G20 Summit

Lord Young of Cookham Excerpts

Monday 8th July 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Young of Cookham (Con)]

My Lords, I begin by thanking my noble friend Lord Howell for securing this debate on an issue most critical to our national interest, and for his speech introducing it. I join others in paying tribute to his chairmanship over many years of the International Affairs Committee, which has produced a number of influential and at times challenging reports for the Government. He managed to hold his committee together to produce them and has always introduced them with the eloquence and perception we have grown accustomed to. We thank him for his work on that committee and wish his successor, my noble friend Lady Anelay, all the best.

My noble friend raised a number of issues that were not raised at the summit, and I propose to stick strictly to the Question that he asked, which focuses on the,

“outcomes they judge to be of most importance for the safeguarding and furtherance of Britain’s national interests”.

Perhaps I could write to him about the opportunity to raise issues about China and Japan, which he mentioned in his opening remarks.

Several noble Lords were critical of the language used in the communiqué and about the whole structure of the G20, and I understand that, but one needs to put this in perspective, as did my noble friend Lady Anelay and the noble Lord, Lord Judd. The UK has always understood that our security can be upheld only by collective endeavour, our prosperity can only be advanced by co-operation across borders, and our success as a nation depends not just on a stronger economy at home but our role in the world and the partnerships we build. That is why we are members of a number of multilateral organisations, including the UN, the G7, the G20, NATO, the Commonwealth—in which my noble friend has played such a prominent part—and the international financial institutions. They are all crucial to our ability to maintain and extend our reach and influence in the world.

I think it was the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, who referred to the fine words in the communiqué: fine words, yes, but very worthwhile objectives. We can reach such objectives only if we work with colleagues in other parts of the world through the sorts of institutions we have been talking about this evening. Of course, they need to be improved, targeted and focused and I hope to say something in a moment about monitoring, a theme that has emerged from our debate this evening.

In Osaka, the Prime Minister worked hard to bridge the differences between the G20 countries on some of the biggest challenges facing our nation: international trade, climate change, global health and preventing terrorist use of the internet. Discussions in Osaka were not always easy, but the UK made progress on each of these issues, which are important for safeguarding and furthering our national interest. I shall touch on some of them in a moment.

The Prime Minister welcomed the committee’s letter, which provided important perspectives ahead of the G20. She is in the process of responding to the questions it posed, building on her reflections from Osaka and previous summits; I have been assured that a reply is imminent.

As the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, said, the G20 leaders summit was formed to respond to the 2008 financial crisis. The rejection of protectionism and a commitment to an open global economy were key elements of the G20’s response. Yet, as noble Lords explained, trade tensions have escalated and trade restrictions and distortions are now in place, affecting hundreds of billions of dollars of trade. The WTO has forecast that the effects of a trade war could exceed even those of the financial crisis. So, my noble friend Lord Howell was right to raise in his letter these critical issues as areas of concern, especially at a time when we are negotiating our exit from the EU trading bloc, as the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, said.

We believe in open, free and rules-based international trade, as the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, mentioned. All nations must be encouraged to uphold these rules and open their markets if we are to build economies that truly work for everyone. That is why the Prime Minister made it clear that there are no winners in a trade war. We all stand to lose, and those on the lowest incomes stand to lose the most. We believe that any solution to the current tensions must have the multilateral system at its core. The system is not perfect and is in urgent need of reform; a number of G20 members, including the EU and Japan, have put forward credible proposals.

My noble friend’s letter mentioned concerns about the US Administration’s approach to the WTO. Working with like-minded partners, the UK will continue to encourage WTO members to engage constructively in the reform debate. In that regard, we welcome the United States’ submission of various proposals to strengthen the system and make sure that it is equipped with the tools needed to tackle present challenges, as well as its involvement in initiatives such as the EU-US-Japan trilateral group.

The G20 also expressed support for action to improve the functioning of the WTO’s dispute settlement system, which the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, mentioned, while the crucial issue of industrial subsidies is now firmly on the G20 agenda. On the dispute settlement system, we strongly support the informal process launched by the General Council at the WTO to seek a resolution to the appellate body issues. The proposals put forward so far by WTO members bring the right ingredients to many of the concerns raised. We urge all WTO members to engage constructively in the ongoing discussions.

Looking beyond the WTO, the G20 reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening further the global financial safety net with the IMF at its centre.

The noble Lord, Lord O’Neill, referred to the progress made on global health, particularly on AMR. I welcome the pioneering work of the noble Lord and Dame Sally Davies, as well as their continued efforts to keep this on the agenda for the G20. As the noble Lord mentioned, the latest estimates are that AMR currently accounts for 700,000 deaths annually; if we do not increase action, this figure is predicted to rise to 10 million by 2050—more people than currently die from cancer. There is a significant economic cost. AMR impacts on the economy through not just mortality and knock-on effects but increased health care expenditures and decreased livestock production. I will write to the noble Lord with more about what we are doing about AMR and why we are dealing with the market failure, which does not produce the antibiotic drug developments, vaccines and diagnostic technologies that we need. We are looking at a new model that identifies the right market incentives for research and development.

The noble Baroness, Lady Greengross, mentioned some of the wider imperatives on healthcare. The Prime Minister announced the UK’s new three-year funding pledge, averaging £467 million a year for the Global Fund. This will provide medication for more than 3 million people living with HIV, treatment and care for more than 2 million people suffering from TB and 90 million mosquito nets to protect children and families from malaria.

On climate change—which the noble Lord, Lord McNicol, mentioned—G20 countries have seen heat waves, floods and hurricanes hit with unprecedented frequency and intensity, contributing to conflict, state failure and illegal migration. Some 100 million more people will be pushed into poverty by 2030. Meanwhile, global efforts are not on course to meet the Paris commitments. If we take no further action, we are headed for a three-degree, and possibly well over a four-degree, rise in global temperatures and the dangerous impacts that would bring.

The message from the public is clear. Our citizens—particularly our youth, whose lives will be shaped immeasurably by climate change—demand action. Following the example of Greta Thunberg, hundreds of thousands of young people around the world have come together to demand greater action. As we heard in our debate, the G20 accounts for 80% of global emissions; its leaders have a critical role to play in reversing the trend.

As my noble friend Lady Anelay mentioned, we legislated earlier this month to reduce our net emissions to zero by 2050. My noble friend asked what we had said to President Trump. The Prime Minister was one of the first to speak to President Trump after his announcement in 2017, and she has had a number of conversations with him about it since. She has encouraged him not to leave the Paris agreement and continues to hope that the United States will honour it. Of course, it remains a disappointment that the US continues to opt out in an area of such critical global importance.

I shall try to deal with some of the issues raised in the debate. We take seriously and routinely monitor implementation of the commitments the UK makes in the G20. There are various mechanisms for monitoring implementation, including the G20 working groups, international organisations and independent organisations such as the University of Toronto, which compiles an annual compliance report. I am not sure it is desirable for a single international organisation to take overall responsibility for monitoring G20 agreements—it is probably best if the members do it themselves—but I take seriously the point raised about monitoring and will share that with the Ministers concerned.

I was asked how the G20 enforces the foreign bribery rules. Representatives from G20 countries meet routinely to track implementation of commitments made, and the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group is responsible for the implementation of foreign bribery rules.

My noble friend Lady Anelay asked whether climate change was discussed on 15 and 16 June and which Minister attended. My honourable friend Thérèse Coffey represented the UK at the first joint meeting of the G20 energy and environment Ministers.

There was a discussion about non-G20 member states, and it is worth making the point that there are permanently invited guests such as the African Union, APEC and ASEAN. It is not the case that only G20 members have an impact on the discussions.

The noble Lord, Lord McNicol, asked about Crown Prince Mohammed. The killing of Jamal Khashoggi was raised and the Prime Minister made clear the need to have an open judicial system. She also raised the need for a political solution in Yemen, supporting the work of the United Nations and the special envoy.

I am conscious that my time is up—the screen is flashing—and I have not dealt with all the issues raised. I will write to noble Lords.

I conclude by saying that we have always understood that our success as a nation is tied to our collaboration with other countries and the relationships we build. As we leave the EU, the United Kingdom will continue to strengthen and draw upon our world-class diplomatic network and retain the same strong spirit of international co-operation and compromise that has long characterised our engagement with the rest of the world. This is the only way we can protect and promote our interests and ensure the prosperity and security of our citizens for years to come.

Today, the global system is under real stress. We must be honest in identifying problems and do more to work together to fix them. The UK has never been afraid to stand up for the global rules that underpin our values and our way of life—rules that govern our collective security, as well as the global economy. We must work flexibly to ensure that multilateral forums such as the G7 and G20 continue to function in a way that promotes genuine collaboration and dialogue, in order to confront the serious threats to global stability that we have heard about this evening.

House adjourned at 8.09 pm.