Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Debate between Lord Bates and Viscount Ridley

Monday 3rd December 2018 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Ridley]

My Lords, further to the question from the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, about malaria, my noble friend will be aware that malaria mortality has halved in this century, which is a remarkable achievement. Seventy per cent of that reduction was due to a surprisingly low-tech innovation—namely, the insecticide-treated bed net, although, as my noble friend said, resistance is becoming a problem. Is he aware of research that is going on to improve the efficacy of insecticide-treated bed nets, and is this something that the British Government support?

[Lord Bates]

I am aware of the research. Precisely because of the insecticide and antimicrobial resistance that I mentioned, this issue will be addressed in our antimicrobial resistance strategy, which will be refreshed next year. However, I know that my noble friend takes a close interest in this technology, and I would be grateful if he would keep us informed of any initiatives or new ventures that he is aware of.

Brexit: Economic Analysis of Various Scenarios

Debate between Lord Bates and Viscount Ridley

Wednesday 28th November 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

The answer is, very soon.

[Viscount Ridley (Con)]

Is my noble friend at all concerned about what appears to be a circular argument in the analysis of the Treasury, in which it assumes its own conclusions? Essentially, it says that if there are no gains from separating from the EU, there will be net losses from that separation in proportion to the degree to which we separate.

[Lord Bates]

This is not Treasury analysis; it is government analysis. It has been drawn up in collaboration with departments such as BEIS, Defra and DExEU, which have had a significant input. We believe that the analysis supports the case for backing the deal that has been presented to us.

Green Finance

Debate between Lord Bates and Viscount Ridley

Wednesday 31st October 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

I do not accept the picture that the noble Lord is painting. In the index that we are talking about, the City of London was ranked number one in the world for the quality of green finance offered—something that we can be proud of. It has gone down to number three in terms of penetration, but look at other financial centres: Paris was fifth, Frankfurt 21st, Tokyo 29th and New York 39th. The City of London is leading the global agenda on leveraging private finance to meet the challenges identified by the IPCC, and we should celebrate that.

[Viscount Ridley (Con)]

My Lords, could my noble friend enlighten us on what is a green technology and what is not? It would be very easy to get green finance for projects that burn wood to make electricity but impossible to get it for projects that burn gas to do so, even though burning wood produces at least twice as much carbon dioxide as burning gas. Why?

Brexit: United Kingdom-Africa Trade and Development

Debate between Lord Bates and Viscount Ridley

Tuesday 25th April 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

Those are all important points, as the noble Lord will know, which is why we want to make sure that arrangements relating to all matters covered by the EPAs continue not just until the point at which we leave but beyond. We want also to take the opportunity to discuss with our bilateral partners in Africa, the Caribbean and elsewhere how we can improve on the current arrangements so that they might work better for those in poor countries.

[Viscount Ridley (Con)]

My Lords, further to the point that my noble friend the Minister has just made, can he confirm that African exporters to Britain face the high EU external tariff and that, after Brexit, there will an opportunity to review that and therefore to increase trade between the UK and Africa?

[Lord Bates]

My noble friend is right to raise that point. The lowest-income countries are able to come in duty free and tariff free under the Everything but Arms agreement, but there is more to be done on the middle-income countries. There is now more flexibility: we are leaving the EU, but we are still embracing the world. We want to put free trade at the heart of everything that we do—that has been set out clearly. The opportunity for free trade to lift ever more people out of poverty around the world is something that we will grasp with full measure.