Commonwealth Day

Debate between Lord Haselhurst and Lord Dodds of Duncairn

Thursday 13th March 2014 Westminster Hall

[Sir Alan Haselhurst]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I will not venture too far down that road, but I am sure that if he catches your eye, Mr Bayley, he will be able to expand on that theme. The Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary raised the matter in a speech in Sydney a couple of years ago when he said that this side of the Commonwealth has not been given the attention it deserves. I appreciate that I have already been speaking for sufficiently long that I must not develop into other areas.

I want a Commonwealth youth Parliament established on an annual basis. I want representatives of that organisation to be at the top level when we have our annual conference of the CPA, and I want them to have access to Foreign Ministers when it comes to the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.

I am sure that my hon. Friend the Member for Romford will pay attention here, because special attention must be given to smaller states. We should try to have a figurehead representative chosen from the small states to be on the executive committee of the CPA, for which there is great enthusiasm. I hope that the executive committee can be persuaded to accept that idea at its next meeting.

[Mr Nigel Dodds (Belfast North) (DUP)]

The right hon. Gentleman has set out clearly and eloquently the challenges and several changes that he would make to the CPA. What is his assessment of the likely degree of support among member states of the Commonwealth for his suggestions about the CPA? Is there a groundswell of opinion in his favour?

[Sir Alan Haselhurst]

The answer is mixed. There is a groundswell of support for doing more for women parliamentarians in the Commonwealth and for an annual youth Parliament, and the matter of the small states will be put to the test soon. The reactions may be mixed to my suggestion about the devolution of power, but I am merely floating the idea based on my experience of the past two and half years as the chairperson of the executive committee. Having seen what is happening across the piece, there is a case for considering that proposal, but it has not yet been examined in any great detail.

The powerbrokers at ministerial level in the Commonwealth and in national Parliaments should take much more seriously the Commonwealth’s parliamentary and local government arms and its associated organisations. By the time of the next CHOGM in two years’ time, I hope for some progress on what was said in Colombo in the hurried half-hour that was granted to the associated organisations. There was a feeling among Foreign Ministers that something more had to be done to engage, and I am willing to suggest ways in which that could be done. I envisage an event at the next CHOGM that highlights the civil society aspects of the Commonwealth, but which would also make clear the role that can be played by the elected partners among the associated organisations. That ought to be seen as a win-win within the Commonwealth family and would help the CPA, in particular, to aspire to a stronger sense of purpose and a sharper definition of its priorities. I hope that moves in that general direction will be encouraged by Her Majesty’s Government.