Extracts from Lords motion to consider the Sanctions (EU Exit)
(Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 4) Regulations 2020 Lord Chidgey
(LD) [V]:...Guinea is potentially an incredibly wealthy country in
terms of natural and mineral resources. It has up to one half of
the world’s bauxite reserves and a large deposit of high-grade iron
ore. In parallel with failed economic policies and state-sponsored
drug smuggling, a series of brutal dictatorships have enforced
control through murder, human rights...Request free trial
Extracts from
Lords motion to consider the Sanctions (EU Exit) (Miscellaneous
Amendments) (No. 4) Regulations 2020
(LD) [V]:...Guinea is potentially an incredibly
wealthy country in terms of natural and mineral resources. It has
up to one half of the world’s bauxite reserves and a large deposit
of high-grade iron ore. In parallel with failed economic policies
and state-sponsored drug smuggling, a series of brutal
dictatorships have enforced control through murder, human rights
abuses and imprisonment. My client at the time, the Minister of
Public Works, was imprisoned by the President and starved,
eventually to death. The 2009 violent outbreak was just one of many
such incidents. In January this year, the
French-Israeli mining tycoon, Beny Steinmetz, was
sentenced in a Swiss court to five years in jail, guilty of
corruption by bribing the late President Conté’s fourth wife,
Mamadie, with $10 million to persuade the President to transfer the
Simandou iron ore concession to Steinmetz for $170 million.
Steinmetz later sold on a 51% share for $250 billion. Is the
Minister confident that the sanctions delivered under these SIs are
sufficient to tackle this level of extreme corruption?
(Con) [V]:...By way of background to this statutory
instrument, since 2006 Europe has increasingly viewed eastern
Mediterranean gas as a resource with huge potential to provide
economic growth, mitigate climate change and reduce dependence on
Russian gas supplies. European companies have been involved in gas
exploration while the European Union has largely supported the idea
of a new pipeline that connects Israeli and
Egyptian fields with Cyprus and mainland Europe. However, things
might be changing. As there is an oversupply of non-Russian
liquefied natural gas—LNG—the importance of Mediterranean gas is
waning for Europe. Eastern Mediterranean gas is also providing a
massive headache, with rival claims by Turkey, Greece and Cyprus on
exclusive economic zones—EEZs—and exploration rights. In this short
contribution I want to focus on Cyprus. Gas production would be a
veritable boon for the cash-poor island.
EEZs are not easy. Greece is one of the signatories to the United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, UNCLOS. This designates a
country’s EEZ as extending 200 miles from its shores. Yet regional
powers, Turkey, Israel and Syria, have not signed
UNCLOS and do not accept its rulings on EEZs. Lebanon disputes its
maritime border with Israel which it claims was compromised
by Israel’s bilateral agreement with the Republic
of Cyprus. Turkey argues that Cyprus is entitled to only a 12-mile
EEZ until it reaches a resolution on the island’s status, and
claims that the TRNC has the right to explore in Greek Cypriot
waters. The TRNC believes that the gas resources belong to the
whole island and that the north should have its share—a view that I
do not feel is unreasonable...
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Extracts from
Lords motion to consider the Health Protection (Coronavirus,
Restrictions) (All Tiers) (England) (Amendment) Regulations
2021
(LD) [V]:Are the Government watching what is
happening in Israel where the level of
vaccination is higher than here but levels of illness are not
reducing as fast as expected? As Israeli
epidemiologist Dr Ran Balicer has commented:
“Vaccines work, but the picture is more complex than that.
Other steps are needed as well.”
Experts there believe that the lower level of adherence to
lockdown in Israel is part of the problem,
which should be a clear lesson for us here in the UK...
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department
of Health and Social Care ()
(Con):...The noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, is entirely
right on Israel Vaccinations are not a
panacea. Social distancing remains essential, transmissibility
after the vaccine is not clear cut, and therefore our message to
the British public is to be patient and maintain the face, space
and distance rules. She also asked about new genome sequencing. I
reassure her that we are increasing our capacity for turnaround
times and the amount of analysis that we provide. She is entirely
right that about 5% of the positive PCR tests done today are
genomically sequenced, so if a couple of cases of the South African
variant are found today, you can expect there to be more tomorrow.
But she is not right that central testing is more expensive than
local testing; it is in fact much, much cheaper. Nor are we
standing down resources: 783,851 tests were done yesterday—a
phenomenal number. We continue to invest in local outbreak
management: £925 million has been put in the contained outbreak
management fund, supporting local testing...
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