G20 and the Paris Attacks

Lord Avebury Excerpts

Tuesday 17th November 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Stowell of Beeston]

My Lords, I think it is a question of being realistic rather than pessimistic.

[Lord Avebury (LD)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Oppenheim-Barnes (Con)]

My Lords—

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Avebury]

My Lords, reverting to the need to eradicate Daesh and its territorial base as part of a comprehensive strategy, does the noble Baroness agree that the YPG is the most effective military force in opposition to Daesh? Will we therefore make supreme efforts to bolster its efforts by supplying armaments and logistics?

[Baroness Stowell of Beeston]

We are supporting the moderate opposition groups in the area so that they can combat ISIL and Assad, and we will continue to do that.

Chagos Islands

Lord Avebury Excerpts

Tuesday 10th November 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Whitaker (Lab)]

My Lords—

[Lord Avebury (LD)]

My Lords—

[The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Stowell of Beeston) (Con)]

My Lords, we are getting out of our habit here. I suggest we go to the Labour Benches first and then to the Lib Dem Benches.

[The Earl of Courtown]

My Lords, we will consider all these factors once the consultation is finished. As I said earlier, the feasibility study concluded on schedule. As there were still uncertainties about how any resettlement could work, and potential costs, we went into the consultation system. That is also why we are examining the results of the consultation very carefully.

[Lord Avebury]

My Lords, will the Government publish a draft of their decision for consultation with the All-Party Group on the Chagos Islands? Will they also give both Houses an opportunity to debate the review before a final decision on resettlement is made?

[The Earl of Courtown]

My Lords, I draw attention to the dedication of the all-party group on this issue over many years. Whether or not there will be an opportunity for this to be debated at some stage will depend on whether noble Lords try to get parliamentary time for it. Once the analysis is made, the Government will make an announcement. I will write to the noble Lord about whether it will be published.

Caste Discrimination

Lord Avebury Excerpts

Wednesday 15th July 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

I agree with my noble friend that the issue is divisive. There is a strong lobby both for and against, and the Government are very concerned not to exacerbate the problem. Therefore, the present position, whereby protection from caste discrimination is developing naturally through case law, is very helpful.

[Lord Avebury (LD)]

Will the Minister tell us how many representations have been made and by which organisations for the repeal of Section 9(5)(a), as demanded by the noble Lord, and why the Government have not agreed to meet persons or organisations that support Section 9(5)(a), which includes the whole of the Dalit community in this country?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, I do not have exact figures and names to hand but I am very happy to write to the noble Lord with them.

Care Sector: Apprenticeships

Lord Avebury Excerpts

Monday 6th July 2015 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Courtown]

The noble Baroness is quite correct that the quality of care in these roles is so important, as is the fact that so many young people are coming into this area. According to the overall apprenticeship figures, covering the whole employment workforce, there are now more than 119,000 apprenticeship starts for those under the age of 19, which is an increase of 4.6%.

[Lord Avebury (LD)]

Can the noble Earl tell us the cost of employing agency nurses in the health service in the current—

[Lord Lucas (Con)]

My Lords—

House of Lords: Oral Questions

Lord Avebury Excerpts

Thursday 29th January 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Stowell of Beeston]

The noble Lord is right. Too often, noble Lords are moving away from the conventions and the guidance in the Companion by extending questions into statements and short speeches. I urge all noble Lords to refrain from doing so. It removes the opportunity for more people to get in.

[Lord Avebury (LD)]

My Lords, when the Procedure Committee recently looked at the method of allocating Oral Questions, it decided not to change to a ballot, as was considered two years ago by that Select Committee on Procedure and rejected then by the House. However, that was on the grounds that the Whips would be able to manipulate the Oral Questions. They do not do that with the Topical Questions here, which are selected by ballot, nor do they in the Commons, where the Questions are selected by ballot. Will the noble Baroness the Leader of the House find a way of consulting the majority of Members of the House who might be found to want a change to the ballot system? When we had a straw poll on it among the Liberal Democrats, an overwhelming majority were in favour and only four of us were against it.

[Noble Lords]

Too long!

Iraq

Lord Avebury Excerpts

Friday 26th September 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Avebury (LD)]

My Lords, I strongly support the Government’s decision to join the air strikes against the IS in response to Iraq’s request for military help and the logistical help that we are giving to the forces of the Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq. I would like to see that extended and expanded, particularly in view of the threat against the Kurdish Regional Government in the area bordering on Turkey, to which the noble Baroness has just referred. I also support the longer-term objective of working closely with our allies to drive back, dismantle and, ultimately, destroy ISIL and “what it stands for”, to quote the Prime Minister. If we do not eradicate ISIL, or the ISIL “cancer”, as the noble Lord, Lord Sterling, described it, it will metastasize across the world. The fact that 500 young men are reported to have travelled from the UK alone to join the terrorists should be a wake-up call to those who believe that the problems can be solved by limited military action against the so-called caliphate.

ISIL is committed to extending its particular brand of 7th-century fundamentalism across the whole world. Its agenda is to eliminate the Shia and other varieties of Islam, as well as the kafirs, or unbelievers, from the face of the earth. The Government need to spell out how they consider that the international community should fight this criminal ideology. Air strikes, as I think it is agreed by your Lordships, are not sufficient in themselves to remove a determined enemy from control of territory. Infantry and armour are needed to occupy the ground. In the case of Syria, that has to mean the Syrian Armed Forces, which are well equipped and trained by the Russians. Have there been any discussions with Russia about joining in the coalition against ISIL? Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, has said that they have no intention of joining in the air strikes, but he also said that they had warned the West about terrorists and extremists in Syria—so perhaps they are prepared to take some other action in support of the coalition’s work in eliminating ISIL from Syria itself.

It would also be useful to hear more about the discussion that the Prime Minister had with President Rouhani of Iran in New York earlier this month. Apparently, they agreed that ISIL posed a threat to the whole region and that more should be done to cut off support for the terrorists, but what specific role would Iran be prepared to play in eliminating ISIL? It is a rabidly Sunni organisation and, when it captured Mosul, it murdered 670 Shia prisoners, as well as hundreds of Shia Yazidis in Nineveh, according to the UN Human Rights Commissioner, Navi Pillay.

Turkey has a different reason for joining the coalition. If the ISIL forces take the city of Kobane, there might be an influx of several hundred thousand more Kurdish refugees into Turkey and, of course, a large extension of the frontier between Turkey and the terrorists. That would be an intolerable situation, allowing the terrorists access through Turkey to Europe, and it must be prevented.

House of Lords: Question Time

Lord Avebury Excerpts

Monday 7th July 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hill of Oareford]

I disagree with the noble Lord very strongly. The principle of self-regulation that we have in this House is worth fighting for and preserving as strongly as we possibly can—all of us. I would not wish on this House the example provided by the other place. A few years back the House looked at the question of whether we would prefer to have a system here that mirrored more closely that of the other House, with a Speaker. It voted fairly clearly, concluding that it preferred to stick with our current arrangements. However, it is incumbent on all of us who care about self-regulation to make sure that we do it. I do not accept the noble Lord’s characterisation that most of the time it does not work. I think that most of the time it works extremely well.

[Lord Avebury (LD)]

Does my noble friend agree that some of the worst offenders in asking non-questions are those who have been here longest and should know better? It might be useful for him to write to some of those offenders and point out that they are breaking the rules, so that they do not repeat that.

[Lord Hill of Oareford]

It is incumbent on all the groups in the House to help to police this and, if they need to, to communicate to some of their members. The point that I make about publishing more information on the number of times people ask questions, and perhaps the number of words that they use, might help to shine a spotlight.