Environment Bill

Earl of Courtown Excerpts

Report stage
Monday 6th September 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Young of Old Scone (Lab)]

Could I summarise what I think I have heard the noble Lord say?

[The Earl of Courtown (Con)]

My Lords, I am afraid the noble Baroness cannot summarise. The rules in the Companion are quite clear that interruptions on Report are solely for points of clarification. I think we should let the Minister move on with this.

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con)]

I have been told to finish but I am not sure how; this is the first time I have been asked to finish in these circumstances. I will repeat what I said earlier: all I can suggest to the House is that if feelings are strong then this question should be put to a Division. I do not see an alternative to doing so.

Latin America: Future Foreign Policy

Earl of Courtown Excerpts

Wednesday 21st April 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes (Con) [V]]

My Lords, as chairman of the UK branch of Plan International, a charity, for about 20 years, I have regularly visited most of the countries in Latin America. The major problem always was that people obtained all sorts of wonderful things and shelves were stocked but no one knew how to use them. That was rather wasteful and we wanted to do something about that. Can the Government, given that development is now included in the Minister’s portfolio, assure me that the experience of non-governmental bodies that already work in Latin America will be involved in any plans, as their experience is invaluable in providing insight into opportunities and areas of need? The lesson that I learned was that it was important to have someone explain how to use things, not just to present them and then hope that people would be able to put together a prefab school or all sorts of things for educational use. In the light of the—

[The Earl of Courtown (Con)]

My Lords, please let the Minister respond.

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, I picked up the gist of my noble friend’s question when she began and can give her a very to-the-point response. Of course, the importance of civil society remains part and parcel of the delivery of our programme. As regards my portfolio on human rights, we work closely across the regions, particularly in countries such as Colombia.

Bahrain: Human Rights Abuses

Earl of Courtown Excerpts

Thursday 25th March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Warsi (Con) [V]]

[Inaudible.]

[The Earl of Courtown (Con)]

Could the noble Baroness be unmuted, please?

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

The noble Baroness is muted and we cannot hear her. We will have to move on to the noble Baroness, Lady Northover.

Tigray Conflict: Axum

Earl of Courtown Excerpts

Tuesday 9th March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Triesman (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I welcome what the Minister has said, but obviously there is more to do. Those of us who were involved in trying to negotiate peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea a decade ago are dismayed by the fact that they are now united, but in the suppression of Tigray. Crimes of concern to humanity are being committed every day and it is no accident that there are highly organised and disciplined militaries on both sides. Can the Minister add to his comments about approaches to the United Nations and tell us what we are doing with the African Union, which can often be a very significant force for installing peace? Can he also comment specifically on the fact that many of the leading Tigrayans who have served in the Ethiopian Government have been absolutely vital to the UK’s interests in securing peace in Somalia and the northern Kenyan regions? They are eager to be in places where they no longer fear for their lives. They want to continue with their education and are keen to continue with their charitable work—

[The Earl of Courtown (Con)]

My Lords, perhaps the noble Lord would curtail his questions and let the Minister answer now.

[Lord Triesman (Lab)]

I wonder if the Minister would meet me to discuss this.

Aid Impact

Earl of Courtown Excerpts

Thursday 3rd September 2020 Lords Chamber

[The Senior Deputy Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

I call the noble Lord, Lord Collins of Highbury.

[The Earl of Courtown (Con)]

Could the noble Lord unmute?

[The Senior Deputy Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

We will come back to the noble Lord, Lord Collins. I call the noble Baroness, Lady Northover.

Integrated Security, Defence and Foreign Policy Review

Earl of Courtown Excerpts

Monday 23rd March 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

Again, I find myself very much in agreement with the noble Lord’s last point. We need to ensure that there is a thorough review of all the challenges we face, whether it is from Mother Nature and pandemics or from sinister actors. Let us not forget that it is not that long ago that we were impacted by chemical weapon attacks on the streets of Salisbury. On the integrated review itself, given the ongoing coronavirus epidemic, we are, of course, keeping all non-related government work under review. The Prime Minister has already said that he will lead the review and bearing in mind his leadership on the current crisis, of course we will look to ensure that the learnings from this crisis can be fed into the review itself.

[The Earl of Courtown (Con)]

My Lords, with the leave of the House I suggest that we adjourn until 2.48 pm to allow noble Lords to leave the Chamber and other noble Lords to move in for the next Question.