Asked by: Lord Hoyle (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government under what legal obligation, if any, they are required to procure the building of the new Royal Navy supply ships through open international competition.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
I refer the noble Lord to the answer given by my hon. Friend, the then Minister for Defence Procurement (Guto Bebb), in the House of Commons on 19 June 2018 to the hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife (Douglas Chapman) in response to Question 152792.
Asked by: Lord Hoyle (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the trade balance of the UK with the EU, broken down by each of the 27 other EU Member States.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Dear Lord Hoyle,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am replying to your Parliamentary Question asking what is the trade balance of the UK with the EU, broken down by each of the 27 other EU Member States (HL14453).
Table 1 below provides the total (goods and services) trade balance, total exports and total imports by EU aggregate and member state in 2017. These data are our latest full year estimates of total trade published 23 January 2018[1] and are consistent with the wider balance of payments. You can find more recent estimates of trade within the same release, although to note, these figures are quarterly estimates up to and including quarter three (July to September) 2018 and are not seasonally adjusted.
Yours sincerely,
John Pullinger
Table 1: Total trade (goods and services) exports, imports and balance for 2017[2]
£ million, current price | ||||
| Exports | Imports | Balance | |
AT | Austria | 2958 | 4261 | -1303 |
BE | Belgium | 19266 | 27870 | -8604 |
BG | Bulgaria | 831 | 991 | -160 |
HR | Croatia | 293 | 720 | -427 |
CY | Cyprus | 1079 | 1301 | -222 |
CZ | Czech Republic | 3069 | 6351 | -3282 |
DK | Denmark | 6261 | 6148 | 113 |
EE | Estonia | 213 | 277 | -64 |
FI | Finland | 2508 | 2850 | -342 |
FR | France | 40984 | 40427 | 557 |
DE | Germany | 56359 | 78586 | -22227 |
GR | Greece | 2321 | 3653 | -1332 |
HU | Hungary | 2120 | 3550 | -1430 |
IE | Ireland | 36747 | 21935 | 14812 |
IT | Italy | 19264 | 23793 | -4529 |
LV | Latvia | 393 | 702 | -309 |
LT | Lithuania | 670 | 997 | -327 |
LU | Luxembourg | 3297 | 2723 | 574 |
MT | Malta | 1262 | 726 | 536 |
NL | Netherlands | 38554 | 47105 | -8551 |
PL | Poland | 7052 | 12947 | -5895 |
PT | Portugal | 2774 | 5641 | -2867 |
RO | Romania | 1885 | 2900 | -1015 |
SK | Slovakia | 807 | 2724 | -1917 |
SI | Slovenia | 340 | 439 | -99 |
ES | Spain | 17256 | 31317 | -14061 |
SE | Sweden | 10238 | 9362 | 876 |
4A | European Union Institutions (excl. ECB and ESM) | 143 | 18 | 125 |
B5 | Total EU28 | 278944 | 340314 | -61370 |
Source: Office for National Statistics | ||||
[2]These data are our best estimate of these bilateral UK trade flows. Users should note that alternative estimates are available, in some cases, via the statistical agencies for bilateral countries or through central databases such as via UN Comtrade.
Asked by: Lord Hoyle (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures they are taking to prevent incursions by Spanish patrol vessels into the territorial waters of Gibraltar.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Royal Navy challenges all incursions. We make formal diplomatic protests to the Spanish authorities following every incursion. Incursions are a violation of sovereignty, not a threat to it. They do not weaken or undermine the legal basis in international law for British sovereignty over Gibraltar, including British Gibraltar Territorial Waters.
Asked by: Lord Hoyle (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to improve the vessels available for naval protection in the territorial waters of Gibraltar.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
I refer the noble Lord to the answer I gave on 25 February 2019 to Question HL13801 to the noble Lord, Lord Taylor of Warwick.
Asked by: Lord Hoyle (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assurances they have received from the government of Spain that incursions by Spanish patrol vessels into Gibraltar's territorial water will cease.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We make formal diplomatic protests to the Spanish authorities following every incursion. Our Ambassador in Madrid raised with the Spanish Government on 18 February 2019 our concerns about provocative actions and incursions by Spanish state vessels in British Gibraltar Territorial Waters (BGTW). Incursions are a violation of sovereignty, not a threat to it. They do not weaken or undermine the legal basis in international law for British sovereignty over Gibraltar, including British Gibraltar Territorial Waters.
Asked by: Lord Hoyle (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have held with the government of Spain in relation to incursions into the territorial waters of Gibraltar by Spanish patrol vessels.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We make formal diplomatic protests to the Spanish authorities following every incursion. Our Ambassador in Madrid raised with the Spanish Government on 18 February 2019 our concerns about provocative actions and incursions by Spanish state vessels in British Gibraltar Territorial Waters (BGTW). Incursions are a violation of sovereignty, not a threat to it. They do not weaken or undermine the legal basis in international law for British sovereignty over Gibraltar, including British Gibraltar Territorial Waters.
Asked by: Lord Hoyle (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their representations to the government of Saudi Arabia about the continued detention of women convicted of driving before the ban was lifted, what further action they are taking to secure the release of those detained.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The British Government remains very concerned about the detention of women's rights activists and allegations that they have been subject to torture during pre-trial detention in Saudi Arabia. We understand they also remain without formal charges. We have raised concerns a number of times about these cases at Ministerial level with the Saudi authorities and will do so again. We consistently and unreservedly condemn torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Asked by: Lord Hoyle (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Saudi Arabia about Israa al-Ghomgham who faces execution for charges related to peaceful activism.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are monitoring the case of Israa al-Ghomgham closely and we understand that she has a trial scheduled. The British Government opposes the death penalty in all circumstances and in every country, including Saudi Arabia. We will continue to raise our concerns on human rights with the Saudi authorities in private.
Asked by: Lord Hoyle (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have offered any (1) assurances, and (2) concessions to Spain in relation to Gibraltar as part of the Brexit negotiations; and if so, what.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has negotiated the withdrawal agreement for the whole UK family. There were some circumstances which were specific to Gibraltar which meant we also held talks between the UK Government, Government of Gibraltar and Spain. This led to positive agreement on issues such as cooperation on policing, environmental matters, tobacco and citizens’ rights. These agreements underpin the Gibraltar Protocol to the Withdrawal Agreement.
In concluding the Withdrawal Agreement, the UK wrote to confirm the position we had always held, that Article 184 is without prejudice to the territorial scope and form of future agreements with the EU. However, as a matter of firm UK policy, we will only agree a deal on the future which works for the whole UK and we will negotiate a deal that works for Gibraltar as part of future negotiations.
The Prime Minister said on 26 November, ‘the Government stood by Gibraltar and resisted changes to the Withdrawal Agreement that the Spanish Government wished to make. We are clear that Gibraltar’s sovereignty will not change. It has not changed and will not change. We are proud that Gibraltar is British’.
Asked by: Lord Hoyle (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether Saudi Arabia continues to hold political prisoners, detained indefinitely in the Ritz-Carlton Riyadh and elsewhere in that country; and if so, whether they will consider imposing sanctions.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are aware of media reports that a number of individuals remain in detention. We continue to raise our concerns about human rights in Saudi Arabia, including on the restrictions of freedom of expression.