Grangemouth Refinery

Debate between Baroness Verma and Lord Steel of Aikwood

Wednesday 23rd October 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, we need to be very careful about the language we use and how we progress this debate. It would be wiser for all of us to try to work very carefully and closely with the parties and get them to come together around the table for discussions.

[Lord Steel of Aikwood (LD)]

My Lords, is it not the case that this dispute has been going on for some weeks? Those of us who have been watching it from a distance have been concerned at the lack of high-level intervention to try to get it resolved. There appears to be an intransigent union on one side and a rather distant operator on the other. I simply want to add my voice to those who are saying that we really must try at the highest level to get this sorted out.

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, I have noted my noble friend’s comments, as I have noted those of all noble Lords around the Chamber. So that noble Lords are reassured, I will again repeat that we take this matter seriously and we want to get the parties around the table. That means that we all have to work together very closely at every level.

Malawi

Debate between Baroness Verma and Lord Steel of Aikwood

Wednesday 20th July 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

I come back to my original Answer. I reassure the noble Lord that we have not cut back on aid but are redirecting the aid that was going through budget support to the health and education sectors, so we will be providing even more support by directing the aid to those sectors and having better oversight of where that money is being spent.

[Lord Steel of Aikwood]

My Lords, I appreciate the real difficulty that the Government have with the increasingly autocratic President of Malawi, but can the Minister give us any indication of whether relations are on the mend following the expulsion of our high commissioner?

[Baroness Verma]

My noble friend knows that while we have difficulties, we are continuously working on improving relationships. It is key that our relationship with Malawi is maintained and strengthened. The negotiations will continue but we will not stop our programmes from being delivered, because at the heart of everything that we are doing is the delivery of aid to poor people.