HIV/AIDS: US Withdrawal from WHO

Debate between Viscount Stansgate and Baroness Chapman of Darlington

Thursday 20th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

Absolutely not. Why would we do that? It is our ambition to regain the 0.7% spend on official development assistance. We have been very clear about that. Why would we repeal that legislation? I find it very difficult that we are spending so much money on housing asylum seekers and migrants in the UK out of our ODA budget. I do not think that is what we should be doing. The previous Government completely lost control of the borders of this country and we have inherited this situation. The Home Office is working hard to get the numbers down and to reduce the spend so that money can be spent where it is needed most. We did make the decision—and it was a difficult one for this Government—to prioritise spending on defence. I do not think I need to explain to noble Lords why we did that. It is a decision I support, and I will be working incredibly hard, with allies and partners, to make sure that the money that we do have is spent wisely, and that we get the best value for money for British taxpayers and the most impact that we can for our partners overseas.

[Viscount Stansgate (Lab)]

My Lords, last week, I co-hosted on behalf of the parliamentary Science and Technology Committee a meeting of STOPAIDS in this House. We heard from people from Africa whose ability to access drugs had, in one case, enabled a woman to live to become a grandmother. We heard about the devastating effect, mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, of the cuts in USAID, for which we are not responsible. I hope my noble friend the Minister will understand that, to the extent that Britain can continue to play its part in trying to reach the 2030 target, it must use the resources, scarce though they are, to enable this work to continue. We cannot allow the world to go backwards. This needs to be tackled now.

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I completely agree. There are encouraging things happening around some of the medical devices and the drugs that can be used now to provide protection against HIV, including devices for which women are in control of their use, because we are seeing an increase in prevalence among women and young girls. There are encouraging things happening, but it would be incredible to stand here and say that the situation that we now find ourselves in is not far more challenging than it has been more recently.

Prime Minister: Meeting with Prime Minister of Canada

Debate between Viscount Stansgate and Baroness Chapman of Darlington

Wednesday 12th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Stansgate]

To ask His Majesty’s Government when the Prime Minister expects to meet the new Prime Minister of Canada.

[The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Baroness Chapman of Darlington) (Lab)]

My Lords, as the Prime Minister said in the House of Commons, the UK and Canada are the closest of allies. The Prime Minister has congratulated Mark Carney on his forthcoming appointment as Canada’s new Prime Minister. He looks forward to working closely with him on shared international priorities through the G7 and to further deepening the UK-Canada relationship together.

[Viscount Stansgate (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend the Minister for that Answer. Mr Carney is indeed well known in this country. In the light of growing tension and destabilising global uncertainty, with the world apparently changing in front of our very eyes, does my noble friend agree that the Prime Minister has been skilfully navigating his way towards a different role for the UK in international affairs? In that context, when he next meets the Prime Minister-elect of Canada, will he be able to offer some reassurance to a fellow head of a Commonwealth Government that the UK values its friendship with Canada and its close links and ties, and that Canada will, and should, remain a sovereign country?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

My Lords, the UK and Canada are of course the closest of allies. We have a proud history of partnership built on shared values. We share a sovereign; we are among the oldest parliamentary democracies in the world; and the British and Canadians fought bravely alongside one another in two world wars, and in nearly every major conflict for more than a century. It should go without saying that the future of Canada lies solely in the hands of the Canadian people.

Ukraine

Debate between Viscount Stansgate and Baroness Chapman of Darlington

Tuesday 25th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

That is completely right, and I thank the noble Lord for reminding us of it. The idea that this conflict does not directly affect the people of the United Kingdom is wrong. It is important that we remind people in our country that the conflict in Ukraine and the invasion by Russia are a threat to our security here.

[Viscount Stansgate (Lab)]

My Lords, the House has been united on Ukraine and I hope it will be united in wishing the Prime Minister well in his visit to Washington. The Statement we are discussing now should have been taken in conjunction with the Statement made by the Prime Minister in another place about defence spending. Does my noble friend agree that the world is changing before our eyes? The recent UN vote, to which reference has already been made, is the most dramatic example from the last 80 years of the fact that we may have to face a future in which the protection of America is not there, in the way that it has been all my life.