Deep Seabed Mining

Debate between Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb and Lord Mott

Wednesday 13th September 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Mott (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord for his opening comments. It is important, as he says, for us to make sure that we are working globally on this subject. As a responsible international actor and party to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the UK will continue to engage fully with negotiations under way at the International Seabed Authority and we will work closely with partners who are committed to ensuring a regulatory framework with the highest level of environmental protection by 2025.

[Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)]

My Lords, I too welcome the noble Lord to his first Oral Questions. He is doing quite well at the moment, so well done.

[Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)]

I hope that did not sound too patronising. Are the Government doing any independent research of their own or encouraging universities to do the sort of research that we need? As the noble Baroness, Lady Boycott, said, it is the unknown unknowns that are a real concern.

[Lord Mott (Con)]

I thank the noble Baroness for her comments; I am very pleased with her scorecard halfway through. The Government are very much committed to research. That is not only through the ISA, although we are a very active partner there; we have a UK-based scientist at the heart of that research programme. It is hugely important that we focus everything in terms of the ISA, which is very much focused on exploration at the moment. Clearly, the Government will not move until we get those international agreements in place.