British Indian Ocean Territory: Negotiations

Andrew Griffith Excerpts
Monday 7th October 2024

(1 month, 1 week ago)

Commons Chamber
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David Lammy Portrait Mr Lammy
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It was precisely to put the base on a secure footing, because of that global uncertainty, that this deal was the right deal.

Andrew Griffith Portrait Andrew Griffith (Arundel and South Downs) (Con)
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I must say that I am surprised by Labour’s conversion to the merits of leasehold rather than the security of freehold ownership—I did not think that was its position. In addition to being an unsinkable aircraft carrier, the British Indian Ocean Territory is host to unique space observation capabilities. It is the only remote monitoring place in the southern hemisphere that is able to see parts of the sky to which we would otherwise be blind. Space is a heavily contested military domain, so did the Foreign Secretary even know about these space monitoring capabilities? What are his plans to secure alternatives to save our freedom and security?

David Lammy Portrait Mr Lammy
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Foreign Secretaries do not comment on such capabilities, but the House will have heard the hon. Gentleman’s remarks.

Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Griffith Excerpts
Tuesday 15th June 2021

(3 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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James Duddridge Portrait James Duddridge
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I can certainly commit to going back to 0.7%—that is the Government’s intention when the fiscal situation is right. I can agree to co-operate with co-operatives across the developing world—with a small C and a large C—including the Fairtrade movement.

Andrew Griffith Portrait Andrew Griffith (Arundel and South Downs) (Con)
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What diplomatic steps he is taking to advance the commercial interests of the UK overseas.

Nigel Adams Portrait The Minister for Asia (Nigel Adams)
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My hon. Friend asks a very timely question, as the Prime Minister has today announced a free trade agreement with Australia, which will bring fantastic opportunities for British businesses from all over the United Kingdom. The UK-Australia trade relationship was worth more than £13.9 billion last year, and we look forward to it growing even further under this deal. The FCDO has co-ordinated the transition of 150 key international agreements in which the UK previously participated as a member of the EU, including supporting the Department for International Trade to agree bilateral trade agreements with 67 non-EU countries, plus the European Union.

Andrew Griffith Portrait Andrew Griffith
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Ahead of English Wine Week next week, would the Minister give me his personal assurance that he will do everything in his power to ensure that our embassies and our high commissions around the world do all they can to promote and showcase this growing and successful English product?

Nigel Adams Portrait Nigel Adams
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I could not agree more, and I know my hon. Friend and I do our best to support this fantastic industry. There is no better champion for the British wine industry, and he has some superb vineyards in Arundel and South Downs. The quality of our sparkling wines in particular are superb, not least those from north Yorkshire vineyards, including the Yorkshire Heart vineyard in Nun Monkton and the Dunesforde vineyard in Upper Dunsforth. I recommend a visit. He is totally right: there should be no excuse for our embassies, our high commissions and our consulates not stocking British projects, including our wines. I am sure all our ambassadors and high commissioners are watching, so I would ask them to make sure that their cellars are stocked up with British produce, including our fantastic British wines.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Andrew Griffith Excerpts
Wednesday 2nd September 2020

(4 years, 2 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Dominic Raab Portrait Dominic Raab
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What I would say first is that of course we would have a review of our aid budget as a result of the impact of the 0.7%; that comes with the target. I think the hon. Member’s own Front-Bench team have accepted that. What I can tell her, though, is that we were very clear not just to salami slice budgets. So when I took the chairmanship of the review that we conducted with Departments across Whitehall, we preserved focus and the funding for the bottom billion—the poverty reduction for the poorest around the world. We preserved and we made sure that we safeguarded the money prioritised for climate change, for girls’ education, for covid-19 and also for a range of the “force for good” campaigns for media freedom and girls’ education, as I have already mentioned, that I discuss, and in that way we have had a strategic approach. So, yes, we have had to review it in line with our commitment to adhere to a 0.7% pledge, but we have done it in a strategic way, and I think when she looks at the detail, she can be reassured.

Andrew Griffith Portrait Andrew Griffith (Arundel and South Downs) (Con)
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Does my right hon. Friend agree that the covid pandemic has highlighted the benefits, if not the imperative, to join up our diplomatic and development efforts? But in particular, can I welcome the better access to the unparalleled soft power our DFID colleagues will have of Wilton Park in my constituency of Arundel and South Downs?

Dominic Raab Portrait Dominic Raab
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My hon. Friend makes a great plug for Wilton Park, which is dear to my heart. It does great work and certainly helps leverage our soft power effort. More generally, he has made the case that covid has demonstrated not just why integrating foreign policy is so important, but why we should go further with the merger. We found that, whether it came to procurement of PPE, repatriation of British nationals, critically, the search for a vaccine and, as hon. Members on both sides of the House have said, making sure that it is equitably distributed around the world.

UK Telecommunications

Andrew Griffith Excerpts
Tuesday 28th January 2020

(4 years, 9 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Dominic Raab Portrait Dominic Raab
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I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. I think I expressed in my statement that this was a failure of the market, but he is also right to say it is a failure of Government and, indeed, a failure of western Governments. We have set out a whole range of things that we will do—fiscal measures, regulatory measures, international collaboration—to ensure that we never find ourselves in this situation again.

Andrew Griffith Portrait Andrew Griffith (Arundel and South Downs) (Con)
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I commend my right hon. Friend for his thoughtful and calibrated proposal. As someone with first-hand experience of building and operating broadband networks at scale, may I ask him to consider phasing the introduction of the share cap over a number of years to allow time for the industry to respond?

Dominic Raab Portrait Dominic Raab
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My hon. Friend has particular expertise in this area. We can consider the cap and the issue of phasing at the point of legislation, but it is important that we take these measures as swiftly as possible to show we have a decisive fork in the road that is able to meet the challenges of both investment and security.