Integrated Review

Debate between Baroness Evans of Bowes Park and Lord Hamilton of Epsom

Wednesday 17th March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, I congratulate the Government on an integrated review that brings together all the assets that this country has and uses them to give us a direction of where we should be going in the future. But does my noble friend not share my concern that, at the same time as increasing the defence budget, we are actually reducing the number of servicemen? This might have been something of an answer to the noble Lord, Lord Ricketts. The British Army and our Armed Forces have been involved in low-intensity warfare in recent active service conflicts, and it seems to me that we are highly likely to have more of these in the future. Is it right to reduce the number of men who might be involved in this?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

As I say, I think more details will be announced on Monday. As the review says, we believe that we need to stop thinking about the strength of the Army purely in numbers of soldiers and focus on how it is equipped and what we want it to do. For instance, we believe that, with this additional investment, the Army will be transformed to meet the threats of the coming decade. We will ensure that our soldiers have the best equipment in the world, including new vehicles, drones and cyberspace capabilities. As I mentioned earlier, and would just like to reiterate, there will be no Armed Forces redundancies as part of any restructuring. We are incredibly grateful for the fantastic work our Armed Forces do, and we want to provide them with effective kit and tools so that they can undertake their important work around the globe on our behalf.

European Council

Debate between Baroness Evans of Bowes Park and Lord Hamilton of Epsom

Monday 25th March 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, the Prime Minister’s Statement said that the EU was not prepared to reopen the agreement, but surely it could have been possible, if there had been agreement within the EU 27, to have a codicil to the agreement that would have given us a guarantee on the Irish backstop. Is it not true that the EU 27 were split on this issue and thought that the risk of no deal had been removed, so they could face the Government down?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

The Council formally endorsed the legal instrument relating to the withdrawal agreement. Three new legally binding commitments were agreed, but the Council reiterated—it is in its conclusions—that there could be no reopening of the withdrawal agreement.

Leaving the European Union

Debate between Baroness Evans of Bowes Park and Lord Hamilton of Epsom

Monday 21st January 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

That is an extremely interesting and constructive point from the noble and learned Lord. I will make sure that it is fed back through, so that we can ensure that a real understanding of the force of those words is understood by everyone.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

Does my noble friend accept that it would be most irresponsible for the Government to drop the preparation and option of no deal, for two very good reasons? The first is that it might happen and the second is that it massively strengthens our negotiating position in getting a better deal.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom]

Noble Lords laugh, but it is the Germans who have come up with a figure of three-quarters of a million people who would be unemployed as a result of no deal. That is not my figure and I would not agree with it but it has come from Germany.

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

I thank my noble friend and he is absolutely right: although we are working towards a deal, which is what we want to achieve, all responsible Governments have to prepare for a range of contingencies. It is therefore absolutely right that we continue to prepare for no deal.

Leaving the European Union

Debate between Baroness Evans of Bowes Park and Lord Hamilton of Epsom

Monday 14th January 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

As I have said, I am not prejudging the outcome of tomorrow’s vote. I have also said that it has always been our intention to respond quickly and provide certainty if the vote is lost, and that is what we will do about our next steps.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, if my noble friend Lord Hailsham is right and the House of Commons votes down the deal tomorrow, the default position is no deal. Does my noble friend accept that no deal is much more damaging to the EU than it is to us and, in addition, that we would not pay it £39 billion? Does she not expect really quite major concessions from the EU at the last minute—the 11th hour—possibly way into March?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

I can only reiterate what I have said to noble Lords on many occasions. We believe that this is a good deal. We want MPs to vote for that deal. That is what we will continue to work towards. If the vote is lost tomorrow, we will return with our next steps.

National Debt

Debate between Baroness Evans of Bowes Park and Lord Hamilton of Epsom

Wednesday 14th March 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

This side, my Lords. I ask my noble friend to resist the siren call from the Liberal Democrat Benches—

[The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Evans of Bowes Park) (Con)]

My Lords, time is up.

Brexit Negotiations

Debate between Baroness Evans of Bowes Park and Lord Hamilton of Epsom

Monday 11th December 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, the Prime Minister’s Statement twice repeats that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. Does the noble Baroness not think it a good idea that the Government should work up a plan B, for no deal, because in that way we will get a much better deal with plan A? The great advantage of plan B, and leaving with no deal, is that we cease to pay into the European budget.

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

We are absolutely focused on getting a good outcome that works for both the UK and the EU. We believe it is in both sides’ interests to do that, but yes, we have a duty to plan for the alternative, as any responsible Government would.

European Council

Debate between Baroness Evans of Bowes Park and Lord Hamilton of Epsom

Monday 23rd October 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

As I have said, we obviously have a strong and close relationship on these issues from being in the EU. We will continue to do so because we are seen as a world leader in this by our EU partners and we all know the benefits of working together. For instance, as the noble Baroness will know, we are already incorporating the new EU general data protection regulation and the data protection directive within the Data Protection Bill, which is in front of your Lordships’ House. We will have an unprecedented level of regulatory alignment in this area so that a new, ambitious partnership can be built on the kind of relationships that we already have.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, my noble friend has reiterated the Prime Minister’s position that we will pay what we owe the EU, which presumably takes us up to the end of the budget period in 2020. However, if we were to leave in the spring of 2019 with no deal, surely at that point would we not stop paying?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

As the Prime Minister made clear, we have said to our EU partners that we need to reach a fair settlement on our rights and obligations. We also made clear in the Florence speech that they do not need to fear that they will need to pay more or receive less over the remainder of the current budget plan as a result of our decision to leave. Following the process agreed in the last round of talks, we have undertaken a detailed and rigorous examination of the technical detail, aiming to reach a shared view on these issues.

European Council

Debate between Baroness Evans of Bowes Park and Lord Hamilton of Epsom

Tuesday 14th March 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

My Lords, as I have said, we anticipate a positive deal between us and the EU. Of course we start negotiations from the unique position of sharing many of the identical rules and regulations, so we are positive and optimistic going into these negotiations.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, did the European Council discuss the deal done with Turkey whereby it would hold on to millions of Syrian refugees in return for accelerated membership of the EU and a payment of €3 billion, not all of which I gather has come through? There certainly does not seem to be any enthusiasm for allowing Turkey into the EU.

Education: Free Schools

Debate between Baroness Evans of Bowes Park and Lord Hamilton of Epsom

Monday 22nd June 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

As I said, where free schools are underperforming we have been able to take swift and decisive action. No school should be underperforming. All children deserve a high-quality education and that is why, in the very small number of cases where we have seen problems, action has been taken to improve the situation.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

Does my noble friend not agree that the hostility of the Benches opposite to free schools is somewhat inexplicable, considering that so much of the valuable groundwork on free schools was done by the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, who sits on those Benches?