European Council

Lord Newby Excerpts

Monday 24th October 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Strathclyde]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, for his warm welcome to the Prime Minister’s discussions with the President of France on Libya. One can look at what happened in Libya in a variety of ways, including seeing it as following a great principle of defending the interests of civilians, which I regard as a noble principle. However, in his Statement this afternoon my right honourable friend the Prime Minister said, “I am wary of drawing some grand, overarching lesson—still less to claim that Libya offers some new template that we can apply the world over. I believe it has shown the importance of weighing each situation on its merits; of thinking through carefully any decision to intervene in advance”. That is right. There were other important principles at work in Libya: the passing of the United Nations Security Council resolutions; the support of the Arab League and the neighbours of Libya; and the immediacy with which civilians were likely to be murdered on the streets of Benghazi. All played a part, so the Prime Minister is right not to see it as a template. The noble Lord is also right in saying that it is important that where civilian life is endangered, we should move swiftly to ensure that that is not the case.

I also agree with the noble Lord about the Government having a positive agenda on Europe. They do have a positive agenda, particularly as regards what he called the primacy of the single market, to complete all the provisions of the single market, of which there are directives outstanding that have a direct effect on and implication for British financial services, commerce and industry, particularly some of the financial directives, and to maintain these and many other things to be decided by the 27 member states. We are in a process of discussion and negotiation against a background of volatility—indeed, some financial turmoil—in the markets. It is important to get these decisions right.

[Lord Newby]

My Lords, on Libya, does the Minister agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Royall, that the important thing now is to secure the peace? Will he give an assurance to the House that the Government will give whatever support the Westminster Foundation for Democracy and other bodies in the UK request in order to help the new Administration in Libya to draw up a new constitution and move towards elections? On the EU summit, does he agree with me that the most worrying event of the weekend was the spat between the Prime Minister and the French President, which demonstrated the danger to the UK of being seen as irrelevant to the major decisions being taken in the EU? Will he therefore give the House an assurance that the Government are giving systematic consideration to ensuring that any moves towards greater common activities in the eurozone which have an implication for the UK will take place with the UK at the very least sitting at the table during those discussions and when those decisions are being made?

[Lord Strathclyde]

My Lords, on my noble friend’s first question, of course we are delighted that we are seeing a semblance of peace in Libya, and long may that continue; and of course we will do everything we can to support the growth of that stability and, indeed, in the longer term, of democracy. I have answered questions before on the Westminster Foundation, whose aims and objectives we fully support. We wish to see that body continue to function and to work not just in Libya but in many other countries as well. As far as the EU and the French President are concerned, I am not sure whether “spat” is the right word, but we think that we are in a position to explain to some of our European colleagues our viewpoint on what is happening in the eurozone and to underline the seriousness of it. In fact, the Prime Minister and the Chancellor have said that it is not in our interests for the euro to founder; it is very much in our interests for it to succeed. I do not think that we are being sidelined. We are doing everything we can to explain and to get our colleagues to understand that we are playing a full part and—in the words of the noble Lord, Lord Hannay—a positive part in the development of the EU.