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The United Kingdom and the Commonwealth

That is one of the issues that we must grapple with. When we in this place determine our immigration and nationality rules, it is important that we take account of the links that the United Kingdom has with other Commonwealth countries. However, we need to take account of those links with all Commonwealth countries, and not pick and choose. I relate that comment to what I said earlier about kith and kin. That is not just about links between white people within the Commonwealth. It is about family links between people from a wide range of cultures, nationalities and ethnic backgrounds. That is one of the features that makes the Commonwealth so special and gives it a vitality and relevance to the present, which it would not have if it was simply a reflection of a colonial past more than 50 years ago. At the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association seminars that we hold in London, one sees that shared heritage bubbling to the surface. One sees people wishing to learn from each other. Delegates from Commonwealth countries that have suffered from ethnic or tribal conflict want to learn from us about how we dealt with difficulties in Northern Ireland, and from South Africa about how people from different races have been reconciled in the new multi-ethnic South Africa. The one thing that unites Commonwealth Parliamentary Association delegates more than anything else when they meet is a shared commitment to democracy. Countries cannot belong to the Commonwealth, unlike the United Nations, without a commitment to democracy and the rule of law. Pakistan was suspended from the Councils of the Commonwealth at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in November last year. I must correct what the hon. Member for Mid-Norfolk said—Pakistan has not yet been readmitted to the Commonwealth, but it has held elections and it is well on the path to readmission. I look forward to the day when Pakistan is readmitted as a full participating member of the Commonwealth, as I look forward to the day when Fiji and Zimbabwe meet the conditions for full participation in the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth is a family of nations and we do not sever the links, even when we have differences that are so severe and significant that they lead to a country being suspended. Zimbabwe still receives a great deal of aid from this country because there is a humanitarian need to support the Zimbabwean people. Indeed, as the state of Zimbabwe's economy has deteriorated, UK aid has increased. In 1997-98 we provided £13.7 million of aid to Zimbabwe. In 2006-07 we provided £33 million of aid. Zimbabwe needs help. A third of the population—about 4 million out of 12 million—receive food aid from the World Food Programme. Life expectancy for women in Zimbabwe has fallen to below 34 years. One child in five dies before the age of five. There are 1.8 million orphans or other vulnerable children. But British aid and aid from other countries can make a difference. The Department for International Development has provided £35 million of aid to Zimbabwe since 2002 to respond to the catastrophe of HIV/AIDS, and will provide a further £47 million over the next three years. Zimbabwe is the first country in southern Africa to see a fall in the HIV prevalence rate—two years ago it stood at 20 per cent. and now it is down to 15.5 per cent. The Commonwealth matters enormously to the United Kingdom. The hon. Member for Mid-Norfolk made the point that there are more than 7,000 Commonwealth citizens in the UK's armed forces, and the hon. Member for Westbury (Dr. Murrison) observed that that number has increased sharply in the past six or seven years.