Ukraine

Debate between Baroness Evans of Bowes Park and Lord Balfe

Wednesday 26th January 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord for his contribution, and recognise his great expertise in this area. I will most certainly take it back to make sure that people are aware of it.

[Lord Balfe (Con)]

My Lords, to follow up on the question from the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, two months after Stalin’s death, Churchill said in another place:

“I do not believe that the immense problem of reconciling the security of Russia with the freedom and safety of Western Europe is insoluble.”—[Official Report, Commons, 11/5/1953; col. 896.]


The fact is that Ukraine was a creation, as much as anything else, of Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin, and it is a very odd country indeed. We started many of the problems that we now have when we chased Yanukovych out of office. In the Prime Minister’s Statement, he says we should

“address any legitimate Russian concerns through honest diplomacy.”—[Official Report, Commons, 25/1/21; col. 861.]

The problem is that what we regard as legitimate, they do not, so I should like to rephrase that and ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will seek to get together a conference, with everything on the table, to try to get some sort of agreement.

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

As I said, the UK is committed to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and we are providing a full range of support. There is no justification for Russia’s aggressive and destabilising activity towards Ukraine.

Covid-19: Road Map

Debate between Baroness Evans of Bowes Park and Lord Balfe

Tuesday 23rd February 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

I am afraid I do not agree with my noble friend on his last point, but I certainly I agree with him on the importance of support for mental health, and he will know that expert participation in SAGE changes for each meeting. What I hope will reassure him is that in March, we will be publishing our cross-government action plan to prevent, mitigate and respond to the impact of Covid on mental health and well-being. We have already announced that the NHS will receive an extra £500 million to address waiting times and enhance support for mental health services. During the pandemic, we rolled out 24/7, all-age urgent mental care helplines across the country, provided more than £100 million to the voluntary sector and, recently, appointed a youth mental health ambassador to build on our support for young people. I hope this range of investment and initiatives shows the noble Lord how important we consider this issue.

[Lord Balfe (Con)]

Could I point out to the Leader that my noble friend Lord Dobbs asked whether time could be made available for a debate on the matter of vaccine passports? While many of us accept that people should have the freedom not to be vaccinated, those of us who have been vaccinated believe we should have the freedom not to have to travel with people who have decided not to be vaccinated. There are some complex issues that need looking at.

I will make a second point. Everything is down to Covid these days, but there is a huge backlog in the National Health Service building up literally every day. When are we going to see a White Paper on how to deal with that?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

My noble friend is right, but we should recognise that hospitals and staff have gone to extraordinary lengths to deliver non-Covid care and treatment, from online consultations to chemo buses and Covid-free surgical hubs. We have seen the benefit of these, with, for instance, almost 390,000 people being treated for cancer between March and November last year. But he is right: waiting times have increased. We have allocated £1 billion to help the NHS recover elective care backlogs. This will be enough funding to enable hospitals to carry out up to 1 million extra checks, scans and additional operations and procedures. We are well aware of the issue he raises. I thank everyone in the NHS for all the work they are doing, but we understand that more work needs to be done.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Baroness Evans of Bowes Park and Lord Balfe

Thursday 25th June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

As I said, we are working extremely closely with the performing arts sector because we are well aware of the issues it faces. The noble Lord will know that we have set up the Cultural Renewal Taskforce, an entertainments and events working group, with extensive membership from across the artistic and creative sectors, to work with us to make sure that we can reopen these venues when it is safe to do so. As I mentioned, a further round table is being held next week to discuss guidance and innovative ideas on how we may permit live performances again. I mentioned in response to an earlier question that the sector has been helped financially in a number of ways, including the £160 million Arts Council England emergency funding. The Secretary of State is continuing discussions with the sector and I am sure they are discussing these very issues.

[Lord Balfe (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I have two points. Incidents in Gütersloh, China and various other places have demonstrated that the virus can spread in meat markets and open markets. Have the Government initiated any scientific investigation of the need for extra measures around abattoirs?

My second question regards local lockdowns. I am still not clear who decides to impose a lockdown. Who is the responsible officer who can say, “Right, this is an outbreak, we need a lockdown”, and then call people together? Crucially, there has to be one person who can make the decision. Who is it?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

As I have said, each local area has a local action committee, which will be working with a number of different organisations. That is where decisions will be made at a local level. If, for instance, in Weston-super-Mare, the issue was around a specific hospital, the hospital would close. To a degree, it will also depend on exactly where the outbreak has happened. Central and local information will be used so that we can act very quickly. The NHS Test and Trace system and the joint biosecurity centre will play an important role in helping feed through data on local outbreaks.

European Council

Debate between Baroness Evans of Bowes Park and Lord Balfe

Monday 23rd October 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Balfe (Con)]

My Lords, I wish to refer to two points in the Statement. The first relates to Operation Sophia. I was on the committee of this House that produced the report Operation Sophia: A Failed Mission. We looked closely at it, and I know the EU has looked very closely at our conclusions. When we leave foreign policy co-operation, that will no longer be possible for us to write.

Secondly, I draw attention to the item on Turkey. Traditionally we have been very realistic about Turkey. A number of European partners have been much tougher than us and, in many ways, much less wise. If our moderating voice is missing from the Council, surely that—our foreign policy co-operation—is yet another way in which our departure will weaken not only Europe but Britain’s ability to have our voice listened to with respect and acted upon.

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

We have certainly condemned recent developments in Turkey, and obviously there was the discussion in the EU Council. We will continue to have our voice heard even when we leave the EU because we are a key part of other international bodies that are concerned with this area. On the noble Lord’s first point, it is important to recognise that since June, migration flows across the Aegean are significantly down, thanks to considerable efforts on all sides, and there were fewer than 6,000 arrivals to Italy in September. Obviously, we have seen some appalling things happening in that area, but international action—with us involved in the EU, but there is also the great work the Royal Navy is doing there—is making a difference. It is critical that we stop people-smuggling and stop advantage being taken of these very vulnerable people, to try to ensure that we can improve their situation and lives.