Animal Welfare: Tourist Attractions, Activities and Experiences

Debate between Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park and Lord West of Spithead

Monday 20th June 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, the Gough Island albatross and the Gough Island bunting were in great danger of being wiped out entirely. The Government very helpfully helped the RSPB in undertaking an eradication programme of the mice that were killing all the birds on the ground. Sadly, that eradication programme has not worked—though it almost worked—and it really needs to be done again, or those beautiful birds will be wiped out forever. Will the Government assist the RSPB on the next eradication programme?

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con)]

The noble Lord is right, and it is a real shame because the RSPB thought that it had succeeded, until it caught a single mouse on a camera trap, but obviously that means there are more. When we say “mice”, of course, anyone who has seen them would not recognise them as mice—they have swelled to look more like grizzly, very large rats, as a consequence of the diets they have enjoyed for the last few decades. The work continues: we are talking to the RSPB, and we have a range of measures and support that we are providing to overseas territories in their various attempts to remove invasive species—this is one of them. I very much hope that we will be able to support the next round.

Falkland Islands

Debate between Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park and Lord West of Spithead

Monday 4th April 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con)]

My Lords, in this poignant anniversary year we will continue to defend the Falkland Islanders’ democratic rights and celebrate the modern and diverse community they have built. We remember all those who lost their lives in the conflict, and those still affected to this day. These memories are an important reminder of the long shadow the conflict casts and we remain committed to working with veterans’ organisations on both sides.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Trefgarne, for his kind words. Forty years ago this week, a task force sailed to the South Atlantic. Within about 12 weeks, it had managed to expel the Argentine forces, capture the others and retake the islands. It was an incredible military achievement, even though it was nip and tuck at times. The message that had been given to the Argentines by cuts to our defence forces made them think they could do something—and we could do this only because we had not yet made the planned cuts. In the context of what is going on in Ukraine, we can see that oppressive, dictatorial regimes that invade close neighbours take note of defence forces. Will the Minister go back to Cabinet and point out that it is not Ukraine’s health or social services that are keeping the people going in their bravery; it is their military forces? Nothing extra has yet been spent on our Armed Forces and, in the final analysis, no matter how good all the other things are in your country, if you do not have those then I am afraid you suffer.

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con)]

The noble Lord makes an extremely important point. It is worth saying, as many have said in the past few weeks, that the bravery being shown by the people of Ukraine, playing out day after day, is staggering. I am pleased also that one thing that has enabled Ukraine to achieve what we hope is success—it is hard to know exactly what is going on—is the contributions made by this Government. That point was made emphatically yesterday by Ukraine’s President. On the Falkland Islands specifically, as noble Lords would expect, we conduct regular assessments of any military threats to the Falklands on a routine basis. We are always aware of the need to retain appropriate levels of defensive capabilities.

Minister for the Oceans

Debate between Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park and Lord West of Spithead

Wednesday 16th March 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con)]

I am not 100% convinced that I followed the question, but the UK’s role internationally in standing up for the rule of law on our oceans is almost second to none. We have taken a strong position in the past few days in the BBNJ negotiations on the attempt to create a new framework. Other than perhaps France, which has taken a leadership role in recent weeks, no country in the world is doing more heavy lifting than the UK.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, I stand ready to be Neptune. I must congratulate the Government on a number of the measures they have taken to protect whole areas of the ocean around our overseas territories. However, as I have mentioned before, looking after those waters needs ships. It is no good just having satellites and aeroplanes. Even in this latest shipbuilding strategy, there is no coverage of the ships that might be able to do that task. In the context of the strategy, and looking to the future, will the Minister ensure that we have the ships to look after these waters?

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con)]

It is a really important point. Take South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, for example, where we have a large protected area. Those waters are policed by a UK ship that is paid for through very conservative sales of the right to fish for krill. The areas of ocean that we currently protect, combined with what we hope to protect in the near future, mean that the vessel approach is probably unrealistic. One of the things we are trying to do this year is bring together the main donor countries and those countries most affected by illegal fishing to agree a global action plan. It will rely heavily on technology, which has advanced massively—even in the past 12 months—but has not been put to proper use.

Ireland: Russian Naval Military Exercises

Debate between Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park and Lord West of Spithead

Wednesday 23rd February 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con)]

My Lords, the UK will always stand up for the interests of Ireland, which is not just our closest geographic neighbour but one of our closest friends. On the subject of this Question, Minister Coveney raised his concerns with the Russian ambassador to Ireland at the EU foreign affairs meeting on 24 January. Five days later, on 29 January, the Russian ambassador to Ireland announced in a statement that the exercises would be moved outside of the Irish EEZ. Therefore, from the point of view of Ireland and Minister Coveney, the issue has been resolved.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, does the Minister consider that there is any significance to the fact that where the Russian exercise was planned for is the point where the two most important transatlantic fibre-optic cables come within a matter of two miles of each other, or is that just happenstance?

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con)]

The noble Lord raises an important point. Obviously, I can only speculate, but irrespective of whether what the Russians were planning to engage in was legal—I think it is generally accepted that what they were intending to do was legal—it was undoubtedly provocative and overly assertive.

Kabul: Pen Farthing

Debate between Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park and Lord West of Spithead

Wednesday 2nd February 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con)]

I think that is a completely nonsense question. The idea that the Prime Minister should be engaged in issues around the welfare of a handful of animals when we were engaging, as a Government, in one of the biggest—indeed, the biggest—evacuations this country has ever been involved in is just absurd. I would be appalled if the Prime Minister had been involved in such minutiae, frankly. As I said, we got 17,000 people out in a very short period of time. That is a record—it has never happened before. I think we can salute our Armed Forces and those officials who worked incredibly hard to pull off an extraordinary feat.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that the Navy evacuated one-third of a million people from Dunkirk and that that was actually the largest evacuation in our history? I do not know how many animals came, but certainly it was one-third of a million people.

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con)]

That is a very good point.

Middle East: Human Rights

Debate between Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park and Lord West of Spithead

Monday 31st January 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con)]

I am very pleased that my answer was helpful. I apologise if it was too general, but I am afraid that is the depth of my knowledge on an issue that does not normally sit within my portfolio.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, some 20 years ago we signed a big contract with Qatar to get liquid natural gas from the North Dome oilfield and take it round to Milford Haven, and that contract was running well. Bearing in mind the current energy crisis and the need for gas, were there any discussions about that? It seems to have tailed away slightly. Where do we stand now on ensuring that provision of LNG?

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con)]

I am afraid I do not know if there were discussions in relation to access to gas in Qatar, but I will ensure that the noble Lord’s question is followed up in the Foreign Office.

Chemicals Regulation

Debate between Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park and Lord West of Spithead

Monday 16th March 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park]

That is a difficult question to answer. I cannot tell the noble Baroness exactly where we will choose to diverge. I gave one example earlier but there are plenty of others. Poland, for instance, has made a proposal to the EU about banning the use of methanol in windscreen-washing fluids. It has done so because it is affected by abuse of that substance by alcoholics. That might be very sensible for Poland to do but our view is that it is best addressed at the national level. Therefore, there will be areas where it is in our interests to diverge but there will be other areas where, in the interests of both efficiency and saving money, and in the interest of maintaining high standards, we will choose not to diverge. The core principle is that it will be our choice.

[Lord West of Spithead (Lab)]

My Lords, can the Minister clarify something for me? The noble Lord, Lord Fox, mentioned a figure of £1 billion to reregister chemicals that are already acceptable within Europe. Is that figure accurate? Is that what it will cost us?

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park]

Again, I am afraid I am not able to give a precise figure—I do not think anyone is capable of doing so—but we have had these discussions with industry and, as I say, with BEIS. It is the case that industry estimates are not a million miles away from our own but we cannot put a precise figure on them at this stage.