India: Cereals Export Ban

Lord Singh of Wimbledon Excerpts

Thursday 19th May 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Grimstone of Boscobel (Con)]

My Lords, working together is obviously extremely important in a situation such as this. I will read the report to which the noble Lord refers and take it up.

[Lord Singh of Wimbledon (CB)]

My Lords, the situation regarding the export of wheat from India reminds me of the Bengal famine of the 1940s, when grain was being exported to Britain, thereby causing the famine. In these circumstances, with the heatwave and their diminishing supply, is it not totally wrong to expect, or put pressure on, the Indian Government to supply grain?

[Lord Grimstone of Boscobel (Con)]

My Lords, as I said earlier, only a very small amount indeed of Indian wheat comes to the UK. Indeed, the majority of production of wheat in India contributes to the domestic market. India produced 109 million tonnes of wheat last year, and of that no less than 90 million was consumed domestically.

Workers’ Rights

Lord Singh of Wimbledon Excerpts

Tuesday 26th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My noble friend makes an important point. We remember that when we served in the European Parliament we were lobbied many times by UK Labour Governments to try to maintain existing flexibilities in the working time directive and others. Hopefully the Labour Party will return to that path of common sense soon. It is also important to bear in mind that most workers are not members of trade unions. We need to consult with trade unions where they represent workers but to bear in mind the rights of workers who are not represented by trade unions.

[Lord Singh of Wimbledon (CB) [V]]

My Lords, the Covid pandemic has severely tested the strengths and weaknesses of workers’ rights and found them to be wanting in recognising the importance of childcare to family and national well-being. We have seen some employers using the pandemic as an excuse to fire workers and then re-engage them on lower pay and conditions. Does the Minister agree that strengthening and enhancing workers’ rights is important in increasing productivity and national prosperity?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

In our manifesto we promised that we would enhance workers’ rights where it was appropriate to do so, and we stick by that commitment. I think the noble Lord makes some important points.

Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability

Lord Singh of Wimbledon Excerpts

Monday 11th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Grimstone of Boscobel (Con)]

My Lords, as this matter is now entirely within our competence, we absolutely intend to use our freedom to be one of the leading countries in the world in this area and, hopefully, set an example that other countries may follow.

[Lord Singh of Wimbledon (CB) [V]]

My Lords, the initiative on climate change, led by a group of smaller countries, is timely and commendable. Does the Minister agree that the UK is well placed to lead on turning sentiment into reality by pressing for trade and development policies bound tightly to agreed global constraints, in order to protect the environment, which sustains us all?

[Lord Grimstone of Boscobel (Con)]

My Lords, the noble Lord is completely right to make this point. We want our generation to be the first to leave the world in a better state than we found it. Working on agreements such as this is an important component of that.

Clean Growth Fund

Lord Singh of Wimbledon Excerpts

Wednesday 28th October 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My noble friend makes a good point. The BEIS team have been engaging with cross-Whitehall colleagues as the Clean Growth Fund has been developed and launched, including in the Department for International Trade, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

[Lord Singh of Wimbledon (CB) [V]]

My Lords, while schemes such as the Clean Growth Fund are helping to boost the supply of solar and wind power, less is being done to use heat in the earth as a source of green energy. Geothermic energy is derived from the natural heat of water piped from several thousand feet deep in the ground and is sometimes used for heating homes and offices. Will the Minister look into the possible expansion of its use?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The noble Lord makes a good point: there is great potential from geothermal energy. A number of promising trial projects are going on with such innovative technologies and of course I will look further into it.

Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Obligations of Hospitality Undertakings) (England) Regulations 2020

Lord Singh of Wimbledon Excerpts

Friday 9th October 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Singh of Wimbledon (CB) [V]]

My Lords, there is a cartoon with a Sikh commenting on the rule of six, saying, “It is time Sikhs were in charge”. More seriously, while I support these regulations, it is important to note that areas of concern in the north-west, north-east and West Midlands contain sizeable numbers of new arrivals from the subcontinent.

I am daily reminded by my own contact with different faith communities that the message about the need for caution and care is often still failing to get through. Will the Minister consider a specifically targeted advertising campaign to create awareness of the risk to life for a group that is genetically and culturally more at risk, with vulnerable grandparents often in the same house?

Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Disputes (Extension of Time Limits for Legal Proceedings) (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020

Lord Singh of Wimbledon Excerpts

Wednesday 16th September 2020 Grand Committee

[Lord Singh of Wimbledon (CB) [V]]

My Lords, the regulations are welcome and necessary to enable consumer rights under EEC regulations to be protected before the end of the transition period. It is important to ensure that EU legislation continues to work effectively in the UK after the end of the transition period.

While 60% of consumer rights disputes are settled directly with the business or supplier concerned, where these are unresolved most consumers would still prefer an alternative to formal litigation. The eight-week grace period after a failure to settle a dispute through an alternative dispute procedure and embarking on legal proceedings is welcome. It will help to ensure that the UK and EU consumers can enter into ADR processes in good faith, without fear of strict time limits to bring a case to court.

This is a sensible approach and a good beginning to protecting consumer rights before the end of the transition period, but there is a long way to go in meeting the challenges of wider consumer protection, covering nearly 100 directives on consumer rights. This will not be helped by the recent souring of relations between us and Europe. The EU consumer protection laws, which we helped to frame over 40 years, enable us to purchase goods and services with confidence and enhance our trade with the EU. We still have a long way to go in our increasingly fraught negotiations with Europe to preserve those rights. There is also a need for more resources to ensure compliance with our new independent standards.

I close with the words of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute:

“Much has been made of maintaining the UK’s post-Brexit standards of regulation, but rules without resources for application, advice and enforcement are rendered ineffective and detrimental to the UK economy.”