Iraq

Lord Jay of Ewelme Excerpts

Friday 26th September 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Jay of Ewelme (CB)]

My Lords, I strongly believe that we should join in the military intervention in Iraq but with our eyes wide open. The Iraqi Government have asked for our support, so intervention would be legal. We have excellent Armed Forces to provide that support. We would be joining a coalition with Iraq and, crucially, with others from the region. We know what our aim is: namely, to degrade and weaken ISIS so that properly trained Kurdish and Iraqi forces can regain control of those parts of northern Iraq now under ISIS control and thus remove the prospect of a vicious and maverick fundamentalist state in the Middle East threatening our and others’ interests. But it is in the achievement of those aims that the problems may lie. The only certain thing about war is that it never turns out as you expect. When the difficulties arise, the arguments for involvement in the first place can start to look, with the benefit of hindsight, distinctly shaky. Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya all show that.

Therefore, let us look beyond today. It is not clear that air strikes will be enough. Nor is it clear that the Iraqi and Kurdish fighters, even when trained, will be able to defeat ISIS on the ground, even an ISIS that has been weakened by air strikes. So our trainers may edge ever closer to a combat role, with all the risks to them and to opinion at home that that will bring. On the political level, I suspect that Iran will continue its shift from enemy to ally—an uncomfortable but, I suspect, necessary process that was inevitable from the day that a Sunni-led Government were replaced in Baghdad by a Shia-led Government.

Finally, the logic of not intervening in Syria, while in my view correct today, will look increasingly uncertain as it becomes clear that the Syria-Iraq border is no more than a line on a map. The question of the legality of an intervention in Syria, even if there is no UN Security Council resolution because, for example, of a Russian veto, will become paramount. I believe that it will not be an insoluble problem—Kosovo is a precedent—and I note what the Minister has said. None the less, it would be a difficult issue.

These are not questions that need or can be answered now. But if we agree to a military intervention in Iraq now, as I believe that we should, we should do so in full recognition of the probability, and I would say certainty, that some or all of these questions—British troops on the ground, intervention in Syria, perhaps in semi-alliance with Bashar Assad, and closer alliance with Iran—will arise in, say, two or three years’ time. We cannot afford ourselves the luxury then of saying that if we had appreciated the difficulties now we would not have voted for intervention today. As I have said, I am strongly in favour of that intervention today but with our eyes wide open.

House of Lords Reform (No. 2) Bill

Lord Jay of Ewelme Excerpts

Friday 28th March 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Jay of Ewelme (CB)]

My Lords, I join the noble Lord, Lord MacGregor, on my own behalf and, if they will permit me, on behalf of my colleagues on these Benches, in saying how much we regret the departure of the noble Lord, Lord Grenfell, and how much his speech today shows why we will regret it as much as we shall.

When one is hungry and lunch approaches, one can hope for a good, three-course meal and a glass of wine; or one can hope for a slimming salad; or, if things go awry, one can get perhaps two raisins and a nut. This Bill is, I fear, rather more two raisins and a nut than the sustaining meal that one would like to have. I have nothing against two raisins and a nut but I hope that they will be followed in due course by something more substantial. I very much hope that this Bill—for which we owe a huge amount, as others have said, to the tenacity of the noble Lord, Lord Steel—will be followed by a more substantive reform Bill, or Bills, over time.

I say that because after some seven and a half years in this House, I am convinced of its importance to our constitutional position as a revising Chamber able to hold the Government to account and as a House that wins respect nationally and internationally—not least in the European Union, for which respect the noble Lord, Lord Grenfell, must take much credit—for the quality and objectivity of its work. That respect really matters to this House and to our constitution, and it must be retained. There must surely be a risk that if the House gets ever larger without reform, it will sooner or later topple over and the respect in which it is held will dissipate over time. That is extremely serious.

I therefore very much agree with the noble Lord, Lord Steel, and others that we need a proper reform Bill to follow this one—a Bill that will reduce the size of the House, end the election of hereditary Peers, and put the Appointments Commission on a statutory basis. I no longer chair the commission and am delighted that my noble friend Lord Kakkar does so, but I have believed and still believe that a commission that appoints people to this House or approves such appointments should be accountable to this House. The only way in which such a commission can be properly accountable to this House is for it to be established on a statutory basis. I am delighted that that proposal will come forward again in the next Session, in the Bill proposed by my noble friend Lady Hayman.

Meanwhile, we have this Bill, which I support. Its three main proposals are sensible and necessary—the ability to resign but not rescind resignation; enforced resignation following absence without good reason for a whole Session; and forced resignation after a serious criminal conviction. All are, as I say, sensible and necessary as a first step towards further reform of the House.

I have one concern, mentioned by the noble Lords, Lord MacGregor and Lord Steel. It has been suggested that Clause 4(5), which explicitly permits resignation from the Lords to be followed by standing for the Commons, could lead political parties to regard the Lords as a sort of training ground for the Commons, which would jeopardise this House’s principal role as a Chamber that revises and sometimes challenges the Commons, and therefore needs to keep its distance and separation from the Commons. It has been argued, previously and today, that those concerns are exaggerated, which may indeed be right. However, if the Bill were to have such an effect, the provision would indeed be serious for the role of this House and for our constitution.

I am glad that the Constitution Committee recognises that risk. It would go a long way to reassure those who hold those concerns if the Leader of the House and the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, can say, as has been said in the Commons, that it is not their intention that the implementation of the Bill should harm the constitutional position of this House in that way, and that appropriate action would be taken if, none the less, that were to happen. My noble friend Lady Hayman, who cannot be here today, has asked me to say that she shares the hope that the Leader and the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, will speak in that sense. That would reassure those of us who have some concerns here, and make both the raisins and nut at least more palatable—if not, in the longer term, sustaining.

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and Philippines

Lord Jay of Ewelme Excerpts

Monday 18th November 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hill of Oareford]

I am grateful to my noble friend for his comments on the Philippines. On the Commonwealth conference, I would argue that going to Sri Lanka—and I obviously understand the points he makes about the anxieties that many people have about the situation there—will enable us and the rest of the world to have a greater focus on the problems there and help to address them. Therefore, while I understand the general point he made about wanting to work to ensure that all Commonwealth countries abide by basic human rights, in this case, having the CHOGM there has helped to take forward the case of the human rights of those people, particularly those living in the north of the island.

[Lord Jay of Ewelme (CB)]

My Lords, I think that the Prime Minister was right to go to Sri Lanka; it is much better to confront difficult issues than to duck them. It is equally important, however, that now that the issue has been confronted, the confrontation should continue. Will the Leader of the House say a little bit more about how the Prime Minister intends that the pressure on Sri Lanka over human rights be continued in the year or two ahead? Was there support for that pressure from within the Commonwealth itself?

[Lord Hill of Oareford]

At the moment, I am not able to add any specific information as to the next steps that will be taken. This was the beginning of a process initiated by the Prime Minister in Sri Lanka just a few days ago. He made clear, for instance, the need for an independent inquiry to say that if there are not steps taken and some progress made by March, the next step would be an escalation through the UN, pressing for an international inquiry. Other steps have started: the establishment in August, for example, by the Sri Lankan Government of a commission into the disappearances. That would be another initiative—another piece of work—that we would all want to observe to see what progress is made. There will be a number of strands that we will need to observe as the months go on, but what I can certainly say is that, having been there and seen for himself the situation in the north of the island—the first head of a foreign Government to go there for 65 years—my right honourable friend will do everything he can to keep up the sort of pressure for which the noble Lord is calling.