COP 28

Debate between Lord Hamilton of Epsom and Lord Callanan

Wednesday 17th May 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

We are committed to phasing out fossil fuels and I outlined in a previous answer the progress we are making. But it is a transition: we have a requirement for fossil fuels during that transition period and have had exchanges about that before. I do not know the details of the declaration that the noble Baroness refers to, but I will certainly have a look at it.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My noble friend made reference to our co-operation with other countries. Do they include China and India, which continue to build coal-fired power stations and make the attainment of net zero pretty unlikely?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My noble friend makes an important point. We continue to liaise with and talk to those countries, as we do many others. The situation is complicated. While it is true that China continues to expand its coal-fired generation, it has also massively increased use of renewables. In fact, it has the largest offshore wind sector in the world now; it took over our lead on that.

Climate Change: Net Zero Strategy

Debate between Lord Hamilton of Epsom and Lord Callanan

Wednesday 3rd May 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

Does my noble friend accept that the chances of reaching global net zero are almost nil as long as the Chinese and Indians go on building coal-fired power stations?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I understand the point my noble friend is making. Of course, we continue to engage with China and India about the folly of building new coal-fired power stations. Incidentally, picking up my last example, because the German Government accepted the advice of the Greens and phased out their nuclear power programme, last year 30% of German electricity was met by coal-fired generation. In the UK, it was less than 2% and next year it will be zero.

Horizon Europe: UK Participation

Debate between Lord Hamilton of Epsom and Lord Callanan

Tuesday 31st January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My Lords, the Government need no convincing about the benefits of association with Horizon Europe. We benefited from it. The UK has eight universities in the top 50 globally; the EU has only six. It is a multifaceted programme; exchanges benefit both sides. We were of the view that association would be a good idea; that is why we entered into the agreement. We still hope that the EU will have second thoughts.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, the noble Viscount, Lord Stansgate, has apologised for asking the same question twice. I will do the same thing and ask why we cannot be associate members of Horizon, like Israel and Tunisia.

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I think my noble friend has asked that question three times. He gets the same answer every time but he is welcome to ask it again. The point that he makes is very valid. There are 15 countries in addition to the EU that have associated to Horizon, including Israel, Kosovo, Turkey and Tunisia, but, for reasons known only to itself, the EU refuses to continue the agreement.

Prime Minister: Trade Unions

Debate between Lord Hamilton of Epsom and Lord Callanan

Monday 19th December 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I understand the point that the noble Lord is making but the problem is that, once you make an exception for one group, I imagine that lots of other deserving groups will also want exceptions made for them. Pretty soon, the exception becomes the rule. We are sticking to the position that we asked the pay review bodies to look at the appropriate level of remuneration; they have done so and we have accepted their recommendation.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, is it not true that, in the National Health Service, there are many different grades that nurses can achieve? They can go on doing the same job but be promoted up the grades and get more pay.

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I am not overly familiar with the pay grades in the National Health Service—perhaps my noble friend Lord Markham could have answered that on the previous Question better than me.

Horizon Europe

Debate between Lord Hamilton of Epsom and Lord Callanan

Thursday 8th September 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I stand completely by those words: it would be a win-win, and we want to do it. It would be to the benefit of the EU and the UK scientific community, and it is regrettable that the EU is refusing to finalise the agreement that it entered into.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, will my noble friend tell us why we cannot be associate members of the Horizon project, like Israel and Tunisia? Israel is not a member of the EU, and Tunisia is not even a member of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Fire and Rehire

Debate between Lord Hamilton of Epsom and Lord Callanan

Wednesday 15th June 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

We have said that we will deliver when parliamentary time allows, but there are many other ways of delivering what were manifesto commitments than a formal government employment Bill.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My noble friend has pointed out that unemployment levels are at an all-time low, but is he not worried about the rising number of those who are not seeking work?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

That will depend on the individual circumstances of many people. The pandemic resulted in a number of people reassessing their life choices and if they have decided not to go back into the labour market, I am not sure that is something we can implicitly control. But as I said, we have 600,000 more people in work than before the pandemic and one of the lowest unemployment rates in the western world.

Mathematical Sciences

Debate between Lord Hamilton of Epsom and Lord Callanan

Tuesday 8th February 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

Again, the noble Lord raises an important subject. We clearly want to make sure that some of the top mathematicians stay in our universities to educate the next generation of young people. I will certainly take his remarks back to the Department for Education.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Garden of Frognal, says that maths should be fun for women. Can it actually be fun for anybody, even if it is very necessary for everyone?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I am sure that maths can be fun for everybody. I am disappointed that my noble friend does not think so.

Net-zero Emissions

Debate between Lord Hamilton of Epsom and Lord Callanan

Tuesday 7th December 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

We are working closely with industry to work up the offers we have to householders, as well as the myriad government schemes targeting mainly low-income families: the £800 million social housing decarbonisation fund, the £950 million home upgrade grants, et cetera. Then, of course, we have the £450 million boiler upgrade scheme launching in April next year to subsidise the installation of heat pumps.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, to follow the question from the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, now that the debate on net zero is maturing and we are talking about the costs of reaching net zero, should we not have a cost-benefit analysis from the Government on how all this is working out?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The legislation has, of course, already been passed by this House to make net zero legally binding, but extensive impact and cost-benefit analyses were done at the time.

Brexit: Preparations

Debate between Lord Hamilton of Epsom and Lord Callanan

Monday 21st October 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan]

I thank the noble Baroness for her question. I suppose we are getting into the semantics of what “done” means here. It will be done in the terms that we will have left the European Union, but if she accepts that concession, I will be happy to agree with her that of course discussions will need to take place and agreements will have to be made across a range of areas. I have many times said across this Dispatch Box that discussions will take place before we leave and, I hope, discussions will take place after we leave. We have to have agreements with the European Union in a range of areas. I have never resiled from that. We will need to agree a number of different policy areas with the EU.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

Will my noble friend spell out to us exactly what is in the gift of the other place or your Lordships’ House in terms of amending this legislation? Surely, we are talking about an international treaty that has been agreed with the EU. What happens if we make substantial amendments to it? Are we expected to go back to the EU and say that the agreement we have already made has to be amended? Surely, what we can do in the Bill that will be presented to us will be very restricted.

[Lord Callanan]

My noble friend asks some good questions. The answer is complicated. If the terms of the withdrawal agreement itself were to be altered by amendment, the effect would be that we could not ratify the treaty and therefore there would be no deal. Of course, there are other elements that could be amended, which would affect operations in the domestic sphere but would not affect our ratification of the treaty.

Brexit

Debate between Lord Hamilton of Epsom and Lord Callanan

Monday 21st October 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan]

We will publish an impact assessment on the Bill. It is hard to do so because so much depends on the future relationship and the details of the future trade agreement that will be negotiated.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, if the Bill gets a Second Reading tomorrow, will that count as a meaningful vote?

[Lord Callanan]

I think my noble friend is getting somewhat ahead of himself. We will wait to see what happens in the other place, but until those provisions are changed or altered by statute, the provisions for the meaningful vote under both Section 13 of the EU withdrawal Act and the Benn Act remain in place.

European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019

Debate between Lord Hamilton of Epsom and Lord Callanan

Thursday 26th September 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan]

I believe that I have answered the question. We are a law-abiding Government and we will abide by the law. We will always assess carefully the implications of that law, but we will always comply with it and the legal advice that the Government receive.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, is this not rather difficult for my noble friend because he has been asked to comment on an Act of Parliament which was originally a Private Members’ Bill? Should not the noble and learned Lord, Lord Goldsmith, ask the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, what the real meaning of this Act of Parliament is, because he drafted it?

[Lord Callanan]

My noble friend makes a good point. This was not government legislation. It was a Private Members’ Bill. We did not support it; we opposed it. I advised this House against passing it. I said at the time that it is flawed and deficient in a number of respects, particularly the Kinnock amendment. However, it is the law of the land and we will comply with the law.

Brexit: Discussions with the European Union

Debate between Lord Hamilton of Epsom and Lord Callanan

Thursday 20th June 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan]

As the noble Baroness will be well aware, that is really not a policy responsibility of my department, so I will pass on that one.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

Can my noble friend tell us when the EU will take responsibility for half of this deal, which has been turned down by gigantic majorities in the House of Commons?

[Lord Callanan]

My noble friend is well aware that the deal was agreed jointly between the UK Government and the EU. Any solution will also need to be agreed jointly.

British Citizens’ Rights

Debate between Lord Hamilton of Epsom and Lord Callanan

Tuesday 18th June 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan]

I answered my noble friend in full. We have produced these technical notices to businesses and have engaged in extensive discussions, in this House and in the other place, including appearing before Select Committees—many of our officials have appeared in front of committees as well—to update Parliament as far as we are able on the preparations that we are undertaking.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, going back to the fate of the million or so British citizens living in the EU, are we not undermining our negotiating position by unilaterally giving guarantees to EU citizens living in this country? Do we not lose our leverage?

[Lord Callanan]

No, I do not agree with my noble friend on this. I thought it was right and proper that we provided the guarantees to EU citizens. As I said, I think we have taken the right approach. The rights that we have offered to over 3 million EU citizens in this country are considerably greater than those offered by EU member states to the UK citizens in their countries.

Brexit: Financial Settlement

Debate between Lord Hamilton of Epsom and Lord Callanan

Tuesday 11th September 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan]

At the risk of repeating myself, I said we will honour our legal commitments, but it is a complicated legal area. There are some great legal brains in this House who would, no doubt, want to opine on the matter, but there are different opinions. Ultimately, I suspect this will come down to a matter of politics. We do not want to get into a dispute on these matters and so we have negotiated a settlement. It is hugely complicated, there are a number of different financial areas involved, but we remain confident that we will reach a withdrawal agreement and meet those commitments.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

Can my noble friend confirm that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, and that includes the financial settlement?

[Lord Callanan]

Yes, that applies to us. It also applies to the European Union.

Brexit: Legislating for the Withdrawal Agreement

Debate between Lord Hamilton of Epsom and Lord Callanan

Tuesday 24th July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan]

Yes, I can confirm what the noble Lord said about the European Court of Justice. With regard to the Norwegian community, we are currently in negotiations with EEA member states and hope to reach an agreement on citizens’ rights similar to that which we have agreed with the EU.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

I congratulate the Government on the agreement on citizens’ rights. Is this not a vindication of not taking unilateral action to guarantee the position of EU citizens in this country without simultaneously guaranteeing the rights of British citizens in the EU? Are we saying that the meaningful vote will be on a Motion or will it be incorporated into the Bill, which will take in the whole EU withdrawal agreement which is part of this Statement?

[Lord Callanan]

With regard to UK citizens in the EU, it is of course equally important for us to reach agreement on their behalf. That is one of the areas that we are pursuing with other EU member states. Of course, the matter is agreed. We are making preparations to implement our part of the bargain and we need to make sure that EU states are doing similar things for British citizens.

With regard to the exact form of the Motion to be agreed, the meaningful vote is now incorporated into the withdrawal Act.

Brexit: Negotiations

Debate between Lord Hamilton of Epsom and Lord Callanan

Tuesday 30th January 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan]

One person’s sniping is another person’s constructive comments. I enjoy engaging with this House, sometimes on destructive comments, but we have considered appropriate contributions from all parts of this House.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

The noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, raised the issue of the Irish border. Is it not very difficult to get a solution to the Irish border issue that is separate from the trading relationship that we have with the rest of the EU?

[Lord Callanan]

We have made it clear that we do not want a hard border in Ireland. The exact structure of the border and customs arrangements will, of course, emerge from the end-state negotiations. Where we end up will clearly have an impact on the border arrangements, and we have made that very clear.

Brexit: Reports to Parliament

Debate between Lord Hamilton of Epsom and Lord Callanan

Monday 8th January 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan]

I totally agree with the noble Baroness that the EU Select Committee is an excellent grouping. We report to it regularly and I am sure we will be doing so in future. There has been a wide range of discussions with all sorts of parties about what might happen. We already have a Minister in the department—Steve Baker—who is planning for a no-deal scenario, but we hope that will not be the case. We want a full, fruitful and special partnership with the EU and we are continuing negotiations to that effect.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, following my noble friend’s intervention, does the Minister agree that if we have no deal on the table, we are much more likely to get a good deal?

[Lord Callanan]

It is important to bear in mind any possible outcome. We plan for all eventualities, but of course we are planning for a full and special partnership and we hope that will be the outcome.

Brexit: Release of Impact Assessments

Debate between Lord Hamilton of Epsom and Lord Callanan

Tuesday 28th November 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan]

I have my view on what they said, but the noble Lord will be able to judge for himself. We will make these documents available in a reading room, and he can read them and then come back and argue the point then.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

Can my noble friend confirm that one reason why it is a bad idea to stay in the customs union is because we would not be able to negotiate free trade deals with other countries all round the world?

[Lord Callanan]

My noble friend makes a very informed point.