Trees

Lord Jones of Cheltenham Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd February 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con) [V]]

As I have said, the default position and the Government’s priority when it comes to deploying the funds put aside for this programme will be in favour of mixed woodlands—either planted or as a result of natural colonisation—in the appropriate areas. We want that diversity back. In the case of some of these appalling tree diseases which threaten iconic species—ash dieback, for instance—we have specific programmes. We know that a large number of ash trees will become infected, but not all of them will die. We expect that 1% to 5% will show tolerance, so we are funding research into future breeding programmes of tolerant trees. We are conducting, I believe, the world’s largest screening trials and will plant the first of the tolerant trees later this year.

[Lord Jones of Cheltenham (LD) [V]]

My Lords, a young plantation is an emitter of CO₂ for the first few years so will not help in achieving a short-term target. How long does the Minister think it will take for net carbon reduction to occur?

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con) [V]]

The noble Lord is right that the value of trees to carbon sequestration does not begin immediately. It can take up to seven years, depending on the tree variety and the quality of the land. But our commitment to planting at least 30,000 hectares a year, or allowing the natural regeneration of up to 30,000 hectares a year, across the UK by 2025 is based on advice from the committee on climate change, which recommended that figure as a minimum to help us to reach our net-zero emissions target by 2050.

Belarus: Presidential Elections

Lord Jones of Cheltenham Excerpts

Friday 25th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sugg (Con)]

It is really good to hear the noble Baroness’s reflections from her meeting last night and her praise for our ambassador over there, who, as I said, is working incredibly hard to support political opponents and independent journalists. We are working in partnership to support civil society, including independent media and human rights organisations. We have announced the doubling of support for civil society organisations, providing an additional £1.5 million for human rights, independent media and community groups in Belarus over the next two years. The noble Baroness highlighted the appalling activity against minors. We know that some of the women involved in opposition have had to flee the country to protect their children. We are expanding our support for victims of gender-based violence to include support for women and children who have been exposed to violence through the protests, and co-ordinating with the Council of Europe, the International Red Cross and other organisations to make sure that they have the resources they need to respond to the medical, psychological and social needs resulting from those human rights abuses.

[Lord Jones of Cheltenham (LD) [V]]

Having been an observer of elections in a number of countries, I know how important a peaceful handover of power is when a Government loses an election. Will our Government do their best to ensure that all political leaders in Belarus understand this and, as we are working with our European partners and the USA on this difficult situation, will they make sure that Mr Trump understands that a peaceful handover applies to him too?

[Baroness Sugg (Con)]

My Lords, of course we all want peace in Belarus, and we will continue in our efforts to bring that about. As I said, the Foreign Secretary was in Washington last week and discussed this with Mike Pompeo, and we will continue to support the calls for mediation and do everything we can to ensure that the people of Belarus are able to be represented in a free and fair way.

Hong Kong National Security Legislation

Lord Jones of Cheltenham Excerpts

Thursday 2nd July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

My Lords, I agree with the noble Baroness. I have covered many of the points she has raised, and it will be suffice to say for the record that I agree with many of her concerns. Let me assure her that we are raising this with partners, looking at how we can collaborate and concentrate support, and bilaterally with the Chinese Administration directly.

[Lord Jones of Cheltenham (LD) [V]]

My Lords, I was in Hong Kong in 1989 when the Tiananmen Square massacre happened, and I saw panic everywhere. Why do we not, with our international partners, offer residency to all Hong Kongers?

British Overseas Territories

Lord Jones of Cheltenham Excerpts

Thursday 10th March 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Jones of Cheltenham]

My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend Lady Hooper on securing this important debate. She has great experience of the overseas territories, as we have heard, and has been a constant supporter of these small and remote parts of the world. I also look forward to the maiden speech of our new colleague, my noble friend Lord Ribeiro.

I want to speak about three of the overseas territories, two of which I visited some time ago. The first is St Helena. I congratulate the coalition Government on deciding very early on that the airport on St Helena will finally be built. This is not controversial. The previous Labour Government came to the same conclusion because the economic and social case is unanswerable. Unfortunately, the world economic crash happened and the previous Government decided on a pause. Now that pause is over. Will the Minister give an update on how contract negotiations are proceeding, when he anticipates the contract will be signed, when he expects construction of the airport to start and, finally, when the airport will be operational?

Secondly, there have been budget problems in Anguilla which have led to discussions here, after which DfID funded two consultants to visit Anguilla from the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States—OECS—to examine the 2011 budget. The consultants advised that they believed that the global estimates of the 2011 budget which were approved by the Anguilla House of Assembly in December 2010 are achievable, albeit with some adjustments on the revenue side to tax mechanisms to make up for the lost time while the 2010 budget has been in abeyance. Currently, I believe, lawyers are determining whether a new budget needs to be brought to the House of Assembly, or, since the global estimates have not changed, whether the budget can be passed as a matter of procedure: that is, the Secretary of State signals his consent and the governor then signs it off. Whatever the options, the 2011 budget needs to be put to bed soon before more time is lost and more confusion arises from, in effect, having “two budgets” which have to be dovetailed. Will the Minister please give an update on the current situation on Anguilla's 2011 budget?

My noble friend will also be aware that, after the last elections in Anguilla, the new Chief Minister wrote to our previous Foreign Secretary outlining his concerns about the manner in which the territory had been governed in recent years. There are still concerns about the constitutional arrangements of the overseas territories, particularly surrounding the powers of the governor. Can my noble friend say how these concerns are being addressed?

Thirdly and lastly, the Turks and Caicos Islands are currently under direct rule. I went home last night having prepared my speech, and arrived this morning to an e-mail about an anti-British demonstration which has been taking place over several days this week, blocking the road to the airport in Providenciales. My informant, a senior journalist, tells me:

“Flights have been cancelled and there are a lot of very frightened Brits here at the moment. For the first time ever I am really concerned for mine and my family's safety. What the protestors are asking for is election dates”.

He wants to know what guarantees the British Government can give British people there in terms of their safety.

I realise this is not a situation of this Government's making. Direct rule was enforced by the previous Government more than a year ago. Since then, TCI has been in somewhat of an economic meltdown and a state of limbo. The economy has run into severe difficulty, caused partly, no doubt, by the global downturn. However, direct rule has led to many potential investors pulling out of the territory, causing an increase in unemployment and a decrease in government revenues.

A special investigator and prosecution team—SIPT—was set up to investigate allegations of corruption detailed in Sir Robin Auld’s report. So far, no charges have been laid and I have no idea how much longer the legal team, which is costing several tens of thousands of pounds each month, is expecting to continue its investigations. I understand that this is a legal process, and that the UK Government, quite properly, should not try to influence the outcome of the inquiries. I was interested to read an article in the Turks and Caicos Sun, which claims to be the leading newspaper in the TCI; I think that the TCI Weekly News would contest that. It is an interview with the special prosecutor, Helen Garlick, who says:

“Money laundering investigation is a central part of the Special Investigation and Prosecution Team (SIPT) work and involves very considerable amounts of money, running into several millions of dollars … We are investigating several cases of exceptionally serious corruption and misconduct allegations and we are also investigating complex money laundering allegations that includes investigations in many jurisdictions around the world”.

However, Mrs Garlick dismissed reports that there would be about 50 trials:

“There may be several trials, each of which includes several people and many different allegations within a single indictment, but most certainly not 50 trials because that would be absurd”.

Later on, the article refers to her as “the veteran prosecutor”, which, having met Mrs Garlick, I think is a bit harsh. She is certainly experienced in this area: she was assistant director of the UK Serious Fraud Office when she was the first head of its overseas corruption unit. She currently has a team of more than 30 people in TCI investigating these serious allegations. Can my noble friend give any update on progress apart from the one that Mrs Garlick gave in that newspaper interview? How long does he expect this to go on until charges are laid and court action begins? Will my noble friend also explain who is paying the costs of the SIPT? Is it the UK Government or the TCI Government? I have my doubts about whether TCI has the capability to pick up these costs in the current economic climate.

Direct rule will eventually come to an end and elections will take place. There will be a return to local rule, albeit under a British governor. I pay tribute to the current governor of TCI who has been in a very difficult position and has carried out his duties as one might expect from an experienced diplomat. It cannot have been an easy or comfortable time for him. Can my noble friend estimate when elections might take place in TCI? Will it be this year, next year or some other year? Can he advise how political parties should be preparing themselves, including selecting appropriate candidates for these elections? May I suggest that when these elections do happen, it is important that experienced election observers from the Commonwealth should be on hand to ensure that they are free and fair?

One of the results of the increase in unemployment in TCI has been an increase in crime, some of it violent crime. I met recently with a magistrate from TCI who told me that his workload had increased dramatically. One aspect which concerned him immensely was that there are no facilities on TCI itself to deal with those sentenced to custodial sentences who have mental health or other special needs. In previous years these people have been sent to special units elsewhere in the Caribbean and the results in rehabilitation have been good. Now TCI simply cannot afford to send them to these special units. The result is that these people are banged up and eventually come out worse than when they went in, only to offend again. Will my noble friend please look at what kind of help can be given to ensure that appropriate treatment is given to these offenders so that they do not become long-term problems for TCI?

I am aware that many people in the Turks and Caicos Islands and, indeed, the other overseas territories, are aware of the importance of our debate today. I have received a submission from a senior lawyer in TCI. It is rather long and I do not have time to read it all, but I would be happy to share its contents with the Minister afterwards. One paragraph leapt out at me. It says that,

“the single-most egregious factor in the unhappiness of the population is the sheer daily tension that springs from the suspension, the imposition of a British-dominated Interim Government, which projects an attitude that the whole of Turks and Caicos Islanders are crooks, and are subject to arrest. The people of Turks and Caicos are a Christian people. They believe that where there is wrong, responsibility must be taken, and the right judgments are to be enforced. But what we have in Turks and Caicos, even in the face of the presumption of democracy in the heart of every British citizen and subject, even in the face of the European Convention on Human Rights and the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, certainly appears very much like a dictatorship … an Editorial in a local paper The Free Press warned on the day of suspension: ‘You cannot reform what you disdain. And if the people feel that disdain, nothing rational can result’”.

Those are harsh words.

However, it is not all bad news on the TCI front. I congratulate the TCI Government and InterHealth Canada on the new hospitals in Grand Turk and Providenciales. They will celebrate their anniversaries on 10 April and have made a huge difference in the islands. Largely, they are staffed by British management, nurses, doctors, surgeons, facilities staff, engineers, paramedics, paediatricians and GPs. I am told that many, many lives have been saved that would previously have been lost. The facilities are state of the art and a million times better than what was available before.

I should like to add to the comments made by the noble Baroness, Lady Hooper, on air passenger duty. A family of four travelling to the Caribbean now pays £300 in economy and £600 in premium class in APD. Flights to the USA cost 20 per cent less in tax. The reason for this anomaly is that the different bands are based on the distance of the capital city of the destination country from London. Honolulu in Hawaii is 7,230 miles from London whereas Tortola in the British Virgin Islands is only 4,130 miles from London. However, because the bands are based on the distance to Washington and Tortola respectively, the APD on a trip to Hawaii is 20 per cent lower. Will my noble friend please ask the Treasury to look again at air passenger duty in order to recognise the special legal status of the overseas territories? Will he also ask about relaxing the rules on frozen pensions for those who qualify for UK state pension and now live in the overseas territories? They are in a different position from those people living in Canada, Australia and New Zealand because of their legal status on overseas territories. Those in Gibraltar and Bermuda have their pensions uprated each year; those in other territories do not. Correcting this anomaly would cost very little in Treasury terms. I understand that the full year cost would amount to around half a million pounds, which is loose change in Treasury terms. This is a price worth paying to put right an injustice.

Where do we go from here? I am grateful that the Foreign Secretary is looking again at the overseas territories with a view to making the partnership between them and their sovereign Parliament fit for the 21st century. As individual parliamentarians we have a role to play in keeping in contact with the people of the territories, taking up their concerns and making sure that our Government are aware of what is going on.

In replying to this debate, I hope that the Minister will set our minds at rest that the coalition Government will continue regular communication with, and treat properly, our overseas territories, where the wonderful people are loyal subjects of the Crown and think so much of being British.

Health: Maternal Health

Lord Jones of Cheltenham Excerpts

Wednesday 12th January 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Jones of Cheltenham]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Patel, on securing this important debate and the noble Lord, Lord Green, on his very interesting maiden speech.

In 2009, I joined Commonwealth Parliamentary Association delegations to Sierra Leone and Cameroon. I am a patron of the Kambia appeal, in my former constituency of Cheltenham, which supports healthcare in the Kambia region of north-east Sierra Leone. Both CPA delegations attended presentations about gender issues, covering the huge birth rate, the need for education, pre and postnatal care, contraception, violence towards women and the tragedy of so many deaths caused by illegal abortions.

I want to tell noble Lords particularly about the session in Cameroon, which was also attended by Members of the Cameroon parliament. One outspoken chief asked why gender issues always meant women’s issues. He said that it was the role of men to be head of the family and to lead the way, and he dismissed many of the problems and said female genital mutilation—FGM—was exactly the same as circumcision in boys. This shocked us. It produced an explosive response from our delegation leader, the former MP Joan Ryan. She told him that he was talking gibberish, that FGM was an appallingly disfiguring practice that should be outlawed and that two children were enough for anyone if Cameroon wanted to progress by enabling women to play a full economic part in their country’s development, instead of leading lives of continuous breeding from an early age. She finished by telling the chief: “Girls are just as intelligent as boys. Women are equal to men, and if you don’t like it we may just have to dominate you”. How she is missed in another place.

We must help men in developing countries to understand their responsibilities in helping to achieve MDG 5. Without that breakthrough, I fear that we will continue to see women dying before childbirth, in childbirth and after childbirth in numbers that are all too horrible to imagine.

Diplomacy

Lord Jones of Cheltenham Excerpts

Thursday 11th November 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Jones of Cheltenham]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, for securing this important debate. He has great experience in the field and has made an unanswerable case today for a properly resourced and active diplomacy. I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Monks, on his maiden speech. It is some years since he and I marched shoulder to shoulder with many others—including the noble Baroness, Lady Symons, the noble Lord, Lord Brett, and probably the noble Lord, Lord Lea—in support of GCHQ trade unionists in Cheltenham. He made an excellent speech today and I hope that we will hear more from him soon. I make him this offer: if Cheltenham Town are drawn at home to Manchester United in the FA Cup this year, I will make sure that he gets a ticket. If we are drawn away, I hope that he will do the same for me.

I want to make three points. The first is to thank those diplomats I have met in this country and overseas. The second is to give some anecdotal examples of the work that I have seen them do. The third is to express frustration that in recent years we have undervalued and underresourced our diplomacy.

One of the most challenging projects on which I worked before entering Parliament was in Iraq during Saddam Hussein's era. My task was to ensure that new British computer systems installed at Baghdad University did what was required of them. At the time I did wonder why we were selling computer systems to the Iraqi regime, which was at war. I was more concerned when I was asked to provide support to British systems in the Iraqi defence department. British Ministers gave their approval to those exports; the logic was that Iraq’s being opposed to Iran meant that Iraq was on our side. How things change. These systems were mentioned in the Scott inquiry into arms for Iraq.

I wonder what advice our diplomats in Baghdad gave to our Government of the time on whether those “sales” were advisable. A properly resourced diplomacy can and should give timely advice to the Government on commercial, cultural and security issues, and the Government should take notice of that advice before taking decisions which could have far reaching implications. I know that our diplomats gave advice on new missile systems produced by Iraq when I was there. The al-Hussein missile was powered by a lawnmower engine. The later al-Samoud missile was similar in design, but powered by an uprated lawnmower engine. The guidance system was such that the launchers put their fingers in the air to judge the strength of the wind, made a calculation and filled the device with the appropriate amount of fuel. When the fuel ran out, the missile dropped out of the sky onto whatever lay beneath. They were not the most accurate of missiles.

I know that our diplomats fed back information on Iraq’s military capabilities, so I wonder how the infamous “dodgy dossier” prior to the second Gulf conflict came into being to justify the claim that Iraq posed a threat to the United Kingdom and could launch weapons of mass destruction in 45 minutes. Why was advice from our diplomats in Iraq not heeded? A lot of lives, as well as a lot of money and Britain's reputation, could have been saved if we had avoided that unnecessary conflict.

I take a special interest in Africa and have visited many countries where I have seen the work of our diplomats. I have literally been saved by several of them. On a Commonwealth visit to Malawi, our vehicle was in a collision with a passing cyclist. Immediately, we were surrounded by a huge and angry crowd demanding vengeance on our driver. It was a very nasty situation. One of the diplomats, a lady, shepherded the MPs to another vehicle, ordering, “Get the VIPs out of here”, before calmly dealing with the crowd, taking the cyclist to hospital, where it was discovered that he was drunk and not badly hurt, and she arranged for a new bicycle to be delivered to him.

While observing elections in the Gambia, our delegation came across a riot in which at least one person had been shot dead and a Minister’s house set on fire. After listening to what the crowd had to say, we returned to our vehicle and shots rang out again. It felt as though we were being shot at. Fortunately, the British high commissioner and his staff helped us to recover.

Another incident occurred while observing elections in Ghana at the end of Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings’s presidency. On the eve of poll, the British deputy high commissioner explained that there had been trouble in northern Ghana. We went to an independent radio station, Joy FM, which, through its sister station, Love FM, confirmed that a melee had taken place and a dozen or more people had been arrested, including an opposition candidate. When this news was broadcast, a group of large, uniformed, armed men arrived and told the radio station to stop broadcasting. I found these men from the Bureau of National Intelligence to be intimidating, but they were nowhere near intimidating enough for the deputy high commissioner who pointed out: first, that democracies do not close down independent radio stations; secondly, that international election observers were present and would include this incident in their report on the conduct of the elections; and thirdly, that if they did close down the radio station, the elections might well be judged not to have been free and fair, and it would all be the fault of the men in uniform. Eventually the men turned and left. If we had not been there, and if that diplomat had not taken calm and considered action, Ghana 2000 might well have joined a long list of failed elections around the world. As things turned out, there was a peaceful change of Government, which was a credit to the growing maturity of Ghana’s democracy.

That diplomat—now no longer in the service—was Craig Murray, who became our ambassador in Uzbekistan. During his time there he discovered and reported back on appalling incidents of torture, implicating the United States, which was believed to be receiving information obtained under torture. Instead of acting on the information provided by one of his most senior diplomats, the Foreign Secretary recalled him to the UK and dismissed him. That was a great injustice.

In many of the places I have visited, diplomats have told me of their frustration that the United Kingdom could and should be doing so much more if only our diplomatic services were properly resourced. The advantages are self-evident in terms of trade and in relation to human rights and progress. Recent reductions of British diplomatic presence in certain parts of the world give the unfair impression that we cannot be bothered any more. In his reply, I hope that the Minister will set our minds at rest that the coalition Government understand what has been said in this debate and will ensure that in future we have a properly resourced and active diplomacy.

Queen's Speech

Lord Jones of Cheltenham Excerpts

Wednesday 26th May 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Jones of Cheltenham]

My Lords, I, too, congratulate the noble Lords, Lord Howell and Lord Astor, on their new positions on our Government’s Front Bench. I must say what a delight it is to be speaking from the Government Benches after spending the past 18 years on the other side of the House, first in another place and latterly in your Lordships’ House. It is also a great pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Owen, who has been a giant on the British political scene for probably more years than he cares to remember.

I shall confine my remarks to probing the new Government’s views in three areas; not a great deal about them was contained in the gracious Speech or in the coalition agreement document, but we have heard quite a lot today. First, I shall refer to the Government’s attitude towards the Commonwealth; secondly, their policy towards Africa; and, thirdly, their plans for the overseas territories. In addition, I pay tribute to the commitment of the new Government to improving the lot of our service men and women who carry out their orders in highly dangerous circumstances. I particularly commend the promised improvement to mental health facilities for service veterans. I admit that the recent terrible attack on Stephen Timms MP brought back some horrendous memories for me so I know from my own experience the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder from which many service personnel suffer after serving in conflict zones.

Let me turn to the Commonwealth. This diverse collection of nations and territories represents a quarter of the world’s population. We are immensely fortunate to be a member of such an organisation where we meet as equals and partners to work out solutions to difficulties and promote peace and democracy throughout the world. I hope that this Government will do more than the previous one in promoting the interests of the Commonwealth. In particular, I hope that there will be wholehearted commitment to the work of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the British Council to encourage parliamentarians in both Houses to play their part in improving relations with our Commonwealth friends.

Noble Lords may know of the splendid work that our branch of the CPA carries out, holding seminars here in London, to which Commonwealth Parliaments send delegates. I have been to difficult countries in the Commonwealth—for example, Sierra Leone—and know of the plans that the CPA has to help that fragile democracy develop following years of civil conflict. That work is important and I very much hope that the new Government will enable it to flourish.

Now I have a few words to say about Africa. Africa is not macroeconomic in world terms; it accounts for about 3 per cent of world trade but, as the noble Lord, Lord Crisp, emphasised today and explains very well in his fascinating book Turning the World Upside Down, Africa has far more than its share of poverty and disease. Helping the people of Africa to solve their problems in their own ways needs our support. The generous people of Britain support many individuals in Africa—for example, the Kambia appeal, initiated by doctors from Cheltenham General Hospital, has been in operation for many years, helping the people in an area north-east of Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. The appeal has provided medical supplies and an ambulance, paid for training courses for local doctors and badgered the European Commission to fork out for the replacement of the small local hospital after it was looted and set on fire by mindless rebels during the civil war. Then there is the Gabane community home-based care project in Botswana, which provides help to families affected by HIV/AIDS. Generous donors, including Barclays Bank and Gleeds UK, have helped to build a classroom building, which is now also used as a community centre by villagers. Projects such as those make a huge difference to the people living in difficult circumstances, and I hope that the Government will encourage support for projects such as those throughout Africa.

Finally, I turn to the overseas territories—the last of the pink bits, as Harry Ritchie calls them in his book. Most, but not all of the overseas territories are or have been financially self-supporting. That situation has now changed because of the global financial situation. Do the Government intend to carry out a detailed analysis of each overseas territory fully to understand their opportunities and needs to determine what support each territory requires to become financially sustainable over the long term?

I think in particular of St Helena, the island in the South Atlantic to which Napoleon was exiled and where he died, which has never been visited by a UK Government Minister. The previous Government promised in 2005 to build an airport on St Helena. At the moment there is little economic activity there. An airport is the only way in which the islanders can become self-sufficient by developing a tourism industry. The current annual subsidy to St Helena from the Treasury is about £30 million and rising. That may not sound macroeconomic at a time when the Government are looking to cut billions of pounds from public spending, but if St Helena remains without an airport, the cost to the taxpayer over the next 20 years is likely to total £1 billion.

This morning, I received an e-mail from a senior journalist on St Helena. He points out that after 351 years of British rule, during which time very little tangible advantage can be discerned for the island’s economy, an airport for St Helena will, in all fairness, provide the foundation from which economic opportunities can develop. St Heleneans are ready to act now; some have been ready for more than two years. Delays on the airport decision have been a considerable cost for the island’s entrepreneurs. St Heleneans want to accept responsibility to develop the opportunities that an airport on St Helena will offer. They want the freedom to create their own wealth, create their own jobs and improve their standard of living. They await with anticipation the application of the Government’s first priority: to restore economic growth. An airport on St Helena is the island’s best chance for economic growth.

Anguila has had to apply to the European Commission for loans to help to balance the budget. The Turks and Caicos Islands are in a peculiar position, because they were a prosperous overseas territory until just over a year ago, when the previous Government decided to impose direct rule following a report from Sir Robin Auld citing suspected corruption. I oppose direct rule. It has gone down like a lead balloon with the islanders and many CARICOM countries. Business confidence has collapsed and proposed developments have been abandoned. As a result, the TCI economy has run into deficit, costs are rising while a special prosecutor takes her time deciding whether any charges are to be made, and the many Haitian workers on TCI are living in dire poverty because no one can afford to employ them any more and there is no point going back to Haiti following the devastating earthquake there. What is the new Government's approach to TCI? When can the islanders expect elections and a return to democratic rule? Are any charges to be made against those suspected of corruption? If so, in what timescale? Who is going to pick up the tab for the catastrophic collapse of the economy?

Our new Government face many challenges in dealing with our service personnel, the Commonwealth, Africa and, not least, the overseas territories. I trust that they will carry out their duties efficiently and fairly.