International Sustainability: Natural Resources and Biodiversity

Earl of Caithness Excerpts

Monday 4th November 2019 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Caithness (Con)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lady Jenkin for introducing this debate, which, as the noble Lord, Lord Bruce of Bennachie, said, covers a huge subject. It is an enormous challenge, not just to this country but to the whole world, and we have to get it right to preserve our grandchildren’s future.

I thank the Government and pay tribute to them for what they have done. They have enshrined in law the 0.7% of GNI and have stuck to it. We all know how much we have been lectured and harangued by the Liberal party as to how much European standards are better than British ones but on this occasion, the British standards are far better than the European ones. If the EU countries spent half what we spend, there would be an enormous increase in the financial aid that goes to developing countries. I hope that the Liberal party will tell its friends in Europe that they had better get their act together if they want to improve the planet.

I welcome in particular what the Government have recently done with regard to oceans. We discussed plastic in oceans in your Lordships’ House and I took part in that debate, but to sign the protocol for a 30% improvement in the oceans by 2030 and to become part of the global alliance shows the UK to be yet again at the forefront of these challenges. On climate change too, the doubling of the UK’s international climate finance is strongly to be welcomed. It gives the local people in affected countries the ability and the help they need to combat climate change and to reduce the causes of it.

My noble friend Lady Jenkin mentioned biodiversity. I will give one example of where UK help has been very effective in producing a success story. It is a small-scale project—the sort that the right reverend Prelate mentioned and which I am sure he would welcome. It was done by the South Georgia Heritage Trust, which spent a lot of time and effort getting rid of rodents that man had introduced to South Georgia with huge detrimental effect on nesting birds. In 2015, that project finished, and the report in 2018 showed what an enormous success it had been by eliminating rodents on South Georgia. The best applause your Lordships will ever get for a project is to hear the amount of song now sung by the South Georgia pipit, which you would not have heard 10 years ago. That is just the sort of project we should be doing round the world.

On aviation, it is interesting to note that in 2009, it was Labour Party policy under Gordon Brown to build a new runway at Heathrow—one runway. In contrast, in 2008, the Chinese decided to build a new airport at Daxing. It opened on 25 September this year. It has six civilian runways and one military runway, and by 2025 it will handle 72 million passengers and over 620,000 aircraft movements. Perhaps we have been helping climate change in a small way by our delay on the Heathrow extension.

The topic of CFCs, which no Lord has mentioned yet, is an old friend of mine, as I was heavily involved in it when I was a Minister in the 1980s. It is disturbing that illegal production of CFCs, which has been tracked to China, equates to about 10% of UK CO₂ emissions. That is just illegal production of one substance. This is an international problem, and we are just a very small cog in a very big wheel.

China is building or planning to build some 300 coal-fired power stations around the world from Vietnam to Turkey, and we all know what a dreadful polluter coal is. The China Electricity Council wants to cap coal power capacity by 2030. That is the good news, but the bad news is that the figure it has suggested for the cap allows it to build two large coal-fired power stations a month for the next 12 years. That alone will completely shatter the 1.5 degree aim for global warming and put in jeopardy the 2 degree target.

That is just one country, but China is not alone. India wants to increase its coal-fired power capacity by nearly one quarter in the next three years. Those challenges on the international scale far outweigh anything that we can do.

Russia welcomes global warming: it is very important for it. While the city of Irkutsk is collapsing as the permafrost melts and the methane bubbles to the surface, Tiksi has been given a new military facility as Russia pledges to spend a huge amount of money opening up the North Arctic route along its northern coast and developing its property in the Arctic. That could do more damage to the world’s climate and biodiversity than lots of other things.

My key recommendation to the Government is that this is not only a financial issue: they must use their soft power to maximum extent to bring the rest of the world on board. We recognise that our Government are a world leader and have set standards for others to follow, but they must, just as much as spending the money, bring others on board to take the world forward with their help.

Offensive Weapons Bill

Earl of Caithness Excerpts

Report: 2nd sitting (Hansard): House of Lords
Monday 4th March 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Paddick]

My Lords, I understand why the noble Lords, Lord Kennedy of Southwark and Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, are saying what they say. I am not as surprised as the noble Lords, in that my experience is that Governments argue until they are blue in the face that they could not possibly adopt an opposition amendment, only to adopt it at the next stage. Such a change of view is not without precedent when it comes to these matters.

I am more warmly disposed to the calls of the noble Earl, Lord Attlee, for a compromise, if you will, of increased security. However, I hope to be even more convinced by the Minister that the right way forward is further consultation.

[The Earl of Caithness (Con)]

My Lords, I join this debate for a couple of reasons, having listened to it in Grand Committee in the Moses Room. I was disappointed that the noble Lord, Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, did not try to copy the accent of the HLI Jock. Your Lordships would have understood why the rifle was handed over.

I hope my noble friend on the Front Bench will solve an argument that I had at the weekend about how easy it is to modify a rifle that is constructed above 13,600 joules to below 13,600 joules. If that could be on the record it would be helpful. Also, could he not introduce the amendment proposed by my noble friend Lord Attlee under Section 63 of the 1968 Act?

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, the answer to the noble Earl’s question about the energy of the rifle is that there is a huge gap between the next lowest powered rifle and the .50 calibre rifle.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Earl of Caithness]

My Lords, I put my name to this amendment in Committee, but when I came to put my name to it on Report I found that three others had already done so. I hope my noble friend is impressed that support for the amendment is from not only the Cross Benches but the Back Benches of the Labour Party.

This is a hugely important amendment. I will not repeat what I said in Grand Committee, but I hope my noble friend will understand that the amendment is designed to enhance public safety. If it had been enacted before Dunblane I think some of the problems there would not have happened. Anybody who has access to the shotgun or rifle cabinet must be properly scrutinised. As my noble friend Lord Shrewsbury said, the Home Office is dragging its feet on this. We want it to hurry up. I hope my noble friend will ensure that my former department gets a move on and does this consultation extremely quickly.

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, while I support my noble friend’s amendment, which I am sure is a good idea, I return to the issue of the old Firearms Consultative Committee, which fell into disuse. If that was still in operation, we would not have had the MARS lever action release problem and we would have saved £15 million in compensation, because I am sure that that committee would have nipped its development in the bud and saved an awful lot of money.

Offensive Weapons Bill

Earl of Caithness Excerpts

2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords
Monday 7th January 2019 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Caithness (Con)]

My Lords, we enter a new year with another firearms Bill. We have had 35 pieces of primary legislation dealing with firearms since the Firearms Act 1968, which I think shows the seriousness of this subject and the continuing need of every Government to take action on a fairly regular basis as criminals adapt to whatever new laws are proposed. As a result of all these pieces of legislation, let alone the secondary legislation, we have some of the toughest firearms laws in the world. I support my Government in their efforts to continue the combat against violent crime. It is good to note that firearms offences last year were actually down by 5%, and I hope my noble friend will be able to continue that trend. The problem is of course not the law-abiding citizen; it is, as noble Lords have already said, the small minority of criminals who abuse firearms, knives and corrosive substances.

Regarding the Bill, I am glad that the Government withdrew the legislation on the .50 calibre rifle and have gone for further consultation, because the position is much more complicated than was originally put forward and the Government believed. For my part, I support what was put forward in the other place by my honourable friend Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown when he suggested that the bolt and the firing mechanism should be kept separate from the rest of the rifle. That seems to me a totally logical position and, for what it is worth, that will be my little contribution towards the consultation.

Bump stocks, the device used in the Las Vegas shootings in 2017, have absolutely no place in a law-abiding person’s armoury. I therefore totally support the Government in their proposed prohibition of bump stocks.

We all want legislation to work, and we all want to be able to respect the police and the NHS. My noble friend on the Front Bench will guess that I am referring now to the 2016 Act and the question of the medical background checks that are needed. Sadly, that Act is not working. It is leading to dislike of the legislation because it is not working and to resentment of the police and the NHS, who are abusing the situation within the Act. I ask my noble friend whether in order to make that Act work better—if the Act works better then there will naturally be greater control of firearms, which is what we all seek—she will seek to implement, at the earliest opportunity, the suggestion put forward by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Shooting and Conservation and supported by the British Shooting Sports Council.

The package put forward by the APPG to try to make the Act work better consists of five points. The first is a compulsory and once-only medical records check by a GP in response to a police inquiry about the physical and mental health of the applicant. The second suggestion is an enduring marker to be placed by the GP on the patient’s medical record noting that he may be in possession of a firearm or shotgun, to ensure that thereafter the GP is reminded to draw to the police’s attention any future adverse change in the patient’s health that may have a bearing on his ability safely to possess a firearm or shotgun. The third is an agreed reasonable fee for the GP’s initial medical records check and placing the enduring marker. On that, the Home Office has said that there should not be a fee for the initial check but, quite clearly, there is evidence that GPs are already charging a fee. The fourth suggestion is an extension of the life of firearms and shotgun certificates from five to 10 years, which will reduce pressure on licensing departments. The fifth and very important point is that there should be a protection on the confidentiality of applicants and certificate holders’ data.

If my noble friend could encourage her department to take forward a package on those lines, she would find much more support than she has had for some of the bits of legislation. If existing laws worked better, we would all be encouraged to follow new legislation more carefully and in the same spirit.

Agriculture and Food Industry

Earl of Caithness Excerpts

Thursday 24th July 2014 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Caithness (Con)]

My Lords, I declare my interests as on the register. With other noble Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Plumb for initiating the debate. He rightly said that it followed on well from the previous debate. I add that it also follows on well from a debate we had not so long ago on investment in the rural economy, which is hugely important. In that debate we discussed broadband, which is crucial to the agricultural industry, particularly for those who live in remote, out-of-the-way places.

I congratulate and thank all our landowners and farmers. Their ability to survive and adapt is extraordinary and quite unlike any other industry. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria, who said we need to promote and trumpet our successes and achievements more. Farmers are unable to plan ahead with any certainty. The noble Lord, Lord Palmer, said it is a lot down to luck, and how right he is. Noble Lords have mentioned the vagrancies of the weather, not only in this country, but worldwide. If Texas has a terrific harvest this year because the weather has been right, that is going to affect prices here. We also have to consider droughts, floods and the control of water to farmland, which will have to be more strictly controlled for farm use in future.

Farmers have to put up with price volatility. My noble friend the Duke of Montrose mentioned sheep; I was going to major on the price of wheat, but my noble friend Lord Marlesford has done that for me. He quoted the price today of about £120 a tonne for wheat. If he takes the price back to 1999 and brings it forward to what it should be in real terms, the price today ought to be more than £200 a tonne. Farmers are losing out.

There are low profits in farming. Even in an average year, let alone a bad year, some farmers are earning the equivalent of only two-thirds of the minimum wage. Is my noble friend on the Front Bench content with that situation? Is she really happy that some farmers, who are producing so much for the economy and who keep us alive, receive about two-thirds of the minimum wage? Is my noble friend also happy with the differential between farm gate prices and retail prices? In particular, the price of beef has changed hugely. While retail prices are creeping up, farm gate prices are dropping. What is she going to do to solve that situation?

The other problem for farmers is that the value of their asset—their land—bears no economic relationship to the return they can get from farming it. There are huge pressures on agricultural land. We cannot make any more of it in the world. There has to be more development and more houses in this country, as we have discussed; agricultural land will have to be taken for that. There will have to be more forestry; agricultural land will have to go for that. There is an increase in use of agricultural land for growing crops that are going to be used for energy rather than for food, yet, as noble Lords have said, the population is rising and, as the noble Baroness, Lady Miller, said, the soil structure is a continual worry.

Perhaps I may ask my noble friend the Minister some more questions about self-sufficiency. It reached a peak of 75% in the early 1990s and has now dropped to about 61%. What figure are the Government happy with? If they are not happy with 61%, what does she think it should be?

I want to ask her, too, about seasonal workers. This is a huge problem for farmers this year, following the abolition of the seasonal agricultural workers scheme—it will affect my noble friend Lord Selborne in respect of fruit. We are already getting reports that fruit and vegetables are being left unpicked in the fields because there is a shortage of workers. What proposals do the Government have for producing an alternative to the seasonal agricultural workers scheme?

I turn finally to Scotland. Besides all the difficulties that I have mentioned, farmers have to put up with the biggest menace of all, and that is us—the interfering politicians. First, we have the common agricultural policy. What a disaster that reform has been. It is not helping the farmers and it will not help food production. On a specific point, will my noble friend say that farmers will still be allowed to use paper as input rather than having to rely on broadband, as the regulations seem to demand, particularly when farmers do not have broadband in the more remote rural areas? To have confidence, farmers need stability, yet in Scotland we have the report of the land reform review group being published and proposals on the right to buy.

Perhaps the noble Lord, Lord Grantchester, could answer the following question. The Scottish National Party and the Labour Party in Scotland have said that the direction of travel is a limit on the amount of land that anybody can own, an absolute right to buy for tenants and an ability to purchase land from you if it is in the public interest—and the public interest is, of course, defined by us politicians. If the noble Lord, Lord Grantchester, cannot say that the English Labour Party categorically opposes that, we must assume that that will be its policy. It is a terrifying thought.

On the absolute right to buy for tenants, tenants need to be aware that, as tenants, they are loved. The tenancy is what has allowed farmers and young people to come on to the farming ladder, but the moment they stop being tenants and buy their farm, they will be hated because they will be an owner.

[Lord Williams of Elvel (Lab)]

Will the noble Earl give way?

[The Earl of Caithness]

No, I do not have time. I am sorry; this is a time-limited debate.

If that person buys another piece of land because it will lead to economies of scale and lower costs, they will be even more hated. To owners, I would say this: do not let any land. But if that is the case, we are undermining what has been the structure of farming and has served this country so well. That will be a threat to our food production and to the British economy.