Ukraine Update

Debate between Lord West of Spithead and Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

Tuesday 22nd February 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

What we have said, with our NATO allies, is that a dialogue would cover what Russia says it wants, from strategic nuclear weapons and force posture to exercises and incidents at sea. It is a serious offer which would improve European security for Russia and NATO, but we have been very clear that these talks must be based on de-escalation and an end to aggression against Ukraine.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, we must not delude ourselves: Russia has invaded Ukraine. There is an element here which is almost as if it has not done so. It has invaded Ukraine. Putin has weighed up that this is what he wants to do. Let us face it: he said he wanted to do it and we knew he wanted to. He has weighed up against that the pain he will suffer from doing it and has made a calculation that the pain is not that much. I have to say that, at the moment, I would rather agree with him; he is not getting that much pain.

The other area we must not delude ourselves on is defence. I share the views of the noble Lord, Lord Robathan: since 2010 we have reduced our military by a third, and that has not gone unnoticed. Are we now putting money into our factories to fill the gaps? There are many gaps; again, we must not fool ourselves when we make statements about how wonderful our equipment is and how many forces we have. There are huge gaps in terms of missiles, capability and renovating equipment. We should be calling up reserves. There is a lot that should be being done there, as well as all the other things that people have talked about. Otherwise, Putin is not going to feel pain and will think he can move on and go further.

In terms of combating him in the war of words, my noble friend Lord Robertson is absolutely right. With GCHQ and the NSA, we have far better resources and can run rings around the Russians if we really want to. We should be getting ready to do that with the NSA to really make his eyes water, so that he knows what he has done.

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

We have specialist teams of cyber experts and intelligence analysts working around the clock to detect, decipher and deter Russian threats beyond physical borders. This cell, as I mentioned in an earlier answer, is focused on fighting disinformation and ensuring that the UK can combat warfare threats. We have introduced a new autonomous cyber sanctions regime, set out a national cyber strategy and announced new legislation to provide security services and law enforcement with additional tools to tackle evolving state threats. As I said, we are strong supporters of NATO. We set out last year our integrated review and set out plans and investment in defence. We take it extremely seriously, and that work continues.

Ukraine

Debate between Lord West of Spithead and Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

Wednesday 26th January 2022 Lords Chamber

[The Archbishop of Canterbury]

Scarcely. I have never commanded a ship.

First, I associate myself with, particularly, the wise comments of the noble Lord, Lord Cormack. Having listened to the questions, does the noble Baroness the Leader agree that mediation and diplomacy should be pursued until the last moment, seeking to find ways to give both sides the opportunity to withdraw—particularly the Russians from their completely unjustified threats? The one thing we can be sure of is that, once war starts, all control of the situation will be completely lost, possibly for years, and the casualties will be terrible. Secondly, what provision are the Government making, should the worst come to the worst, to support the very large number of refugees and the huge needs for humanitarian support that will inevitably be part of fighting in the late winter in eastern Europe?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

I thank the most reverend Primate. He is absolutely right: diplomacy is the only way out of the current situation, but Russia must uphold the international commitments it has freely entered into and respect the sovereignty of Ukraine. I reassure noble Lords that we remain open to efforts by Russia to reduce tensions and encourage her to engage with transparency and de-escalation mechanisms, such as the OSCE and the NATO-Russia Council, as I mentioned. Further such council meetings have been offered to discuss a whole range of issues, and that is the way forward: to de-escalate and engage in meaningful discussions. The US Administration has also confirmed President Biden’s willingness to have another meeting with President Putin, continuing the bilateral dialogue they began last week, so a lot of effort is ongoing on that side of things as well. We are providing £40 million in official development assistance and other funding to Ukraine in the coming year.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, I do not need to rehearse the unacceptable things Putin has done, but we need to be very careful that we are not making empty threats but that they are co-ordinated, because, if something goes wrong, you have to show that you have made threats that you can fulfil, otherwise these things grow and grow and get worse and worse. I must say, as an aside, that sabre-rattling is not very good when the number of sabres you have seems to be getting fewer and fewer all the time.

I believe that Putin has been boxed into a corner now. He understands the problems, and does not want to get into a quagmire in Ukraine. It is incumbent on us to try to ease his escape from the corner he is in by negotiating or renegotiating an agreement. That will, I fear, mean there must be concessions on both sides; that is the whole point of an agreement. Difficult as it is, that is what one must do, but we must not concede any fundamental principle. Who from the UK, if anyone, is helping to redraft the proposed security guarantee agreement that Russia put to NATO—it put another one to the US? Who from our side is helping to redraft that, so that we can submit a new agreement proposal to Russia?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

My understanding is that there is a press conference this evening, possibly now, from NATO setting out NATO’s position. Antony Blinken did a press conference earlier, just before this Statement, on the US’s position. There is action on both those fronts that may well be public by the time we have finished this discussion.

Covid-19

Debate between Lord West of Spithead and Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

Thursday 6th January 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

Of course we understand that the rise of omicron has been very challenging, particularly for certain sectors and businesses, which is why we have announced a £1 billion support package to help those affected. We have provided £683 million for targeted grants of up to £6,000 per premises for hospitality and leisure businesses, and provided an additional £30 million for the Culture Recovery Fund. We have also given a £100-million boost to the additional restrictions fund for local authorities in England. We are well aware of the issues, and obviously that is within the context of the huge economic support that we have provided throughout the pandemic. The pressures on the NHS are indeed considerable but we need to remember that we are in a much better position this year, not least because of the 133 million vaccine doses, including 34 million boosters, that have been administered. We need to keep that going forward in the right direction so that we can try to relieve the pressure on the NHS as much as we can.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, has any work been done on the necessity or value of a second booster after a three-month period, bearing in mind that a whole raft of people who have had their first booster and are in vulnerable categories are coming to the end of it just as we are hitting the peak of omicron?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

My understanding is that discussions are taking place in the JCVI and among scientific advisers but, in terms of things that have come politically, the answer is: not as far as I am aware. It is being looked at. The one thing that is happening is that those people who have specific immunity issues are being offered a further, fourth, jab after 12 weeks but, to be honest, that generally does not have a clear-cut science to it at the moment, if the noble Lord sees what I mean. It is being looked at but I am afraid that I cannot set out a position for him today.

G7 and NATO Summits

Debate between Lord West of Spithead and Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

Thursday 17th June 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord and assure him that the proposition will now be worked up by a designated task force that will consult with developing countries and other key partners and will report back to leaders on progress in the autumn.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, there is much to welcome in the communiqué post the NATO conference. The continental European nations in particular are seeming to wake up to the wide-ranging threat posed by Russia and the challenge presented by China. The revitalised Atlantic charter, new strategic concept and higher level of ambition set by the NATO 2030 agenda are crucial for our future security. Does the Minister agree that these aims call inevitably for an increase in European nations’ national defence expenditure and NATO common funding? Does she also agree that the UK should continue to lead by example and commit to increase defence spending to 3% of GDP to ensure that these new commitments, agreed by the Prime Minister, are met?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

At the NATO summit, leaders did indeed recommit to NATO’s defence investment pledge target of investing 2% of GDP in defence—10 allies meet that target now, and 20 are on track to meet it by 2024. Since 2014, defence investment by non-US allies has increased for seven consecutive years, with a real increase of 4.1% in 2021. So there is still work to do, but we are getting there.

Integrated Review

Debate between Lord West of Spithead and Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

Wednesday 17th March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

Obviously as the strategy and the way we work roll out, we will be working with allies. But in the development of this review there was thorough engagement with our allies and partners abroad, and also with civil organisations and businesses. We facilitated 11 round-table discussions and workshops, and had input from more than 100 external experts from 23 countries. The call for evidence which helped to inform the review received more than 450 submissions, so we are very conscious about our relationships with our allies. We have talked to them as we have been developing the review, and we will of course continue to work with them in order to deliver the ambitions we set out within it.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, CASD ensures our nation’s security and deters aggression, every hour of every day, and I am pleased that we will reverse the coalition Government’s decision and will no longer disclose deployed warhead and missile numbers. The 45% increase in operational stockpiles is more problematic, and I would love to know what has made that necessary. More worrying still, it would seem that we intend to use Trident as a war-fighting weapon, yet until recently the use of nuclear weapons for war-fighting, as distinct from deterrence and retaliation, was considered deranged. Why are we doing it?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

As I said, we remain fully compliant with the non-proliferation treaty and deeply committed to our collective goal of a world without nuclear weapons. But we also remain committed to maintaining the minimum destructive power needed to guarantee that the UK’s nuclear deterrent remains credible and effective against the full range of state nuclear threats from any direction.

Integrated Review

Debate between Lord West of Spithead and Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

Monday 23rd November 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

I thank the noble and gallant Lord. Certainly, this settlement will significantly expand the Royal Navy: as well as confirming the current frigate orders, as he rightly says, we have also committed to the next-generation warship, the Type 32, and to research and support vessels. We are sticking to the timescale of 2027 for both the Type 31 and the Type 26. The Type 32 will represent an investment in UK shipbuilding of over £1.5 billion over the next decade and will, of course, create and sustain more jobs. We plan for this to be a UK-led programme that will revitalise the shipbuilding sector and create thousands of jobs. We believe that this is a strong settlement for the Navy, which will enable us to invest in new technology and ships and provide our Royal Navy with the capability that it needs.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, I am delighted that the Government are investing an extra £24.1 billion over the next four years. It is desperately needed after the reductions since 2010. The decision to base our defence and security on a maritime strategy is also correct and welcomed. As you can imagine, it is music to my ears to have the Prime Minister say

“If there is one policy that strengthens the UK in every possible sense, it is building more ships for the Royal Navy”,—[Official Report, Commons, 19/11/20; col. 488.]


and that we should become the “foremost naval power” in Europe. It would be very easy to express concerns about the many unknowns and possible pitfalls in this announcement: the timing of the frigate build, for example, is one of them, as the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Boyce, mentioned. However, today, I believe we should celebrate the extra money for defence in this increasingly dangerous and unstable world. Many of the details will have to await the review’s outcome in January next year, but I ask the Leader of the House to confirm that, as the Prime Minister is so positive about running two operational carriers by 2023, we will still be ordering a minimum of 90—if not more—F-35Bs to ensure that we have two air groups and an operational conversion unit.

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Con)]

I welcome the noble Lord’s welcoming of this announcement. He has been a vocal and consistent strong voice for the Navy within this House, and I am glad that he is pleased. He is right that the carrier strike group 21 is an ambitious global deployment. From 2023, it will be permanently available to be routinely deployed globally, and, in fact, HMS “Queen Elizabeth” will lead a British and allied task group on our most ambitious deployment for two decades, encompassing the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and east Asia. We are currently finalising our plans for the deployment with regional partners.

Covid-19 Update

Debate between Lord West of Spithead and Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

Thursday 25th June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

I assure the noble Lord that the Chief Medical Officers share data and work together. All four nations have downgraded the UK’s Covid alert level from four to three, which means that we no longer face the virus spreading exponentially, although it remains in general circulation. It is right for the Administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to have responsibility for their own lockdown restrictions. I am sure the noble Lord will see that the direction of travel is extremely similar and that we are all working closely together.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, the Minister is probably not aware that today is the International Day of the Seafarer, recognising the efforts of 1.8 million seafarers—of many nations, manning 96,000 ships that carry 80% of world trade, valued at $7 trillion—who ensure that the global economy continues to function. Yet that very trade is in crisis because of the impact of the Wuhan virus restrictions on Merchant Navy crews. Because of the virus, more than 400,000 sailors are stranded by travel restrictions that bar crew from disembarking to return to their home country or from travelling to a port where their ship is waiting for a crew change. Many seafarers have had to remain at sea for over 15 months and ships are beginning to refuse to sail. Will the United Kingdom take the lead in getting other nations to designate seafarers as key workers who can travel without restrictions when leaving or joining a vessel, creating safe areas in airports for their transit and accepting official maritime documents as proof of identity? The global economy and the financial recovery post pandemic are totally reliant on maritime trade, yet that trade is at present collapsing. A global economic disaster is looming unless nations take some certain action. The UK, as a great maritime nation with world shipping run from London, should take the lead.

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

It certainly feels like a bit of normality has returned with the noble Lord managing to discuss these issues in the Chamber. That is good to hear. I will certainly take back his comments to the relevant departments. I am sure a lot of work is ongoing, but he makes some very good points and I will make sure that they are raised with the relevant Ministers.