Extracts from Parliamentary proceedings - Jan 26
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Extracts from Exiting the EU oral questions Michael Fabricant
(Lichfield) (Con): Is my right hon. Friend aware that both Nissan
and Jaguar Land Rover are planning for how their export market
might well change if we have free trade agreements with India,
China and the United States? Does he agree that they are right to
say that this is an opportunity for manufacturing, not a
disadvantage? The Minister of State, Department for Exiting the
European Union (Mr David Jones): My...Request free trial
Extracts from Exiting the
EU oral questions
Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con): Is my right hon. Friend aware that both Nissan and Jaguar Land Rover are planning for how their export market might well change if we have free trade agreements with India, China and the United States? Does he agree that they are right to say that this is an opportunity for manufacturing, not a disadvantage?
The Minister of State, Department for Exiting the
European Union (Mr David Jones): My hon. Friend is
entirely right. Rather than talking down British manufacturing
industry, we have a duty to point out the benefits that will flow
from Brexit. There is a world out there and we should be seizing
the opportunities. Stephen Crabb (Preseli Pembrokeshire) (Con): Given that migration and visa issues will be close to the heart of negotiations for any future trade deals with India, America, New Zealand and Australia, as well as the EU, can my hon. Friend give an assurance that a new British immigration policy will be sufficiently well developed and can command public support in time for those negotiations to begin in a meaningful way? The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Mr Robin Walker): I absolutely agree with my right hon. Friend. This is a challenge for the whole of Government. We need to work across Whitehall with Departments such as the Home Office, the Treasury and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to come up with the best possible immigration system for a global Britain. Extracts from Westminster Hall debate on Civil Society Space
Jim Shannon (Strangford)
(DUP):...This issue is of some interest to me, as it is
to all the right hon. and hon. Members who have turned up to
participate in and add their thoughts to the debate. I will focus
on three countries: Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. Other Members
will focus on other countries of interest to them... “A significant number of Indian NGOs…have been noticed to be using people centric issues to create an environment which lends itself to stalling development projects.” Again, that is an attack on expressing oneself on important issues—environmental issues or whatever—in civil society. The report mentioned several campaigns targeting the Government on economic and development issues. Subsequent sweeping measures to clamp down on NGOs receiving foreign funding have undermined the work of civil society. Following the Intelligence Bureau’s report, the Ministry of Home Affairs barred several NGOs and human rights activists with international links from receiving foreign funds by suspending their licences for six months and freezing their bank accounts. There are significant concerns that human rights defenders and NGOs, and foreign organisations that fund them, are becoming targets for state repression. That is exacerbated by nationalist groups calling on the Government to curb the work of foreign NGOs in the country, claiming that foreign involvement is not conducive to India’s development. The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010—the FCRA—restricts the work of human rights defenders, as do some income tax regulations. The US Government—whom it seems we will be in partnership with, based on what the President has said—have expressed concerns over the crackdown on the activities of both local and international NGOs in India. The US Government have seen it, and we must back them up on that. Three UN human rights experts—the special rapporteur on human rights defenders, Michael Forst; the special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai; and the special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye—have also recently called on India to repeal the FCRA, as it is increasingly being used to obstruct civil society.
All NGOs receiving external funds are required by law to register
with the Ministry of Home Affairs. Again, the Indian Government are using tax regulations to
restrict and control what happens. In April 2016, Maina Kiai
showed that the FCRA does not conform to international laws and
standards. Those are clear issues. The Department for
International Development and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
have recognised that, agreeing with the Charity Commission in
2012 that there was scope for the UK to contribute more actively
to the Working Group on Enabling and Protecting Civil Society.
However, that is not reflected in that group’s current
membership.... Mr Khalid Mahmood (Birmingham, Perry Barr) (Lab):...Several Members have made huge contributions. The hon. Member for Strangford, who is passionate about this subject, quite rightly raised the issues that he strongly believes should be looked at in Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. Where people go missing without any trace or are just moved out of place, and where people are detained for long periods without trial or justice, discriminated against because of their religion or victimised for who they are, that needs to be addressed. Those are important issues against which we need to assess countries and where we need to build capacity.
I was actually in Lahore in Pakistan over Christmas. I understand
a lot of the issues that the hon. Gentleman raises, but I did see
one bit of progress. In the majority of places, there was a huge
celebration of Christmas. I saw a huge amount of decoration and
many Christmas trees, which was very heartening. In the lobby of
the hotel that I stayed in, carols were sung in the evening, and
people came out. That is a good sign. If the mainstream of the
community starts to accept things like that, where there are
issues at a local level, people can be stopped from using the
legislation that is available to them to persecute the Christian
community in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh or anywhere else. That is a
positive start, as far as I saw, but there are certainly issues
that need to be looked at. Certainly issues have been raised in
relation to the Ahmadiyya community. I understand that. All the
people living in that country should be treated the same.
Equally, I would say that to India...
Extracts from Lords
debate on Women and Girls: Employment Skills in the
Developing World Baroness Flather (CB): My Lords, it is said that women form half the population of the world, do three-quarters of the work, own 1% of the property and get 10% of the world’s wages. This may or may not be exactly true, but to some extent we know that women do not earn much and do more work than men. For the past 10 years, I have focused not on educated women who are doing well or who are entrepreneurs but on the needs of poor women in developing countries. The two areas I have focused on are the Indian subcontinent and Africa. I know the Indian subcontinent well personally and I have visited many countries in Africa. In Africa, you see the women working, working, working, and you see the men standing outside a shop or a place where they can get drink, chatting with other men. It is quite depressing to think that these men can enjoy their life to such an extent and all the work has to be done by the women. I have not been to Nigeria, but I am told that, there, a man will marry three wives: one to look after the children, one to look after him and one to do the agriculture. This is not the world that we should be looking at in the 21st century. Everybody agrees that in developing countries women’s lives are not good, that they are not doing well and not getting an education. Who is taking the initiative to fight this? I know that DfID is doing what it can, but we have to work with the Governments of these countries and say, “Look, your women are not in the economy—you are not using a valuable resource in your economy”. If China did not have women in its economy, would it have done as well as it has? No, it would not. Indian and African women are not in the economy. I know that my noble friend Lord Loomba’s particular interest is in widows, and Indian and African widows have a terrible time—all widows have a terrible time. Without a man, they lose their identity and lose whatever the man might have owned. Some Indian widows are taken to places of pilgrimage and left there. They literally have to sing for their supper. It is horrible. The lives of women in developing countries are appalling, and even those of us who think we understand, through the newspapers and our own knowledge, do not understand. The reality is far, far worse than we think it is.
With that in mind, the year before last I set up the charity
Women Matter—we are still working on trying to make it happen.
Its main concept is skilling women and girls and finding them
paid employment. In India and Africa, women are not seen as
normal employees. I know of a woman from Kenya who went to the
city and got a job. When she came back to her village, they
refused to let her in. There are so many stupid things that do
not help anybody, including the country that the women live in.
My proposal, through this charity, is to try to find big
companies that will meet their CSR by employing women. India has
set aside 2% of net profits for CSR. It could all be used to help
women, but I am sure it will not be. We will talk about it for
ever, but I do not know how we will make that happen. How will we
make people realise that women, who are crucial to the world in
every way, are treated so badly?
The Minister of State, Department for International
Development (Lord Bates) (Con):...Education is one
aspect of equipping women and girls with the right employment
skills. It is also imperative that we look towards technical and
vocational education, including working with the private sector,
to ensure that they have the right skills that are valued in the
labour market. DfID’s skills for oil and gas Africa programme is
an example of working in partnership with industry to promote
skills development for local people so they can access jobs and
business opportunities linked to oil and gas investments in east
Africa. It is traditionally a male-dominated sector, and DfID’s
intervention aims to create 84,000 jobs for women and girls—40%
of which will be for young people aged between 15 and 24. There
are of course many other examples, and the noble Lord, Lord Loomba, gave some of his own in
partnership with the chamber of commerce in India... Extracts from Lords debate on Brexit: UK International Relations Lord Jay of Ewelme (CB):...As others have said, our relationship with the US will be tested tomorrow when the Prime Minister meets President Trump. No doubt she will talk to him about a possible US-UK trade deal on which we can expect the Americans, like the Indians, the Australians and others, to negotiate as toughly in their own interests as I hope we shall in ours. The Prime Minister will also be able to say that we share the view of the US on the need to counter international terrorism and will want to continue to work together with it to do that, including through the sharing of intelligence. But I hope she will say that we do not countenance torture, which includes waterboarding; that we are not in favour of closing our borders to those who are fleeing from conflict and repression in the Middle East—here I agree with what my noble friend Lord Hylton has just said about refugees; and that we believe that the UN will continue to have a key role to play in an uncertain world. I hope that the Prime Minister will also seek to convince President Trump that the continued coherence and indeed strengthening of NATO is in western interests and, as she has promised, that the promotion and protection of western values needs a strong European Union, albeit without Britain, as well as that the break-up of the European Union and a retreat into a world of protectionist nation states is not in anyone’s interest... Lord Wallace of Saltaire (LD):...The only substantial speech by Mr Johnson that I can find since then was given at a conference in Delhi on 21 January. He made no mention in it of the Commonwealth, in the capital of what had been the jewel in the crown of the British Empire, probably because he had been told by his staff that the Indian Government are not enthusiastic about returning to a subordinate role in a British-led network. There was much in the speech on Scotch whisky exports and about the “pesky” tariffs that India imposes to limit them, but how nevertheless India and the UK stand together in their commitment to free trade. “Pesky” is a term that I last came across when I was a boy reading comics, and it is interesting that that is the language that our Foreign Secretary still uses. He continued, “we have just decided to restore our military presence east of Suez with a £3 billion commitment over ten years and a naval support facility in Bahrain. We have a commitment to the whole world … And as our naval strength increases in the next ten years”— the noble Lord, Lord West, will be very glad— “including two new aircraft carriers, we will be able to make a bigger contribution. In the Indian Ocean, we have a joint UK-US facility on Diego Garcia—an asset that is vital for our operations in the region”.
It is exactly 50 years since Harold Wilson’s Labour Government
announced the UK’s withdrawal from east of Suez on the grounds
that it no longer made any sense to continue to defend an empire
that had now been given its freedom. Boris Johnson is too young to remember
that: he was only three at the time. We maintained our presence
across the Indian Ocean then with a fleet that included
between 35 and 40 frigates, against the 16 we have now, as well
as bases in Aden and Singapore. The Foreign Secretary claimed
that Diego Garcia is a vital UK, as well as US, facility. Perhaps
the Minister can remind us how many UK military personnel we have
there—the last time that I was told, I think there were two;
perhaps there are now four—and whether any British military
assets are based there. This image of the world is not about
taking back control, it is about taking Britain back to the
1960s, boys’ comics included... |