Britain in the World

Albert Owen Excerpts

Monday 1st June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Albert Owen (Ynys Môn) (Lab)]

It is a great pleasure to speak in this debate, because we have heard so many excellent maiden speeches, along with those of other hon. and right hon. Members. It is also a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Romford (Andrew Rosindell), who came into the House on the same occasion as I did in 2001. We did so along with the hon. Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson). He and I shared accommodation in Norman Shaw North at the time, and I used to joke that I saw more of him on “Have I Got News for You” than I did in Norman Shaw North. But it is good to see him back, and in the meantime I have continued to be the full-time Member of Parliament for Ynys Môn. It is an island community and an outward-looking community at the heart of the British Isles. I am proud to be Welsh, proud to be British and proud to be a member of the European Community and of the international community. Today’s debate sets the scene in that regard. I shall come to the subject of the European Union—I prefer to call it the European Community rather than European Union—and the referendum shortly.

The Queen’s Speech said that the Government would “re-engage” Britain in international affairs. There has been some disengagement in recent years, and I hope that we can once again raise our profile on the international stage. I totally agree with the right hon. Member for New Forest East (Dr Lewis) that the strategic defence review in the last Parliament was not strategic. I understand the reasons the Government have given, but our future direction must be strategic and our defence must be done on strategic grounds. We have a proud record, and, as has been indicated, the Department for International Development does excellent work. I am very proud that the previous Labour Government set up the Department and focused attention on international development, making Britain a leader on that in world affairs. We have been leaders in many areas, not least defending women and children in the world, helping the poorest children in the world get education and tackling Ebola. We have been leaders in all those areas and we must be very proud of our involvement in world affairs. I also welcome the shadow Foreign Secretary to his place and welcome his excellent speech about our place in the world.

I am very pro-European Union and I feel we have a role to play in it. It is not just me saying that, because during the general election I met many small businesses and farmers from my community, and many large businesses that had invested in my constituency, and they wanted Britain to be at the heart of the EU over the next few years. I will support the Prime Minister if he is clear on what kind of reform he wants. It is incumbent on Government Front Benchers in today’s debate—I know the Foreign Secretary cannot be with us, but I hope that the Secretary of State for International Development will do this in her wind-up—to make it clear exactly what we want in those reforms. This Parliament needs to know that early on, and I will be supporting a yes vote for Ynys Môn to be at the heart of not just the British Isles but the European Community. Wales, the nation that I am proud to represent, is a net beneficiary from the European Union, to the tune of some £200 million per year. Business benefits from it, and I want to be at the heart of it. Britain deserves to raise its profile and I hope we can all work together to ensure that Britain is the leader in the world, where it belongs: at the top table.

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[Justine Greening]

My hon. Friend is right to point out the challenges associated with continuing to invest to maintain our defence in future. The Prime Minister has been incredibly clear that we will meet our 2% commitment this coming year—[Interruption.] As my hon. Friend knows, we hosted the NATO summit in Wales. We hear chuntering from the Opposition Benches, but we need take no lectures from those whose Government left us with a hole of £38 billion in our defence budget. For that they should be truly ashamed of themselves. We have cleared up that mess. We are living within our means and at the same time we are investing in our military equipment—investing more than inflation and making sure we maintain our troops. We will continue to do that. My right hon. Friend the Member for New Forest East (Dr Lewis) and my hon. Friend the Member for Newbury (Richard Benyon) spoke passionately about how important that commitment is.

That requires us all to work effectively across government. Indeed, the days when one could look at the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Defence and the Department for International Development as separate Departments that tackle separate issues are over. A long-term, joined-up approach is absolutely essential, as my hon. Friends the Members for Reigate (Crispin Blunt) and for Gloucester (Richard Graham) said. The good news is that the UK Government have never worked together as seamlessly as we do today. On threats to our security, for example, DFID has worked hand in hand with the Ministry of Defence and the Department of Health to combat Ebola in Sierra Leone. Those efforts have not only saved countless lives in west Africa, but helped to prevent a global health crisis that could have been far deadlier than it was and even threatened the UK.

Two weeks ago I had the privilege of seeing at first hand some of our humanitarian work in Nepal. Britain’s outstanding team of diplomats, armed forces servicemen and women and DFID staff are working hand in hand to ensure that aid is reaching the most vulnerable people. I pay tribute to all of them and to the work they are doing. I also pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for Rutland and Melton (Sir Alan Duncan), who did life-saving work when a DFID Minister to ensure that Nepal was better prepared to withstand the impact of the earthquake. That work saved lives across that country, and we should be incredibly proud of that.

On economic opportunities, we have never had a more joined-up approach, with DFID and the Foreign Office launching key prosperity partnerships to strengthen our commercial links with emerging markets in Africa. I very much welcome UK Trade & Investment’s renewed willingness to do more to work alongside the Foreign Office to ensure that UK companies are well placed to do well in these new but fast-growing markets.

[Albert Owen]

Will DFID also work with the devolved Administrations? There have been some good bilateral agreements with African states, for example between the Scottish Parliament and Malawi and Lesotho, and with all-party groups in this House. It is important that those groups are given a bigger audience in international development.

[Justine Greening]

I can reassure the hon. Gentleman that I work very closely with all-party groups, which I think play a key role in this House by enabling so many parliamentarians with an interest in this area not only to express that interest, but to work with Ministers and help inform policy. That goes for the devolved Administrations as well. As we heard in some of the speeches from the SNP Benches, we should be proud of Scotland’s close links with Malawi. I look forward to working with hon. Members from that party, hopefully to pursue a united development strategy for the UK.

Protecting and promoting Britain’s place in the word means more than just working across government; it requires a two-pronged approach that takes action today and future-proofs our prospects for tomorrow. That means action on today’s problems and upstream work to tackle the root causes that drive issues such as migration. It means minimising the risks of instability as far as we reasonably can. The hon. Member for Brent North (Barry Gardiner) made some important points about that. It means continuing our work to help the millions of refugees affected by the Syria crisis so that they can cope with the lives they are now leading in neighbouring countries such as Lebanon and Jordan. We are also helping countries such as Somalia and Nigeria to deal with terrorism and instability in their midst.

Future-proofing Britain’s prospects for tomorrow also means market-making. In the end, the best guarantor of stability and prosperity is development. We are working with the Foreign Office and UKTI to ensure that we play that constructive role in the next wave of emerging markets. That frontier economy strategy, led by DFID, is critical not only in helping to tackle poverty, but in securing the UK’s economic prospects for tomorrow.

Finally, all that work is underpinned by values; values that mean we will continue to be a world leader in campaigning for better rights for women and girls, for example. I am proud of the work that this Government have done. We will continue to do that, whether on dealing with female genital mutilation or child marriage. Britain should stand tall in the world not only because of our economic strength and military capacity, but because we have an approach that reflects more about us than just that. Britain has never been a country that buries its head in the sand; we have taken on global problems and made them our own. Others will try to talk us down, but we should never fall into the same trap. I think that today’s debate shows our democracy at its best. We should be proud of the work that this country is doing.