Prime Minister: Meeting with Prime Minister of Canada

Debate between Lord Lilley and Baroness Chapman of Darlington

Wednesday 12th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

My Lords, the UK and Canada are of course the closest of allies. We have a proud history of partnership built on shared values. We share a sovereign; we are among the oldest parliamentary democracies in the world; and the British and Canadians fought bravely alongside one another in two world wars, and in nearly every major conflict for more than a century. It should go without saying that the future of Canada lies solely in the hands of the Canadian people.

[Lord Lilley (Con)]

Will the Minister express solidarity with the Prime Minister of Canada in his determination that Canada should remain an independent country, making its own laws and trading with its huge continental neighbour on the basis of a free trade agreement that America should respect? Will she also express delight that he has abandoned the advice he used to give to Britain—that, in order to trade with our huge continental neighbour, we should submit to all its laws and join a political union with it?