Council of Europe: Reykjavik Summit
Lord Tomlinson Excerpts(1 year, 6 months ago)
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Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)
My noble friend raises a very important point. In one of my earlier responses, I alluded to an Urgent Question which will be repeated in your Lordships’ House later this week, but she is right to raise the issue. We summoned the Russian ambassador yesterday, and our own ambassador attended the court proceedings and issued a joint statement with a number of key partners. We want to ensure that we have access. Vladimir Kara-Murza is, as my noble friend says, a dual citizen. Equally, we want Russia to abide by the conventions it signed up to, including the Vienna conventions and their accords that allow for consular access.
Lord Tomlinson (Lab)
My Lords, I think the whole House is grateful to the noble Lord for the very clear message that he gave as his personal commitment when he quoted the Prime Minister’s words from the other place concerning the European Convention on Human Rights. However, that message is not getting through to member states, other than this country perhaps, in the Council of Europe. Particularly as the Prime Minister is not, it appears, going to attend the Reykjavik summit next month, can we make sure that whoever leads the British delegation will give that clear commitment that the noble Lord has given, so that the lingering doubts among many states in the Council of Europe concerning our commitment to the European convention are eliminated and no longer persist?
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)
I assure the noble Lord of the best of British diplomacy in that respect.
Senior Citizens: Means-tested Benefits
Lord Tomlinson Excerpts(2 years, 5 months ago)
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Baroness Stedman-Scott (Con)
The noble Baroness’s question prompts me to go back and have a look at the application process. Perhaps I can come back to her on that. I am not sure that I can answer her other question about the internet, but I will go back and see what we are doing in particular to encourage and help people to claim via that.
Lord Tomlinson (Lab)
My Lords, notwithstanding everything that has been said about poverty among pensioners, they are not the only group in society suffering poverty. In the Minister’s enthusiasm to make sure that something is put on the table to help pensioners, can she also deal with the large number of people who are in work but getting such low pay that they have to get means-tested benefits? There is just as much of a problem in making sure that they apply for the available benefits, and I hope the Minister will make sure that she gives full attention to them as well as to pensioners.
Baroness Stedman-Scott (Con)
I assure the noble Lord that all groups are being looked at, in terms of making sure that they get what they are entitled to. We have universal credit, which in its technical form is working very well, and we are going to do the migration to universal credit, which will help to make sure that people get the benefits that they should have.
Belarus: Roman Protasevich
Lord Tomlinson Excerpts(3 years, 5 months ago)
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Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con) [V]
The Government strongly agree with the noble and gallant Lord’s comments. Our approach to tackling these escalating problems in Belarus, which go far further than the events of the past couple of days, is part of a broader approach that we take. In the interests of consistency, the UK transferred 95 designations from the EU on individuals and entities following the transition period, and we are very much working in collaboration with the EU and other partners.
Lord Tomlinson (Lab)
Will Her Majesty’s Government not merely condemn the aviation piracy that we have seen but specify what action they are proposing to take against the Lukashenko regime and the Russian Government, who are affording the illegal regime in Belarus diplomatic cover after it fiddled its last election? Equally, if they are going to take economic sanctions, it is quite easy to take a sanction against the oil pipeline, which is giving an economic lifeline to an illegal regime.
Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con) [V]
My Lords, clearly, I cannot speculate publicly on future sanctions. We want to see a reformed Belarus that has a good relationship with Russia and other European partners. We recognise the likely role that Russia has played up to now in relation to Belarus and we have consistently impressed on Russia that violence, harassment and arbitrary detention has to stop. There must be a transparent and peaceful process to allow Belarusians to determine their own future.
Jammu and Kashmir: Human Rights Abuses
Lord Tomlinson Excerpts(6 years, 3 months ago)
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Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Let me assure the noble Baroness that we have of course noted the concerns about Kashmir expressed in the report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and its recommendations, as the noble Baroness said, for the Governments of both India and Pakistan to consider. Therefore, we encourage both states to uphold human rights in line with their human rights obligations. In terms of any resolutions that come forward at the Human Rights Council, we will respond accordingly.
Jan Böhmermann
Lord Tomlinson Excerpts(8 years, 6 months ago)
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Baroness Anelay of St Johns
My noble friend has raised a critical point: that whenever we have freedoms, we also have responsibilities. There is no law to prevent us saying things about foreign heads of state that they may find uncomfortable, but we do have laws to prevent incitement against individuals, groups and religions. That is the right approach.
European Council
Lord Tomlinson Excerpts(8 years, 10 months ago)
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Lord Tomlinson (Lab)
Does the noble Baroness agree that this is the second European Council statement where we have had all the broad words about the four areas but no substantive detail? Can she tell this House whether any progress at all was made between the previous European Council meeting and the one held last week? If any progress was made, what is it?
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
My Lords, I shall be brief because others wish to ask questions. First, there is agreement that people who come to Britain cannot claim unemployment benefit for the first six months; we are well on the way to achieving that. The second thing is that people who cannot find a job after six months should either leave and go home or remain here at their own expense. The third thing is the issue of sending child benefit home. We are making very good progress on that and are close to the final decision on it.
European Union Referendum Bill
Lord Tomlinson Excerpts(9 years ago)
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Lord Tomlinson (Lab)
My Lords, it is always a great pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Willoughby de Broke. I was particularly pleased when he made it clear to us all that it was UKIP pressure that led to this rather inadequate debate. He went on to say that the same old arguments were being brought out, and I thought that that confession from UKIP was good for the soul.
I thank the Minister for a very clear introduction of the referendum Bill. It was rather technical; nevertheless, it was clear and succinct, and I thank her for it. In reality, of course, nothing in the Bill is to do with the circumstances we are facing. It is a mechanism much more concerned with papering over the cracks in the Conservative Party, some of which we have seen today. I do not say that in a partisan way; I recognise it, as does the noble Lord, Lord Radice, from our past experience of Harold Wilson’s referendum. He was not prepared to say what the demands were, proclaimed a great triumph when we got something and then had a referendum on the basis of it. This is the same pattern, and imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
I remember that referendum well because we had a parliamentary bookmaker at the time, one Ian Mikardo, the late Member of Parliament. I went to Mr Mikardo and asked him what odds he would give me for a yes vote in every constituency of the UK. He had to reflect on it overnight before he offered me 200-1. I put £10 on with Mr Mikardo, and there was a yes vote in every constituency in mainland England, Wales, Northern Ireland and mainland Scotland. However, the noble Lord, Lord Balfe, was wrong: not just Orkney and Shetland, but also the Western Isles, voted no. They were the only two constituencies in the whole of the UK that voted no, and even then by hair’s-breadth majorities of 50 point something against 49 point something. I lost because of those two constituencies; it was the Lamont curse from the Shetland Islands that got me. I suspect that the result in a referendum today would not be significantly different from that, because it will be fought on the basis of lots of people having their say in the circumstances.
The noble Lords, Lord Forsyth and Lord Lawson, and a number of other people have criticised the words “ever closer union”. You get the impression that those words were forced upon an unwilling British people some time after we had joined the European Union. That is of course nonsense; they were there in the treaty of Rome. When Geoffrey Rippon negotiated our membership on behalf of a Conservative Government, he was negotiating on the basis of the treaty of Rome, which contained those words that we adhered to. It is not something that was brought out of the cupboard afterwards—“Let’s force those Brits into greater federalism”—it was there at the outset.
Lord Lawson of Blaby
The noble Lord will be aware that there was a difference. The treaty of Rome and so on talked about ever closer union of the peoples of Europe, but the solemn declaration at the Stuttgart European Council changed it—this still holds—to an ever-closer union of the peoples and member states of the European Union.
Lord Tomlinson
I think that is a very sensible change. It is still a change that has been there from the start. The “ever closer union” concept has always been there. What do we want if we do not want ever closer union? Do we want ever greater hostility? Of course not. We want proximity between the peoples of Europe on the things that matter.
I sympathise with a number of noble Lords, such as the right reverend Prelate and the noble Lord, Lord Kerr, who, during the course of the debate, have expressed their scepticism about referenda. I share that scepticism, but what is, is what is; we are lumbered with a referendum and we have to accept that. The Government had a clear majority at a general election, they had a manifesto pledge and they are entitled to hold the referendum.
Still, I strongly support the extensions to the franchise referred to in this debate. It is extremely important that we have a clear discussion, and we will do so in Committee, on two major issues in particular: the voting rights of 16 and 17 year-olds in a referendum, and in particular the voting rights of people who serve this country loyally overseas and have been denied their right here because they have done so for a period longer than 15 years. We are prepared to remedy that and we foresee doing so for the next general election, so we ought to remedy it for the referendum vote, because those serving our country overseas are significantly affected.
Governments, none more significantly than ours, love to rail about Brussels, the Commission, antidemocratic processes and the democratic deficit, but of course, most of the decisions of the European Union are made by the Council of Ministers. The European Parliament has a fair amount of co-decision with the Council. Other than the administration of policy, there are very few things the Commission has as an exclusive right. It has the right to initiate legislation, but that is the proposal. If only the Council of Ministers, individually and collectively, had the competence, confidence and coherence to kick out at an early stage that which they did not like, rather than rail about it after they had it, very often by rather benign neglect.
The noble Lord, Lord Lawson, called for fundamental reform. We have heard many such demands during this debate, but no one tells us what fundamental reform is. The Government’s renegotiation programme is a tightly kept secret. If it is anything like the Sunday Telegraph article, it is hardly a renegotiation but something that we could get just by asking for it, so there is very little in that. If the Prime Minister is going for any sort of reform, he has to bring back to us much clearer reports of what his demands were so that we can judge his competence and success in the negotiations. However, I believe that, whether he comes back with much or with little, when we put the issues to the British public they will follow the consent that comes from most of the affected people—from the political parties, industry, commerce and the trade unions, all of which I believe will argue strongly to keep the United Kingdom as a member of the European Union. A better member we will be if we exercise our membership with enthusiasm, vigour and conviction, and do not just see it as a slight shuffling of economic packs so that we can satisfy the Thatcherite demand, “We want our money back”. Europe has to be more than that. It has to have vision, and the vision I have for Europe is one I hope the Government will begin to think about encapsulating.
European Union: Reform
Lord Tomlinson Excerpts(9 years, 4 months ago)
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Baroness Anelay of St Johns
My Lords, there is no trap. The trap is wide open and we are out of it as you are when you are in a race. However, this is the festina lente race, where the people with the ideas and the determination first work through the process, which has now been launched with regard to the European Council, and technicians look at the process of how change can be achieved. We also know that the Prime Minister has launched the political discussion on the substance. So we are out of the trap and negotiating for the good of Britain and the rest of Europe.
Lord Tomlinson (Lab)
Could the noble Baroness give the House some clue, so that we can judge whether these negotiations are successful, as to what the main planks of the negotiating mandate are? All our partners in the European Union have shared in it, but the British people, who ultimately will have to make a judgment, have been given no idea what the demands are and therefore will not be able to judge success or failure.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
It is the nature of parliamentary democracy that the Government outline their plans to Parliament first, and we did, not only as a result of speeches in another place but thereafter, further setting out the details. My right honourable friend the Prime Minister has made it clear, as indeed have those negotiating with him—the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Foreign Secretary—that the four planks of our negotiation are: fairness for those both within and outside the eurozone; changes with regard to immigration so that welfare benefits do not act as an overlarge pull factor and movement is for work not for benefits; sovereignty is an issue. so we must tackle the problem of ever closer union, which may be all right for others but not for us; and competitiveness. We have led the way. We have already achieved advances on this, but for hard-working people in this country we need to improve competitiveness across Europe, including the digital single market. That is it.
Greece: New Government
Lord Tomlinson Excerpts(9 years, 9 months ago)
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Baroness Anelay of St Johns
My Lords, I entirely agree with my noble friend on the importance of those educational exchanges. Work is done throughout various government departments and the FCO always looks very carefully at how we can give advice on such matters, too.
Lord Tomlinson (Lab)
Does the Minister agree that it is a little bit too simplistic just to say, “We are not members of the eurozone”, and therefore almost wash her hands of it? There are loans from the International Monetary Fund and we have an interest in those loans being properly managed. Can she tell us what the Government’s intention in that regard is?
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
My Lords, we would never wash our hands of discussions with our colleagues within the European Union. I think that I have made it clear that both the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer have already had discussions. Indeed, my right honourable friend the Prime Minister telephoned Mr Tsipras on the very day that the Greek Prime Minister took his position. Discussions are ongoing and there will, of course, be meetings next week at the European summit. As regards the IMF, we are indeed part of the system that backs it up. The IMF’s status as preferred creditor means that it is repaid first. What is important is that we do not get to the point of a Greek default. The new Greek Government are working on that and it is important for them to be able to discuss what kind of package they can put together, as they work around their colleagues in the eurozone this week.
Trade Balance
Lord Tomlinson Excerpts(9 years, 10 months ago)
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Lord Livingston of Parkhead
I commend the noble Lord for his enthusiasm for exporting, although I think that he does the UK some disservice. We are the sixth largest exporter in the world—the second largest exporter of services. I agree with him that it has not been a key priority for past Governments, but it most certainly is for this Government. With regard to import substitution, while I would not refer to it in these terms, there is for instance the recent announcement by the Prime Minister of a Reshore UK service within UKTI to encourage manufacturers to come back to the UK. That is just one example of the many things we are doing to help our position in the long term on the balance of trade.
Lord Tomlinson (Lab)
Will the Minister do the House a favour by reminding us what the balance of payments deficit is at present, and then perhaps address the original Question about when we are likely to be in surplus?
Lord Livingston of Parkhead
The original Question was on the balance of trade, not the balance of payments; they are, of course, two quite different things. The balance of trade is in deficit to around £30 billion; it is a deficit of about 2% of GDP, which is significantly better than under the previous Government, when it was on average 2.5% of GDP. As the UK is growing much faster than its partners it is difficult to forecast exactly when it will come to zero. Certainly the OBR expects to see a significant improvement going forward, but I am reminded of the words of J K Galbraith, who said that the only purpose of economic forecasts is to give astrology a good name.