12.35 pm The Minister for Europe and the Americas (Sir Alan
Duncan) At last Thursday’s statement, Mr Speaker, I undertook to
update the House as appropriate, and I thank you for the
opportunity to do so now. At this very moment, my right hon.
Friend the Foreign...Request free trial
12.35 pm
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At last Thursday’s statement, Mr Speaker, I undertook
to update the House as appropriate, and I thank you for
the opportunity to do so now.
At this very moment, my right hon. Friend the Foreign
Secretary is on his way to the Caribbean to see for
himself our stricken overseas territories and further
drive the extensive relief efforts that are under way.
The thoughts of this House and of the whole country are
with those who are suffering the ravages of one of the
most powerful Atlantic hurricanes ever recorded. It
followed Hurricane Harvey, and was set to be followed
by Hurricane Jose. More than half a million British
nationals, either residents or tourists, have been in
the path of Hurricane Irma, which has caused
devastation across an area spanning well over 1,000
miles.
Given the circumstances, the overall death toll is low,
but, unfortunately, five people died in the British
Virgin Islands and four in Anguilla. At this critical
moment, our principal focus is on the 80,000 British
citizens who inhabit our overseas territories of
Anguilla, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the British
Virgin Islands.
Commonwealth realms in the Caribbean have also
suffered. They include Antigua and Barbuda and the
Bahamas as well as other islands such as St Martin and
Cuba. We have around 70 British nationals requiring
assistance on St Martin, and we are working with the
US, German and Dutch authorities to facilitate the
potential departure of the most vulnerable via
commercial means today.
To prepare for the hurricane season, the Government
acted two months ago—in July—by dispatching the Royal
Fleet Auxiliary Mounts Bay to the Caribbean. This
16,000-tonne landing ship from the RFA is one of the
most capable vessels at our disposal. Before she left
the UK in June, the ship was pre-loaded with disaster
relief supplies, facilities for producing clean water
and a range of hydraulic vehicles and equipment. In
addition to the normal crew, the Government also
ensured that a special disaster relief team, consisting
of 40 Royal Marines and Army personnel, was also on
board. This pre-positioning of one of our most
versatile national assets, along with an extra
complement of highly skilled personnel, allowed the
relief effort to begin immediately after the hurricane
had passed. By Friday night, the team from RFA Mounts
Bay had managed to restore power supplies at Anguilla’s
hospital, rebuild the emergency operation centre, clear
the runway and make the island’s airport serviceable.
The ship then repositioned to the British Virgin
Islands where its experts were able to reopen the
airport.
Meanwhile in the UK, the Government dispatched two RAF
transport aircraft on Friday carrying 52 personnel and
emergency supplies for more than 1,000 people. On
Saturday, another two aircraft left for the region to
deliver a Puma transport helicopter and ancillary
supplies. This steady tempo of relief flights has been
sustained and yesterday it included a Voyager and a
C-17. I can assure the House that that will continue
for as long as required.
Already, 20 tonnes of UK aid has arrived, including
more than 2,500 shelter kits and 2,300 solar lanterns.
Nine tonnes of food and water supplies are due to be
flown out to Anguilla imminently and will be followed
by building materials. A further 10,000 buckets, 2,500
solar lanterns and 300 shelter kits will be arriving
this week on commercial flights.
As I speak, 997 British military personnel are in the
Caribbean. RFA Mounts Bay arrived in Anguilla again
yesterday at dusk, as 47 police officers arrived in the
British Virgin Islands to assist the local
constabulary. We should all acknowledge and thank the
first responders of the overseas territories’ own
Governments. They have shown leadership from the start
and are now being reinforced by personnel from the UK.
Many people—military and civilian—have shown fantastic
professionalism and courage in their response to the
disaster. I hope that I speak for the whole House in
saying a resounding and heartfelt, “Thank you”, to all
of them. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear.”] This initial
effort will soon be reinforced by the flagship of the
Royal Navy, HMS Ocean. The Government have ordered our
biggest warship in service to leave her NATO task in
the Mediterranean and steam westwards with all speed.
HMS Ocean loaded supplies in Gibraltar yesterday and
will be active in the Caribbean in about 10 days.
The Prime Minister announced last Thursday—within 24
hours of the hurricane striking—a £32 million fund for
those who have suffered. But in the first desperate
stages, it is not about money; it is about just getting
on with it. The Foreign Office crisis centre has been
operating around the clock since last Wednesday,
co-ordinating very closely with Department for
International Development and Ministry of Defence
colleagues. The crisis centre has taken nearly 2,500
calls since then and is handling 2,251 consular cases.
The Government have convened daily meetings of our
Cobra crisis committee. Over the weekend, the Foreign
Secretary spoke to the Governors of Anguilla and the
British Virgin Islands, along with Governor Rick Scott
of Florida, where Irma has since made landfall over the
weekend.
I have spoken to the United States Assistant Secretary
of State for European and Eurasian Affairs about the
United States Virgin Islands in respect of logistic
support for the British Virgin Islands. As well as
those affected across the Caribbean, some 420,000
British citizens are in Florida either as residents or
visitors, and UK officials are providing every possible
help. The Foreign Secretary spoke to our ambassador in
Washington and our consul general in Miami, who has
deployed teams in Florida’s major airports to offer
support and to issue emergency travel documents to
those who need them.
The House will note that Irma has now weakened to a
tropical storm that is moving north-west into Georgia.
I spoke to the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda on
Friday. The hurricane inflicted some of its worst blows
on Barbuda, and a DFID team has been deployed on the
island to assess the situation and make
recommendations. Put starkly, the infrastructure of
Barbuda no longer exists. I assured its Prime Minister
of our support and I reiterate that this morning. On
Saturday, the Foreign Secretary spoke to the Prime
Minister of Barbados to thank him for his country’s
superb support, acting as a staging post for other UK
efforts across the Caribbean.
We should all be humble in the face of the power of
nature. Whatever relief we are able to provide will not
be enough for many who have lost so much, but hundreds
of dedicated British public servants are doing their
utmost to help and they will not relent in their
efforts.
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Let me thank the Minister for advance sight of his
statement. I join him in commending the British personnel
who are playing such a typically superlative part in
leading the relief effort. I also join him in sending my
thoughts and those of everyone in the House to those
individuals in the British overseas territories and
beyond who have lost their lives as a result of the
hurricane, and to the tens of thousands more who have
lost their homes and livelihoods in its terrible wake.
The unprecedented nature of the devastation makes it all
the more important for us to ensure that the Governments
and British citizens of the overseas territories, British
expats living on the affected islands and British
tourists visiting the region receive all the help they
need as urgently as they can get it to cope with the
immediate aftermath of the disaster, and to begin the
long and arduous process of recovery.
I appreciate the efforts spelt out by the Minister today
and last Thursday, and I know how hard he and his civil
servants have been working over the past week, but he
will equally appreciate the widespread criticism that the
Government’s response has been both too little and too
late. That criticism has come not just from the
Opposition or from the respective Chairs of the Select
Committee on International Development and the Select
Committee on Foreign Affairs, but from the very groups I
mentioned earlier: the Governments and British citizens
of the overseas territories, British expats and British
tourists. Theirs is the experience and criticism that
really counts. So let us consider what they have been
saying and the questions they have been asking, which the
Minister will perhaps address today.
First, on the issue of evacuation, I thank the Minister
for what he said, but it is alarming to many of us on
both sides of the House that almost a week has gone by
and he is still talking about the potential evacuation of
British citizens, and, even then, only the most
vulnerable. By contrast, across the islands, we hear the
same accounts that the French, Dutch and American
Governments have swiftly evacuated their citizens. It is
the British who are left stuck, with the only commercial
plane services available charging extortionate rates to
get them out. A young British woman on the British Virgin
Islands, holidaying with her mum and her two-year-old
son, says:
“The UK should be doing more. People need evacuating.
It’s becoming dangerous with supplies running low. I’ve
looked at getting out but pilots want £2,250.”
That is clearly unacceptable, and it proves the point
that, with the security situation deteriorating in many
of the affected islands, all British citizens should be
considered vulnerable. So can the Minister clarify for
the House when all British citizens who want to be
evacuated can expect to be evacuated, and what the
Government are doing in the meantime to guarantee their
safety, their shelter and their security?
On the wider issue of safety and security, the Minister
will be aware of the concerns on islands such as Tortola
that, as desperation and shortages grow, law and order is
completely breaking down. In the absence of a clean-up
operation, the threats of disease and water-borne
infections are also growing. One resident has said:
“There is debris all over the island… people are running
around like headless chickens… there has to be
some…coordination.”
So what are the Government doing as part of their
emergency support for the overseas territories to help
their Governments re-establish some basic command and
control, to maintain law and order where it is
threatening to break down, and to put in place emergency
plans to stop the causes of preventable, water-borne
diseases before those diseases begin to spread?
Thirdly and finally, as we talk about the need to help
the Governments of the overseas territories, and we hear
the reassurances from the Minister and his colleagues
that they are in it for the long term, we have to ask
what that means. It cannot mean simply cleaning up the
damage that has been done, giving people new homes and
new livelihoods, and hoping that this will last for a few
years until the next hurricane strikes. That is not
fixing things for the long term; it is just patching
things up until next time. With climate change making
such hurricanes more intense and more frequent and
showing no signs of slowing down, we urgently need a
long-term plan for the overseas territories—a plan that
is built around resilience and sustainability. So can the
Minister confirm that when the Government sit down with
their counterparts in the affected islands, the question
of coping with climate change and future extreme weather
events will be at the top of the agenda, with financial
commitments to match, and will not, as usually happens,
be the afterthought that always proves too difficult and
too expensive?
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I thank the right hon. Lady for her comments. I am glad
that, in her opening remarks, she recognised the
magnitude of the hurricane—the largest natural disaster
of this nature I think we have seen in any of our
lifetimes. I am sorry, though, about the criticism she is
levelling. Having seen this in the very centre and having
watched it, and knowing, as a former DFID Minister, what
is possible and what is done by the Government, I am
afraid I comprehensively reject her criticisms, which I
think are unjustified. It is inevitable that people in
distress will want more, but it is essential to
appreciate that when half a million people are hit by a
hurricane, we cannot evacuate half a million people. What
we have to do, particularly for those who wish to reside
in the countries in which they permanently live, is to
bring them help and, of course, the reconstruction the
right hon. Lady mentioned. For instance, on St Martin,
which is not one of our overseas territories—it is both
Dutch and French—we are working closely with the Dutch
and French. As I said in my statement, we hope that
people will be evacuated even today.
It is quite right that people are prioritised according
to need, and that is exactly what our call centre has
done with the over 2,000 calls it has had, which have
been logged and prioritised, and people have then,
through all the logistical work I described in the
statement, been evacuated and helped as required.
Let me say something about security, because that is a
perfectly valid point that the right hon. Lady has
raised. We had a serious threat of the complete breakdown
of law and order in the British Virgin Islands. The
prison was breached, and over 100 very serious prisoners
escaped. What we then had to contend with—this is what
Ministers, the MOD and everyone else are for—was how to
cope with the threat that followed from that. So on
Friday we put some Marines off RFA Mounts Bay to protect
the governor and maintain law and order. I am pleased to
say that 48 hours later we have been able significantly
to reinforce the Marines. We have maintained and kept law
and order on the British Virgin Islands, which at one
point could have dramatically threatened the already
unfortunate plight of those who have been hit by the
hurricane. I hope that the right hon. Lady recognises
what the governor there has done, what the Marines did,
and what we all did to make sure that law and order was
preserved.
On the long term, the right hon. Lady is right. DFID
looks at the long term in all its programmes, quite
rightly. In the face of growing severe weather incidents,
it is important to build resilience and proper defences
into the infrastructure wherever possible, but the
infrastructure in a lot of these overseas territories is
very flimsy, very small and very vulnerable. Perhaps the
silver lining in the cloud is that where so much has been
swept away, when things are rebuilt they will be better
able to withstand the ferocity of the sort of hurricane
that we have seen over the past week.
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Order. I gently point out that a Member who toddled into
the Chamber after the statement started should not then
stand expecting to be called. That is in defiance of our
conventions.
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I am grateful to the Minister for his statement. I would
like to reinforce his heartfelt comments about all the
personnel who have been involved in sorting out this
horrendous damage. For example, in the BVI and Anguilla,
there has been total destruction of all the schools. All
15 schools in the BVI have been destroyed. Does he agree
that there is a need for a comprehensive, five-year
reconstruction package? Does he also agree that one of
the lessons coming out of this disaster is the need for a
permanent naval base in one of the OTs? If the French and
Dutch can do that—they both had two warships on standby
before the hurricane—then surely we should. It would send
a really strong signal of solidarity to the OTs.
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As a former Foreign Office Minister, I totally respect
the thinking and comments of my hon. Friend. We do not
directly govern the overseas territories; they govern
themselves. It is perhaps questionable whether it is
appropriate, looking at the geography, to have a
permanent base at any of them. However, we do rotate our
naval assets so as best to cover the danger of hurricanes
and to be able to respond to them. I think that in this
case that has been shown to be very effective. The
trouble is that if we have permanent assets, people or
machinery pre-positioned, they can often get hit by the
very hurricane that we are trying to respond to a few
days later.
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First and foremost, our thoughts are once again with
those who are affected by the impact of the devastating
Hurricane Irma. The SNP echoes the widespread calls for
the UK Government to step up their efforts to ensure that
those who are in need of urgent assistance receive it as
swiftly and safely as possible. We welcome the fact that
more than 700 British troops and 50 police officers have
been sent to the British Virgin Islands after they were
battered by the most powerful storm recorded in the
Atlantic ocean. In addition, 20 tonnes of aid and £32
million is a start, but there must be more and we must
ask the Minister to provide details of additional help to
come. This is too little and too late.
There is real concern about the lack of preparedness by
the UK Government in responding to the hurricane. The
severity of Hurricane Irma had been predicted and there
was time to prepare, but the UK Government did not do so.
It is clear that in comparison to other territories’ and
Governments’ responses, the UK Government have been
lagging behind in their support and strategy. To give
just one example to put this beyond any doubt, the French
Government deployed their military before the storm, but
the one ship sent by the UK Government arrived only on
Thursday. Of course, if the UK Government had a proper
shipbuilding strategy and this was implemented, they
might be able to act sooner. Will the Secretary of State
for International Development learn from the example of
other Governments with reconstruction efforts and
emergency funds? Once the International Development
Committee is reconvened in Parliament, an inquiry into
the UK Government’s slow response must be made an
immediate priority to ensure that the UK is as prepared
as it can be in dealing with such disasters.
Why have the UK Government lagged behind other countries
in their support and strategy in responding adequately to
Hurricane Irma? As I said last week—we have not heard a
word about it so far from the Government Benches—it is
clear that climate change plays a clear part in the
ever-increasing 100-to-500-year storms that we have seen
last week, as echoed by Gaston Browne, the Prime Minister
of Barbuda. I therefore ask again what further pressures
the UK Government are putting on Donald Trump to change
his stance on the Paris climate change agreement.
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Again, I am rather dismayed by the hon. Gentleman’s
sweeping criticisms of the efforts that have been made,
because they are unsupported by the facts. For instance,
the French do not deploy in advance specifically for
hurricanes; they have troops permanently based there
because the nature of French overseas territories
government is different from ours. Our overseas
territories are self-governing; the French govern
directly, and therefore they have soldiers there all the
time. But if they are there, depending on where the
hurricane goes, they may not necessarily be in the right
place, and some of their assets which they hoped would
help may have been destroyed. Our flexible naval
deployment is the best way of helping people in response
to a hurricane when we know pretty well only at the last
minute exactly where the force of the hurricane is going
to hit.
On a shipbuilding strategy, I do not know where the hon.
Gentleman has been over the past few weeks, but we have
just announced one. Perhaps he might have the good grace
to admit that we have announced a shipbuilding strategy
and that instead of criticising us, he ought to be
standing there saying, “Thank you very much.”
I reiterate the point—perhaps I chose my language
imperfectly—that we are not so much evacuating people,
because that is not always the right thing to do,
particularly for those who want to live there and stay
near their homes, as helping them to depart in a way that
I would argue, and I think we can prove, is very
efficient and is the right way done to the highest
standards.
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I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement to the House
today, and very much welcome the additional assets that
have come forward. I join him particularly in thanking
the military units who were so quick to respond. RFA
Mounts Bay and the Royal Marines, alongside whom I have
served for the best part of a decade, have demonstrated
the flexibility that we know they all have. Given the
different responses by different countries in different
ways, based on their own experience, what lessons learned
is he hoping to put in place so that when such an event,
sadly, occurs again—as we must expect it to—we are even
better prepared?
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I am very pleased to welcome praise from the new Chairman
of the Foreign Affairs Committee and delighted at this
new experience for me as I stand here today. There are
always lessons learned, and there are always exercises
after an event like this to make sure that we do learn
the lessons. The focus at the moment should not be on
levelling criticism where it is not justified; it should
be—that is what this statement is about—on giving
immediate help to those who desperately need it. The
response we are giving is “all hands on deck”, and that
is where the focus of our attention needs to be at the
moment.
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My constituent has been stuck on
St Martin since the hurricane, his house completely
demolished, with no access to food and water, and
increasingly frightened about roving mobs. He finally
managed to get off the island last night under his own
steam. I am sorry to have to tell the Minister that he
and his family in Exeter have been extremely angry and
frustrated by what they see as the inadequacy of the
British Government response, particularly compared with
that of the French and Dutch Governments. However, my
question is on the longer term. These territories receive
significant European Union help. Will the Minister
guarantee that, if and when we leave the European Union,
this will continue?
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I have taken a close interest in the calls to the centre,
particularly from Members of Parliament. I saw the right
hon. Gentleman’s name among those who had called a
specific helpline and investigated the plight of his
constituent and confirmed that he had come off the
island. As I said earlier, we have about 70 British
people on St Martin, but I would ask the House to
understand that it is not one of our overseas
territories. It is half Dutch and half French. That is
why we have been working with them, as they are best
equipped on an island that is one of theirs, to help the
British. I would like to send warm words of gratitude to
the French and the Dutch for the co-operation they have
shown in helping British citizens as much as they have
helped their own.
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I am sure that we will all welcome Labour’s latter-day
conversion to our responsibilities and obligations to the
British overseas territories, but many of the islands
that are worst affected in the Caribbean are also part of
the Commonwealth family. Has my right hon. Friend or one
of his ministerial colleagues yet spoken to the
secretary-general of the Commonwealth to see if there
could be a co-ordinated Commonwealth response to help out
some of the worst affected areas?
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I have not done so personally, but I take note of the
suggestion that someone should do so. The Commonwealth
countries do not necessarily have massive financial
resources of their own to spend, but any co-operation to
try to work together to address the crisis can only be
welcomed and I will make sure that that phone call is
made.
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Our thoughts are with all those affected and the British
personnel who are now helping in the region. I welcome
the progress we have seen over the past few days, but
will the Minister respond to two concerns that have been
raised? The first is that the Royal Navy was unable to
land heavy equipment on Anguilla because they could not
use the docks or the beach. More broadly, we were less
well prepared on the ground than both the French and the
Dutch. For example, there was no stored equipment such as
water, tents and generators on land, whereas such
equipment was stored by those other countries. What
lessons will he learn for the future so that we do not
have these mistakes again?
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The conditions when Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel Mounts
Bay arrived at Anguilla were still very severe, but what
they did have was the helicopter so they were able not
only to do an immediate assessment across Anguilla but to
restore power to the hospital and get the airport going
again. What they did was significant. In terms of landing
on difficult windy sands, the vessel did not do so on
that occasion partly because we were trying to maximise
or optimise the utility of the ship by getting it to do
what it could urgently to make do and mend in Anguilla
before going to the British Virgin Islands, where it
became clear that the devastation was greater and where
the population is larger. Before the threat of Hurricane
Jose came in, which would have meant that they had to
sail away again, they brought urgent help to the British
Virgin Islands having left half their supplies to help
Anguilla. Those operational decisions are to be admired.
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HMS Illustrious helped greatly during Typhoon Haiyan in
the Philippines, as did HMS Bulwark during Ebola in
Sierra Leone, and now RFA Mounts Bay in the Caribbean
followed by HMS Ocean. It is absolutely vital that the
Royal Navy and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary have the vessels
to back up British work on international development, and
we know that HMS Ocean is due to be decommissioned. Can
the Minister assure me that this is being fed right into
the naval shipbuilding strategy?
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There is a shipbuilding strategy for two new aircraft
carriers, but obviously on the detail of our shipbuilding
and fleet the answer should come from Ministers from the
Ministry of Defence rather than me, but I reiterate that
Mounts Bay did an incredible job, is perfectly well
suited to the task and had been pre-positioned with
appropriate supplies. That is the answer to the question
asked by the hon. Member for Liverpool, West Derby
(Stephen Twigg), the Chairman of the International
Development Committee, because to take supplies in from a
ship that has not faced the risk of those supplies being
destroyed is the best way of bringing urgent relief to
where it is most needed. I would point out as well, on
the question of co-operation, that we have HMS Ocean
leaving Gibraltar, which will also carry helicopters on
behalf of the French.
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The Minister should know that my constituents Christine
and Tony Bibby, who are in their early and late 70s, have
been stranded on St Martin since the hurricane. They have
a desperately worried family here in Britain and are
running out of water and food and have no electricity.
There has been very little news about what positive
action will help this couple. May I have some
clarification? Will they be made safe, will they get the
emergency supplies they need to sustain life, and will
the evacuation proceed very quickly?
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Again, I have seen the hon. Gentleman’s name among those
of many colleagues who have been in touch to represent
their constituents’ needs. As I have said, there are 70
British on St Martins. It is not one of our overseas
territories, but we are working with the French and the
Dutch and we are confident that those in most need—and I
hope more—can be assisted to depart today. The whole
purpose of our hotline and the crisis centre is to ensure
that we can properly rank people in order of need so that
if, for instance, they are elderly, running out of food,
have dependants or suffer from an illness, they will go
higher up the list of priorities and will get help more
quickly than the more able bodied.
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I think that any fair-minded person would recognise the
self-evident priority that the Government have given to
their responsibilities to the British Virgin Islands and
Anguilla. I am sure that my right hon. Friend also
welcomes the €2 million that the European Commission has
made available to the territories and countries of the
member states affected, but that stands in sharp contrast
to the £32 million that the Government have made
available. Pre-Irma, the only source of development aid
for Anguilla was the European Union because of the rules
of our development assistance. Anguilla borders the
European Union in St Martin. What consideration is now
being given to future support for Anguilla after we leave
the European Union?
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Our focus at the moment is on helping those who require
help and who are suffering from the devastating effects
of the hurricane. I am sure that these policy issues will
be addressed in due course. As my hon. Friend understands
well, there are a number of overseas territories that
receive assistance. Under the overseas development
legislation, we are obliged to meet their reasonable
needs. Three of them have been caught up in this, and no
doubt assistance in the future will be reviewed following
the consequences of the hurricane.
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Last week and over the weekend, I raised with the Foreign
Office the case of two families caught up in the
hurricane—one in the British Virgin Islands and two
constituents in St Martin. I acknowledge that the
situation is incredibly difficult and pay tribute to the
service personnel who have worked hard to provide
support, but I would say to the Minister that the
resources he has outlined and the rescue operation he has
spoken of were simply not what was experienced by people
on the ground. May I press him, as other hon. Members
have, on the long-term plans to improve future responses?
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I am very conscious that the island that has been most
mentioned today in terms of the needs and plight of
constituents is St Martin, which is, strictly speaking,
not ours, although that does not mean that we do not want
to extend as much help as we possibly can. All I would
say to the hon. Lady is that if she still has
constituents facing difficulties I would urge her to get
in touch with me directly. I will do my utmost to
investigate where they are on the list of priorities, but
the latest advice I had, before I made the statement, was
that in the case of St Martin the cases of pressing need
should largely be addressed today.
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Does my right hon. Friend agree that we owe the British
overseas territories a special duty of care and that when
it comes to long-term reconstruction DFID should be
prioritising the interests of those territories, which
previous Governments have failed to do?
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Intrinsic to my hon. Friend’s question was a reference to
DFID, and I hope that he therefore will not mind if I
steer him to DFID for a more comprehensive answer, but I
am sure that in the light of this hurricane there will be
a lot of policy issues that will have to be assessed and
reassessed. I am sure that that is one of them.
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This has clearly been a terrifying experience for all
those caught up in the awesome power of Hurricane Irma
and our thoughts are with them. We must also praise the
efforts of our brave service personnel. The Minister’s
statement contained a lot about inputs but even more
important are the outcomes, so will he tell us how many
of the 2,000 or so consular cases he mentioned have
requested assistance to be airlifted out, how many of
those have been evacuated already and how many are due to
depart on the flights later today that he mentioned?
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I do not have those exact details at my fingertips
because this is an unfolding set of affairs. “Evacuation”
is a word, but with assisted departure it is not as
though we are trying to remove the entire population of
an island, although in the case of Barbuda I am afraid
that most people have had to go because there is nothing
left. The details for which the hon. Lady is asking will
become clearer in due course as we analyse how quickly we
have been able to help people. We will of course be
extremely self-critical and self-examining as to whether
we have done this well or not, and whether the people we
have put at the top of the priority list were those who
most deserved to be there. So far, I am confident that
the answer to that question is yes.
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Over the weekend I liaised with my right hon. Friend the
Minister on behalf of friends of mine in the British
Virgin Islands who are co-ordinating the evacuation of
300 British citizens. He was exceptionally helpful and
responsive, and I am very grateful to him. Those citizens
were very frightened by the breakdown of law and order in
the British Virgin Islands, and I would be grateful if he
could do everything he can to restore order there. Many
of them are also trying to organise private evacuations
by chartering private jets and boats to get themselves
out, but they need the Ministry of Defence’s assistance
to enable flights to land on the island. Will my right
hon. Friend also take that matter up for us?
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I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his kind words. Yes,
it was a busy weekend, but his gratitude should not
really go to me nearly as much as it should go to the
people in my private office and in the crisis centre who
have been working flat out and, in many cases, beyond the
call of duty. I will put the nice words he has said about
me on a plaque and hand it to my staff. He is right about
the airport in one sense. We can get an airport going,
but it then takes quite a lot of logistical planning to
ensure that the right aircraft come in. We have to get in
the ones that can deliver aid. It is up to the airport
authority to decide which flights can come in and in what
order, what sort of planes the airport can take and
whether the runway is going to get too congested as
supplies are unloaded. I am confident that things are now
ramping up quite a lot as a semblance of normality
returns.
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I have received a number of phone calls from my
constituent Mrs Joyce, whose son Brendan works for the
Royal Navy in the British Virgin Islands. He has lost
everything, and I thank the Minister’s office for dealing
with that inquiry. Can the Minister be more specific
about the food and water supplies going to the British
Virgin Islands? He said that their arrival was imminent.
When are they going to arrive on the island, and can he
be more specific about assessing these needs in the days
and months ahead?
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I think that there is water in the BVI. The main issue
there, as I said earlier, is law and order, but we have
managed to contain the situation. DFID has supported the
delivery of more than 5 tonnes of food and water donated
by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency. It
has also deployed a field team to find out exactly where
the pockets of need are, so that the supplies can get to
them as quickly as possible.
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I should like to join the Minister in paying tribute to
the UK armed services personnel who are delivering vital
aid and support as we speak, and who are once again
proving that they really are the most versatile and
best-trained armed forces in the world. Can my right hon.
Friend update the House on any requests from other
Governments in the region to utilise our world-leading
assets and personnel?
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I have just been talking about this with the
Under-Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon.
Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood). Yes,
we are co-ordinating and there will, for example, be some
French assets on HMS Ocean, which I think is leaving
Gibraltar today. I was in Gibraltar over the weekend, but
obviously I had to come back for last night’s vote so I
unfortunately had to leave before she docked. There is
co-operation and we are grateful to the French and the
Dutch. I have also been speaking to the United States.
Everyone is proceeding in a spirit of maximum
co-operation and urgency. In a way, it should lift our
spirits to know that all countries are working together
in the best possible way.
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In an interview yesterday, Haydn Hughes, the former
Anguillan parliamentary secretary, stated:
“Up to today, six days after Hurricane Irma hit Anguilla,
there has been no meaningful action provided by the UK
Government”.
He said that there was no sense of a “plan of action” or
of
“how any aid moneys would be allocated”.
Anguilla is still without electricity or running water.
It is a British overseas territory. The Minister is right
to say that this is a cataclysmic disaster, but the scale
of the UK’s response does not in any way meet the size of
the disaster that has befallen those people, for whom we
have a responsibility. Will he ensure that when the
Foreign Secretary gets there, there will be a real drive
to increase the urgency and the co-ordination on the
ground, so that the people of Anguilla can have a real
sense that Britain is there for them?
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To take one person’s comments and say that they describe
the overall picture is deeply unfair. What we have done
in Anguilla has been a great help. As I have said, RFA
Mounts Bay got the power in the hospital going again and
delivered supplies. It also got the airport going again
before it went to help the British Virgin Islands. Unlike
the British Virgin Islands, however, Anguilla has not
asked for UK consular support. The Government are still
leading on that. The hon. Gentleman really just needs to
hold back on his criticism and appreciate that a lot is
being done in the midst of this very complicated
post-hurricane mayhem, although any kind of complaint is
quite understandable because so many people are in deep
distress.
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I acknowledge that the Minister does not have direct
departmental responsibility for this, but may I press him
on the issue of our international aid budget? Given our
close connections with, and responsibilities for, the
British overseas territories, does he agree that the
Government should look urgently at ensuring that that
budget will help to provide the necessary wide pipeline
of aid in the months and years to come?
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I am tempted to commit DFID to spending lots of money, as
I would wish, but I am sure that my hon. Friend will
appreciate that we will have to assess future budgets. I
am sure that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State
for International Development will make her plans clear
in due course, once we have been able to work out how to
proceed in those distressed and, in many cases,
devastated islands. May I add a tiny thing to an answer I
gave earlier? The Mounts Bay used its helicopter to drop
a significant amount of water and food on Jost van Dyke
yesterday and has done an enormous amount to prioritise
the need that we are addressing.
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What discussions is the Minister having with the
commercial airlines that operate services in and out of
the British Virgin Islands? I have been contacted by a
constituent whose sons in Tortola in the BVI have been
sheltering in a house with 11 people and assorted dogs.
They are all safe, but they were hoping to get out on a
flight this afternoon. However, they have been unable to
make contact with British Airways to find out whether it
will actually depart. Apparently the phone lines just
keep ringing out. What steps are the Government taking to
support commercial operators in emergency situations to
ensure that there are clear lines of communication
between those affected, their families and the airlines?
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The commercial airlines got quite a lot of people out in
advance. When we are in contact with people who are
asking for that kind of assistance, we endeavour to help
with the communications the hon. Gentleman has described.
I stress again that our focus has to be prioritised.
Those who are ill, dependent, old or disabled get first
treatment and, yes, there will be a bit of a queue.
However, I am confident that the civil airlines are doing
their utmost. Indeed, my right hon. Friend the Foreign
Secretary spoke at length to the Association of British
Travel Agents last night in order to discuss exactly the
kind of co-ordination and co-operation the hon. Gentleman
has just mentioned.
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I am grateful to the Minister for coming to the Chamber
and updating us on the situation, and for providing a
degree of clarity and a depth of information that is
useful to us. The FCO crisis centre and crisis line are
clearly providing a vital lifeline to many in the
affected areas. Can he give us an indication of the
volume of calls involved, and of the workload that the
centre is handling at the moment?
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Yes; there have been about 2,500 cases. Perhaps I can
alert the House to the fact that I am endeavouring to
book a room tonight to allow members of our crisis centre
to meet colleagues so that the facts can be described and
explained. At the moment, I am aiming for a meeting at
6.30 in a Committee room, and if I am successful in
organising it, I will try to get a note out through the
Whips straight after this statement so that the details
of any consular cases, and of what we have been doing and
how and why we have done it, can be put directly to
colleagues by members of the crisis centre. In that way,
colleagues’ detailed questions about the operational
performance of the response can be answered directly.
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Will the Minister join me in paying tribute to the
British overseas territories that have been helping each
other to recover from this crisis? For example, later
today a relief flight with the Premier of the Cayman
Islands on it will go from that territory to Anguilla
with medical supplies, and it will evacuate Anguillans to
the Cayman Islands for support.
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My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Bermuda and the
Cayman Islands have been helpful, and the Government of
Gibraltar, where I was at the weekend, are going to put
some very helpful vehicles on to HMS Ocean. The spirit of
mutual help from overseas territories and Commonwealth
countries—indeed, from all countries—is
commendable.
May I confirm that I have arranged for a briefing for all
Members of Parliament in Committee Room 16 at 6.30 this
evening? It will be cross party, and everyone is invited
should they wish to quiz someone from the crisis centre
or raise any consular concerns.
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Could the Minister say a little bit more about the
Foreign Secretary’s visit and his plans for it?
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My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary is at this
moment flying to the British Virgin Islands. I believe he
will also be flying to Anguilla, although the logistics
are being put in place at the last moment. He is keen to
see the devastation for himself and to reassure
Governors, who have done a magnificent job under the most
incredible pressure. I could not be more full of praise
for the Governors and their staff, in the light of what
they have withstood, for what they have managed to do to
maintain the continuity of government and co-ordinate
with us the aid that their populations so desperately
need. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary will
also co-ordinate very closely with DFID and the MOD about
what can be done in the next phase of help to our
overseas territories and anyone else deemed to be
appropriate.
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