Persecution of Christians

Robin Walker Excerpts

Tuesday 16th April 2013 Westminster Hall

[Mr Lidington]

If I understand the hon. Gentleman rightly, he is saying that the non-governmental organisations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, are not providing aid as they ought to be on account of the Christian faith of some of the refugees. He is certainly levelling a serious charge. I will look into it and write to him—with copies to the hon. Member for Belfast East and the Library—because I do not want to talk off the top of my head.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Belfast East (Naomi Long) on securing the debate. We have discussed the charter of the United Nations, but will the Minister join me in celebrating the fact that the Commonwealth charter published last year enshrined religious tolerance in articles II and IV? Given the number of Commonwealth countries mentioned by the hon. Lady where issues with religious persecution continue, however, does he agree that there is more to do to ensure that the Commonwealth respects the spirit and the letter of the charter?

[Mr Lidington]

I agree completely that there is more to do. As I hope to have time to explain, we seek to do things multilaterally and in our bilateral relationships with various countries.

The hon. Member for Belfast East asked what the FCO was doing in practical terms and how we monitor the trends in religious discrimination. We require our embassies and high commissions around the world to monitor violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief. We are clear that that freedom involves not only the right to hold personal thoughts, but to manifest them individually and collectively. We provide our missions overseas with what in the jargon we call a toolkit—a set of detailed monitoring criteria—to help staff at our embassies and high commissions to analyse in detail the many potential manifestations of discrimination on the grounds of freedom of religion or belief, including discrimination in access to education and employment, or other administrative or legal restrictions on groups, buildings or individuals.

I shall move on from that general point to some of the countries to which the hon. Lady alluded. I apologise to hon. Members that I will not have time to go through them all, but I will write to her about the other countries that she mentioned and will place a copy of the letter in the Library.

The hon. Lady spoke particularly about Egypt for much of her speech. We have been clear that we need to speak up in public comments and private conversations with the Egyptian Government about the importance of religious toleration and mutual respect. When my noble Friend Baroness Warsi visited Cairo in February, she met both Pope Tawadros II, leader of the Coptic Church, and the Sheikh Al-Azhar, Dr Ahmed el-Tayeb, to discuss minorities in Egypt.

The Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for North East Bedfordshire (Alistair Burt), spoke out strongly condemning the violent clashes that took place outside St Mark’s Coptic cathedral on 7 April. He also commented that freedom of religion and belief is a vital component of a democratic society and that the security forces should act effectively to uphold those freedoms to express and practise religious belief. My hon. Friend went to Egypt in January and discussed our concerns about the protection of minorities, including Christians and women, when he met the Muslim Brotherhood’s political party, the Freedom and Justice party. When he went to Egypt again in March, he met the Anglican bishop and representatives of both local and international human rights groups there to hear their concerns and to ask what more the UK could do to support their activities.

Commonwealth Day

Robin Walker Excerpts

Thursday 14th March 2013 Westminster Hall

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to speak under your chairmanship, Mr Hollobone. I thank the Backbench Business Committee for agreeing to this debate, and I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Saffron Walden (Sir Alan Haselhurst) on securing it.

I will begin by reading the first paragraph of the Commonwealth charter that Her Majesty the Queen signed this week:

“Recognising that in an era of changing economic circumstances and uncertainty, new trade and economic patterns, unprecedented threats to peace and security, and a surge in popular demands for democracy, human rights and broadened economic opportunities, the potential of and need for the Commonwealth—as a compelling force for good and as an effective network for co-operation and for promoting development—has never been greater”.

That neatly summarises some of the points that have already been made on the importance of trade and human rights in the Commonwealth and the value of the new charter.

My comments will focus on creating a proper sense of ownership of the Commonwealth in all those countries across the world that belong to it. Often, when listening to debates in this House, people might think that the Commonwealth is something that belongs to Britain. Of course, it is not; it is an organisation, a network, in which we have an important role, but of which we are only one member.

As my right hon. Friend pointed out, the Commonwealth represents 30% of the world’s population and a huge number of young people—there is a huge amount of dynamism. The Commonwealth also represents a huge proportion of the world’s resources. In the ever smaller and ever more interconnected world in which we live, the Commonwealth has an important role in meeting the world’s need for resources. Companies such as Shell talk about the resource nexus between energy, water and food becoming greater than ever.

Member countries such as Australia and Canada are resource rich, and member countries such as India are immense consumers of the world’s resources and have an ever greater role in the world’s economy. We must ensure that all those countries feel ownership of the Commonwealth and accept that they have a part to play in defining its future. As we debate such things, it is important that we encourage Parliaments in those countries to engage with and take ownership of that agenda. I would like to see the Commonwealth charter as the beginning of that process, and not as the end.

In a week in which we have seen another great international organisation, the papacy, pass from the old world to the new, it is a good time to look at Britain’s place in the world and consider where we ought to be trading and to which organisations we should be reaching out. The Commonwealth is undoubtedly one of those organisations.

My late father made his maiden speech in the House of Commons on the importance of Commonwealth trade, and in that speech he said that we should not give up the enormous potential of trade with the world and with the Commonwealth for the “potage” of opportunities in the so-called common market of Europe. Many Conservative colleagues might feel that we have gone too far down that route over the years, but, as my hon. Friend the Member for North West Norfolk (Mr Bellingham) has pointed out, with the Commonwealth set to overtake the EU in GDP in 2015, it is an important relationship for the future.

I want briefly to touch on a couple of issues that we have not yet heard about in this debate: the importance of collaboration on education across the Commonwealth and the importance of reaching out to students from across the Commonwealth, as the Prime Minister recently did in India, to persuade them to come to study in the UK. In his speech in 1961, my father said that we should seek to create a Harvard Business School for the Commonwealth. If we had such an institution, it would be enormously valuable in the 21st-century world. We should be looking at the opportunities for Britain to reach out, to engage and to play an active role in the Commonwealth, and we should ensure that we are humble about our position. We should feel not that we own that organisation but that we are an active and engaged member along with the other major powers and great nations that form the 21st-century Commonwealth.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr Hugo Swire)]

The Minister will, Mr Hollobone, therefore want to make a degree of progress. I start by congratulating my right hon. Friend the Member for Saffron Walden (Sir Alan Haselhurst) on securing this important debate and expressing his thoughts on the subject so eloquently, based on the knowledge we all know he has. I highlight his valuable contribution to the work of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

This is the first time the House of Commons has held a debate on the Commonwealth during Commonwealth week, and I hope it will become a precedent. I know that my hon. Friend the Member for Gloucester (Richard Graham), the founder of the all-party group for the Commonwealth, is determined that it becomes a regular feature of the parliamentary calendar, and I pay tribute to his success as he stands down as the group’s chairman. I also thank right hon. and hon. Members for their thoughtful contributions. I will answer the specific questions raised by Members throughout my speech, and if I have enough time at the end, I will try to answer other questions.

I do not want to introduce a partisan element into what has been a wholly unpartisan debate, but perhaps the hon. Member for Ilford South (Mike Gapes) had his tongue slightly in his cheek when he questioned how seriously the Government take the Commonwealth. He talked about the closure of diplomatic missions. As someone who has been going around the world re-opening diplomatic missions after the neglect of the past 13 years, I imagine he was just gently teasing us. The coalition agreement sets out our vision

“to strengthen the Commonwealth as a focus for promoting democratic values and development.”

That is essential if we are to build a Commonwealth fit for the 21st century. It is right that we take the opportunity provided by Commonwealth day, and, indeed, Commonwealth week, to look at how far the Commonwealth has come in the past year, and where it needs to go next.

In response to my right hon. Friend the Member for Saffron Walden, I will focus my remarks on the Commonwealth charter. Agreed in the year of the diamond jubilee, the charter was signed by Her Majesty the Queen on Commonwealth day. Her Majesty is, of course, a staunch advocate of the work of the Commonwealth, which she heads. The charter’s agreement marked a major milestone in the promotion of democratic values across the Commonwealth. For the first time in its 64-year history, the Commonwealth has a single statement defining the core values for which it stands. They are the values that member nations think are important enough to bring together in one single document; values which affect the lives of millions across the Commonwealth every day.

As the hon. Member for Cheltenham (Martin Horwood) and several others have made clear, it is simply untrue to say that all Commonwealth countries already adhere without exception to every value in the charter. By setting them out and agreeing to aspire to them, however, we are on the road to ensuring that they become common currency across the Commonwealth. I agree with the hon. Member for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy) and the right hon. Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Simon Hughes) when they talked about the role of the charter and what Commonwealth countries can do on LGBT issues. We fundamentally believe that we should do much more and we remain concerned by recent attempts in several Commonwealth states to introduce punitive laws on homosexuality. As is well known, the coalition Government are committed to upholding the rights and freedoms of LGBT people in all circumstances. We are clear that discrimination is never acceptable. It is important that these countries agree and have a goal to aim towards, because the Commonwealth’s future credibility is closely linked to its ability to uphold and protect core democratic values.

In recent years the Commonwealth’s reputation as an organisation based on values has been tarnished by a perceived silence on human rights concerns. We have heard today about concerns on the political will in some Commonwealth countries to uphold the values to which they have committed under the charter. That undermines the credibility of the Commonwealth, which is why we are working to strengthen how the Commonwealth promotes and protects its values. We believe that the commitments in the charter should be upheld, adhered to and kept under constant review. Making the Commonwealth ministerial action group that acts on those concerns stronger and more proactive is crucial. The group responded well to the crisis in Maldives, which I will come to in a minute, and its continued engagement is important.

In common with other international organisations, the Commonwealth must evolve constantly if it is to keep pace with changes in the wider world. That is particularly the case with trade and investment, as was pointed out by my hon. Friend the Member for North West Norfolk (Mr Bellingham). In this year of “Opportunity through Enterprise”—the Commonwealth’s theme in 2013—we must all work to strengthen the Commonwealth’s focus on trade and prosperity.

In order to increase the UK’s prosperity, we must work with and through every relevant international organisation to which we have access. In the case of trade, the EU, for example, represents 500 million people and 21 million companies. However, it is not only a question of trading with one organisation, or with just one country or another; it is about trading with all of them. I gently remind my hon. Friend the Member for Worcester (Mr Walker) that it is necessary to compare our trade within the EU and recognise that trade with the Commonwealth is something that we should concentrate and focus on, and grow, but it is not likely to be a replacement, tempting though that may be for many Members of the House, for the vast levels of trade that we do in the EU currently. I and my colleagues in the Government look forward to supporting work across the Commonwealth to boost intra-Commonwealth trade, which I believe can act as a catalyst for change.

The Commonwealth is a natural place for us to do business. Among its members are some of the world’s fastest growing economies—one thinks of India, where incidentally, we have just opened more offices, in Chandigarh and Hyderabad, as well as Nigeria, South Africa, Malaysia or Singapore. However, we need to see a more structured approach to taking advantage of the in-built benefits that the Commonwealth offers us on trade: our shared principles of democracy, the rule of law, good governance and our similar legal systems. We should do all that we can to strengthen those attributes, because that will help to create the conditions for trade to flourish between Commonwealth countries. That means tackling corruption, cutting unnecessary red-tape, and promoting transparency and accountability.

[Mr Robin Walker]

The Minister is absolutely right to talk about promoting transparency and accountability. He may be interested to know that the all-party group on the extractive industries, which I attended yesterday, heard from the high commissioner from Tanzania about approaches that have been made by the Commonwealth Business Council to establish best-practice working, in terms of encouraging transparency in the extractive industries. Does he agree that we should be looking to support that model across the Commonwealth?

[Mr Swire]

I most certainly do, and not only across the Commonwealth. We have been encouraging that in Burma, with some considerable success, but it is precisely that level of expertise that the Commonwealth can bring to countries that need it.

What are we doing for other, smaller countries? The hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife (Thomas Docherty) asked what we were doing to improve the links between the Commonwealth and the overseas territories, and what support Her Majesty’s Government provide through Departments to overseas territories. As our White Paper on the overseas territories, which was published last year, makes clear, the scale of the challenge facing the overseas territories is simply beyond the means of one or two Government Departments. Our commitment is to a whole-of-Government approach. As the White Paper says:

“We want to strengthen interaction between the Territories and UK Government Departments and local Government. Each UK Department has now assumed responsibility for supporting the Territories…in its own areas of competence and expertise. Departments have published papers setting out how they can provide support for and work with the Territories.”

We are now putting those commitments into action.

The hon. Gentleman also asked what we were doing in terms of defence and security building in Africa through the Commonwealth, and bilaterally. All I can say is that the Department for International Development’s £48 million Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility is supporting interventions in power and transport. A business case has been pulled together to increase the programme budget to £98 million. NIAF is playing a major role on power sector reform, which is the highest profile and most important economic activity and reform under way. We are in the process of preparing support to scale up Mombasa port development, for example, to the value of about $42 million. The programme is a mixture of hardware and software support.

The right hon. Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark, and other hon. Members, rightly raised what I consider to be the elephant in the room—the issues of CHOGM and Sri Lanka, and the attendance of the Government. The Government of Sri Lanka, as we all know, face considerable challenges in building a sustainable peace for all Sri Lankans, and they do so with the support of an international community eager to see lasting peace. However, with that support comes scrutiny and expectations of genuine progress, and in 2013 that will be particularly intense. This month, another country resolution on Sri Lanka is before the UN Human Rights Council. The UK co-sponsored a resolution last year and we will strongly support the United States follow-up resolution on Sri Lanka later this month. Come November, whichever countries attend, and at whatever level, CHOGM—which marks the beginning of Sri Lanka’s two-year tenure as chair-in-office of the Commonwealth—will be an opportunity either for Sri Lanka to showcase its progress, or for pressure and attention to be drawn to a lack of it.

Some hon. Members suggested that the UK should not be represented at a high level at this meeting. I can state on the record, absolutely clearly, that we have not yet made any decisions about UK attendance. I would also like to put something on the record—this was raised by my hon. Friend the Member for North West Norfolk and the hon. Member for Cheltenham—about Her Majesty’s attendance. It is absolutely clear that the Queen attends CHOGM as head of the Commonwealth, not the UK Head of State. Her attendance is not a decision for the UK Government; if she were to ask for advice, it would be from all Commonwealth members.

We look to Sri Lanka, as with any CHOGM host, to demonstrate commitment to Commonwealth values, which was a point made by the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for North East Bedfordshire (Alistair Burt), during his recent visit to Sri Lanka. During that visit he raised our concerns with the Sri Lankan Government and urged the full implementation of recommendations from Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, as well as wider measures on accountability. Although some progress has been made in Sri Lanka, we are clear that much more is needed. We are aware that members of the Commonwealth ministerial action group share those concerns.

I turn to an issue raised by the hon. Member for Ilford South and my hon. Friend the Member for Southend West (Mr Amess). We support the Commonwealth’s work on the Maldives. CMAG’s decisive and timely engagement with the Maldives during the political crisis last year was a demonstration of its commitment to implement a stronger mandate. As the Commonwealth continues to offer technical assistance to help strengthen the judiciary and other key democratic institutions there, the UK will maintain contact with all parties in the Maldives and with engaged international partners. Our shared goal is a stable, peaceful and democratic future for the Maldivian people. We welcomed, at the time, the appointment of Sir Donald McKinnon in March last year as the Commonwealth special envoy. He has used his extensive expertise and experience to work with all the parties. Both he and the Commonwealth secretary-general have stressed the importance of moving forward to “free, fair and inclusive” elections in the Maldives. Sir Donald was most recently there in January. We have sought and received assurances from President Waheed that any trial of former President Nasheed will be fair and free from political interference. We look to the Maldivian authorities to ensure that due process is followed and that legal proceedings are fair and transparent.

The Government remain committed to the Commonwealth and to the values set out in its charter. This financial year, UK contributions to Commonwealth organisations will amount to approximately £40 million, and we look forward to hosting the Commonwealth games in Glasgow in July 2014. I very much look forward to being entertained at that time by the hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife, and I readily accept the hospitality that he has proffered to me—at least that is the way that I chose to interpret his earlier point.

We are clear that we must capitalise on all the networks and relationships at our disposal in order to promote the UK’s prosperity, stability and security. The Commonwealth—a long-standing network of old friends, as I think the right hon. Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark described them—lends itself perfectly to that ambition.

I firmly believe that the Commonwealth can and will go from strength to strength. In a world of many bilateral and multilateral regional agreements and associations, the Commonwealth still offers something unique, and countries recognise that. It is an important institution that many outside the club want to join, and through dedication and reform, it can become stronger and speak with a louder voice than ever before.

I encourage all hon. Members to get involved with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, so ably chaired by my right hon. Friend the Member for Saffron Walden, and with the all-party group for the Commonwealth. We should leave outside observers in no doubt that the Commonwealth matters to this House, to the British people and to this Government. The United Kingdom will remain steadfast in its support for the organisation, working with it and through it to make the Commonwealth more efficient, more focused and ever more relevant in today’s world.

Commonwealth Trade

Robin Walker Excerpts

Wednesday 12th December 2012 Westminster Hall

[Andrew Rosindell]

The shadow Minister misunderstands the point I am making. I value enormously our relationship with Europe. Co-operating and trading with Europe is very important, and I do not downplay it at all. I am sceptical over whether the EU, as constructed, is the right model for us to be part of. There are all sorts of ways to trade and co-operate with our neighbours on the continent, without necessarily being tied into a political union, which is, I am afraid, heading in the direction of an integrated united states of Europe. I do not think that many constituents of Members in the Hall today would support the idea of going further and deeper into that construction. If the Labour party intends to fight the next election wanting to sign up to an even closer relationship with Europe, I look forward to the election result.

What of the general UK presence in terms of trade with the Commonwealth? For example, how many UK trade delegations have been to Commonwealth nations since 2010? Maybe the Minister can answer that later. Sadly, it seems that Britain has delegated many such matters to Brussels. We appear to have lost our ability to conduct direct trade deals with countries outside the EU. The UK seems unable to carry out free trade agreements with a third party, due to our association with the EU customs union. Consequently, the UK can independently forge bilateral investment agreements only. In the light of that, could the Minister inform the House when the last bilateral investment agreement was signed by the UK and another Commonwealth country? Although we all recognise the importance of our trade relationship with our European neighbours as individual states, the idea that we must for ever have a Eurocentric focus is simply outdated and wrong. Commonwealth and European trade should not be seen as mutually exclusive; they should complement each other.

We run a trade deficit with the EU of £41 billion, but a trade surplus of more than £10.7 billion with the Commonwealth, so it makes sense to balance one with the other. More Commonwealth trade does not mean less trade with European nations. Germany, for example, had an extremely healthy surplus of £16.8 billion in 2011. Does anyone seriously believe that our German friends would stop that great deal with the British people if we forged a new agenda on Commonwealth trade? It would to be to no one’s advantage.

Our neighbours across the English Channel would be the beneficiaries of any new arrangement for Commonwealth trade. They, too, could plug into opportunities that Britain is in a unique position to create. We are in a unique position to concentrate on developing the potential for trade that exists beyond the continent of Europe, and we should not be held back from doing so.

In October this year, a paper authored by Tim Hewish and James Styles, “Common-Trade, Common-Growth, Common-Wealth”, set out the possibilities for Commonwealth trade. It examined in detail how we can further mould the Commonwealth into a relevant and practical 21st-century organisation, based around a mutually beneficial trade relationship, as well as how we can lift developing Commonwealth nations out of poverty. I highly recommend the book to the Minister. I hope that he will read it, and take it back to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to develop ideas based on its excellent contents. The case is supremely compelling.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on the powerful case he is making for Commonwealth trade. To strengthen his argument and the report he just held up, yesterday the all-party group on the extractive industry was told by the International Council on Mining and Metals that the Commonwealth already plays an important role in capacity building in some developing countries, which ensures that they do not suffer from the resources curse and that they can deal with the classic issues of corruption and lack of transparency that have blighted so many economies. Does he therefore agree that Commonwealth trade can play an important role not only in increasing the UK’s trade, but in helping many developing countries to trade out of poverty?

[Andrew Rosindell]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. I will refer to this later, but we spend rather a lot of money on aid, through our Department for International Development budget. It is probably more beneficial in the long term to assist such countries to trade. We should help people to trade themselves out of poverty, which is a far better solution than continuously giving them handouts. Trade is the way out of poverty, and the Commonwealth is uniquely placed to form a foundation for that. I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

I apologise, Mr Turner, for not giving advance notice that I wish to speak in this debate, but having heard two such excellent speeches from two Members whom I greatly respect and who talk a great deal of sense on this issue—my hon. Friend the Member for Romford (Andrew Rosindell) and the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field)—I was inspired to join in the debate and support some of the points that they have made.

Commonwealth trade is something about which we can both take lessons from the past and look to the future. Fundamentally, it is about Britain’s place in the 21st century and the opportunities and some of the risks, which the right hon. Member for Birkenhead pointed out, facing Britain’s place as a trading nation.

I have always believed that, because we are more externally facing and have greater links across the world than any other country in Europe, there are great risks in tying ourselves too closely into a European trading bloc to the exclusion of all else and that inevitably the process of closer union in Europe leads to compromises. Britain’s position as a trading nation with very strong external links throughout the Commonwealth and with other parts of the world, such as Latin America, can be compromised by compromising too far with our European neighbours, so I strongly support the case that my hon. Friend the Member for Romford has made.

[Mr Spellar]

Why does the hon. Gentleman think that membership of the EU constrains us in trading with the rest of the world, when Germany manages—dramatically successfully—to trade with the rest of the world? The last time that I looked, Germany was a member of the EU and even of the eurozone.

[Mr Walker]

It is absolutely true that it is possible to export to the rest of the world as a member of the EU—I do not deny that in the least. However, the EU puts up trade barriers, many of which have disadvantaged Commonwealth countries over the years. For example, in the famous banana wars, Commonwealth imports were seriously disadvantaged by European action, and that directly affected Britain’s relationships with some of its Commonwealth neighbours.

[Mr Spellar]

Surely, the banana wars were about regulations under the general agreement on tariffs and trade. Banana producers in former British and French territories were having problems with bananas produced by American companies on massive central American plantations; that had nothing to do with the EU—it was a general agreement on tariffs and trade issue.

[Mr Walker]

I am afraid I have to disagree with the right hon. Gentleman. Furthermore, by bringing some of their overseas territories into the European network, the French have been able to benefit them in a way that we cannot benefit members of our Commonwealth. We therefore need the flexibility to trade more freely.

Interestingly, this is not a new debate. In fact, I looked the issue up in Hansard, and I hope Members will indulge me if I read part of a speech by a former Member for Worcester:

“I suggest that it is the urgent duty of Her Majesty’s Government to pay far more attention to the markets of the Commonwealth than they have done in the past. I certainly feel that there has been something of a negative attitude towards the Commonwealth markets. There has been a tendency”—

this was when Britain was outside the Common Market, but trying to join—

“because we have been closed out of the Common Market, to call the Finance Ministers of the Commonwealth to this country not to discuss and formulate a vigorous policy for expanding our trade with the Commonwealth but to discuss the concessions which they may be willing to make to get into the Common Market countries. This is a matter which, I believe, has contributed to this large fall in the proportion of Commonwealth trade enjoyed by this country. In fact, it would appear that we are beginning to give away the substance of Commonwealth trade for the potage of possibilities elsewhere.”—[Official Report, 20 April 1961; Vol. 638, c. 1434-35.]

That Member happened to be my father, and that was his maiden speech in 1961. If we had taken a different route, as my hon. Friend said, we might be trading far more successfully with the Commonwealth today.

We need to look at the 21st-century world and at the rising powers in it, and we need recognise that the opportunities and challenges that we face are profoundly different from those in 1961. Europe is no longer such a large part of the world economy, and one of the rising world powers is India, which is a member of the Commonwealth. Britain therefore has an extra interest in trading with the Commonwealth and in breaking down some of the barriers to Commonwealth trade. We must recognise, however, that we no longer rule the roost when setting the Commonwealth’s rules. As we set out to increase Commonwealth trade and to work more closely with other Commonwealth countries, we must recognise that many of them have as much right to have a say in the process as we do. We should encourage and support other Commonwealth countries—particularly India, which stands out as one of the world’s emerging superpowers—to play a more active role in promoting the opportunities that would benefit us all.

The right hon. Gentleman mentioned the importance of education. In his speech in 1961, my late father talked about the importance of creating a Harvard business school for Commonwealth business executives, so that we could have more Commonwealth-minded business people carrying out trade. There is a real opportunity in that regard. I recently visited China, which is not of course a member of the Commonwealth, and saw the work a university in my constituency is doing to bring rising people in the local civil service over from China, train them and send them back. That created enormous good will, and when I took a business delegation there—I refer to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests—there were huge trade opportunities. We should look to do such things throughout the Commonwealth, especially given the enormous advantages offered by a common language and a common legal system. I therefore strongly endorse the point about the jubilee scholarships, which I should like to be taken even further to open up such opportunities.

We have an exciting opportunity to position Britain better in the 21st century and to work with some of the world’s fastest-growing economies and rising powers. We should not turn our back on Europe, but we should recognise that we are stronger if we have multilateral relationships in many different directions, and if we complement our trade with our European partners with trade throughout a world that is rapidly changing and in which the centres of economic power are shifting.

Palestinian Resolution (United Nations)

Robin Walker Excerpts

Wednesday 28th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

This is a matter for the Israeli people. I will not intervene in their politics. We have always had close and good relations with Mr Barak. Indeed, he is one of the Israeli leaders I speak to most frequently, so in that sense we will regret his departure. But it is up to the Israelis who they choose to lead them in their elections in January. Whoever that is, we will make the case powerfully to them about the urgency of the issue and about the importance of it being in their own long-term strategic interests to tackle it decisively over the coming year. So we will not be shy of doing that, just as we are not shy of saying to Palestinians what we need from them.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

I welcome the news that the UK will not oppose or veto greater recognition for Palestine. The House should support all those on both sides who strive for peace and lay aside violence. Although I hope that the Secretary of State’s conditions can be satisfied, does he agree that enhanced recognition would mark a step towards the sovereign Palestine and secure Israel that we all want to see and increase the accountability of Palestinian organisations to the UN?

[Mr Hague]

Whether that would mark a step towards that depends on what happens next. As I mentioned earlier, it is important that Palestinians can celebrate success not just for one day at the United Nations, but that then there is a sequence of events that they can celebrate and that will give them hope for the future. That is what we are trying to provide in the assurances that we have asked for, to maximise the chances of further progress being made after a vote at the UN tomorrow, rather than the peace process going backwards. So we can answer my hon. Friend’s question fully only when we see what happens next.

Middle East

Robin Walker Excerpts

Tuesday 20th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

May I be the first across the Floor of the House to congratulate the hon. Gentleman on arriving in the House of Commons? I speak as someone who won a by-election for the governing party many years ago, although in my case there were not very many at that time. I welcome him to the House and so quickly speaking in the House. The issue that he identifies is important and other hon. Members have raised it. Ministers at the Department for International Development are in constant touch with UNRWA and with this problem. The Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for North East Bedfordshire (Alistair Burt), who is in the region now, is forming his own assessment of the situation in Gaza, and I will make sure that those contacts are properly followed up over the coming days.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

The blame game in the middle east can be taken back tens, hundreds, even thousands of years, but it will never bring us closer to peace. Does the Foreign Secretary agree that our focus now must be on an immediate ceasefire and ensuring humanitarian access so that we can end the unacceptable toll in civilian lives on both sides?

[Mr Hague]

Yes, we do need that, but we need a ceasefire that works, a ceasefire on both sides—that means an end to rocket attacks on Israel, as well as an end to Israeli military operations—and, of course, the proper humanitarian access of which we have all spoken.

West Bank (Area C)

Robin Walker Excerpts

Wednesday 4th July 2012 Westminster Hall

[Mr Doran]

My right hon. Friend makes an excellent point, and I hope that the Minister has taken note of it. It raises another issue, because my understanding of how international law operates is that the Israeli authorities have responsibilities to the Palestinian communities that are being met by our country, the EU, and non-governmental organisations around the world, saving Israel that expense. There is a serious issue that needs to be considered.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

The hon. Gentleman is generous in giving way again. He makes the point that the Israeli authorities have responsibilities; does he also agree that it is in their interest to have a better-educated and better-off Palestinian population that is able to feed itself? That is in the interests of a two-state solution and long-term peace.

[Mr Doran]

This is the politics of the mad house. We have a very suppressed Palestinian population, and one day the kettle will explode. There is no question about that; it is just a question of when.

I started by mentioning the responsibilities of the Israeli authorities as the occupying force in Area C. It is clear that the Israeli Government are ignoring their responsibilities under international law, and I have raised a few points about that in this short debate. There is a virtual free-for-all, with new housing developments for settlers actively encouraged and supported financially by the Israeli Government. That development has taken place regardless of the rights of the true owners of the land. Resources, particularly water, have been channelled to the illegal settlers, but restricted or denied to the Palestinians, who have been denied all the rights given to illegal settlers.

As the hon. Member for Maidstone and The Weald said, we have a Swiss cheese approach. It is almost like the creation of bantustans; the communities will be separated out and surrounded by Israeli settlements, or roads that Palestinians cannot access. That appears to be a deliberate strategy by Israeli authorities to isolate Palestinian communities in Area C.

We in this Chamber are all politicians, and we know that the only solution to this problem is political. On where the two sides stand—I was aware of this in this country, but it was underlined for me in my short time in Palestine—the Palestinian Authority are frustrated and feel that they cannot go any further. They have done an excellent job in managing, looking after and ensuring security in the areas that they control, but they are frustrated that they cannot make any progress during talks. Whatever plans the Israeli authorities have in mind for the long term, settlement of this problem does not seem to be one of them.

When we met the Israeli authorities, it was clear that a number of things were on their mind. Iran was top of the list, and next was the Arab spring and the impact that that will have on their plans. There were also concerns about what a second Obama presidency might mean to the state of Israel.

We will reach a resolution only if we find a political solution, and it does not seem to me that either side is capable of working towards that. It is, therefore, a question for us. I know the excellent work that the Minister has done in this area, and his praises were sung virtually everywhere we went. I say that to him as an old football colleague; I know him and his integrity on these issues well. A simple fact, however, is that the people whom we and others in the debate met in Palestine, including those who live in Khan al-Ahmar, deserve a better life. It is our job to help them find it.

--- Later in debate ---

[Bob Stewart]

I have given way once. You can keep quiet for the moment.

[Mr Robin Walker]

I neglected earlier to refer to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. Is my hon. Friend aware of the work of organisations such as Breaking the Silence, which tries to show in Israel the damage that the occupation is doing to Israelis?

[Bob Stewart]

I thank my hon. Friend for that point, and I apologise if I seemed rude to my very good hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Goole (Andrew Percy). I do not mean to be rude.

I am aware of the organisation Breaking the Silence. Perhaps someone else will bring it up.

Middle East and North Africa

Robin Walker Excerpts

Wednesday 9th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

I have set all that out already, so I do not want to repeat myself. I covered a very wide range of subjects in the statement. I do not think our concern about each subject should be measured by the number of words on it. The middle east peace process is a particularly complex matter that therefore requires a good, detailed explanation. I think that what I have said about Iran is very clear, and I set out in response to the shadow Foreign Secretary how we are proceeding on additional measures.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

The Foreign Secretary was right to say that Tunisia has set an example of what can be achieved peacefully, and its first free elections are a remarkable achievement. He will recall that the events that triggered the downfall of the undemocratic Government in Tunisia were caused primarily by economic hardship. What can the UK and its allies do to ensure that there is an economic recovery in north Africa to underpin the positive political progress we have seen?

[Mr Hague]

There is an enormous opportunity to create much stronger economic and trading links between the whole of Europe and the countries of north Africa. It is part of the excitement and the vision that is now possible in the Arab spring that we can envisage Tunisia, Libya and, we hope, Egypt opening up economically, provided that we open up to them. It is now vital that we implement the European neighbourhood policy agreed in May, including better market access into Europe for products, including agricultural products, from north Africa to begin that process of much stronger links between our countries.

National Referendum on the European Union

Robin Walker Excerpts

Monday 24th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

I have always been proud to be a moderate, one-nation Conservative and a supporter of this coalition Government. Like the hon. Member for Vauxhall (Kate Hoey), my Euroscepticism is driven by internationalism, and I fear the dangers of a “little Europe”.

I welcome the work that the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have done to limit our exposure to eurozone bail-outs, provide a referendum lock on future treaties and reduce the EU budget, and I strongly support what they say about the benefits of being in Europe but not run by Europe. However, I believe that all three major parties are mistaken in opposing the motion, and more greatly so in imposing harsh Whips on their supporters.

This cross-party Back-Bench motion reflects a profound disquiet in the country at the fact that, for decades, we have had no say on our relationship with Europe, and it reflects widespread popular support for an opportunity for people to have that say. I was born in 1978, and in no time during my lifetime, nor in the adult lifetimes of the vast majority of hon. Members, has there been an opportunity to debate publicly our membership, or even the terms of our membership, of the EU. Eight out of 10 people eligible to vote today have never had this opportunity. There should have been a referendum on the Lisbon treaty. I am proud that Conservative Members voted against that treaty when Labour disgracefully broke its promise to hold a referendum on the constitution that it replaced.

There have been many debates in this House on aspects of European policy, but none has triggered a referendum or engaged the public in the way that today’s motion could. Many hon. Members, such as my hon. Friend the Member for Montgomeryshire (Glyn Davies), have very reasonably criticised the idea of a three-way referendum. I would far rather have supported a straight yes or no question on renegotiating the powers of Brussels. That is why I would have unreservedly supported the amendment in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Camborne and Redruth (George Eustice). Sadly, as that amendment was not selected, I find myself faced with a dilemma. In a three-way referendum, there is a risk that the wrong answer can be achieved with a significant minority vote, as the Prime Minister has explained. I have never argued for an in/out referendum because I do not believe that that is the right question to ask.

[Mr Gyimah]

My hon. Friend makes a very passionate case. Was not repatriating powers from Brussels in our last election manifesto, and is it not therefore Conservative party policy and the Government’s policy?

[Mr Walker]

I am grateful for that intervention. I agree that that was in our manifesto. Unfortunately, that does not appear to be the policy of the coalition Government. That is my concern.

I support the third option set out on the Order Paper: renegotiating our membership to base it on trade and co-operation. That is what we signed up for in the first place. The question comes down to whether one believes that the risks inherent in a three-way referendum outweigh the benefits of what in my view, in the view of the last Conservative manifesto and, I believe, in the view of the vast majority of the British people is the right thing to do. As the hon. Member for Birmingham, Edgbaston (Ms Stuart) said, it comes down to whether one trusts the people, and I trust the British people. I believe that if they were offered such a choice and were engaged in a reasoned debate on the three options, they would do as they did with the AV referendum and come to a sensible conclusion.

[Mark Pritchard]

rose—

[Mr Walker]

I will not give way again, I am afraid.

I do not buy the argument that now is the wrong time. The motion states that a Bill should be brought forward in the next Session of Parliament. If the eurozone crisis has not been resolved by then, we are all in much greater trouble than we thought.

In conclusion, I am no Euro-fanatic and have no great desire to earn the label of rebel because I strongly support many of the steps that the coalition Government have taken. As my hon. Friend the Member for Beverley and Holderness (Mr Stuart) pointed out, we are the representatives of our constituents, not just delegates. It is not right to vote on an issue simply because of the number of letters we have received or according to what we hear on the doorstep, but as representatives we should certainly take those things into account.

I spent much of my weekend talking to constituents about this issue, along with many others. Everyone I asked felt it was right that they should have a choice. I received many letters in support of the motion and only one against, from a retired Labour councillor. Among those letters, one that made an impression was from my constituent, Mr Raymond Cross, who wrote:

“I am almost 87 years of age, served and offered my life to my King and Country…in the army during the second world war. I still have the original ‘Britain & Europe’ booklet issued by the Ted Heath Government in July 1971. That is what we voted on in 1975.

There should be a free vote on this referendum. Members of Parliament are there to debate the pros and cons of the motion put forward not to obey slavishly the will of”

their parties. I profoundly regret that there is no such free vote. I am a passionate supporter of my party and this coalition Government, but it is a well-established convention that constituency should come before party and, still more importantly, that country should come before all. On that basis, I shall support the motion tonight.

Future Diplomatic Network

Robin Walker Excerpts

Wednesday 11th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hague]

Yes, my hon. Friend makes a very important point. One commitment in the FCO charter for business that I published last night is to consult business about the work of UK Trade & Investment. That will, of course, continue. Let me reassure her that the changes I am announcing for Europe do not necessarily mean changes to UKTI deployments and consular work around Europe. We believe that it is possible for diplomatic work in European countries to be centred on those nations’ capitals, but it will also be important in many cases to retain our commercial functions and presence in many other parts of those countries.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

I congratulate the Foreign Secretary on this truly internationalist statement, especially on the significant expansion of the UK’s diplomatic presence in Latin America—a region of great potential, where we have many friends. Will my right hon. Friend comment a little more on the opportunities for UK business in that region and the extent to which any expansion of our presence will be focused on promoting trade?

[Mr Hague]

Trade is an important part of it. We need to be aware that the whole of Latin America is an economy bigger than China, and that it is growing at very substantial rates. That is why it is important to strengthen our diplomatic presence. In many Latin American countries the trading opportunities are, as my hon. Friend says, enormous. Making the most of the trading opportunities is important not just for economic reasons, because in the long term this also bolsters our relations with those countries and helps to improve our security and our influence in the world. I do not view it as a choice between trade and other aspects of our foreign policy goals, as advancing trade helps us to advance our other goals as well.