The Modern Commonwealth: Opportunities and Challenges

Jeremy Lefroy Excerpts

Thursday 7th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing the debate. Does he agree that parliamentarians also work on issues such as malaria? I chair the all-party group on malaria here, but there are also all-party groups in Tanzania and Uganda. That had a great effect on the commitment by the Commonwealth Heads of Government last year to halve the number of deaths in malaria cases in Commonwealth countries over the next few years.

[James Duddridge]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. In fact, when he was here at that time, Bill Gates spoke in praise of the value of the Commonwealth, particularly our ability to do something in the health sector. As people are pointing out, it is not just the health sector; it is the education sector, the universities sector and the business sector. The Commonwealth is actually a multiplicity of different organisations, both intergovernmental and external to Government. I apologise to the tens of organisations, if not more, from the Commonwealth that have written to me and said, “Please do mention my bit of the Commonwealth”. We have added them up, and I think at least 80 different organisations with Commonwealth branding are part of this process.