Extracts from Parliamentary Proceedings - March 13

Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD):My Lords, the United Kingdom currently enjoys free trade agreements with 32 out of the 52 Commonwealth countries by virtue of our membership of the European Union customs union. The Commonwealth Secretariat has said that if we leave that union and revert to World Trade Organization rules, such positive trading relations with those countries cannot be guaranteed, and not only that; the secretariat has also calculated that, on 2015 figures, the least developed Commonwealth countries would have faced $800 million of increased tariff payments to export to the United Kingdom if we were on WTO rules. Which part of that does the Minister agree would be, to quote the Foreign Secretary, “perfectly OK”?

The Minister of State, Department for International Trade (Lord Price) (Con): The main point of our meeting last week with Trade Ministers from around the Commonwealth was to agree a smooth transition, whether there will be an association agreement, a GSP scheme, an EPA or even an FTA. As the noble Lord pointed out, there are a number of countries in the Commonwealth with which we currently do not have FTAs, or any agreement other than WTO. At the moment, we are on WTO terms with Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India and many others. We believe that in the new world all those can be improved to the benefit of the UK and the Commonwealth as a whole.

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Extract from report stage (Lords) (day 3) of the Higher Education and Research Bill

Lord Hannay of Chiswick (CB):...The second question is: should we be worried if we do nothing? Frankly, we should be. The global market is growing rapidly, and all the available forecasts state that it will certainly do so for the next decade or so, and perhaps longer. The UK is second only to the US as a provider of higher education to overseas students, which is a tremendous achievement and a massive national asset, both economically and in terms of soft power. However, the figures also show a serious loss of market share to our main competitors—the US, Canada and Australia, to mention the three most important, none of which treats students as economic migrants for public policy purposes. That is the nub of the matter.

The 2015 figures tell the story: for the USA the numbers are up 10%; for Canada, up 10%; for Australia, up 9%; and for the UK, up by less than 1%. By far the most startling numbers are those for Indian students coming to the UK, which since 2010 are down 53%. India is surely a country we all believe and hope we will have a much closer relationship with when we negotiate trade relations following Brexit. We are becoming heavily overdependent on one source of overseas students: China, which now provides four times as many overseas students as any other foreign country. I would have thought this was a source of some vulnerability in an uncertain future...

Lord Bilimoria (CB):...As the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, said, the global environment is one in which the international student demand from countries such as India is increasing by 8% year on year. We have no target to increase the number of international students. This amendment very clearly says that the Government need to make that a priority. I go further and say that there should be a target. Countries such as France, for example, have a specific target to double the number of students from India by 2020. As the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, said, the number of Indian students went up to nearly 40,000 around 2010. It has now dropped by over 50%. Canada, the United States and Australia all have programmes to increase the number of international students. In fact, Australia has a Minister for international students. Last year in India, the Australian high commissioner said to me, “Thank you for your immigration policy on international students. You’re sending them to us instead”. That is ridiculous...

...Universities UK does not argue that students in the UK should not be counted. I do not think that anyone here is saying that; we are saying that they should not be included in a net migration target. Our direct competitors categorise international students as temporary citizens. In the United States they are classified as non-immigrants alongside tourists, business visitors and those in cultural exchange programmes. In Australia they are classified as temporary migrants alongside tourists and visitors, and in Canada they are classified as temporary residents. These are our direct competitors. If they can do it, why cannot we?...

Lord Watson of Richmond (LD): My Lords, I am very glad to follow the remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria, on one specific thing. Given Brexit, we are all very alert to what Britain’s competitive position will be after we leave the European Union. The noble Lord referred to competition from continental European universities—in particular, those in France, where there is a government-backed and very energetic programme to try to attract foreign students. Our advantage is the English language. We share that, of course—although some may dispute it—with the United States, Australia and even Canada, but we do not share it with France, Germany or some of our continental friends. We now really have to bear that in mind: it is an important competitive edge for the United Kingdom...

Lord Cameron of Dillington (CB): My Lords, there are a lot of reasons to support this amendment, quite apart from the general support that it receives in public opinion polls. There is the vital economic argument about the value added to our country and our universities, as numerous speakers have said. There is also the fact that our main competitors, as the noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria, has just emphasised—the United States, Canada and Australia—do not treat their visiting students as part of their net migration figures. Our Prime Minister has outlined a vision of a post-Brexit Britain as being truly global, and 75% of domestic students, as the noble Lord, Lord Smith, touched on, say that studying alongside international students is useful preparation for working in a global environment, which they will have to do. We need them to remain world focused and world class, and we must stop sending out the wrong signals to international students. We must become a truly global Britain and we need a change of emphasis...

Lord Green of Deddington (CB):...The first, most incredibly obvious, point to make—and it has not been made yet—is that any student who comes here, does his course, maybe works for a while and then goes home, does not contribute to net migration. They are counted in and they are counted out: they do not make any difference to net migration. What is more, all of our competitor countries mentioned today—Canada, the United States, and Australia—include, by the way in which they calculate their immigration figures, their students who stay on. There is no question about that. Therefore, the issue for public policy is, surely, how many do stay on illegally, not how many stay on legally. As my noble friend Lord Bilimoria mentioned, that is a matter, at the moment, of intense scrutiny by the ONS and the Home Office, and rightly so. That issue needs to be resolved. If there is a serious degree of overstaying, that has to be dealt with. If the statistics are weak, then we need to change our tune and perhaps change our policy...

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Extract from Ten minute rule motion (Commons) on Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations)

Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab):...I want to address specifically the concerns about decriminalisation. I want to be clear about what this Bill will and will not do. First, decriminalisation will not make it easier to access abortions post-24 weeks. Under the 1967 Act, abortions beyond 24 weeks are allowed only in exceptional circumstances—if, for example, the mother’s life is at risk. The decriminalisation can apply these exact same conditions, and we know from countries that have already decriminalised, such as Canada and parts of Australia, that there is no evidence of an increase in late-term abortions...

Maria Caulfield (Lewes) (Con):...Indeed, by undermining all the safeguards and regulations on abortion up to 24 weeks, the Bill would become a charter for extreme abortion practices such as sex-selective abortions. Polling among women shows that 88% favour an explicit ban on sex-selective abortion, yet many of the organisations behind the Bill oppose that ban and the hon. Lady herself voted against a ban in 2015. So much for trusting women. One of the models mentioned today points to a Canadian law that has, according to the Canadian Medical Association Journal, turned Canada into

“a haven for parents who would terminate female fetuses in favour of having sons”...

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Extract from Budget debate

Mike Gapes (Ilford South) (Lab/Co-op):...Fortunately, we have the possibility of an agreement with Canada based on the EU-Canada agreement that was negotiated over seven years. Similarly, the EU-South Korea agreement could provide a model for something that would be beneficial to us. However, as my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing, Southall (Mr Sharma) pointed out, as for the idea that we can just export thousands of crates of whisky to India, as implied by the Foreign Secretary, in some kind of great trade agreement, India generally does not want to consume vast amounts of whisky—certainly not Prime Minister Modi, who I understand is a teetotaller. The reality is that India will desire access for its young people to study in this country and a loosening of the visa regime. So much for this Government’s 100,000 yearly immigration target. The forecasts on which the OBR’s economic growth assessments are based assume 185,000 people coming to this country. How can that be reconciled? This is a Government of smoke and mirrors, and the Foreign Secretary’s pathetic performance today is a great example of that...

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