CHOGM, G7 and NATO Summits

Lord Ashton of Hyde Excerpts

Monday 4th July 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab)]

My Lords—

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

My Lords, I think that the noble Lord, Lord Browne, knows what I am going to say. I think that it is only right that, when a noble Lord arrives five and a half minutes after the start, he should not really speak. But I do accept that there are not many people here. I think it would be good if the noble Lord allowed people who were here at the beginning of the debate to speak, and if there is time afterwards then he might be allowed to speak.

[Lord Sentamu (CB)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for the Statement, which has a lot of hope and a lot of challenges in it. I chair the board of Christian Aid, which has been working hard in Ukraine ensuring that incubators are provided, because two hospitals were destroyed, and there have been a lot of miscarriages and premature births taking place. We thank the Government for the disaster aid that has raised a lot of money, and through your offices, again, we have been able to help out.

On defence, during our debate on the humble Address I brought up the issue—as everybody is wanting to look at more lethal weapons—of the whole growth of unregulated, autonomous robots. These are very good at not being controlled by a person but have been set within themselves, and their destruction is unbelievable. What are Her Majesty’s Government doing to create a treaty which will limit the way that these weapons are developed?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

I thank the—

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

It is the noble and right reverend Lord.

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

I thank the noble and right reverend Lord for his comments—I apologise: it is a new one on me and I did not want to make a mistake. He is absolutely right that we all need to work internationally to tackle the many problems, a number of which he alluded to, to ensure that we have a safer and more peaceful world.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

My Lords, we are already in a very fraught situation and I do not think that speculating on such things helps at this point. What we want to do is work with our allies to support the Ukrainians and continue to point out the fallacy and wrongness of what President Putin is currently doing.

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

My Lords, as we have had a question from my noble friend Lord Howell, we should allow the noble Lord, Lord Browne, eventually to come in. I withdraw my comments, with the leave of the House.

[Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab)]

My Lords, I apologise too for being late for the beginning of the Statement. I had expected it to be later in the evening and my office is in Millbank House. Anyway, I can assure the noble Baroness—to whom I apologise profusely—that I have read the Statement, because I have a very specific question and wanted to see whether there was any reference to it in the Statement, but there is not. As part of the US increasing its military presence across Europe, two more squadrons of F-35 stealth jets will be stationed at RAF Lakenheath, which is leased to the US air force. Can the noble Baroness reassure me that these will not be the dual-capable variant of the stealth aircraft, and that we will not, some time in the future, face the challenge of the United States wanting to base nuclear weapons in the UK once again?

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Bilimoria (CB)]

I was here when the noble Lord, Lord Newby, was speaking.

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

No, sorry.

[Lord Bilimoria (CB)]

But everyone else who was late was allowed to speak.

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

Some Members were late by a minute or five minutes, but the noble Lord missed the whole Statement and the remarks of the party leaders.

[Lord Bilimoria (CB)]

I did not miss their remarks.

[Lord Bilimoria (CB)]

I did not miss them; I heard the noble Lord, Lord Newby.

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

I think that proves the point that the noble Lord was not here for the Leader of the Opposition.

House adjourned at 7.36 pm.