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Debate on the Address

My Lords, in declaring my interest, perhaps I may also say how glad I am to follow the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Inge, in what he has just said. He wished not to be thought of as a beacon of hope, but I think that he has been a beacon of very sound advice on the future strength of the armed services in this country. I am glad to speak on the Motion for an humble Address and wish to concentrate on the first two paragraphs of the gracious Speech, in which reference is made in the first paragraph to the challenges the UK faces abroad, and the need for a stable economy in the second. Some emphasis is necessary in this debate onthe role the economy plays, or should play, in underpinning our efforts abroad. Not everything in foreign affairs depends on money; it very often depends also on leadership, will, insight, hard-earned respect and a moral stance. I should like to speak about both. I wish to see us continue to shoulder our share of the burdens in Afghanistan and Iraq, so I welcome the announcement made by the Chancellor on Saturday of £100 million over three years for reconstruction in Iraq. In saying that, I seek confirmation from the Minister that this very big sum equals ““new money””, as it is known in the Treasury trade. I shall say little else on these theatres, sandwiched as I am as a speaker between two noble and gallant Lords who know what they are talking about and having no taste at all for being thought of as an armchair admiral, air marshal or general—save to observe that I do wish that some of our European partners who are so long on rhetoric in these matters but short on deployment would shoulder more of their burdens, particularly if we do eventually enter a process of phased withdrawal determined, as I hope we will be, to leave things behind that bit better. Not to try to do that would be morally reprehensible and would show scant respect both for our dead and those of our allies, particularly in the United States. The benefit of a stronger, faster-growing economy at home will enable us not only to continue to shoulder our burdens but to do other desirable things as well, such as to improve ever more carefully targeted, good-value foreign aid, driving towards the targets set by the international community. Equally, and here I agree with my noble friend Lady Hooper and the noble Lord, Lord Jay of Ewelme, in his masterly maiden speech, that the time has come to stop reducing the strength of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office abroad. Surely in a globalising economic and cultural world it is in our intereststo do more by employing more talented representatives—provided that they are talented and hardworking. I cannot speak with any authority on this because I was never judged subtle enough of mind to be deployed usefully within the walls of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and therefore I have no interest to declare, but I do believe that even within an expanding budget for diplomacy, which we need, there will always be room for year-on-year efficiency savings. Where could the money come from? For a moment I shall be rather daring and use a politically incorrect phrase. We are going to need lots more money in support of our future foreign policy, and I hope that noble Lords will forgive me for the use of the vulgar phrase ““tax cuts”” in this otherwise delicate debate. Political commentators from left and right tell me there is now a consensus that these words should only be used with caution in public discourse. If that is indeed the case, we have not only to relearn the recent lessons of the UK in the 1980s and 1990s, but also to benefit from the excellent experience of the United States over recent years. President Bush has been much excoriated in this debate, either directly or indirectly, but in 2003 he introduced tax cuts that have been highly successful, leading to ever higher levels of income and economic growth, reducing the United States’ deficit and underpinning massively increased US expenditure around the world. We need continued economic growth to enable us to do more abroad, facing as we do what will be a very long-run and expensive first-proper post-Cold War era crisis in the Middle East and Afghanistan. We now see that this involves everything from the Palestinian question via the growth of Iran as a regional superpower to much murkier threats such as, I suspect, increasing radicalism within Turkey. More money from economic growth will thus be of great help and I hope that a new consensus over taxation will emerge. Perhaps I may conclude by giving two examples of where leadership, not money, is most important. Neither is a great issue within the strategic flow ofthe debate, but they are both important. First, the Government have already turned their mind to the draft legislation on implementing the Hague convention on the artefacts of war. I congratulate them on that. It is vital that we do all that we possibly can at home and internationally to stop the trade in artefacts looted during the course of conflicts abroad, thus protecting not only cultural objects that may turn out to have enormous economic value but also, at the same time, archaeological or ethnographic objects of little real worth except for their immense value to scholars in their work. I hope the Government will keep up their efforts in this context. Secondly, and lastly amid these micro measures—my noble friend Lady Hooper mentioned some measures of great importance in Latin America and elsewhere—I would ask the Minister to turn his attention to what can be done internationally on a pressing issue of human welfare where globalisation brings great wealth very close to great exploitation. It brings them almost, but not quite, face to face. This uneasy meeting is played out around the globe on our great cruise ships. They are very popular. People save hard to celebrate an anniversary or retirement on them, dining and dancing on the decks. But the conditions of those employed below the decks on which the dining and dancing takes place are often very poor and people are often exploited. This is a matter not only of how people are treated and paid but of how they are recruited. The Roman Catholic organisation the Apostleship of the Sea, which does much for the welfare of seafarers in the United Kingdom, tells me that when crews are recruited, whether in the Philippines, Indonesia or West Africa, it is often done by brokers who not only charge them to get the job but sometimes also take ongoing fees, leaving them effectively close to indentured labour, often on ships flying flags of convenience in which UK public and private companies have a direct economic interest. As someone once said, something needs to be done about this. I have beaten the thickets of government, thus far without much success, to try to find the Minister responsible for doing something in this area. It may be that when that immensely talented, able and farsighted Minister—I am speaking, of course, of the noble Lord, Lord Triesman—looks through his own ministerial responsibilities he may well find that he is the Minister responsible. If he is not, perhaps he will kindly let me know which man or woman is responsible. I know this is one of those micro issues that it is easy to push aside amid the great sweepof international relations which have properly dominated the debate, but such little things help to define not only the practical but the moral approach to foreign affairs by the United Kingdom.