Passports
Debate between Earl of Courtown and Baroness Ludford
The Earl of Courtown
I thank the noble Baroness for her questions, in which she made a number of points. There will be jobs created in this country under the new contract. Under the present contract, 20% of the blank passports are already manufactured overseas. As far as the security issue is concerned, under the new contract all passports will continue to be personalised with the passport holder’s personal details, such as name and photograph, in the United Kingdom. This will ensure that no personal data will leave the United Kingdom.
Baroness Ludford (LD)
My Lords, the farce of the blue passports continues. The Minister has confirmed that the Government could have created a state company to produce these passports and they seem to have been remarkably unprepared for the furore that was bound to welcome this application of EU public procurement rules. Will he also confirm that we could have had whatever colour of passport we wanted, since burgundy was always optional? We could have had pink, for example. Can the Minister also remind the House of the Prime Minister’s Mansion House speech, when she said she wanted a reciprocal binding commitment to fair and open competition with the EU? Presumably that covers not only state-aided competition but public procurement, so we will essentially continue to apply EU competition rules. Finally, will the Minister remind us whether Brexiteers are protectionists or global free traders? Surely they cannot be both.
EU Withdrawal: Tourism and Hospitality Industries
Debate between Earl of Courtown and Baroness Ludford
The Earl of Courtown
The noble Lord, Lord Harrison, is quite right about the dynamism of this industry. He also mentioned the VisitEngland programme, which tries to ensure that more people come to visit the United Kingdom and that once they come to the United Kingdom, particularly to the capital, London, they venture outside London to visit attractions all over the United Kingdom.
Baroness Ludford (LD)
My Lords, does the Minister agree that EU environmental law on wildlife and habitats protection, clean beaches and clean rivers and so on, as well as EU funding for those purposes, helps to maintain our country and its countryside as green, pleasant and inviting, and that Brexit could undermine all that?
Chagos Islands
Debate between Earl of Courtown and Baroness Ludford(9 years ago)
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The Earl of Courtown
My Lords, somebody whispered in my ear, “Very soon”. I and other noble Lords who have been Members of this House for a very long time have used the term “soon”, but I can assure the noble Lord that it will be soon.
Baroness Ludford (LD)
My Lords, there have been 16 years of litigation, which has been very costly to the taxpayer and to Britain’s reputation for human rights. Will the Government undertake to abide by the forthcoming ruling of the UK Supreme Court concerning the right of abode and the marine protected area?
The Earl of Courtown
My Lords, I cannot comment on cases going through the courts at present, but if there is any more detail I will write to the noble Baroness.
Europe: Renegotiation
Debate between Earl of Courtown and Baroness Ludford(9 years ago)
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The Earl of Courtown
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, mentioned primarily migration and the problem hitting the whole of Europe at the moment. I see no reason why we would stop our continuing work, and particularly our DfID budget, helping those migrants—preferably upstream, where we can stop them moving towards Europe in the first place.
Baroness Ludford (LD)
My Lords, as my noble friend Lady Smith said, none of us wants any abuse of free movement and benefits. Will the noble Earl confirm that the statistic much cited today, that 40% of EU migrants claim benefits, largely means tax credits and possibly child tax credits? We are not talking about scroungers on the dole but working EU migrants. That is what this is meant to be about. Could the noble Earl kindly explain a little more on this? The Prime Minister still talks about a four-year wait but there are hints that other solutions could be possible. For instance, does the Prime Minister mean codifying the very helpful recent judgments by the Court of Justice of the European Union? Could the noble Earl signpost us to an alternative to a frankly unachievable objective?
The Earl of Courtown
My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Ludford, mentioned the detail of my right honourable friend’s speech earlier today. He said:
“We now know that, at any one time, around 40% of all recent European Economic Area migrants are supported by the UK benefits system … with each family claiming on average around £6,000 a year of in-work benefits alone”.
On the noble Baroness’s other point, relating to the four-year restriction, I will read out the whole paragraph I have here, if the House allows. It says:
“Our objective is to better control migration from within the EU. There are obviously different ways in which we could achieve that. We … can do that by reducing the incentives offered by our welfare system”.
That is why we set out the proposal that you must contribute before you can claim. We understand that others across the European Union also have concerns about this. That is why we say to them: “Put forward alternative proposals that deliver the same results”. We are open to different ways of dealing with this issue, as long as we do just that and agree new measures that will reduce the numbers coming here.
United Kingdom and the European Union
Debate between Earl of Courtown and Baroness Ludford
The Earl of Courtown
My noble friend is quite right. He has great experience in this area as well. To show our hand too early would not be conducive to help.
Baroness Ludford (LD)
Does the Minister agree that it was absurd of No. 10 to tell businesses to shut up about Europe on the ridiculous pretext that it would undermine the renegotiation? Does this not again demonstrate that the best strategy would be for the UK to lead a multilateral effort to reform the EU to enable it competently to tackle all those critical economic, security and humanitarian challenges that press in on us—an approach that would have a unifying, not divisive, effect?
The Earl of Courtown
My Lords, as far as the business community is concerned, both the CBI and the British Chambers of Commerce have supported my right honourable friend the Prime Minister’s proposals. On the other matter the noble Baroness raised, all other member states are being consulted on these issues.
Armenia: 1915 Atrocities
Debate between Earl of Courtown and Baroness Ludford
The Earl of Courtown
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that question. He mentioned negotiations and conversations with Armenia on the European Union. I am not aware of those at present but I shall write to the noble Lord if there is any further information that I can give him. He also mentioned bringing together the two different parties, the Armenians and the Turks, to get some kind of reconciliation going. We are trying to promote links between Turkey and Armenia in a number of ways. We have had a successful exchange of Turkish and Armenian Chevening alumni, who have visited each others’ countries for the first time. We have also targeted funding on projects such as CivilNet TV, which is a media source for Turkey-related news in Armenia.
Baroness Ludford (LD)
My Lords, given the recent Turkish election results, which gave encouraging signals about openness and pluralism, including the election of three MPs of Armenian-Turkish identity, will the Government consider ways in which they can renew the encouragement of allies, in both Turkey and Armenia, to set up a joint historical commission? Can they offer specific ways in which they can support such a commission to look into the tragic events of 1915, which affected not only Armenians but other minorities and Turks?
The Earl of Courtown
The noble Baroness is quite right. As she mentioned, it is particularly pleasing to see MPs of Armenian background in the Turkish Parliament. As to getting the different groups together, our priority should be to promote reconciliation between the peoples and Governments of Armenia and Turkey and to enable the two countries to face their joint history together.