Sustainable Development Goals Summit

Debate between Lord Collins of Highbury and Lord Mott

Thursday 21st September 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Mott (Con)]

My noble friend makes an important point. It would be wrong for me to stand here today and go into too much detail on the question that he has asked, but I will certainly take it back to the department and ensure that he gets a full answer.

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

I think the noble Lord, Lord Howell, is absolutely wrong: the SDGs are not the responsibility of the United Nations but the responsibility of every country, every citizen and every private company. They are universal in nature. What my noble friend was trying to highlight is that political leadership is required. The political declaration that was agreed at the high-level political forum committed to targeted measures to eradicate poverty, but we have 745 million more people facing hunger than when the SDGs were agreed, so we are off target. We need political commitment. Can the Minister explain how the recent announcement of easing access to development finance meets the aspirations within the SDGs? We need more political leadership.

[Lord Mott (Con)]

I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Collins of Highbury, about the need for everyone to take ownership and work in partnership. The word “partnership” has certainly come up in the last few weeks in your Lordships’ House. With regard to the need to press on and leadership, the Prime Minister was recently at the G20 where he talked to international colleagues and partners, and he continues to do so. If I may focus on food security and our humanitarian response for a second, the UK will invest over £370 million in global food security this year, including £130 million in the World Food Programme, and over £17 million of this funding will help to improve the effective use of fertiliser and increase food production in vulnerable countries.

Iran: Prisoner Swap

Debate between Lord Collins of Highbury and Lord Mott

Wednesday 20th September 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Mott (Con)]

The noble Lord asks some very important questions. By seeking to use foreign nationals as bargaining chips, the regime’s leaders are fatally undermining Iran’s credibility on the world stage. It remains in Iran’s gift to release any foreign nationals who have been unfairly detained; we will continue to urge Iran and any country that arbitrarily detains people to release them immediately. The UK was not a party to negotiations between the US and Iran in this case, but the US maintains that the released funds will never enter Iran nor pass on to Iranian companies or entities but will be available only for humanitarian goods and transactions with non-Iranian-vetted third parties.

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

My Lords, the Foreign Affairs Committee in the other place produced an excellent report in the summer on hostage diplomacy and argued very strongly for the creation of an arbitrary and complex detentions director, organising cross-government action and cutting through the silos that we know exist, as the chair said. Alicia Kearns said that she was

“disappointed that there was a lack of meaningful engagement with this proposal”.—[Official Report, Commons, 6/7/23; col. 377WH.]

Will the Government think again and look seriously at this proposal?

[Lord Mott (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord for his question and reference to the report. The Government were grateful to the Foreign Affairs Committee for its report and considered its recommendations in detail. We are committed to learning from the experiences of victims of arbitrary detention. The Government do not agree that we should establish a separate post of director for arbitrary and complex detentions. Our approach reflects the Foreign Secretary’s primacy within Cabinet as the Secretary of State with responsibility for foreign affairs, including consular affairs, with direct access to the Prime Minister. Our approach to the governance and leadership of complex cases also reflects the dual premium we place on country-specific expertise and consular best practice. Relevant senior geographic leaders may lead our diplomatic response to complex detentions, such as those in Iran, working with the director for consular services, who is responsible for consistency of approach. We regularly compare this approach with best practice in other countries.

Africa: Partnerships

Debate between Lord Collins of Highbury and Lord Mott

Thursday 14th September 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Mott (Con)]

I thank my noble friend for his question and for his work within this organisation. It is vitally important that it continues to do that good work. Clearly, budgets in some cases have been reduced. I do not have the details in relation to that organisation regarding its budget, but I will certainly take that back to the department and write to him in the coming weeks.

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

My Lords, the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi on 4 September evidenced the determination of African countries to work together to set out a positive agenda for driving green growth. However, the debt burden and rising interest rates increasing the cost of borrowing from capital markets are inhibiting the huge potential for green growth in Africa. What are the Government doing across Whitehall with international partners to reform multilateral development banks so that the growth potential is fully realised?

[Lord Mott (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Collins of Highbury, for his question. The UK is a partner for African countries that are disproportionately affected by climate change. I will give some examples of the work that we are doing in relation to this, which demonstrates our commitment to supporting those countries. We have ambitious energy transition plans, providing £1.8 billion of international partners group finance, and we are delivering on our commitment to double international climate finance to £11.6 billion by 2025-26. The UK has supported the “room to run” guarantee to the African Development Bank, which is expected to unlock up to £2 billion-worth of new financing for projects across the continent and £200 million to the African Development Bank and the climate action window.

Deep Seabed Mining

Debate between Lord Collins of Highbury and Lord Mott

Wednesday 13th September 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Mott (Con)]

Yes.

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

My Lords, I too welcome the Minister today, although we have done debates in Grand Committee. What sort of impact will the beyond national jurisdiction treaty that has been agreed have on our position in the International Seabed Authority’s discussions on future licences? The sea is often open territory, not governed by Governments and countries. It is really important that we have international co-operation on this issue.

[Lord Mott (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord for his opening comments. It is important, as he says, for us to make sure that we are working globally on this subject. As a responsible international actor and party to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the UK will continue to engage fully with negotiations under way at the International Seabed Authority and we will work closely with partners who are committed to ensuring a regulatory framework with the highest level of environmental protection by 2025.