Gaza: Humanitarian Situation

Debate between Lord True and Baroness Warsi

Wednesday 6th December 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Warsi (Con)]

My Lords—

[The Lord Privy Seal (Lord True) (Con)]

My Lords, I hesitate to arbitrate between my noble friends. I think it might be usual to hear first from that Bench, and then I hope there is also time for my other noble friend.

[Baroness Warsi (Con)]

I am grateful. I pay tribute to what the Minister has been doing throughout this crisis. I know he has spent much personal capital on making sure that people are discussing these incredibly difficult matters, and that it has been personally traumatic for shim. The whole House values and appreciates what he has been doing. I want to follow up the questions from the two Front Benches. What consequences follow from settler violence? What consequences follow for those individual settlers, but also for Ministers in the Israeli Government who have supported this violence, not just through their rhetoric but through the provision of arms? Is the Minister going to be brave and bold enough to say at the Dispatch Box that either we have little political say with the Israeli Government, or we are saying it and they are not listening?

G7 Summit

Debate between Lord True and Baroness Warsi

Thursday 21st January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord True (Con)]

My Lords, of course, one hopes that all nations will assent to these high ideals, including, for example, China.

[Baroness Warsi (Con) [V]]

My Lords, this follows on from what my noble friend has just said. To build better societies and economies, we need to ensure that all have the opportunity to thrive, free from persecution. In light of the United States recognition of the persecution of Uighurs in China as genocide, will my noble friend confirm that the UK will raise this as an issue for discussion and ask for a co-ordinated response at the G7?

[Lord True (Con)]

I strongly support what my noble friend said and pay tribute to her work in fighting international injustice. Anyone who read my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary’s Statement to the other place on 12 January in response to human rights violations in Xinjiang against the Uighur people will understand this country’s resolve. We call on other nations to show the same resolve on this deeply troubling question.

Elections: May 2021

Debate between Lord True and Baroness Warsi

Thursday 14th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord True (Con)]

As the noble Lord knows, there have been by-elections in Scotland. But it is for the Scottish and Welsh Governments to take decisions around polls which are within their competence. I can assure him that, in line with our approach elsewhere, all three Governments will try to co-ordinate our work, where possible. The UK Government continue to have regular discussions with counterparts in Scotland and Wales on delivering the polls in May.

[Baroness Warsi (Con) [V]]

My Lords, following on from the last question, in the interests of public health, what consideration has been given to holding the elections in May this year in England and Wales over a period of days, as opposed to on a single day, as is being proposed in Scotland?

[Lord True (Con)]

My Lords, our belief is that the elections can go ahead in the normal way in a safe and secure manner—and that is our objective—with the kinds of safeguards to which I have referred for those shielding and others.

Covid-19: Public Health Information

Debate between Lord True and Baroness Warsi

Tuesday 8th December 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Warsi (Con) [V]]

My Lords, in the report Beyond the Data: Understanding the Impact of COVID-19 on BAME Groups, published by Public Health England in June this year, a number of recommendations were made. Can the Minister explain how many of the recommendations have been implemented six months on and what the impact has been on the number of people contracting Covid and the number of Covid deaths in BAME communities?

[Lord True (Con)]

My Lords, there were a wide range of responses; my noble friend is quite right to say that the report was important. Following on, more than 95% of front-line NHS workers from ethnic minority backgrounds have had a risk assessment and agreed mitigating actions. BEIS issued revised guidance to employers in July and September highlighting the findings of the review and explaining how to make workplaces Covid-secure. Some £4.3 million has been provided to fund new research projects relating to Covid and ethnicity.