. We | :11:32. | :11:37. | |
face new seemingly insurmountable issues of radicalism, migration and | :11:38. | :11:42. | |
trade. What can we do to counteract potentially divisive global trends? | :11:43. | :11:48. | |
Is the Commonwealth equipped to act to its full strengths? Not as well | :11:49. | :11:57. | |
as one might hope. Institutions are having difficulty grappling with the | :11:58. | :12:00. | |
big issues of the world today in part because they were never | :12:01. | :12:03. | |
designed to deal with such a rapidly changing political environment. The | :12:04. | :12:09. | |
goalposts have shifted seismically, but is there more that can be done | :12:10. | :12:13. | |
and what are the major obstacles? Despite any number of agreements | :12:14. | :12:16. | |
there has been a failure by Commonwealth countries generally to | :12:17. | :12:20. | |
implement fully the principles that underlie membership. For example of | :12:21. | :12:24. | |
the 52 member states only 27 have signed the arms trade treaty adopted | :12:25. | :12:30. | |
in 2013 and all these only 20 have ratified the treaty. This treaty if | :12:31. | :12:35. | |
universally adopted would be a powerful instrument in reducing | :12:36. | :12:40. | |
their destruction associated with the illegal arms trade. Surely the | :12:41. | :12:43. | |
Commonwealth could become a leader on this creating awareness of the | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
treaty and insisting on ratification. One can also look at | :12:48. | :12:52. | |
access to information. Freedom of Information laws and tractors have | :12:53. | :12:56. | |
become a consistent feature of functioning democracies. The | :12:57. | :13:01. | |
Commonwealth was one of the earliest intergovernmental organisations to | :13:02. | :13:04. | |
recognise the importance of people's right to know when to be involved in | :13:05. | :13:08. | |
decisions that affect people's lives and livelihoods. Despite strenuous | :13:09. | :13:13. | |
efforts on the part of parliamentarians through programmes | :13:14. | :13:17. | |
in the shape of workshops and concept practice and experience of | :13:18. | :13:22. | |
Freedom of Information only 20 Commonwealth countries have | :13:23. | :13:24. | |
introduced Freedom of Information laws by 2010, roughly 30% in 30 | :13:25. | :13:32. | |
years. Commonwealth efforts to empower women politics is another | :13:33. | :13:37. | |
area where there is scrutiny. There have been in and will meetings, | :13:38. | :13:42. | |
workshops, reports, yet in all other regions the engagement of women, | :13:43. | :13:46. | |
especially younger women, in political life, is still modest. The | :13:47. | :13:51. | |
summit last year concluded the strong practical recommendations in | :13:52. | :13:55. | |
three areas, violence against women, women and leadership and women's | :13:56. | :14:01. | |
economic empowerment. We continue to look forward to hearing more in the | :14:02. | :14:04. | |
coming months on the impact of these programmes. The work of the eminent | :14:05. | :14:11. | |
Persons group set up in 2011 together with the Commonwealth human | :14:12. | :14:15. | |
rights initiative to look at options for reform arrived at an important | :14:16. | :14:21. | |
conclusion. It is only when parliamentarians work with | :14:22. | :14:27. | |
bureaucrats, civil servants and crucially with NGOs that obstacles | :14:28. | :14:31. | |
can be overcome. It is also a well researched fact that unless the | :14:32. | :14:35. | |
wider population is if not engaged at least aware of Parliament's | :14:36. | :14:41. | |
priorities that the chances of successful change are slim. The UK | :14:42. | :14:48. | |
has the privilege to host the 2018 summit. What steps can be taken to | :14:49. | :14:52. | |
ensure there are measurable and lasting outcomes? The minister has | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
confirmed the importance of Parliamentary engagement but | :14:58. | :15:01. | |
cautions that the agenda is agreed by consensus. Nevertheless it is | :15:02. | :15:06. | |
Parliament that right governments in agreeing legislation, allocating | :15:07. | :15:11. | |
budgets, in oversight and ensuring implementation. Commonwealth | :15:12. | :15:15. | |
Parliaments through their various linked bodies in an excellent to | :15:16. | :15:21. | |
discuss, glee and disseminate a few clear action -based programmes. The | :15:22. | :15:24. | |
Commonwealth has over the years taken upon itself a heavy agenda | :15:25. | :15:29. | |
with recording themes of the promotion of human rights and | :15:30. | :15:33. | |
obviously, you think it meant and the management of economic | :15:34. | :15:38. | |
globalisation. The Commonwealth secretariats is slow and modestly | :15:39. | :15:43. | |
funded. It could perhaps use the occasion of the UK summit to | :15:44. | :15:46. | |
downsize and sharpen its goals while at the same time investing in ever | :15:47. | :15:49. | |
greater networking and joint programming. There is a golden | :15:50. | :15:56. | |
opportunity. Put simply there's just about time to encourage Commonwealth | :15:57. | :16:02. | |
Parliaments to decide on their priorities, whether these be on | :16:03. | :16:05. | |
peace measures, trade and of security. Therefore thereafter to | :16:06. | :16:12. | |
communicate intra- and inter-regionally and convened on the | :16:13. | :16:16. | |
early spring of next year and the witch priorities should go forward | :16:17. | :16:21. | |
to an organising committee of regional chairs. The dust would be | :16:22. | :16:25. | |
to agree and draw up a clearly worded action plan to be presented. | :16:26. | :16:34. | |
Such a programme would require good energy and commitment from | :16:35. | :16:35. | |
parliamentarians throughout the Commonwealth. The synergistic effect | :16:36. | :16:40. | |
of parliaments across traditional divides acting together with the | :16:41. | :16:45. | |
relevant NGOs could be considerable. Further more if managed it would | :16:46. | :16:48. | |
place parliamentarians at the centre of implementing Commonwealth valuess | :16:49. | :16:56. | |
on the seems appropriate. Many Commonwealth countries have the | :16:57. | :17:02. | |
links with the UK and via its to the EU and there will be consequences to | :17:03. | :17:06. | |
the UK decision to leave the EU. This could move to hinder all kinds | :17:07. | :17:09. | |
of seemingly small but very important conventions which bind us | :17:10. | :17:16. | |
together. For example changes in the facilitating remittances, travel, | :17:17. | :17:19. | |
visas, tourism, investment flows and cultural exchange. We could perhaps | :17:20. | :17:25. | |
take the lead in a 19th intention to protect these conventions through a | :17:26. | :17:29. | |
programme of self-interest and solidarity. It has been said by | :17:30. | :17:34. | |
thoughtful people that the perils we face are greater today than at any | :17:35. | :17:40. | |
time in history. That may be sold and as parliamentarians we should be | :17:41. | :17:45. | |
prepared to work across party and national boundaries to insist on | :17:46. | :17:50. | |
measures agreed. The Commonwealth provides an ideal forum for the | :17:51. | :17:54. | |
exchange of experience, for exploring the most effective ways of | :17:55. | :17:58. | |
transforming obligations and international law into domestic | :17:59. | :18:04. | |
legal framework and reaffirming our legal, cultural and political | :18:05. | :18:08. | |
heritage. There is no shortage of Commonwealth bodies. At the last | :18:09. | :18:13. | |
count there were something like 80 or 90 ranging from law and | :18:14. | :18:20. | |
journalism to business, youth, trade and aid. If united on the global | :18:21. | :18:25. | |
issues the Commonwealth and all of its satellite organisations could | :18:26. | :18:30. | |
emerge as a strong, capable, committed to ethical governance | :18:31. | :18:35. | |
leadership. Never has the time for the over adoption and practice of | :18:36. | :18:44. | |
such a role been more urgent. I thank the Baroness for calling this | :18:45. | :18:53. | |
debate. Given the historical trade summit and the Commonwealth week of | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
celebration in the presence of Her Majesty I was inspired by the | :18:59. | :19:01. | |
contribution in the City of London by the Prime Minister of Malta and | :19:02. | :19:09. | |
his foresighted vision of a more united Commonwealth. As the daughter | :19:10. | :19:12. | |
of Commonwealth I wish to focus my comments on the role of women of the | :19:13. | :19:17. | |
Commonwealth. Current leadership can easily view a false sense of comfort | :19:18. | :19:25. | |
with Her Majesty leading there are only two women heads of government | :19:26. | :19:29. | |
in Britain. The Speaker of Bangladesh parliament is the | :19:30. | :19:34. | |
Commonwealth Parliamentary association chair and Baroness | :19:35. | :19:44. | |
Scotland the Secretary General's priorities to drive women in the | :19:45. | :19:51. | |
changing world of work. They aim to continue as pioneers towards gender | :19:52. | :19:58. | |
equality and to achieve fairly economic and social inclusion of | :19:59. | :20:03. | |
women and girls. I wish to take this opportunity to speak particularly | :20:04. | :20:07. | |
about the importance of political, social economic inclusion of women | :20:08. | :20:11. | |
at the heart of security relationship among the 52 | :20:12. | :20:14. | |
Commonwealth countries without which there cannot be lasting peace and | :20:15. | :20:20. | |
prosperity in our world. As a member of the Africa Parliamentary group | :20:21. | :20:25. | |
last year we concluded an inquiry amongst the many objectives were the | :20:26. | :20:28. | |
role of aid in promoting human rights. The UK rightly takes pride | :20:29. | :20:36. | |
in its aid policy. It is an important leveraged to work | :20:37. | :20:39. | |
alongside our Commonwealth partners to pursue a common desires for | :20:40. | :20:44. | |
social justice, equity, be it in peace times conflict. My personal | :20:45. | :20:50. | |
observation gelling that period are that while many Commonwealth leaders | :20:51. | :20:54. | |
have unflinchingly loyalties, giving the rising influence of a younger | :20:55. | :20:58. | |
generation a significant number of ministers and leaders were mindful | :20:59. | :21:06. | |
of their young leaders and their influence his and their evidence | :21:07. | :21:09. | |
they did in no uncertain times that aid cannot cannot dictate social | :21:10. | :21:17. | |
governments on their political policies of countries. In this | :21:18. | :21:25. | |
context any reference to the empire old or new rest legitimate questions | :21:26. | :21:31. | |
rising about how institutions around the Commonwealth can benefit equally | :21:32. | :21:41. | |
alongside British interests and we have enjoyed an unfettered advantage | :21:42. | :21:47. | |
many want to negotiate a new post-colonial relationship and I am | :21:48. | :21:50. | |
in total agreement with the contribution made by the noble lady | :21:51. | :21:58. | |
whose comprehensive analysis looked at how we can achieve levels of | :21:59. | :22:02. | |
parity and respect amongst nation states. Our Commonwealth Charter | :22:03. | :22:09. | |
declares gender equality and women's empowerment essential components of | :22:10. | :22:11. | |
human development and basic human rights. The advancement of women's | :22:12. | :22:18. | |
rights and the education of girls are critical preconditions for | :22:19. | :22:20. | |
effective and sustainable development. These values of human | :22:21. | :22:24. | |
dignity and gender equality must be intrinsic unpleasant in all of our | :22:25. | :22:30. | |
trade and security relationship as we continue to strengthen our ties. | :22:31. | :22:34. | |
Of course if women are absent in their thousands from executive | :22:35. | :22:41. | |
governments and in Parliament with inimitable consequences of progress | :22:42. | :22:45. | |
towards gender equality in these areas at regional and national | :22:46. | :22:49. | |
levels. Women's political empowerment and equal access to | :22:50. | :22:53. | |
leadership position at all levels are fundamental to achieving the | :22:54. | :22:56. | |
sustainable economy participation and a fair world. With restricted | :22:57. | :23:02. | |
growth in women's representation, advancement of gender equality and | :23:03. | :23:06. | |
business of governments, peace and security is seriously threatened. | :23:07. | :23:14. | |
Unsurprisingly 2007 showed a decline about it, political participation of | :23:15. | :23:17. | |
women in the number of countries priding itself with only all of two | :23:18. | :23:22. | |
heads of government which indicates that change has to be embedded and | :23:23. | :23:24. | |
come from every corner of society. The number of women's speakers and | :23:25. | :23:35. | |
Parliament has seen a small increase while the number of ministers remain | :23:36. | :23:41. | |
unchanged, still far from gender parity and indicate gender equality | :23:42. | :23:47. | |
remained out of sight in powers structure and decision-making. | :23:48. | :23:53. | |
Others remain the main -- obverse and decision-making remains the | :23:54. | :23:57. | |
domain of men. A concerted effort to promote women's rights, we will not | :23:58. | :24:04. | |
see the societal environments in which entrepreneurship and small | :24:05. | :24:09. | |
businesses can thrive and without regarding women as critical factors | :24:10. | :24:13. | |
of our economy they will not be equality and in the market, | :24:14. | :24:19. | |
boardroom or financial independence, thus rendering the fabric of our | :24:20. | :24:24. | |
institutions undemocratic. Leaving aside, at our peril, the importance | :24:25. | :24:30. | |
of women consumers in trade and business, soft power generators and | :24:31. | :24:33. | |
though many changes must come from within national institutions, we, as | :24:34. | :24:39. | |
the international community, and Britain in particular, have a | :24:40. | :24:43. | |
responsibility to ensure gender equity forging ahead unconditionally | :24:44. | :24:49. | |
amongst our highest priority agenda -- is amongst our highest priority | :24:50. | :24:56. | |
agenda. There seems to be a distinct excitement about post-Brexit | :24:57. | :25:01. | |
relationship with the Commonwealth. Sigma -- various governments have | :25:02. | :25:06. | |
overlooked the Commonwealth and people of the Commonwealth remain | :25:07. | :25:13. | |
deferent UK standing and values, not to mention Actaeon into their own | :25:14. | :25:16. | |
legal systems and Government based on our very model that prevails. We | :25:17. | :25:25. | |
also have enforceable by aspera -- also have and they have spirit here | :25:26. | :25:28. | |
that contributed immensely to the UK and we should utilise these to | :25:29. | :25:36. | |
strengthen our economy and institutional ties in Commonwealth | :25:37. | :25:40. | |
countries. Many second and third generation Asian and Africans | :25:41. | :25:44. | |
brought up in the UK are trailblazing in businesses in their | :25:45. | :25:49. | |
parents' birthplaces. Seeking out emerging markets as well as | :25:50. | :25:56. | |
assisting in building community infrastructures, I have witnessed | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
many such projects first-hand in Bangladesh and though many friends | :26:01. | :26:05. | |
actively engaged in India, Pakistan and many parts of Africa. This means | :26:06. | :26:09. | |
our Government will need to refresh our policies on migration and I | :26:10. | :26:19. | |
cannot but mention welcoming maps for international students beyond | :26:20. | :26:25. | |
China. I must reiterate our call for international students to be taken | :26:26. | :26:30. | |
out of the net migration figures. The message to many parts of the | :26:31. | :26:34. | |
Commonwealth has been too harsh for too long, that they are not welcome | :26:35. | :26:43. | |
here. The irrepressible presence of the Bangladesh and Pakistani | :26:44. | :26:50. | |
diaspora is important to developing an export market and China is | :26:51. | :26:54. | |
already strengthening its position in these regions were our standing, | :26:55. | :26:58. | |
history and friendship is far more significant. The much respected and | :26:59. | :27:02. | |
praised noble lord Marlon has recently opened these doors and | :27:03. | :27:08. | |
possibilities by organising the first ever Commonwealth heads of | :27:09. | :27:12. | |
trade meeting with a view to increasing cooperation and trade | :27:13. | :27:16. | |
between Commonwealth Government and leading businesses. I had the | :27:17. | :27:18. | |
privilege of having a conversation with him and I wish him well in his | :27:19. | :27:26. | |
endeavours. Finally, the Commonwealth Secretary in | :27:27. | :27:32. | |
collaboration with the Council of Commonwealth and others have | :27:33. | :27:35. | |
launched the Commonwealth woman mentor schemes and I hope... Please | :27:36. | :27:41. | |
forgive me. I hope some of business leaders but | :27:42. | :28:00. | |
not meant a new generation of women from the Commonwealth. What will Her | :28:01. | :28:08. | |
Majesty's Government do to ensure all future political and economic | :28:09. | :28:13. | |
discussions in bed woman's the at its core and recognises the right of | :28:14. | :28:21. | |
women -- enshrines woman's at the core and recognises the importance. | :28:22. | :28:26. | |
What plans are in place by the Government to bring about peace | :28:27. | :28:32. | |
among the Commonwealth countries were long-standing confrontations,, | :28:33. | :28:42. | |
exposing young people to extremism. I wish to repeat my previous call in | :28:43. | :28:49. | |
this house, reparation and apologies for the hundreds of thousands of | :28:50. | :28:53. | |
women in Bangladesh raped by the Pakistani army. Well the noble lady | :28:54. | :28:57. | |
minister consider this proposition within the context of peace building | :28:58. | :29:06. | |
and except these demands... Finally, I would like to thank her and take | :29:07. | :29:10. | |
this opportunity to salute Her Majesty the Prime Minister for her | :29:11. | :29:18. | |
continued leadership towards a more peaceful and prosperous Commonwealth | :29:19. | :29:20. | |
and look forward to the 2018 meeting. | :29:21. | :29:29. | |
I welcome the chance to debate the Commonwealth in your Lordship's | :29:30. | :29:35. | |
house and declare my interest as the Prime Minister's trade envoy to | :29:36. | :29:39. | |
Uganda and Rwanda. For those of us who for many years argued we have | :29:40. | :29:46. | |
neglected the Commonwealth, our leaving the EU offers us a historic | :29:47. | :29:51. | |
push to reshape foreign policy and rekindle relations with this amazing | :29:52. | :29:59. | |
group of nations. I would putting my noble friend Lord Howell who... | :30:00. | :30:09. | |
Europe is origin, America our ally and the Commonwealth family. Like | :30:10. | :30:14. | |
all families, they are all different. Yet they are united by | :30:15. | :30:21. | |
strong foundations. None stronger than the amazing leadership of our | :30:22. | :30:27. | |
sovereign, Her Majesty the Queen. As a member of the other Howell said in | :30:28. | :30:34. | |
2013, the Commonwealth has -- a member of the other house said that | :30:35. | :30:38. | |
without constant renewal this relationship will gradually decay | :30:39. | :30:44. | |
and it is exactly as we knew we had been talking about today and should | :30:45. | :30:49. | |
continue to do so in future. I would like to ponder for a moment where we | :30:50. | :30:53. | |
have gone wrong. I think for main causes. Firstly, success in UK | :30:54. | :31:01. | |
governments have given little thought -- successive UK Government | :31:02. | :31:03. | |
is how we can make the Commonwealth effective as a trading body and many | :31:04. | :31:10. | |
ministers and civil servants see Britain -- fear Britain playing a | :31:11. | :31:17. | |
leading role in their organisation because of colonial fear. Secondly, | :31:18. | :31:22. | |
the second of a new charter in 2012 was meant to give the Commonwealth a | :31:23. | :31:27. | |
new direction and the members agreed to prioritise democracy and human | :31:28. | :31:31. | |
rights but that has not worked because we are prioritising areas | :31:32. | :31:37. | |
where there is the most contention. Trade, where is disputes. Thirdly, | :31:38. | :31:46. | |
our membership of the EU consumed is vast amount of diplomatic time and | :31:47. | :31:49. | |
resources about delivering an equivalent amount of outcome. | :31:50. | :31:55. | |
Finally, my Lords, and membership of the single market and Customs union | :31:56. | :32:00. | |
spread apathy amongst many businesses. British businesses who | :32:01. | :32:04. | |
have created what should be world leading product have limited | :32:05. | :32:07. | |
themselves to our nearest trading partners like the EU and neglected | :32:08. | :32:13. | |
emerging markets and Commonwealth where we need to be. | :32:14. | :32:21. | |
My Lords, if we will give common purpose, let us focus first on | :32:22. | :32:29. | |
trade. The Commonwealth comprises 52 largely English-speaking countries | :32:30. | :32:33. | |
to a combined population of 2.6 billion, covering one third of the | :32:34. | :32:39. | |
world, a combined GDP of more than $10 trillion and includes five G20 | :32:40. | :32:46. | |
countries with trade projected surplus -- trade projected to | :32:47. | :32:52. | |
surpass one clean dollars by 2020. -- $1 trillion. | :32:53. | :32:59. | |
We should keep in mind a recent report on the Commonwealth | :33:00. | :33:03. | |
highlighted it is 19% cheaper than average for a business in the | :33:04. | :33:09. | |
Commonwealth to trade because of commonalities like our legal system | :33:10. | :33:14. | |
and language. By reforming the Commonwealth around trade agendas we | :33:15. | :33:20. | |
solve one of our biggest problems and help spread prosperity. Trade is | :33:21. | :33:26. | |
of crucial benefits, not just for one, but for all countries | :33:27. | :33:30. | |
concerned. My Lords, we are all children of the Commonwealth and I | :33:31. | :33:38. | |
was born in that great continent of Africa so I would like to turn now | :33:39. | :33:42. | |
to our relationship with the 18 Commonwealth countries in that | :33:43. | :33:47. | |
continent. Whilst many things that we can do with the Commonwealth | :33:48. | :33:51. | |
level to build trade links with all nations there are many things we | :33:52. | :33:56. | |
should do any bilateral level as well. At the moment this seven of | :33:57. | :34:09. | |
those 18 countries, we should as a matter of urgency appoint trade | :34:10. | :34:16. | |
envoys for the remaining 11, including Zambia, Malawi and... Will | :34:17. | :34:25. | |
be minister, if there are such plans in place? We seek to build bridges | :34:26. | :34:32. | |
with these nations and to spend time on issues ministers simply cannot | :34:33. | :34:36. | |
always get to. I have been in the role for just over one year and we | :34:37. | :34:41. | |
are on course to double the trade we do with Uganda. And increase it in | :34:42. | :34:46. | |
Rwanda by up to 20 times the 2015 level. Other steps we can take, such | :34:47. | :34:54. | |
as aviation links with African Commonwealth countries. A decision | :34:55. | :35:03. | |
taken by British airways to suspend some flights, flight I should say | :35:04. | :35:09. | |
were almost always full, this was a shameful step and these were of a | :35:10. | :35:12. | |
bridge to these nations and I hope other providers will step in and | :35:13. | :35:17. | |
replace them. But that is difficult because there are no slots available | :35:18. | :35:24. | |
at either Gatwick and Heathrow. We often talk about aviation policy in | :35:25. | :35:29. | |
this house but in a post-Brexit world we need collectivity. We're 30 | :35:30. | :35:34. | |
years behind where we should be. -- collectivity. We should not only | :35:35. | :35:40. | |
have a third runway at Heathrow but a second at Gatwick and others. When | :35:41. | :35:44. | |
I see what other countries are doing it aviation I am ashamed at a | :35:45. | :35:52. | |
perfect heartedness. The decision taken by Barclays Bank to sell the | :35:53. | :35:55. | |
trading arm should be seen as a national scandal. They had been in | :35:56. | :36:02. | |
Africa for over 100 years and the brand is beyond compare and because | :36:03. | :36:06. | |
of legislation passed in this very house they are sending away one of | :36:07. | :36:11. | |
the great connections and that harms a great brand of UK plc. My Lords, | :36:12. | :36:23. | |
if I can finish with the idea and idea discussed with Lord Howell and | :36:24. | :36:29. | |
I also took up with the current Minister Commonwealth about the | :36:30. | :36:36. | |
Commonwealth Bank. It could unite the Commonwealth. The Queen | :36:37. | :36:48. | |
Elizabeth Commonwealth Bank. More fittingly -- collective organisation | :36:49. | :36:52. | |
binds places together and we already have the World Bank and the European | :36:53. | :36:57. | |
bank, so why not Commonwealth Bank? What I have in mind is something | :36:58. | :37:01. | |
like the Asian infrastructure bank which Britain is founding member of | :37:02. | :37:06. | |
and it could transform economic development across the Commonwealth, | :37:07. | :37:09. | |
supporting major infrastructure projects and possibly lending | :37:10. | :37:17. | |
directly to businesses. Across the Commonwealth book is a huge appetite | :37:18. | :37:23. | |
for new infrastructure investment, roads and energy projects which are | :37:24. | :37:27. | |
all essential to economic development. A Commonwealth Bank | :37:28. | :37:31. | |
would be a great way of demonstrating our commitment to our | :37:32. | :37:35. | |
family and showing Britain is still an outward looking nation. It will | :37:36. | :37:39. | |
help all of its members and in particular the poorest with the | :37:40. | :37:46. | |
means to commit to exploring the idea before the heads of Government | :37:47. | :37:49. | |
meeting next year. The recent Commonwealth trade meeting is a good | :37:50. | :38:00. | |
start. Next year's Commonwealth heads of Government meeting is | :38:01. | :38:04. | |
another excellent opportunity and let us be bold in our approach to | :38:05. | :38:07. | |
the Commonwealth and let us unite around increasing trade, investment | :38:08. | :38:14. | |
and cultural links and that Britain lead the charge for a Commonwealth | :38:15. | :38:18. | |
Bank. It will bring the Commonwealth together for its shared purpose and | :38:19. | :38:24. | |
also be a fitting tribute to Her Majesty's magnificent leadership of | :38:25. | :38:32. | |
that wonderful family of nations. My Lords, we have had a very | :38:33. | :38:38. | |
interesting afternoon with a variety of speeches and variety of issues. | :38:39. | :38:48. |