Commonwealth

Lord Purvis of Tweed Excerpts

Thursday 30th June 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, with the great experience on these issues, particularly in Africa, which he brings to bear in the House. I join him in congratulating the noble Lord, Lord Howell, on bringing this debate. This is not the first debate on the Commonwealth he has brought to this Chamber and I hope very much it will not be the last. It has been of interest to me that the debate has been a realistic one, not on the history alone but also, if the Commonwealth is to remain relevant, the characteristics that it will need to display to do so.

I also pay tribute to the Minister for the Commonwealth who I had the pleasure of being with in Kigali last week, as well as the noble Lord, Lord Marland, and his very able private office. The Minister is remarkable for looking fresh after having programmes outside this country which have been so hectic. I pay tribute to the hosts, Rwanda, and the amazing army of young people who were so helpful and supportive of the hosts. I will return to some elements of our relationship with Rwanda in a moment.

I am a supporter of a Commonwealth which the nations choose to be part of and where they should be equal. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Desai, that while equality on paper is impressive, the reality is sometimes different, even in the visuals, when we look at the choreography of the pictures of those heads of state and government there. The real strength of CHOGM, as the noble Lord, Lord Marland, indicated, was the preceding fora—the business fora that he led so ably and that I was a delegate to, the women’s forum, the youth forum and the people’s forum—and the ability to allow debate about civil society with representatives from across the various family networks and a level of open discussion and debate of some of the realities, that, for example the noble Lord, Lord Parekh, who I regret to see is not in his place for the winding speeches, indicated.

When I chaired the commission for the All-Party Group on Trade out of Poverty, working with the Nigerian Trade Minister on inter-Commonwealth trade, a witness said something that has always stuck in my memory. She said that the Commonwealth has two major strengths. The first is that China is not a member and the second is that the USA is not a member. I think the ability for a network of consensus, seeing the value of a non rule-making but consensual body, shows its strength.

Of course, there are others: the noble Lord, Lord McDonald, talked about La Francophonie and interaction between the two. I do not see the Commonwealth as an English-speaking network; I see it as a network where language and other elements are a common and binding factor. It is of interest to me that very close allies of the UK, such as the UAE and Qatar, are associate members of La Francophonie, not of the Commonwealth. Ukraine has had observer status to La Francophonie since 2006. So there are multiple networks around the world, of which the Commonwealth is a very strong one but not unique in some areas.

Where, perhaps, the Commonwealth is unique is that it can bring together the most innovative places in the world, but also those with the greatest developmental challenges. It has some of the most open societies, as well as some where being gay is still a crime, capital punishment can be used arbitrarily and opposition political parties are often either banned or restricted. I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Helic, in this regard: we have to see our relationships with our friends, but not through rose-tinted glasses.

I was a member of a small delegation from the All-Party Group for Africa visiting Kigali last week. We met an opposition member who is banned from meeting members of her own political party in public discourse in Rwanda. After our meeting with her, where we stayed there were individuals who did not identify themselves but asked for reports on our activities as British parliamentarians. We have to understand that even though we received a very warm welcome from Rwanda, Rwanda does not meet the norms that we in this country would consider to be those of a free and fair and open society.

On visits that I have made to friendly Commonwealth nations, one of which was through the aegis of the All-Party Group on the Abolition of the Death Penalty, I was told by the leaders of the Anglican community in that country that they welcomed my visit to campaign against the death penalty, but on condition that I did not campaign for LGBT rights. We have to be open and aware that the communiqué issued from CHOGM was weak in this regard. It condemned discrimination in all forms but was not able to single out where there have been the most egregious abuses.

The communiqué was also of interest to me as there was no mention of any condemnation of Russia—that was symbolic in its absence—but it is also useful to say what was in it. On a positive, women’s empowerment and gender equality, as well as moving on trafficking and forced labour, youth development and tackling some of the climate challenges are all, I think, joint priorities, and the communiqué was strong and forward-looking in those areas. I commend the Minister and the UK envoy Jo Lomas for the work that they have done in preparing that.

Our All-Party Group for Africa, with Jack Patterson so ably supporting us in that role, was able to participate in the forums, and we were able to work and discuss as equals with others from around the Commonwealth development issues, climate, trade and the common future. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Marland: it was appropriate that many of these discussions were taking place in Africa. That continent is now seeing, for the first time in a decade, the potential for famine—famine in a near-neighbour of a Commonwealth country. The climate challenges for that continent in particular are going to be immense, and the future that will be sapped away from its young people should be our focus.

However, on trade I share the view of the noble Lord, Lord Marland: I think that the UK’s time as chair-in-office has been a missed opportunity. We had the opportunity to turbo-charge intra-Commonwealth trade and reduce trade barriers, systematically removing them. Although the communiqué has indicated that we want to see greater interconnectedness in trade agreements, it has been a frustration to me that in the agreements that the UK has negotiated and signed with Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and the EPAs, there has been no mention of intra-Commonwealth trade facilitation.

My final point is linked with the visit to Rwanda, and I will close with some reflections. It is not directly related to CHOGM, but it is my first opportunity to report to the House on a visit that I made to the Hope Guesthouse. The noble Baroness, Lady Helic, mentioned the MoU with Rwanda; I visited the centre where those individuals would have been sent. The MoU, which is not a treaty, has no legal underpinning. I visited a centre which is a private limited company, on a one-year rolling contract; has facilities which, under my examination, had no areas for those suffering trauma or for those potentially on suicide watch; is on an agreement which has not been disclosed; and where there is no limit as to who else may be put in the Hope hostels, other than those who will be coming from the UK scheme. This obviously was an area of debate and discussion among the civil society groups that were there.

I believe that this policy is a stain on the UK. That is not a criticism of Rwanda; it is a criticism of the UK Government. There are, I am afraid, so many areas, such as the UK’s slashing of overseas assistance and the immigration agreement, where, apart from ministerial diplomacy, the UK is letting down its position in the world.

Finally, if the Commonwealth is to reinvent itself and be relevant for the future, it needs to embrace more of the fora that are there, invest in our youth, and have joint and equal consensus on many of those challenges. An Indian delegate at the people’s forum said that while we share a common history, we also have common pain—but we need to find common solutions to the common problems that exist.