Extracts from Parliamentary Proceedings - March 16

Friday, 17 March 2017 07:28

Extracts from Lords debate on the Commonwealth The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Anelay of St Johns) (Con):...The high level of UK ministerial engagement with Commonwealth countries underlines the priority we give to the organisation. In recent months, the Foreign Secretary has visited Pakistan, India, Ghana and the Gambia—where he gave his strong support for President Barrow’s ambition to bring his country back into the Commonwealth. Mr Sharma has been to...Request free trial

Extracts from Lords debate on the Commonwealth

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Anelay of St Johns) (Con):...The high level of UK ministerial engagement with Commonwealth countries underlines the priority we give to the organisation. In recent months, the Foreign Secretary has visited Pakistan, India, Ghana and the Gambia—where he gave his strong support for President Barrow’s ambition to bring his country back into the Commonwealth. Mr Sharma has been to India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Australia and New Zealand; Mr Ellwood has visited Rwanda and Nigeria; the Secretary of State for International Trade has been to Canada and India; and the Trade Minister, my noble friend Lord Price, has been to Australia and Singapore...

Baroness Benjamin (LD):...The freezing or active exclusion of some British people who live overseas from the annual uprating adjustments to state pensions is a national shame and a great injustice. It could affect any British citizen. The impact is predominantly felt by recipients living in the Commonwealth. In fact, of the 550,000 British state pensioners living with a frozen pension worldwide, 520,000 live in the Commonwealth. That includes 247,000 in Australia, 144,000 in Canada, 65,000 in New Zealand and 36,000 in South Africa. There are substantial numbers in other countries too—India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Malaysia, Antigua, St Lucia, Montserrat and other overseas British territories. The list goes on and on...

...I know from my correspondence bag that mild bewilderment quickly turns to an understandable anger and resentment when those who have worked all their lives in the UK discover, often only after having moved overseas, that they will be landed with a frozen pension. It does not take great intelligence to work out the impact of pension freezing: incomes fall in real terms year-on-year. For the first few years it is an inconvenience but, as time goes by, it is a more serious concern. I met an 85 year-old recently who had had their state pension frozen since their retirement to Canada in 1998. At that time the state pension was £64.70 a week, and that is therefore what he continues to receive to this day. He is £25,000 poorer today than he would have been with an uprated pension and now, understandably, struggles to get by on his own income without the support of his family. He is, sadly, not alone. There are many older—and, as a result, poorer—frozen pensioners out there...

Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Lab):..The other important point is that Commonwealth countries have great experience in non-carbon energy systems, both large systems and microsystems. There will be many opportunities for collaboration. One of the interesting features of many Commonwealth countries is that there is tremendous competition for space. Therefore, we have to find systems that are economical in land use, if not using offshore areas. The City of London is noticeable now for helping these new systems. As the noble Lord, Lord Broers, said, one of the important things is to have connections between the developed and the developing countries of the Commonwealth. Canada, for example, has great experience in nuclear and wind power systems. We shall look forward to these kinds of schemes...

Baroness Uddin (Non-Afl):...Finally, the Commonwealth Secretariat, in collaboration with the Commonwealth Youth Council, the Commonwealth Youth Gender and Equality Network, and Rotary clubs in Canada and the Caribbean, has launched the Commonwealth Women’s Mentorship Scheme. I hope that some of our UK business leaders will participate and mentor the new generation of business women from the Commonwealth...

Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD):...I have had the privilege not only of taking part in outward visits; in many respects, as a British parliamentarian I have found inward visits the most useful in learning from our Commonwealth friends, especially now that we have national parliaments in Edinburgh, Wales and Belfast. We can learn from developments in the unicameral parliaments of smaller countries. This week, there has been a visit by a very strong delegation from Canada. We can learn much from that wonderful federal country, to cite just one example. I apologised to the Canadian delegates that they were here in such an uneventful political week in the United Kingdom, as they visited Westminster and Scotland. We have much to learn from our Commonwealth friends...

To read the whole debate, CLICK HERE

Extract from Business Questions

Gavin Newlands (Paisley and Renfrewshire North) (SNP): It is a pleasure to get back to my usual place in business questions—at the end. I am not sure whether the Leader of the House is aware of the Daughters of the Vote event that was held at the Canadian Parliament on International Women’s Day. Young women from each of Canada’s 338 constituencies or ridings sat in Parliament to gain experience and communicate their vision for Canada, hopefully inspiring them to participate in the political process for years to come. Can we have a debate in this place on how we can encourage more women into politics?

The Leader of the House of Commons (Mr David Lidington): The way in which some of today’s exchanges have highlighted the need to engage better with young people as an institution, and the way in which we have addressed, through these exchanges, the need to encourage greater opportunities for women, help to contribute to the hon. Gentleman’s objective. I hope that he would agree that it is not just about women. We also want to encourage young men, particularly those from working-class backgrounds, who often feel disaffected and alienated from mainstream democratic processes, and people from black and minority ethnic communities to be involved more. We can all do this through leadership in our constituencies and by using the services of the parliamentary education service, which really does provide first-class education materials and will happily host visits from schools and colleges here.