Commonwealth Day
Debate between Julian Lewis and Harriett Baldwin(5 years, 8 months ago)
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Harriett Baldwin
I pay tribute to the right hon. Gentleman for his work with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. On Thursday, he asked me to give the House quarterly updates on Commonwealth matters, and here I am, only a few days later.
The right hon. Gentleman was right to raise the important work that we do with Commonwealth members in tackling both the root causes and some of the impacts of modern slavery. That is part of a much wider piece of work that is being done across the Government, with many different strands in Commonwealth countries and beyond. I believe that Fairtrade Fortnight has just ended. Let me remind him, wearing my DFID hat, that we give extensive support to a range of fair trade projects and that, more important, we try to ensure that farmers, whether or not they are involved in fair trade, are helped to achieve a sustainable price that will give them a fair livelihood.
Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)
Given that the transition from colonial status to independence is often extremely difficult and sometimes downright dangerous, should we not pay tribute to all the parliamentarians and diplomats who had the vision to create the modern Commonwealth system, and should we not take some satisfaction from the fact that so many former colonies are happy to participate—with the United Kingdom—in that system, which has been so successful for so many decades?
Harriett Baldwin
I am happy to pay tribute to the work of the diplomatic network in focusing on the modern priorities of the Commonwealth. My right hon. Friend will have welcomed last year’s announcement that the UK is to open diplomatic representation in a further nine Commonwealth countries, thus creating a complete set of diplomatic representations in all the Commonwealth countries.
UK Amphibious Capability
Debate between Julian Lewis and Harriett Baldwin(7 years ago)
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Harriett Baldwin
I can confirm that there have been press reports. [Laughter.] I can also confirm that we are one of only 13 NATO countries that meet the guideline to spend 20% of our defence budget on major equipment and research and development. I can also confirm that the Ministry of Defence will spend £178 billion on equipment and associated support between 2016 and 2026.
Harriett Baldwin
Members are eating into my time, but I will give way to the Chair of the Defence Committee.
Dr Lewis
I am grateful to the Minister for giving way, but she does seem to have moved into discussing general expenditure issues and away from the specific topic. Does she remember writing to me on 25 January this year to say:
“There are no current plans to decommission the ships”—
that is, HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark—
“early, and I can reassure you that their out of service dates are 2033 and 2034 respectively…HMS Bulwark continues to prove a vital asset to the Royal Navy…HMS Albion…is programmed to replace HMS Bulwark as the high-readiness ship this year”?
Does that remain the position?
Harriett Baldwin
I can indeed confirm that I not only wrote those words but recall writing them.
Harriett Baldwin
I have already made it very clear on the record what today’s position is. [Interruption.]
We can all see that the global security context is challenging. So, Members would expect us to ensure that, as we spend our growing budget, we focus expenditure on those capabilities that are most effective at keeping us and our allies safe, and at deterring or defeating our adversaries or potential adversaries.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Julian Lewis and Harriett Baldwin(7 years ago)
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Harriett Baldwin
I assure the hon. Lady that an extensive programme of work is under way not only in the Ministry of Defence, but with our colleagues in the Department for Exiting the European Union. We are very conscious of the importance of those supply chains.
Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Julian Lewis and Harriett Baldwin(7 years, 8 months ago)
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Harriett Baldwin
Well, honestly, I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman has read the Defence Committee’s report, which
“commends the UK Government’s commitment to UK defence and finds that its accounting criteria fall firmly within existing NATO guidelines”—
as does NATO itself. It would be worrying if we were to follow his party leader, who wants to see cuts to defence spending, the abandonment of our NATO allies and the scrapping of the nuclear deterrent.
Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)
May I helpfully suggest to the Minister that one way she could avoid these arguments about whether we have or have not scraped over the 2% line is to recognise that the last time we faced threats like those we face today was the 1980s, when we used to spend between 4.5% and 5% of GDP on defence? Let us settle for 3% so that we can avoid this sort of argument.
Harriett Baldwin
I appreciate my right hon. Friend’s campaign. We are proud of the fact that we are spending substantially more than the 2% target; that we have a growing defence budget for the first time in many years; and that we are on track to have a £178 billion equipment plan over the next decade.
Harriett Baldwin
We are committed to building Type 26 frigates, and that forms part of the pipeline of defence procurement where we are going to need steel. Our main supplier is running a competition in which I believe five UK firms are participating.
Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)
Did Ministers see the evidence given to the Select Committee on Defence last Tuesday by four eminent professors of law, indicating that there is no legal reason why a statute of limitations cannot be brought forward to prevent the hounding of our service personnel for pre-Belfast-agreement-related matters? Will Ministers work with the Committee by giving evidence to us that might enable such a statute to be brought forward?
Awards for Valour (Protection) Bill
Debate between Julian Lewis and Harriett Baldwin(7 years, 12 months ago)
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Harriett Baldwin
The Secretary of State has been thoroughly convinced by the excellent case put forward by my hon. Friend the Member for Dartford, by the power of his argument in the Chamber and by the way he has worked so constructively to address our previous concerns in his proposed legislation.
My hon. Friend the Member for Shipley questioned the extent of the problem in this country. I am grateful to the Defence Committee for producing its extremely thorough report, which acknowledges that the precise level of the problem is difficult to determine. There is clearly a greater awareness of it as an issue, perhaps because of the greater visibility afforded by social media and the appearance of groups dedicated to exposing these Walter Mittys. It is for that reason, and those that I have previously outlined, that the Government are now happy to offer support to the Bill.
The Committee’s report was ably summarised by my right hon. Friend the Member for New Forest East, who chairs the Committee, and it raised issues for the Government to consider beyond those immediately addressed by the Bill—in particular, the question of establishing a searchable database of holders of awards. Details of individual bravery or gallantry awards are published in the London Gazette—indeed, that is the origin of the term “gazetted” in relation to medals. However, the creation of a searchable database of holders would raise concerns about personal data and individual security. There is also the matter of who would be responsible for it and who would maintain it. It would be a long-term task for someone. When it comes to the various types and levels of campaign awards, a different issue arises—one of scale. For example, the Operational Service Medal for Afghanistan alone was issued to 150,000 recipients.
Dr Julian Lewis
I am grateful to the Minister for her support for the Bill. I am always cautious about databases for ex-service personnel. In this particular case, however, provided that the search engine was only able to accept the entry of a name that was already known to the person searching for any awards that that person had received, I do not see that that could create a security problem in the way that including details of ex-servicemen on censuses might do.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Julian Lewis and Harriett Baldwin(8 years ago)
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Harriett Baldwin
Again, I put on the record the fact that defence spending will go up regardless of currency fluctuations because of the double lock on the defence budget. As part of ongoing management of the budgets at the Ministry of Defence, we pay and have paid regard to the currency risk in terms of our procurement programme.
Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)
When Ministers meet the Chancellor of the Exchequer will they remind him that although the defence budget is going up in absolute terms it is nevertheless at a lower proportion of GDP than ever before? We really ought to be looking at something approaching the 3% mark, bearing in mind the fact that the level of threat we face today is similar to that of the 1980s, when we regularly spent between 4.5% and 5% of GDP on defence.
Harriett Baldwin
My right hon. Friend was calling for 5% the other day—“Go for five and stay alive” was the catchphrase he came up with, I think. He is right that it is important that we continue to keep the Ministry of Defence’s budget under review, and we were very pleased that last year the spending review committed to a rise of 0.5% above inflation every year during this Parliament. Another spending review will have to look at the budget again in due course.
Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)
Petitions
Debate between Julian Lewis and Harriett Baldwin
Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)
It is my pleasure to present a petition in the same terms as that presented by my hon. Friend the Member for Beverley and Holderness (Mr Stuart). It is signed by Mr Peter Osborne and other residents of the villages of Minstead, Lyndhurst, Bartley and Bramshaw in the New Forest East constituency, and it requests that the House of Commons urge the Government to reduce the rural penalty in staged steps by at least 10% by 2020.
The Petition of the residents of New Forest East Constituency.
[P001254]
Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)
I am handing in a petition in the same terms for 128 signatories from the beautiful town of Pershore and the villages around Bredon Hill in my constituency.
The Petition of the residents of West Worcestershire.
[P001268]
Rural Fair Share Campaign
Debate between Julian Lewis and Harriett Baldwin
Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)
It is my pleasure to present a petition in the same terms as that presented by my hon. Friend the Member for Beverley and Holderness (Mr Stuart). It is signed by Mr Peter Osborne and other residents of the villages of Minstead, Lyndhurst, Bartley and Bramshaw in the New Forest East constituency, and it requests that the House of Commons urge the Government to reduce the rural penalty in staged steps by at least 10% by 2020.
The Petition of the residents of New Forest East Constituency.
[P001254]
Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)
I am handing in a petition in the same terms for 128 signatories from the beautiful town of Pershore and the villages around Bredon Hill in my constituency.
The Petition of the residents of West Worcestershire.
[P001268]