Israel/Gaza

Lord Mendelsohn Excerpts

Tuesday 24th October 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Mendelsohn (Lab)]

My Lords, I refer to my register of interests. I am a director of the UK Abraham Accords Group, I am involved on the boards of companies which have staff and premises in Israel, and I am a board member of a cancer charity and many other organisations.

It is impossible not to describe what has been going on as just simply heartbreaking. I thank the Minister for his absolutely outstanding speech, for the resolve and clarity that he shows and that the Government have shown, for their work in the region and for their full engagement. This is all deeply important. I thank the leader of my party for his clarity and the Front Bench for demonstrating it as well. I am truly humbled to be in this Chamber when we have had such an important and constructive debate with so many significant and thoughtful contributions. I join my voice with those calling for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages as quickly as possible.

I was in Israel when the rockets started hitting and when the land incursion took place. In fact, I was woken up by my phone which I had set to one of the alerts which tell you if rockets come over. I had it on silent, but it just did not stop vibrating. It woke me at 7 am; my wife had been up since 6.30 am. It was immediately apparently that this was something very, very different. The reason I mention this is that I have kept it vibrating still every day. Every single day I get a reminder of the condition of rockets being fired into Israel and the murderous intent to kill as many people as possible, which has been stopped only by some advanced technology. These happen constantly, and it was almost prescient that just before we started this debate, the most enormous amount of rockets were fired on Israel, including one in an area that I was staying in when I was there on Saturday, which would have given me 90 seconds to get to a bomb shelter.

That issue is still constant. It is also the case that this afternoon, like every day for at least the last 10 days, there have been major incursions with rockets and other things from the northern border. One should not forget the precarious situation and the threats that Israel faces in general, including the attack from Yemen. This is more than just the issue of Gaza. This is what Hamas has wrought: a major form of instability.

I will just reference one other thing, which is that I have always wanted to be involved in the pursuit of peace. I have made much of my time, resources and other things available to the disposal of any initiative that tries to work towards peace, like many in this House. I have never been anything more than a minor supporter in that role. I cannot profess to any particularly significant achievement or role, but I was certainly involved in trying to do as much as we could with the Gaza withdrawal. When it was first mooted in 2004, it was supported widely and overwhelmingly in Israel, especially after the death of Yasser Arafat in 2004. There were initiatives here. In fact, we had an Israeli and Palestinian initiative, supported by the Government here, that helped to build some of the conditions to make that work. I worked with a number of people in the wider community on trying to make sure that, when Israel withdrew, there was significant building. The Emirati companies were very keen to invest in that. One of those that did go over to invest a huge amount was chased out of Gaza. We have led to this terrible succession of things that we all know of so well, leading to Hamas’s takeover in 2007, which of course came after the abduction of Gilad Shalit. One should remember that Hamas has always been trying to undermine that situation.

So where have we ended up with that deep desire to create peace? It has trapped Israel in military strikes, economic pressures and isolation as the only strategy to try and deal with Gaza. Gaza has not had the economic success or benefits linked to peace, nor the security that it would have wished for. We have ended up in a situation which is far worse. For those of us who always try the march towards peace, the steps back that can be taken are very severe, and we must consider that. Of course, there is no accident, in my view, in the timing of why these events took place. It was because we were making more progress than we have ever done in last few years on the diplomatic side with the Saudi initiative.

We must address the inescapable point that, for as long as Hamas remains a force, the cause of peace will be the profound casualty. Hamas in Gaza is like having ISIS on your border. It has had a destructive legacy on peace from Oslo: suicide bombers, child soldiers—it does not matter what it is, Hamas has always been the great underminer. Our core mistake has been to believe that a Hamas presence is possible and consistent with any peace initiative. It is not. We must address it. We must address the malign influence of Iran which has emboldened them all. We must urge the regional actors who are part of the solution to do more, and for Qatar to do more to try and put pressure, not just on the hostage situation, but for Hamas to be more engaged.

The central unarguable point is that Hamas is the problem, and everyone has to choose which side they are on: peace or conflict. People must understand that Hamas is not the Palestinians. Those who argue in the media, at demonstrations or elsewhere, who provide succour or support for Hamas, its methods or policies, who justify or explain away its actions or even recite or chant the politics and phrases from its hateful charter do nothing for peace. I fear the reality is we have to accept that when we talk about a horizon for peace, after the war, or commitments to two states, all of which I profoundly agree with, it is unlikely to be feasible unless Hamas can be reduced to the husk that ISIS is. We need the right coalition of willing partners to make that happen.

Abraham Accords

Lord Mendelsohn Excerpts

Thursday 14th September 2023 Grand Committee

[Lord Mendelsohn (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare my interest as a board member of the UK Abraham Accords Group and as one of the co-chairs of the All-Party Group on the Abraham Accords. I pay tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Polak, for his excellent speech and for giving us the opportunity to debate this. His personal leadership and role in developing our country’s relations with that region is well known to all and we thank him for that. In particular, he—I would say “my noble friend”—has been a great colleague and, on many occasions, a great servant for this country. I also associate myself with the words that he said about the situation in Morocco. A terrible tragedy has been unfolding there, and I too extend sympathy to its people. Whatever we can do to help them would be most welcome. I am sure that the Minister will touch on that in his comments.

The Question we have here is to look at the Abraham accords and how we should view them. I think we have to consider them as one of the single most transformational moments in the Middle East. That is not to say that in and of itself, that moment was everything. We have to acknowledge that the region has changed substantially in the relations between countries due to different factors. For those who remember the work on the development reports that the United Nations was doing in the early 1990s, there has been a whole series of changes, not least in the security situation. We have to say that the Abraham accords are set within the context of a changing region—which is taking a very different view about what people can do and how they can define their futures. That includes the visionary leadership in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, which are intent on changing the course of their nations’ participation in society.

These are factors that we have to consider, so the question is then: why it is important to the UK? It is fairly obvious, not least for anyone who has read our own review of our strategy on foreign and defence policy. We want to be involved at the real heart of shaping the international order of the future. We have vital security interests, which are being challenged all the time, and of course our competitive advantage is based around where the science and technology of the future will go. This region is really coming on in leaps and bounds in participation, and the collaboration between countries is immense.

The next question is: what should we do? The answer is, of course, to fully engage. The point about the Negev forum, which is in a sense the diplomatic and economic grunt-work of this process, is that it is absolutely vital for us to engage properly. The Americans sent 40 people from across government to the previous one. It is not about just one issue or the Foreign Office; it touches on every single part. We in the UK Abraham Accords Group are going to try to do our part, ably led by the ex-Minister Liam Fox, who is well known to people in this House. We also have Ruth Paris on the international advisory board and, most importantly, it is formally and strongly sponsored by the ambassadors of Israel, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. However, I really hope that the Minister will agree that the UK could consider engaging with it much more as a forum, an opportunity and as a strategic interest for our country. That is the most important and vital step we need to take.

Queen’s Speech

Lord Mendelsohn Excerpts

Wednesday 18th May 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Mendelsohn (Lab)]

My Lords, the UK Government played an important role in the discussions with Iran which first led to the JCPOA and today are part of an important negotiation being led by the United States for a new treaty. There are many voices pressing caution. I draw particular attention to an article in March’s edition of Foreign Policy by Hussein Agha, one of the most astute and brilliant commentators on the region and an active and widely respected peace negotiator. His article is a brutal assessment of where we could be heading. He writes, under the headline, “The United States’ Clueless Diplomacy Won’t Stop a Nuclear Iran”, that a deal could lead to the worst of both worlds. It will not derail the regime’s nuclear ambitions and will strengthen the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Today is not 2015, and the deal of 2015 was achieved through wider considerations, but its work was unfinished. Today Iran’s capacity is very significantly advanced and it is a lesson, if ever we needed it, that it is not just about signing agreements but about ensuring that provisions are implemented and the consequences properly managed. Many felt able to justify the 2015 accord as some totemic struggle for power in Iran between extremists and moderates, or between fundamentalists and reformers. However, as Agha notes, the real struggle has been between the revolutionary guard and the official state and its military.

The revolutionary guard was not present at the 2015 talks and did not like the deal. As Agha concludes, it is unequivocally in control now, which is why the issue about its proscription is so important—a position the US should not weaken and one in which other countries should join, including the UK. We have seen its role in creating parallel institutions around the region and supporting destabilisation, which has only gained pace since the Afghan withdrawal. It is not just about how it has increased popular mobilisation forces in Iraq, or various militias in Syria, and not just about Hezbollah in Lebanon, whose rule has destroyed and crippled the country and whose electoral setbacks still mean that it will exert much destructive influence. It is not just about its increased activity and support for Hamas and Islamic jihad in the Palestinian territories, setting loose terrorism in Israel to undermine the Palestinian Authority and push further away, as if it was not far away already, any opportunity to re-engage in any form of peace process. Its influence with the Houthis in Yemen continually undermines the fragile ceasefire.

Agreements work when the politics in which they are embedded is right. This was a flaw in 2015, and we must avoid it with any new agreement. Is it really possible today to say that the new agreement can be trusted when it is underpinned by Russia acting as guarantor and the custodian of billions of dollars for Iran’s domestic nuclear development? May I seek the assurance of the Minister that the agreement ensures that our vital security and strategic interests and our work for stability in the wider region are properly reflected in what we are prepared to sign up to?

I applaud the Government’s strong stance on Ukraine. The Russian invasion and brutal war on the Ukrainian people are not just appalling but will have huge implications for years to come. As the co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on War Crimes, I welcome the Government’s pledge that those responsible for war crimes in Ukraine are held to account. I am pleased that we have provided support for such investigations. I would be very grateful if the Minister could kindly agree to keep the House updated on what our resource commitment is and what role we are playing in this matter. I appreciate that it is in the nature of these issues that responsibility is shared across the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice.

We have in this Parliament always taken seriously the matter of war criminals evading justice, whether here or abroad. However, recent experience raises concerns and the group has been very worried about what we are committed to and whether our deeds properly reflect our words. In looking at a number of the cases that have been raised in the UK, we can conclude that we are at risk here of becoming a safe haven, and we do not have the capacity to play an important international role.

To illustrate the point, in the UK today there are five suspects believed to have taken part in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda. In 2015 and 2017, a British district judge in the High Court ruled that, even though the evidence was compelling, none could be sent back to Rwanda because such action could breach their human rights on the grounds that the suspects would not receive a fair trial. We undertook to take on this responsibility. The resources allocated to Ukraine, even if it is one person, dwarf those allocated in pursuit of the Rwandan investigations, which in truth are no more than a percentage allocation of one member of a small wider team in the Metropolitan Police and the CPS. Many issues have been raised about the difficulties, but it has not stopped other countries, such as the US, Canada, France, Belgium, Germany and Sweden, helping, including during the pandemic. We in the group have faced an unwillingness to provide information, a lack of transparency and refusals to meet. We can conclude only that our investigative capacity is intentionally depleted, and that poor resourcing reflects poor commitment. If we are a country that takes war crimes seriously, as we have done in the past with Nazi war criminals and say we are doing in the Ukraine today, we need to put that right. I would be grateful if the Minister could confirm his willingness to take this matter back to his colleagues, assure us of a meeting and assure us that we will have the proper commitment and capacity to meet our commitments on this matter.

International Soft Power Strategy: Role of BBC

Lord Mendelsohn Excerpts

Monday 18th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, I have already partially answered the question on funding. However, let me reassure the noble Baroness that we remain committed to the BBC, as has been demonstrated by our support for the 12 new language services over the period from 2016 to 2020.

[Lord Mendelsohn (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, the Government’s welcome and important funding of the World Service beyond the licence fee has more than achieved its objectives with a greater number of language services, double-digit audience growth and ever-higher trust ratings. Does the Minister accept that this unique world-leading asset for the UK is the right vehicle for further and larger support to achieve our vital national interest of combating disinformation and the use by hostile actors of dishonesty to undermine the stability of democracies?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, I fully recognise what the noble Lord has said about the important role that the BBC World Service plays, for the very reasons that he says.

Commonwealth Summit 2018

Lord Mendelsohn Excerpts

Thursday 2nd November 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Mendelsohn (Lab)]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Chidgey, on introducing this debate and on his exemplary work in the Commonwealth. I thank him for his truly excellent speech, which perfectly made the case for a parliamentary forum and for strengthening parliamentary participation to help parliamentary democracy and the capacity-building that the Commonwealth so desperately needs. I congratulate the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association on holding a Commonwealth conference before the Commonwealth summit, which will be a useful prelude if a forum can be established.

The evolution of this extraordinary organisation into a free association of nations encompassing a family of 53 nations and one-third of the world’s population spread across six continents is a story of a remarkable institution that is not looking to the past but is firmly engaged in defining the future. The Commonwealth summit has accordingly reached a high level of expectation and is well placed to exceed that, not least if it addresses the issues that have been raised in this debate and are to come.

I am pleased that the Government are deeply committed to the summit’s success and that the Minister is strongly committed to it. There is much that denotes the progress and development taking place across the Commonwealth, and it is important to expand our participation and co-operation with it. There is progress and reform, not least to fulfil the promise of the 1 billion young people across the Commonwealth. There is progress and development in areas such as health and education. With this year’s theme of a peacebuilding Commonwealth, much can be achieved. The Commonwealth’s work on counterextremism and establishing a unit to deal with it also shows some good progress.

While there is clear progress on good governance and universal standards, that does not mean that all standards are where they should be. There are different circumstances and stages across the Commonwealth, and occasionally some setbacks. However, ambition, stronger institutions, greater co-operation, dialogue and open exchanges will bring inclusivity, prosperity and opportunities for all. In that regard, the reforms to the secretariat are also to be welcomed. Indeed, I welcome the articulation by the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Scotland, of a very forward-looking vision. There are many excellent staff in the Commonwealth Secretariat, not least the great ambassador for the Commonwealth, the deputy secretary-general Josephine Ojiambo.

While there is some way to go to develop trade on a fair and secure basis across the Commonwealth, there is much promise. The projection that trade across the Commonwealth will reach £1 trillion by 2030 illustrates that opportunity. I look forward to the business forum and to being able to participate in it. I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Marland, on his work, which has been truly outstanding.

The Queen’s “Commonwealth canopy” was launched at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta in 2015. This network of forest conservation initiatives, which involves almost all the countries of the Commonwealth, is to be welcomed, and I hope the Commonwealth summit will be able to mark all countries in the Commonwealth being committed to it, marking Her Majesty the Queen’s service to the Commonwealth while conserving indigenous forest for future generations.

I have an interest to declare: I am the president of the Commonwealth Jewish Council, which was established in 1982 to support and develop Jewish communities in Commonwealth countries, and to cultivate constructive relationships to help further the goals of the Commonwealth. We have a number of substantial communities and pockets of small communities across the Commonwealth. In some 37, we embrace the organised communities, and there are much smaller outlying groups of Jews across a further half a dozen countries.

The Commonwealth Jewish Council demonstrates a particularly strong connection between Jewish communities and the Commonwealth by its commitment to values. Indeed, at its heart, the Jewish tradition has always seen as one of its great contributions its history of thought and participation in society. The Commonwealth values, which are set out so well in the charter of 2013, chimes with that tradition and how we can help work towards a sustainable world, a redistributive world and a fair, peaceful and ideal world.

In that regard, I have a few observations from my journeys and I hope the Minister will be able to address these. In recent times, many of the communities have been hit hard by events, such as Hurricane Irma. Indeed, our work in some of those communities hit by that and in the wider society will be needed for some time. Much can be achieved by the Commonwealth countries having a means of creating systems for support in such circumstances, and I hope that may be considered during the Commonwealth summit. That would be for the benefit of all.

I also wish to raise frozen pensions, which many people who have lived and worked in Britain but have now chosen to live in the Commonwealth suffer from. I hope the Minister might provide an update on the Government’s thinking on this matter.

Finally, I am encouraged by the expansion of the Commonwealth with Mozambique and Rwanda joining in recent years. South Sudan and the Gambia are in discussions about joining. On the 100th anniversary of the Balfour declaration, I hope that the conditions will soon present themselves for Israel to join the global family. I look forward to participating in all the events around the Commonwealth summit in 2018 and believe that the great potential of this family of nations has so much to fulfil. Next year we will see much more clearly and in all dimensions the vast opportunities ahead.

Bilateral Trade: United Kingdom and Africa

Lord Mendelsohn Excerpts

Wednesday 11th November 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Mendelsohn (Lab)]

My Lords, I draw attention to my interests in the register. I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Sheikh, on introducing this debate, which has been an extremely interesting one with some quite impressive contributions. The noble Lord, Lord Sheikh, has frequently raised the question of Africa in this House, and vividly illustrated in his comments not just his expertise but the huge business opportunities there. We owe him a great debt for raising this topic today. I also congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Oates, on a quite outstanding maiden speech. Through colleagues in the House, I am aware that he did considerable work in South Africa some 15 years ago in helping to improve the processes and training for people’s contributions to the parliament there. Fifteen years later, we are going to be privileged with quite a few improvements and quite a few distinguished contributions. We wish him well in the House.

I will make some very simple points and raise a few questions for the Minister, who has started his task with great aplomb. First, it is always very clear that in a UK context, our priorities have not placed Africa very high up the pecking order. That is to be understood to some extent, given the short-term priorities, but it would be a mistake not to give it the right level of attention. It is also the case that our performance in Africa has declined. Our top export destinations are the US, Germany, France and the like, but five African countries feature in the list of the top 50 markets for the UK: South Africa is 22nd and Nigeria is 34th. So there is not an immediate priority, but the long-term interests are there and our relative performance is starting to decline. France has taken a very strong approach: it has a mission to double trade; it has held a summit with 50 African leaders; it has doubled its aid; it has looked at expanding its soft power through schools, businesses and education; and it is looking to enhance the 5,000 French businesses investing in Africa through access to finance and the establishment of a wide variety of bilateral trade and investment councils. It is a long-term play, and perhaps we should have more focus on those sorts of ideas.

It is certainly true as well that Africa is developing and coming on in leaps and bounds. The population is sure to rise: in the next 25 years, Africa’s working-age population will more than double to more than 1 billion, surpassing both China and India. Africa has also developed quite well in relation to regulation and performance, which is to be encouraged. That leaves us with the dilemma of how best to use these assets and our opportunity to make a difference at this stage.

I would like to ask the Minister about some ideas. We have heard about the trade envoys—I pay tribute to the great work of the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Scotland, and wish her well on hopefully becoming Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, as well as to that of the noble Lord, Lord Risby, and the noble Lord, Lord Hollick, who I know has a role with Kenya and Tanzania, about which I have spoken with him in other places. But are we giving them the right level of support? What is the next phase of using trade envoys more effectively? UKTI has limited resources and a skills base that is based around civil servants. Given the limited resources, and the use that some countries make of their aid budgets, do we have the right skills inside UKTI to leverage them? Are there people inside DfID who have had more experience of how that is done who we should transfer?

Finally, I will make one simple point about entrepreneurs. Africa is going through an explosion of entrepreneurship: a number of people have come over to the West and will go back and establish businesses. Also, the gender parity is quite extraordinary. Are we using the best resources that we have with our industries here to be able to maximise that opportunity as well?

Trade and Investment

Lord Mendelsohn Excerpts

Monday 15th June 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Mendelsohn (Lab)]

My Lords, I draw attention to my registered business interests in roles connected to being an inward investor and an exporter who is involved with government agencies. It was a real pleasure to witness the maiden speech of the Minister, the noble Lord, Lord Maude of Horsham. He is an excellent addition to the Government’s Front Bench and I wish him well in his duties. He has certainly shown that he is an effective and canny operator, and many achievements are to his credit. The rise of David Cameron to lead the Conservative Party was hugely guided by the noble Lord’s careful management of the leadership process. He guided his party to the candidate who embraced the “No change, no chance” lessons of an election defeat. I think there is a demand for such a role in a number of other places at the moment, but I am sure the Minister is very pleased that he has chosen this duty.

I am also pleased to be able to acknowledge the Minister’s work in reforming the Civil Service and upgrading the capability of the UK Administration by tapping into a pool of talent, including his excellent decision to involve individuals of the calibre of Dr Martin Read and others. As someone who has been involved in business turnarounds and restructurings, I can only admire anyone who is able to change the direction of the Civil Service. Looking at what the noble Lord has done and how it operates, there is a real sense of accomplishment in achieving such great results. His exhortation to make sure that we keep attentive—that more can always be done—is also a very modest way to look at his achievements. He takes on a hugely important brief and I hope that in this task, he can show some of the skills he has shown in other areas. In a very impressive maiden speech, as one would have expected, he covered many areas—including the broadest possible effort to support trade and investment, which I think this whole House responds to. I hope the Minister enjoys this House as I have. Debate and discussion in your Lordships’ House provides sometimes critical but usually constructive and useful perspectives that can serve to clarify one’s thinking.

We on these Benches are firmly committed to open, competitive and dynamic markets and to a very strong approach to exports and encouraging inward investment. We have had a very interesting and wide-ranging debate, with a great deal of honesty from all sides. I will make a number of points that I hope highlight some of the current key concerns on this side of the House.

First, we are also committed to finding ways to establish a firm recovery and to ensure growth and the conditions for our long-term competitiveness, as well as the right sort of capability and adaptability to ensure that we are ready to capitalise on the future shape of business technology, markets and trade. In this regard, we hope that the Minister uses his considerable reputation and ability to fashion a new strategy for the Government to follow.

Our future is at risk, and trade and investment are at the heart of many of the challenges we face. Growth is better than austerity as a policy for bringing debt under control. In business, we cut hard so that we can grow, but government can certainly adopt different approaches, not least through their ability to reform markets and make interventions. I agree with the view that the recovery is too weak to allow for a normalisation of monetary policy. Focusing on the latter would leave us weak and unprepared for any downturn, whether here or in Europe, and very exposed if the growing emergence of highly leveraged instruments were to cause even a small shock. We need to add lustre and sustainability to our economic recovery.

Britain’s widening trade deficit dragged down growth for the first three months of the year. The data show that net trade took a chunk out of the economic position. Imports surged by 2.3% and exports fell by 0.3%. The performance reflected a rise in imports of oil, machinery and transport equipment which knocked almost 1% off growth. Recent published data identified that the UK ranks almost at the bottom of the OECD countries in respect of export growth since 2010. I note the comments from all sides of the House, including the very thoughtful ones from the noble Lord, Lord Popat, and the noble Viscount, Lord Hanworth. The data from the Office for National Statistics show that the deficit is still strong and now in its 18th year.

The 2011 government paper, Trade and Investment for Growth, was a useful attempt to synthesise an effective operating strategy, but it urgently requires renewal—in fact, it requires change. The Government have grasped one very important nettle, but the UK regions will not become the powerhouses of growth and trade unless they are powered up by investment in skills and growth, which is a hoped-for benefit of the northern powerhouse. From that point, they can help to encourage exports, imports, investment and growth.

I hope the Minister takes the support he has received in this debate as licence to think more broadly, deeper and harder about what we can do. In this context, his comments about the UK-Israel tech hub being a new pioneering method are warmly welcomed. I hope that when he responds, he will further set out his thoughts on how he can make some changes.

Secondly, an effective trade and industry strategy is critical given the need to deal with our productivity crisis. A profound area of concern and one very relevant to the trade and investment debate is the huge problem with our foreign direct investment. I have previously clearly stated that our foreign direct investment is a great source of pride to us, but in recent years we have started to see some significant challenges, which the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Stamford, spoke about. Foreign direct investment may well have reached a tipping point where, as an aggregated measure, it does not provide us with greater productive capacity for the economy.

There is a long-standing concern that the size and scale of financial and asset purchases make our FDI numbers look more flattering for the UK economy. We have long trailed the levels of actual job-generating investment by other companies, including in the UK. Recently, there has been not just the idea that deals and high-end property are not hugely significant, but a growing concern that levels of foreign ownership have started to affect the productivity of investment itself. If the general and standard investment in public utilities is done by foreign companies, is it really the same measure of foreign direct investment as a similar investment in France and Germany? If we strip out this type of investment, do we really have more manufacturing projects than Germany? Do we have more jobs created or preserved?

We also believed and always said that much of the benefit of the asset sales was that the jobs could not go overseas. Can we now properly distinguish between business and corporate development locked into the UK and the investment we use to generate new growth in new areas? It is perhaps time for some revision of the measure of FDI. I am sure that the Government agree too that the long-term approach to earn and grow our way to higher living standards is through a high-productivity, high-skilled, innovation-led economy. To get there we need more British-based businesses creating good jobs, investing, innovating and, of course, exporting. Does the Minister support evolving our approach to reporting and monitoring FDI to ensure that we support this aim? In the next few years, might we develop a plan to help increase not just the quantum size of FDI but its quality? Not all investment is the same and not all of it will help growth and our productivity challenge.

Thirdly, we are firm believers in the principle that if you do what you have always done you should expect the results that you always have had. We embrace change, experimentation and innovation. Undoubtedly having a branding campaign, such as the GREAT campaign, is a useful and modern approach. It has many advantages and I thought that the National Audit Office report provided a useful series of suggestions for its future work. However, the National Audit Office was very sceptical of the methods used to suggest the return. The Cabinet Office’s numbers suggested a £1.2 billion return on £113 million layout. I, too, am sceptical of the return. I believe that there are a variety of data deficiencies, not least that much of it was the expectation of what overseas students would be able to bring in, when we have before us the proposal to require our overseas students to go home as soon as they graduate. I urge the Minister to look at this carefully. If direct economic impact of investment can be 10:1 then we should expect the Budget to raise the amount we are spending on this into the many billions. I suspect it will not. However, it is important that we report these things openly and sensibly so that we can all really help to start looking at how we can do things better. I urge the Minister to consider a new evaluation of our strategy and to provide a greater degree of reporting and scrutiny of the performance of the whole of the Government’s approach to the trade and investment framework for action, and especially the country and region-specific actions. Many noble Lords across this House have raised a number of very good initiatives, ideas and suggestions of where we should focus and it would be very helpful to emphasise those.

Fourthly, we are broadly supportive of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, provided that the benefits flow to consumers and to employees of the companies involved. Our position has always been that these are the benefits of open and competitive markets. It will be the biggest trade agreement of its kind and the negotiations to cut tariffs and lower regulatory barriers to make trade easier between the two markets can lead to great benefits. However, the negotiations must make sure that those things that require preservation are preserved. We have already made clear our views on the NHS and the objectives of the United States negotiators. A recent peer-reviewed research paper from Tufts University made tough predictions about the impact of TTIP on Britain and, tellingly, it predicts a shift in GDP of 7% from labour to capital with all the likely consequences for inequality, wages and jobs. This would be hugely challenging for us but it is not a reason to stop our support for open markets and free trade, more a reason to improve discussions to a speedy conclusion. We need progress on this but not at any cost. I would be very grateful if the Minister could outline how he sees the development of the negotiations, where he feels the key issues are and what the Government’s current predictions are for its opportunity or impact.

Finally, the Minister honestly addressed our weaknesses in our export performance. There is considerable concern that we are not where we need to be on this. Major exporters do not report a universal story of support and frequently point to the better service they perceive international competitors to get from their Governments. I am not sure that all these issues are justified and we have heard a number of very powerful stories from noble Lords of where our agencies have been highly supportive. It is very important that we get business as a whole engaged in this mission and that we approach this as a very strong pro-business mission. It was good to hear the noble Lord, Lord Risby, again championing the cause of taking this strong, business-focused approach.

I was encouraged to hear that the Minister had taken an interest in the Cole commission—an independent commission established under the leadership of Graham Cole to galvanise industry to develop ideas about how we can improve exports. Its interim report was a very useful addition to the debate and had some good ideas. The report showed that we had a lot to celebrate—cars, planes and pharmaceuticals. As the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer, said, it identified that many firms do not always make the most of the supply-chain opportunities that our major exporters present. Submissions to the report made clear that riding on the coat-tails of major exporters can be a road to exports for smaller firms, and we need to find ways to add to that and support it.

In addition, the report suggested that we should look at whether public authorities could set a lead in developing local supply chains by making an export plan mandatory—including for SMEs—in all public procurement bids that have export potential.

I urge the Minister also to champion the existing potential of our education and health areas, and our services sector, including of course our legal services sector, which was raised by the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, and to champion and redouble the work of our creative industries.

The Government’s commitment to reach a target of £1 trillion in trade now falls on the Minister’s shoulders. It is a big task which I suspect no amount of journeys, air miles, calories or dinners will make it possible for him to achieve alone. I look forward to hearing of his future progress in developing strategies to reform and galvanise all parts of government in this crucial mission. As he said, this is a cross-party effort. I can assure him that we will respond positively and work with him if he continues in the manner in which he has started.

Middle East Peace Settlement

Lord Mendelsohn Excerpts

Tuesday 14th January 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Mendelsohn (Lab)]

My Lords, I would like to congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Soley, on securing this debate, and associate myself with the very positive comments he made about the role of the noble Baroness, Lady Ashton. I would also like to associate myself with the words of the noble Lords, Lord Leigh and Lord Carrington, in relation to the passing of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Like many others, I am very encouraged by the discreet and effective initiative led by Secretary of State Kerry and the progress that has been made towards final status. That has clearly changed the dynamic and created both the political space and the political will for progress to be made. I think that there is a role for Europe in not just supporting this progress but starting to work on looking at how to underpin it.

If this current attempt to reach agreement is to work, three external conditions need to hold. First, regional relationships need to be encouraged that provide confidence to the Palestinians and that support Israel’s security. That means work to deepen ties between Israel and its neighbours. Secondly, the region will need to be ready to open trading relationships with the Palestinian economy and to support development and a shift away from aid dependency. Thirdly, during the peace talks, the parties need to be left to find a solution themselves, with the international community helping to limit distractions and being prepared to support the longer-term relationship necessary between both parties and their neighbours.

In support of the latter point, there are clearly certain things that Europe should not do. Most importantly, it should not undermine the current talks by adopting positions that alter the balance of advantage during negotiations. On the positive side, there is an obvious role for the EU and its member states. In this regard, the comments made by the Foreign Secretary last week—regarding the EU’s package of security, political and economic support that would be ready to support a final status agreement—are very welcome indeed.

Any agreement will not make peace overnight. The hard job of establishing peace will take a generation and strong engagement. It is a long commitment to hard and difficult work, and it is what we in Europe can do better than others.