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Debate on Thursday, 20 March 2008, in the House of Commons, led by Meg Munn. The answering member was Keith Simpson.

The United Kingdom and the Commonwealth

Debate on a motion to consider the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
473 c1098-182 
Session
2007-08
Department
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
Hugh Bayley | 473 c1113-5 (Link to this contribution) I utterly agree. Private Beharry has given tremendous service to this country and acts as a role mod...
Andrew Murrison | 473 c1115 (Link to this contribution) I am interested to hear about the gatherings with which the hon. Gentleman is involved. When he has ...
Show all contributions (131)
Hugh Bayley | 473 c1113 (Link to this contribution) So about 150,000 in the armed forces.
Diane Abbott | 473 c1113 (Link to this contribution) We all agree that we want our armed forces to have the best possible terms and conditions, but nothi...
Hugh Bayley | 473 c1115-7 (Link to this contribution) The climate change conference took place just before the UN Bali conference on climate change at whi...
John Hemming | 473 c1112 (Link to this contribution) The number has increased from 360 almost twentyfold. Will the hon. Gentleman hazard a guess as to wh...
Keith Simpson | 473 c1113 (Link to this contribution) There are 100,000 service personnel in the British Army.
Hugh Bayley | 473 c1112 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is right to raise that as a potential problem. I would be shoulder to shoulder wi...
Andrew Murrison | 473 c1112 (Link to this contribution) I agree. We owe a great debt of gratitude to Commonwealth citizens who serve in the armed forces. Do...
Hugh Bayley | 473 c1112 (Link to this contribution) The subject has been addressed. There are difficulties, undoubtedly, in recruiting UK nationals to t...
Baroness Hoey | 473 c1121 (Link to this contribution) I agree that it is sad that the Commonwealth has not been more involved in Zimbabwe. Does the hon. L...
Jo Swinson | 473 c1121-2 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is quite right. Indeed, Human Rights Watch has produced a report and concluded that th...
Jo Swinson | 473 c1122 (Link to this contribution) That is a welcome clarification, and I hope that the consultation responses will show that it is imp...
Meg Munn | 473 c1119 (Link to this contribution) I will happily respond. It is pronounced, so I am told, ““koobats””, and it is a Pacific island. I m...
Jo Swinson | 473 c1118-9 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the hon. Lady's intervention. I will pick up on that point when I come to the rights of Co...
Jo Swinson | 473 c1119-20 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for informing us of something that some of us may not have known before. Sever...
Diane Abbott | 473 c1118 (Link to this contribution) In the context of the very live debate that is taking place about citizenship and nationality, how i...
Jo Swinson | 473 c1117-8 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for City of York (Hugh Bayley), who has done excellent an...
Paul Beresford | 473 c1131-2 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate the hon. Member for Crosby (Mrs. Curtis-Thomas) on a fascinating speech. It was on an...
Hugh Bayley | 473 c1126 (Link to this contribution) The funding that comes from the House of Commons Commission and the House of Lords is for the CPA. T...
Claire Curtis-Thomas | 473 c1126-31 (Link to this contribution) May I therefore extend, through you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, my warm thanks to the Speaker for agreeing ...
Claire Curtis-Thomas | 473 c1124-6 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is quite correct. In fact, our nations share a great love of education and a desire a...
Diane Abbott | 473 c1124 (Link to this contribution) I am listening with interest to my hon. Friend's speech. I have never visited Sierra Leone, but it i...
Claire Curtis-Thomas | 473 c1124 (Link to this contribution) What a lovely and generous thing for the hon. Gentleman to say. That was very true. All over Sierra ...
Keith Simpson | 473 c1124 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady is making a powerful speech, based on her experiences. I would like to put it on recor...
Claire Curtis-Thomas | 473 c1123 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for East Dunbartonshire (Jo Swinson), with whom, as she s...
Jo Swinson | 473 c1122-3 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes his point clearly and well. The other issue concerning the rights of Commonwea...
Simon Hughes | 473 c1122 (Link to this contribution) The Minister was helpful in making that correction. Does my hon. Friend agree that it would be usefu...
Claire Curtis-Thomas | 473 c1134 (Link to this contribution) I have much sympathy with what my honourable colleague is saying, and I want to reassure him that th...
Paul Beresford | 473 c1132-4 (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Gentleman says, they have one chamber and, occasionally, that deficit shows. They also...
Paul Beresford | 473 c1135 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. It is worth re-emphasising the contribution to the UK's academic background and academic pr...
Diane Abbott | 473 c1135-6 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak in this important debate. Like earlier speakers, I str...
Paul Beresford | 473 c1134-5 (Link to this contribution) That is an interesting intervention, but the requirement is not reciprocal. I do not believe that th...
Andrew Mackinlay | 473 c1135 (Link to this contribution) It is the same for secondary schools.
Diane Abbott | 473 c1136 (Link to this contribution) I am aware that in principle the ancestral visa conditions apply across the Commonwealth, but in pra...
Paul Beresford | 473 c1136 (Link to this contribution) I was concentrating on the old Commonwealth, but in fact the ancestry visa conditions apply across t...
Diane Abbott | 473 c1137-8 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. I think that the concern that he is speaking about is a more ge...
Simon Hughes | 473 c1138 (Link to this contribution) And he had lived elsewhere in the Commonwealth.
Diane Abbott | 473 c1138-41 (Link to this contribution) He had. Anyway, I threw that fact in as a matter of general interest. One of the other reasons that...
Alistair Burt | 473 c1141 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady has taken a considerable interest in women detainees at Yarl's Wood in my constituency...
Diane Abbott | 473 c1141 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree. A little infrastructure would go a long way to making it easier to return people a...
Claire Curtis-Thomas | 473 c1141-2 (Link to this contribution) The Association of Professional Engineers is a marvellous organisation based in Trinidad and founded...
Diane Abbott | 473 c1142 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for her expertise, which, with that of the person whom she mentioned, is very...
Andrew Rosindell | 473 c1142-3 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Hackney, North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott), who s...
Simon Hughes | 473 c1136-7 (Link to this contribution) This is an important and topical issue. May I put it to the hon. Lady that there are strong views on...
Andrew Rosindell | 473 c1151-2 (Link to this contribution) The Minister knows that I am aware of that. Since when should the Falkland Islands or Gibraltar be r...
Meg Munn | 473 c1152 (Link to this contribution) The Foreign and Commonwealth Office takes the lead on overseas territories, and I assume that is why...
Andrew Rosindell | 473 c1147-51 (Link to this contribution) That is a revealing point, and I hope that the Minister takes it on board. It is astonishing that pe...
Meg Munn | 473 c1151 (Link to this contribution) A wreath is laid on behalf of the overseas territories by the Foreign Secretary.
Andrew Rosindell | 473 c1147 (Link to this contribution) I completely endorse that; we should remember those people as well. We have stood shoulder to should...
Andrew Mackinlay | 473 c1147 (Link to this contribution) I have listened to the hon. Gentleman and to the hon. Member for Mole Valley (Sir Paul Beresford) an...
Andrew Rosindell | 473 c1145-6 (Link to this contribution) It is funded, but the work that we do with Australia and New Zealand is not. Perhaps the Anzac group...
Andrew Rosindell | 473 c1143-5 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady and I agree on that. However, we should not forget Bermuda and all the overseas territ...
Bernard Jenkin | 473 c1161-2 (Link to this contribution) I was caught off guard to be called now, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I naturally assumed that a colleague of...
Alistair Burt | 473 c1162 (Link to this contribution) May I add to that argument? I completely understand my hon. Friend's and Lord Howell's point, which ...
Bernard Jenkin | 473 c1162-3 (Link to this contribution) I understand my hon. Friend's point, which is about protectionism. We must guard against that, becau...
Claire Curtis-Thomas | 473 c1157 (Link to this contribution) I encourage the hon. Gentleman, when he goes to Ghana, to check out the work of Cadbury. Ghana produ...
Alistair Burt | 473 c1157-9 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Lady most sincerely for that suggestion. I am sure that in west Africa a day withou...
Claire Curtis-Thomas | 473 c1159 (Link to this contribution) I am listening to the hon. Gentleman with great interest. He spoke about volunteer groups in Rwanda ...
Alistair Burt | 473 c1159-61 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely. The British Council does fantastic work overseas, as more than one colleague has mention...
Andrew Rosindell | 473 c1152-3 (Link to this contribution) That is very helpful and I hope that that point will be taken on board. Issues relating to those gre...
Andrew Mackinlay | 473 c1153-6 (Link to this contribution) I hope that hon. Members will bear with me, because I shall address the House without notes on an is...
Alistair Burt | 473 c1156 (Link to this contribution) The personal connections that have been mentioned in the debate have, in some cases, been very movin...
Bernard Jenkin | 473 c1165-6 (Link to this contribution) I am an advocate of free trade, and ultimately, I would like a barrier-free world. The ideals of an ...
Claire Curtis-Thomas | 473 c1165 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman clarify the type of Commonwealth countries that he thinks ought to be part o...
Bernard Jenkin | 473 c1164-5 (Link to this contribution) I do not quite see a Commonwealth axis emerging in the European Union, but I entirely agree with the...
Hugh Bayley | 473 c1164 (Link to this contribution) One of the great benefits of the enlargement of the European Union is that three Commonwealth countr...
Meg Munn | 473 c1173-4 (Link to this contribution) This has been an excellent debate, with hon. Members presenting a wide range of issues, as I expecte...
Simon Hughes | 473 c1167-73 (Link to this contribution) Had the Commonwealth not just appointed a new secretary-general, I would have just heard an extremel...
Claire Curtis-Thomas | 473 c1167 (Link to this contribution) I rise to support that because I have my own experience of it in respect of Sierra Leone and other w...
Meg Munn | 473 c1174-5 (Link to this contribution) The Commonwealth does not belong to Britain. A range of countries would take a view about Ireland's ...
Claire Curtis-Thomas | 473 c1174 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Andrew Mackinlay) was not denying that it was up to Ireland ...
Hugh Bayley | 473 c1175 (Link to this contribution) I am sure my hon. Friend agrees that the main responsibility for getting children into primary schoo...
Meg Munn | 473 c1175 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is entirely right. Once again, he has demonstrated the benefits of the Commonwealth—
Claire Curtis-Thomas | 473 c1175 (Link to this contribution) May I provide a word of caution? One of the learning and development goals is to provide every child...
Meg Munn | 473 c1175 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps my hon. Friend will contain herself for a moment, as before I leave the issue of education, ...
Meg Munn | 473 c1175-8 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right that quality of education is important. I want to address the important iss...
Bernard Jenkin | 473 c1179 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Hackney, North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott) spoke very eloquently about how t...
Meg Munn | 473 c1178-9 (Link to this contribution) I agree entirely with my hon. Friend. I was just about to talk about some of the development issues ...
Meg Munn | 473 c1179 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman will bear with me, I will come in a moment to the issue of drugs and crime, wh...
Meg Munn | 473 c1180-2 (Link to this contribution) I shall look further into the issues that my hon. Friend raises. We have had some success in disrupt...
Diane Abbott | 473 c1180 (Link to this contribution) On the interception of drugs, my hon. Friend knows that one of the major sources of drug problems in...
Diane Abbott | 473 c1179 (Link to this contribution) On the forthcoming UK-Caribbean forum, such forums are very much enjoyed by the Caribbean Heads of G...
Hugh Bayley | 473 c1110-1 (Link to this contribution) It is important to realise that tribal—certainly ethnic and religious—differences have been a factor...
Simon Hughes | 473 c1111 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will know as well as anybody, given his family arrangements, that many Commonweal...
Hugh Bayley | 473 c1111-2 (Link to this contribution) That is one of the issues that we must grapple with. When we in this place determine our immigration...
Hugh Bayley | 473 c1109 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate the Government on deciding to have a full day's debate in Government time on the Comm...
Jo Swinson | 473 c1109-10 (Link to this contribution) It is interesting that although in many ways, our legal and education systems are shared across the ...
Hugh Bayley | 473 c1110 (Link to this contribution) With respect, we do have a shared system. Nobody is saying that Canadian law, Kittician law or Jamai...
John Hemming | 473 c1110 (Link to this contribution) I accept that there are similarities across the Commonwealth, but does the hon. Gentleman not accept...
Keith Simpson | 473 c1106-7 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend may be right, but I suspect that the matter is rather like reforming the House of Lor...
John Baron | 473 c1108 (Link to this contribution) Is there another priority for the Government on the Commonwealth? The Minister made the point that t...
Keith Simpson | 473 c1105 (Link to this contribution) There are other republics in the Commonwealth, and the issue does not pose a problem for them. I tho...
Bernard Jenkin | 473 c1105 (Link to this contribution) We should be aware that the American ambassador to NATO recently invoked Washington and Lafayette as...
Keith Simpson | 473 c1104-5 (Link to this contribution) It is obviously a two-way process, and I am sensitive to Irish public opinion, but I am sure that th...
Andrew Mackinlay | 473 c1104 (Link to this contribution) I hope to catch the Speaker's eye later and develop that argument. The tragedy is that the British G...
Keith Simpson | 473 c1103-4 (Link to this contribution) There are two aspects to consider. The recruitment of Commonwealth citizens to the British armed for...
Claire Curtis-Thomas | 473 c1103 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that there is significant virtue in incorporating members of the Commo...
Keith Simpson | 473 c1103 (Link to this contribution) Having served in the senior service, my hon. Friend has much experience of such matters, and he make...
Andrew Murrison | 473 c1103 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that my hon. Friend, like me, listened with great interest to the Minister's comments—all ...
Keith Simpson | 473 c1102-3 (Link to this contribution) What a pleasure it is to be opposite the Minister again. These little meetings across the Dispatch B...
Meg Munn | 473 c1101-2 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman raises an important issue, and I am sure other Members will want to talk in more ...
Shailesh Vara | 473 c1106 (Link to this contribution) Given my hon. Friend's comments about Britain's unique position in the Commonwealth, does he share m...
Keith Simpson | 473 c1105-6 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for those details. The Commonwealth is a great asset to the Unit...
Shailesh Vara | 473 c1106 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps I can clarify my earlier remark. Given Her Majesty's role at the moment, there is much talk ...
Keith Simpson | 473 c1106 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure whether my hon. Friend is correct. Successive British Governments have been very sensi...
Keith Simpson | 473 c1105 (Link to this contribution) Yes. I cannot list them, but there are a number of them. The Commonwealth is partly a uniquely Engli...
Simon Hughes | 473 c1105 (Link to this contribution) On the intervention by the hon. Member for Pendle (Mr. Prentice), I understand, from briefings that ...
Keith Simpson | 473 c1105 (Link to this contribution) When I was a Whip, Whips kept quiet, but now all they want to do is talk—I have been told that it is...
Gordon Prentice | 473 c1105 (Link to this contribution) The United Kingdom allows Commonwealth citizens to vote in UK parliamentary elections. I think that ...
Andrew Mackinlay | 473 c1099 (Link to this contribution) Given the region for which she has responsibility, will the Minister tell the House what are the Com...
Meg Munn | 473 c1098-9 (Link to this contribution) I shall make a little progress, but I assure the House that hon. Members will have plenty of opportu...
Simon Hughes | 473 c1100 (Link to this contribution) The Minister will know how much I welcome this debate, which I hope will become a regular annual eve...
Meg Munn | 473 c1099-100 (Link to this contribution) The Maldives are the responsibility of Lord Malloch-Brown, but he has discussed the matters that my ...
Rob Wilson | 473 c1101 (Link to this contribution) The Minister has just referred to good governance, and earlier she talked about the UK's powerful in...
Meg Munn | 473 c1100-1 (Link to this contribution) I shall respond to the hon. Gentleman who, if he is unhappy with my answer, can return to the questi...
Philip Hollobone | 473 c1098 (Link to this contribution) This House of Commons was bombed in 1941 and rebuilt after the war. The Dispatch Box on which the Mi...
Meg Munn | 473 c1098 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House has considered the matter of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth....
Meg Munn | 473 c1098 (Link to this contribution) First, I salute the hon. Gentleman's knowledge of the Chamber. That he has learned all that in his r...
Diane Abbott | 473 c1178 (Link to this contribution) As well as the effect on the economy in terms of coffee growing, tourism and so on, another effect o...
Keith Simpson | 473 c1108-9 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has made a good point. Of course, there is the danger that if Britain were seen to le...
Meg Munn | 473 c1122 (Link to this contribution) I am glad that the hon. Lady referred to that because I would like to correct something that I said ...
Bernard Jenkin | 473 c1167 (Link to this contribution) At risk of extending my remarks further than necessary, I think that both Chinese and Russian involv...
Diane Abbott | 473 c1147 (Link to this contribution) I am moved by the fervour with which the hon. Gentleman addresses this subject. He will, of course, ...
Meg Munn | 473 c1179-80 (Link to this contribution) I am disappointed to hear that, and I should be interested to have some more detailed feedback. I wi...
Subjects
Commonwealth Developing countries Development aid International relations International organisations Pakistan Zimbabwe Maldives Scholarships
Link
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