Central America: Trade and Investment
Lord Collins of Highbury Excerpts(2 years ago)
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Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Hooper, for securing this debate and for her enduring commitment to the peoples of Latin America. As the noble Baroness, Lady Coussins, said, our values, human rights and the protection of human rights must be central to our relationship with the region; they are not secondary. Also, if we focus on cultural, educational and other links and, as the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, said, sustain those civil society relationships, that will help improve trade; such protections will make it more sustainable and secure. Of course, growth in central America since the early 1990s has primarily been driven by the growth of the labour market, the rate of which is projected to decrease severely, mainly because of the issues the noble Baroness, Lady Hooper, highlighted. The global challenges we face as a country are certainly faced by all the countries in central America. In order to sustain growth, productivity and capital will need to increase, and we need to know how the uncertainty of this happening impacts the UK’s consideration of future trade with the region. Can the Minister be more explicit about what role UK Export Finance will play in ensuring that capital investment maintains this growth?
As the noble Baroness, Lady Hooper, said during her introduction, we have not debated central America for some time, but we did have an excellent report from the International Relations and Defence Committee on Latin America, the coalition and how we support the Pacific area. We focused a lot on trade and the various opportunities, and I think it was reflected in this debate that there are lots of opportunities we have not been focusing on. Like other noble Lords, I want to ask the Minister about the priorities we now set. Of course, we are going to be re-examining the integrated review regarding our diplomatic efforts, because diplomacy, as the noble Lord said, is an important ingredient of sustaining and introducing trade. I would like to hear from the Minister about that.
Trade between the UK and central America is heavily concentrated on food for import and drink for export. Are the Government’s plans for trade with this region focused on further boosting that sector; or, as the noble Baroness, Lady Hooper, said, on refocusing on some of the new opportunities, particularly technological ones? Certainly, the e-commerce side of things could be expanded.
As the noble Earl, Lord Dundee, reminded us, there are large country-by-country discrepancies in the market size of UK trade in central America. The largest export market, Panama, is over twice the size of second placed Costa Rica. In terms of imports, the Costa Rica market is about three and a half times the size of the second placed Honduras. What plans do the Government have to increase imports, and particularly exports, where current markets are significantly smaller? How do we address the discrepancies the noble Earl talked about?
Of course, there are differences between the EU-central America agreement and the current UK-central America agreement. I heard what the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, said, but would be keen to hear from the Minister whether there are any plans to negotiate.
The other area we addressed when looking at the International Relations Committee’s report on Latin America was the potential impact of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership—I will not use the initials, because I always trip over them. What assessment has the department made of the impact of our decision to join any future trade negotiations with central America?
Talking about the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the DIT’s report on the latest round of talks in October confirmed that negotiations covered
“market access on trade in goods, services and investment, financial services, Government procurement, temporary entry of businesspersons and legal and institutional issues.”
The DIT says that “good progress” has been made, with talks
“set to continue during the rest of the year.”
Have there been further talks since those in Sydney in October? If so, have any different topics come out? The Government previously said that they hoped to conclude these talks by the end of 2022. Assuming that we would know by now if that was still the case, do they have a revised expectation of when the talks will conclude? As with other trade agreements, the advantages of joining the CPTPP will have to be assessed once we see the terms of the offer.
Noble Lords also mentioned Mexico and the continuity agreement which came into force in June 2021. Mention has been made of Kemi Badenoch saying:
“Round two of the UK-Mexico trade negotiations took place from 31 October to 11 November 2022”.
She said that discussions had “remained positive” and reflected the UK and Mexico’s
“shared ambition to negotiate a comprehensive agreement which is better suited for the 21st century and one which strengthens our trading relationship”.—[Official Report, Commons, 28/11/22; col. 26WS.]
Like other noble Lords, I ask: what is the timeframe for this? When can we expect stronger and better progress?
I echo my opening remarks about how we ensure that human rights and other relationships are central to those discussions. As the noble Baroness, Lady Coussins, highlighted, there are human rights issues, with one of the biggest being media freedom and how journalists have been attacked or disappeared. I know that it is not necessarily within the Minister’s remit to talk about these issues, but it is very important that when we are trying to offer preferential arrangements, we do not ignore our values in those discussions. I hope the Minister will be able to respond on that important point.
Iran: Demonstrations
Lord Collins of Highbury Excerpts(2 years, 1 month ago)
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Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)
My Lords, I too start by saying that I look forward to the maiden speech of the noble Lord, Lord Johnson. It is a big step to enter the House as a Minister and I welcome him to his position. I hope he plays a full role and engages, as the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, reiterated, across the House in the best traditions of the Lords. I also welcome the right reverend Prelate initiating this debate, which is important at this time. I echo his comments about maintaining pressure to release those foreign detainees, including Morad, about whom we have repeatedly asked for more information in this Chamber. I welcome that commitment and I hope the Minister can respond on those specific issues.
The tragic death of Mahsa Amini is both disgraceful and unacceptable, and the UK must continue to support calls for a transparent, impartial investigation into the circumstances that led to it. The situation is increasingly alarming; reports continue of disproportionate force by the Iranian authorities, including as protests spread to universities and border communities, as illustrated by the right reverend Prelate. As the UK is a supporter of human rights, we must continue to maintain calls to protect the people of Iran’s fundamental freedom to live as they choose.
Like other noble Lords, I fully support the Government’s decision to sanction those responsible for these human rights abuses, using our powers under the human rights sanctions. I am also pleased that the Foreign Secretary summoned the most senior Iranian official in the UK, but I urge the Minister to explore further options to hold the Iranian Government to account.
First, can the Minister update the House on steps taken at the UN to raise the recent violations? What steps has the UK taken with our European partners since the joint statement on 13 October? Secondly, as illustrated by the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, will he explain the Government’s decision to cut funding to BBC Persian Radio? At this vital moment, the United Kingdom should be standing by the protesters, not eliminating a vital source of impartial information. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, that we should be looking at special ways to push that service out into the communities.
Finally, I echo something I have repeated before: the important role of civil society in Iran, which is continually under attack. How are we working with our allies to promote global civil society organisations, including interfaith groups? One thing the community in Iran needs to hear is that there is a tradition of Islam that does not support the Government’s actions. There are traditions of faiths working together. We need to ensure that we amplify that. Supporting the BBC World Service is one way, but there are others. I hope the Minister will commit to doing so.
Gender Recognition Act Consultation
Lord Collins of Highbury Excerpts(4 years, 2 months ago)
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Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)
My Lords, the consultation lasted two years and received more than 100,000 responses, the vast majority of which backed reform. The result is the continuation of a lengthy process that the Women and Equalities Committee said
“runs contrary to the dignity and personal autonomy of applicants.”
What evidence does the Minister have that medicalisation remains necessary from the jurisdictions that do not medicalise the process?
In July, the APPG on Global Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights presented a report to Liz Truss in which we sought to deliver reassurance around trans people and deliver trans rights. Did the Minister see or consider that report? Can she explain why it was rejected, bearing in mind that it was also backed by the LGBT groups of the main political parties, including her own? This decision has caused huge hurt to the trans community, and Labour believes that it is simply wrong.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Department for International Trade (Baroness Berridge) (Con)
My Lords, there has indeed been an extensive consultation on this matter. There were numerous contributions, including those outlined by the noble Lord. The matter of medical diagnosis is one for clinicians. After due consideration, the balance has been taken that the issues were to do with cost, bureaucracy and access to healthcare. The system as outlined in the Statement has been changed: the fee has been reduced to a nominal amount and the process has been digitalised.