Commonwealth

Lord Goodlad Excerpts

Thursday 30th June 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Goodlad (Con)]

My Lords, I too congratulate my noble friend Lord Howell on securing this debate and on his wise, perceptive remarks. He has personally made a distinguished contribution to the Commonwealth in various capacities. I also pay tribute to my noble friend Lord Marland’s work for the Commonwealth Business Council, whose activities have burgeoned under his leadership; I look forward to his speech. It is a great privilege to follow the wise words of the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Southwark.

The Government’s recent UK Commonwealth Chair-In-Office Report tells an impressive story and is a comprehensive rebuttal of the case of those who say that the Commonwealth is an amorphous anachronism doomed to atrophy. The British Government’s role in supporting Commonwealth work in global health security, most recently during the pandemic, has been vital—especially in delivering vaccine doses, where there is still much more work to be done. In addition to allocating core funding for the secretariat, the Commonwealth Youth Programme, the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation, the Commonwealth Foundation and the Commonwealth of Learning, the Government have supported 32 other projects, from good governance and parliamentary accountability to countering violent extremism. Some may say that future government support for the secretariat should be accompanied by even more persuasive advice in the future than there has been in the past; I could not possibly comment.

Important progress has been made in many areas. Commitment to human rights and the rule of law was marked by the delivery of the first Commonwealth statement in the United Nations Human Rights Council. Trade barriers have continued to be lowered, an area where further progress can and should be made. The Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub gives vital support to some of the most climatically vulnerable countries in the world, again with essential British financial support.

The examples of British government support are legion but, as my noble friend Lord Howell rightly pointed out in the debate in your Lordships’ House last July, the binding ties of a voluntary non-treaty global organisation such as the Commonwealth rely less on Governments than on links between businesses, non-governmental organisations, the professions, educational and scientific institutions and in sport, culture and the arts. That remains the reality.

The Commonwealth’s priorities—economic development, global health, security, human rights, good governance, the rule of law, an international rules-based system, climate change and protection of the environment, and a more secure world—will all continue to need the contribution of Governments, including our own, and non-government participants. The Commonwealth is well endowed with all such participants and has demonstrated clearly the collective will to drive those priorities forward. It has much to be proud of. It also has formidable challenges ahead. I hope and believe that we shall meet those challenges.

I look forward to hearing from my noble and learned friend the Minister, to whom the Commonwealth is greatly indebted, as the noble Lord, Lord McDonald, has said, for his work over the last few years, as indeed is your Lordships’ House.