Integrated Review: Development Aid

Lord Naseby Excerpts

Wednesday 28th April 2021 Grand Committee

[Lord Naseby (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I pay tribute to my noble friend Lord Alton: over many years, he has shown consistent creative thinking and action on aid, so I thank him. He highlighted Yemen and was so right; dear old Aden was part of it—that is possibly the worst problem area there is at this point in time. If the UN is worth anything, it should do more than it is doing there, and we should look at that again. He highlighted evidence on water security and was so right, as too was my noble friend Lord Polak, when he said that it is time that we reassessed the impact of the way that we are spending our money. I put forward that organisations such as Amnesty International, which stepped over the line in India and Sri Lanka, Freedom from Torture and others should all be looked at closely.

I understand the possible need for a temporary cut; I accept that it is a requirement at this point in time. However, I urge Her Majesty’s Government to make it absolutely clear exactly when they are coming back to 0.7%, and how.

I move on to the situation in the integrated review concerning the “Indo-Pacific tilt” and this axis of trade, with its choke points for navigation. This means the bottom end of India and Sri Lanka. We miss an opportunity with India: what is our high commissioner in India doing? He or she must have known that there was a huge problem blowing up, so why did we not stand by with emergency facilities ready at Brize Norton? We should follow that up now, as they are real friends and need help. The same is true of Sri Lanka, which was ignored by the West over the Tamil Tigers. It needed help to defeat these terrorists; it needs understanding on human rights and does not need to be chased with bogus evidence that is kept secret for 20 years in the Darusman report.

Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Bill

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2nd reading
Friday 16th April 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Naseby (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I support this Bill. Before I go any further, I should declare an interest in that I have two Jack Russells. Biggleswade is where we live and our senior Jack Russell is called Biggles after the books of Captain WE Johns, which I read as a young man. He should be in the basket behind me but it was pointed out that he might object to certain contributions from your Lordships and bark, so he is outside in the sunshine.

The Bill is overdue. I wish it a smooth passage. I want to say a sincere thank you to my noble friend Lord Randall. I do not know whether everybody who is taking part in this debate, either from the Chamber or from home, has ever taken a Private Member’s Bill through the House. I have taken through one that I started—to help the mutual movement—and a couple of others that started in the other place. It takes a lot of time and effort, however it is done. I really do thank my noble friend. Without the effort that he has put in, we would not be making the progress that we are making today.

However, it is disappointing—I hope my noble friend on the Front Bench will take note of this—that this is not the first time that we in England and Wales, particularly in England, are out of step and playing catch-up with the other home nations on a small but important area of legislation. I wonder whether, because of the devolved nations being more active nowadays, we as the Government at the centre should not take a closer look at the minor Bills being promoted in other areas to see whether they are relevant to England and Wales.

I thank Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, which does a superb job. I remember visiting it when I was a councillor in the London Borough of Islington. The case histories that it has sent us are indeed harrowing and deeply worrying. It makes me wonder whether the time has come to review the Dangerous Dogs Act; that is not for this afternoon, obviously, but it is worth putting it on the record. I also hope that the fact that your Lordships’ House is dealing with the Bill expeditiously will reassure professionals such as those as Battersea.

Finally, I want to make two points. First, the noble Lord, Lord Trees, is right that law enforcement needs to be looked at. Secondly, I say again to the Whip on duty that, if necessary, I am prepared to sit on Friday 30 April—we are not scheduled to sit then—to ensure that this Bill gets on to the statute book.

INSPIRE (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020

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Wednesday 9th September 2020 Grand Committee

[Lord Naseby (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that comprehensive introduction. I will start with the Explanatory Memorandum; I then have some general questions. My noble friend said that Scotland has its own regulations. Paragraph 4(1) states that the only differences are in Regulations 3 and 4. So is there any other dimension where Scotland is different to England, Wales and Northern Ireland?

To move on, Regulation 6(1) on legislative content states that it also confers temporary powers to make secondary legislation. Is there any definition of “temporary”? That seems to me to be quite important. What is the procedure if the UK, outside the EU but operating obviously within the total context, wishes to propose future changes? Are there any difficulties in that format or not?

Paragraph 10 talks about the consultation, which the Minister touched on. The phrase used is “informally engaged stakeholders”. Can we have an assurance that this informal consultation did actually contact all the normal stakeholders that we know about?

Paragraph 13 refers to regulating small businesses. As there is no definition within the context of this SI of what a small business is or is not, when does a small business become, in effect, a partner in this SI itself?

Finally, Part 2 of the SI says:

“In my view, INSPIRE … do no more than is appropriate”.


Who made the judgment on what is or is not appropriate?

Those are all my questions on the printed SI. I have a couple of questions arising from the briefings that we have received, principally from the Library. One of them says:

“In 2019, the European Commission published and implemented a decision intended to simplify the way in which INSPIRE operated.”


Although the Minister mentioned that, nothing was said about the way in which it has been simplified. Is it a matter of quantum, or some other aspect that is not self-evident to those of us who come to this only warm?

My final question is quite important. How much is it costing the UK to remain within INSPIRE? If the Minister does not know now, I rather hope he might have asked the question himself. Does it cost us anything as UK Ltd or does it not? If it does cost us something, is it on a fixed-term basis or reviewed periodically every three years, five years or whatever? That is an important element that I wanted to raise.

I have a couple of other questions. On the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, is anybody excluded? It talks about “most” UK partner bodies, but that means that somebody has been excluded. Does the Minister have anything on that? The regulations refer to working with all central government departments and all local authorities. As far as I can see, “local authorities” are not defined here. Obviously, we have counties, unitary authorities and district councils, but if we are dealing with environmental matters, they ought to cover town councils. I declare an interest, because I live in Sandy in Bedfordshire, which has a very active county council Local authorities need to make good use of the Local Government Association. That needs to be re-emphasised to those involved, because it is absolutely key to it.

I have two more questions. The regulations say that publishing INSPIRE location data requires “most” geospatial data to be published. Which bit is not published? That seems to be of some relevance. Finally, I am sorry to come back to coronavirus. Has it affected record-taking at all? Has it changed it at all? Has it slowed it down or has it in effect had no impact?

Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020

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Wednesday 29th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Naseby (Con)]

My Lords, I have no problem at all with the financial aspects of this SI. I think there is a big challenge with individuals and human rights; I remember Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein and Assad, all of whose communities we interfered in at huge human cost to those communities. I want to focus, though, sadly, on the Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers—LTTE—which we proscribed in 2001. It was succeeded by the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam—TGTE—itself proscribed in Sri Lanka. It is staffed and organised by former LTTE people and yesterday it started a legal action in the courts here in the UK to lift the proscription on the Tamil Tigers.

The TGTE espouses an ideology which is almost identical to that of the LTTE; it has never denounced violence or the terrorism of the LTTE; it disseminates propaganda worldwide, targeting young people, mainly Tamils, with commemorative events, waving LTTE flags and the black tiger, et cetera. Worst of all, I think, it has never shown any remorse over child soldiers. UNICEF stated on 31 July 2005 that 5,081 underaged soldiers were recruited, 40% girls and 60% boys, and at the end of the war, 594 was the small number that were left. Still, in this country, we have Mrs Balasingham, who was the arch recruiter and trainer of the child soldiers, residing comfortably in the United Kingdom. That is a challenge we need to face.

Water Industry (Specified Infrastructure Projects) (English Undertakers) (Amendment) Regulations 2020

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Monday 8th June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Naseby (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I too welcome the Minister to the Dispatch Box. In my judgment, this is a very important subject. I happened to sit on the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments and I noticed, on reading the regulations and the material behind them, that it was thought that, while a vital instrument, there was no need for it to be looked at it in any detail by the Joint Committee, shared by the Commons and the Lords. I am a little surprised at that, considering the scale of what we have been talking about this afternoon, but I shall move on.

Secondly, the point was made that there may be instances of border challenges, specifically with Severn Trent in relation to Wales. I notice that the Minister did not say anything about the project involving the River Severn. I am not sure where it rises. Nevertheless, can we be reassured that, although it might not be seen by the water companies or Ofwat as important to consult our neighbours, there has been, and will always be, consultation with the devolved Parliaments?

Frankly, I am not in favour of removing sunset clauses. I had the privilege of sitting on the Public Accounts Committee for 12 years. It seems to me that when it comes to public expenditure, it is very important to have a point in time to review a situation. I am not suggesting that seven years is adequate for the scale of the infrastructure projects we have noted this afternoon. Nevertheless, I believe, and a number of my colleagues who have sat on the Public Accounts Committee would agree, that the normal time to review is quite often after 10 years. Maybe 12 years would be more appropriate —that is a matter of judgment. But I am very surprised that there is not a sunset clause and, while the tideway project is going brilliantly, there may be one that goes, or seems to go, badly wrong. A looming sunset clause is a wonderful means of focusing people’s attention.

I have two particular observations, one on reservoirs. I live in Bedfordshire, and I was a little involved in Grafham Water. My former constituency was Northampton, and I was particularly involved there with the Rutland reservoir. I am sorry to say to my colleagues who believe that the water companies do not appear to be taking nature seriously that I think the job done at Rutland was first class. Certainly, the only one I can comment on in detail is Rutland Water, and there is a huge amount being done there in relation to the impact on nature. I believe that is unjustified in relation to that project, and I support the new reservoir in Lincolnshire that is coming along.

Secondly, I question metering. I have had a water meter for years, simply because I believe it is a better way of controlling my expenditure, rather than having it done on the rateable value. Could the Minister bring noble Lords up to date on what percentage of households currently have a water meter?

Finally, for this Minister in particular, I am slightly surprised that there was no mention of the impact of climate change. All of us who are in the countryside at the moment have had incredible weather in May, and it looks as if it will return in June. We all expect climate change to have an impact, particularly on water consumption, so I am a little surprised that there has been no comment on that yet.

Nevertheless, I wish this renewal all speed, and hope very much that we might have a few answers on the questions raised, if not this afternoon then in writing afterwards.

Chemicals Regulation

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Monday 16th March 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park]

Were it the case that the British Government felt the need to do such a thing, they would take the step that the noble Lord has outlined, but that is not the view of the British Government today. There is no need for any additional delays.

[Lord Naseby (Con)]

Will my noble friend give an undertaking to consult closely with the horticultural industry, which so often is the poor cousin of the broader agricultural and chemical world?

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park]

I am very happy to give that undertaking. As my noble friend will know, we are on the cusp of developing a new chemicals strategy. We will be putting out a call for evidence this spring and will consult on a draft strategy before its eventual publication, which currently is proposed to be in 2021-22. It will cover the full range of the UK’s approach to tackling chemicals and pesticides as used in horticulture.