G8

Naomi Long Excerpts

Wednesday 19th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. Obviously, the G8 includes a limited number of countries, but it can play a leadership role. Now we have this agenda and a simple and straightforward declaration, we can run it through the G20 and the Commonwealth. The EU has already started to address this issue with the ground-breaking deal on tax exchange between EU members, which for many years the Austrians and Luxembourgers have held up. So yes I want the British Government to drive this through all its multilateral bodies.

[Naomi Long (Belfast East) (Alliance)]

At an IF campaign event in Belfast last Saturday, I heard at first hand from Bangladeshi community workers about the impact that land grabs have had on people there, with the poorest farmers having been displaced and agricultural land being destroyed for more than a generation, so I very much welcome the Prime Minister placing land on the G8’s agenda for the first time. What will he do throughout the rest of our presidency of the G8 to ensure that G8 companies involved in aggressive land acquisition are tackled on this matter?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right. Point 7 of the declaration states:

“Land transactions should be transparent, respecting the property rights of local communities.”

That is the commitment, and we now need to engage with Governments beyond the G8 and businesses to ensure that it is put in place.