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Commonwealth

My Lords, I too congratulate my noble friend Lord Freeman on his wide-ranging and penetrating speech opening this debate. I am very pleased to be following my noble friend Lady Gardner, in whose country I have just spent some very happy years. I join her in saluting the contributions of the Commonwealth in war, not least those of the Australian forces over the years, in defence of the ideals, values and freedoms that we share. I join noble Lords in their tributes to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. Over the generations, many friendships have been made and sustained, and values shared and disseminated, in the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. In recent years, I have attended seminars in the Jubilee Room of Westminster Hall that have been outstanding for those who participated. I believe that the meetings, particularly those of presiding officers and clerks throughout the world, have been of inestimable value in forwarding the objectives of the Commonwealth. In 1998, I had the honour of attending the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association annual conference in New Zealand, and I visited the Solomon Islands on the way—they were a bit behind in their contribution and were ineligible to attend the conference. I was most courteously met at the airport by the Speaker, who said that he had summoned Parliament to hear my address the following day. I turned up first thing in the morning, and was flattered and gratified by the full turnout. It was standing room only. After I had made my hastily put-together speech, I answered a few questions, and then the Speaker adjourned the House for morning tea. My self-satisfaction at having attracted such an enormous turnout was immediately punctured when I saw the magnificence of the morning tea arrayed before us. It went far beyond tea, and even further beyond the morning. It was an example of magnificent, inclusive south sea island hospitality. How do the UK’s relations with the Commonwealth look from the South Pacific? It is a vast area with more than a dozen small states, all of which are poor and some of which are so low-lying that their existence is threatened by global warming. They are nearly all members of the Commonwealth. In fact, they are more than one-fifth of the total membership. Our bilateral aid budget—£4.5 million per annum—exiguous by Department for International Development standards, is being cut completely. The task is being left to the European Union, whose record in the delivery of aid is perhaps fortunately beyond the scope of this debate. In 1998 there was a proposal—fortunately rejected by Ministers—to close the High Commission in Papua, New Guinea—a poor country, constituting over three-quarters of the land mass of the South Pacific islands, over three-quarters of the population; and where there are substantial British interests. However, four high commission closures in the region have recently been announced. They do not, fortunately, include the Solomon Islands. In 2000 the Solomon Islands requested that Australia send some police to help quell the troubles in Guadalcanal. Australia, understandably, refused because the safety of the police could not be guaranteed. It ended up sending a warship, organising an evacuation and a peace conference and now has a large number of police and officials there. There is a lesson here. The so-called arc of insecurity running from East Timor through Papua, New Guinea, where tens of thousands were killed in Bougainville and where there is still great unrest, the Solomon Islands and Fiji, from which British interests are to be pursued in the so-called ““hub and spoke”” operation, is an example of an area where failing states may well emerge, international organised crime flourish and British and Commonwealth objectives may be seriously damaged. In a changing world British resources must be configured to observe changing priorities. I trust that in a region containing over one-fifth of Commonwealth members, where the UK has historically been highly respected, the Government will be vigilant to ensure that there are sufficient resources and that in future they are deployed in a properly planned and co-ordinated fashion. The forthcoming CHOGM in Malta will be heavily focused inevitably on WTO issues and terrorism. But there will also be a focus on education. ““Education—creating opportunity realising potential”” was the theme for the Commonwealth Day celebrations on 14 March this year—““the golden thread””, as it has been called, that binds the Commonwealth. As Nelson Mandela said:"““Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world””." The achievements of most Commonwealth objectives—the promotion of sustainable economic and social development, the alleviation of poverty, fighting communicable diseases, protecting the environment and combating criminal activities all involve access to universal education. The Government’s flagship policy in this area, endorsed by the Prime Minister and the Commonwealth in 2003, has been the Commonwealth Institute and the Centre for Commonwealth Education at Cambridge under the direction of Professor Colin Colclough. The noble Lord, Lord Desai, referred to this, as did my noble and learned friend Lord Howe in describing the predicament in which that flagship finds itself; namely, adrift. Lest your Lordships should be in any doubt as to the strength of feeling in the Commonwealth on this matter, I remind you of the words of the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Don McKinnon, a man of noted moderation and temperance. He said:"““The UK’s decision is selfish imperialism. This scandalous act robs millions of children in the developing world of educational opportunities. By having this white elephant de-listed, the Commonwealth Institute could have realised funds for education programmes for 75 million children in the Commonwealth who have never seen the walls of a classroom. The British Government has missed this opportunity and instead decided to keep the Institute’s assets locked in a derelict building—a Millennium Dome of the 1960s—which no one wants, no one needs and serves no purpose whatsoever . . . ""““The Commonwealth has been wholly supportive of the British Government’s efforts . . . This decision flies in the face of those efforts and of the UK Government’s stated goal to achieve universal primary education by 2015.””" This problem will not be solved by the time of CHOGM, but I hope that a solution will be announced. My noble and learned friend said that legislation might be required. Clearly, a Private or Private Member’s Bill would not be appropriate. If a government Bill has a sufficiently widely drawn Long Title it could go in that, otherwise there should be a new Bill. I believe that it would have widespread support in this House. The respected record of the United Kingdom in Commonwealth matters and our pride in helping the burnishing of the golden thread of education are at stake. I trust that the Leader of the House will reassure us today.