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Adjournment debate on Thursday, 26 March 2009, in the House of Commons, led by Roger Berry. The answering member was Ian Pearson.

Arms Export Controls

Westminster Hall debate on a motion for the adjournment on arms export controls. (Relevant documents: Committee on Arms Export Controls first joint report of session 2007-08, HC 254, on Scrutiny of Arms Export Control (2008): UK Strategic Export Controls Annual Report 2006, Quarterly Reports for 2007, Licensing Policy and Review of Export Control Legislation, and the Government's response, Cm 7485; and the Minutes of Evidence taken before the Business and Enterprise, Defence, Foreign Affairs and International Development Committees on 21 January 2009, HC 178-i, and 11 March 2009, HC 178-ii, on Strategic Export Controls.)

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
490 c141-76WH 
Session
2008-09
Department
Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Chamber / Committee
Westminster Hall
Related items
Proceeding contributions
John Bercow | 490 c146WH (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
John Bercow | 490 c146WH (Link to this contribution) It has done. I rarely disagree with the hon. Gentleman on these matters, but I think that he errs on...
Show all contributions (79)
Roger Berry | 490 c146WH (Link to this contribution) Of course. I thought that the issue of Burma might encourage the hon. Gentleman.
Roger Berry | 490 c146WH (Link to this contribution) I am extremely grateful for that intervention. I withdraw my comment without reservation. The hon. G...
Roger Berry | 490 c145-6WH (Link to this contribution) Unlike the hon. Gentleman, I can argue in support of more public spending, because I believe in a fi...
Roger Berry | 490 c146-7WH (Link to this contribution) There are laws, both domestic laws and laws with extraterritorial implications—on sex-trafficking fo...
Lembit Opik | 490 c147WH (Link to this contribution) I do not want to detain the hon. Gentleman long—I agree with him. My issue is really for the Ministe...
Roger Berry | 490 c147-8WH (Link to this contribution) We all want to hear the Minister, and there will be plenty of time for interventions. There are othe...
Lembit Opik | 490 c146WH (Link to this contribution) I agree with the hon. Gentleman's request for the inclusion of re-export licences. It is beyond me w...
Ian Pearson | 490 c168-9WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman, to whom I will give way in a moment, mentioned defence attachés. As I think he i...
Roger Berry | 490 c168WH (Link to this contribution) I am extremely grateful to the Minister. When have the Committees ever suggested such a thing? We ne...
Ian Pearson | 490 c168WH (Link to this contribution) I apologise to my hon. Friend if I have offended him in any way. I was simply trying to make the bas...
Roger Berry | 490 c168WH (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister please give way?
Speaker | 490 c168WH (Link to this contribution) Order. Is the Minister giving way? Yes, he is.
Lembit Opik | 490 c169WH (Link to this contribution) I realise that the Minister has been intervened upon many times on this subject, but this is one of ...
Ian Pearson | 490 c169-70WH (Link to this contribution) It is not many, but we are not aware of widespread abuse of the UK's export licensing regime. We hav...
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown | 490 c169WH (Link to this contribution) I agree that the best way of dealing with the matter is at the licensing stage, but surely the pragm...
Ian Pearson | 490 c169WH (Link to this contribution) What the hon. Gentleman suggests would be a significant departure from current practice. We have deb...
Ian Pearson | 490 c171WH (Link to this contribution) I have explained why I think it would difficult, if not impossible, to enforce that outside the UK's...
Roger Berry | 490 c171WH (Link to this contribution) The Minister acknowledged that, in recent years, licences had been granted for the export of head-up...
Ian Pearson | 490 c171WH (Link to this contribution) In response to the right hon. Member for Tonbridge and Malling, I said that I would consider the cas...
John Stanley | 490 c172WH (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister confirm whether the Committee could, if it so wished, put into the public domain t...
Roger Berry | 490 c170WH (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for giving way; he is being generous with his time. I do not doubt for...
Ian Pearson | 490 c170-1WH (Link to this contribution) In replying directly to my hon. Friend, I reiterate what I said earlier. It would not increase our p...
Lembit Opik | 490 c171WH (Link to this contribution) I support what was said by the hon. Member for Kingswood, the Committee Chairman. We already have a ...
Ian Pearson | 490 c172WH (Link to this contribution) I cannot confirm that now, but I shall ensure that the right hon. Gentleman receives an answer at so...
John Stanley | 490 c172WH (Link to this contribution) I asked the Minister whether he would conduct a very carefully considered review of whether this sub...
Ian Pearson | 490 c172-3WH (Link to this contribution) The Government rigorously assess all licence applications for exports to China and other countries, ...
John Stanley | 490 c173WH (Link to this contribution) May I respond to what the Minister said to me about a review of policy towards Israel? He spoke as i...
Ian Pearson | 490 c173-4WH (Link to this contribution) Absolutely; I agree with the right hon. Gentleman that decisions on licensing must take account of c...
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown | 490 c173WH (Link to this contribution) With respect to the Minister, his remarks have been slightly inconsistent. He said that a re-export ...
Ian Pearson | 490 c173WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman takes us back to end-use monitoring, as opposed to assessments during the licensi...
Ian Pearson | 490 c174-6WH (Link to this contribution) I do not accept that the Government have double standards. We are correctly applying both internatio...
Roger Berry | 490 c174WH (Link to this contribution) There are occasions when democracies are in conflict, and arms embargoes are applied. The Government...
Speaker | 490 c174WH (Link to this contribution) Order. I am allowing rather lengthy interventions because we are not pressed for time. However, I as...
Ian Pearson | 490 c168WH (Link to this contribution) I do not think that hon. Members will—
Ian Pearson | 490 c167-8WH (Link to this contribution) I am saying that we believe that at this stage it would not be appropriate to proceed with a pre-lic...
Roger Berry | 490 c167WH (Link to this contribution) Is the Minister saying that the Government have decided, therefore, at this stage that there will be...
Ian Pearson | 490 c167WH (Link to this contribution) I know that concerns are expressed by NGOs about the potential scope of the arms trade treaty. The p...
Roger Berry | 490 c167WH (Link to this contribution) I am full of praise for the Government's support for the international arms trade treaty and what th...
Ian Pearson | 490 c166-7WH (Link to this contribution) If I were to do that, we would run out of time before I had responded to all the other points raised...
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown | 490 c166WH (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister give an indication of the outstanding issues on the international arms trade treat...
Ian Pearson | 490 c166WH (Link to this contribution) I appreciate the hon. Gentleman's point, and I will indeed say more about end use, but first I want ...
Lembit Opik | 490 c166WH (Link to this contribution) I listened with interest to the Minister's comments about enforcement. I have been involved in a cas...
John Stanley | 490 c164WH (Link to this contribution) For the record, I made it clear that, apart from Israel and China, I thought that across the board t...
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown | 490 c164WH (Link to this contribution) Without being able to paraphrase the whole of my right hon. Friend's speech, he is entirely right to...
Ian Pearson | 490 c164-6WH (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Nicholas. I am pleased to have the opportunit...
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown | 490 c161-3WH (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree with my right hon. Friend. That is a very helpful intervention all round, so I am g...
John Stanley | 490 c161WH (Link to this contribution) I wholly agree with my hon. Friend about defence attachés, but I offer a further point of clarificat...
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown | 490 c164WH (Link to this contribution) I accept that the evidence is in there and published, but their evidence is given less weight, shall...
Roger Berry | 490 c163WH (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman acknowledge that the report publishes the minutes of the evidence sessions a...
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown | 490 c160WH (Link to this contribution) Yes, absolutely. I am grateful for the Committee Chairman's intervention, and I shall come to that p...
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown | 490 c160-1WH (Link to this contribution) I was not going to, but, to make the point completely clear, I shall quote from the report that the ...
John Stanley | 490 c160WH (Link to this contribution) I do not understand my hon. Friend's point, because the Government's response to the report that we ...
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown | 490 c159WH (Link to this contribution) It is good to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Nicholas, and to follow the hon. Member for Montgom...
Roger Berry | 490 c159WH (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman therefore conclude, as the Committee concludes, that the way to deal with th...
John Stanley | 490 c154-5WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is asking about an issue that can only be adjudicated on in a court of law, but h...
Lembit Opik | 490 c155-8WH (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to be involved in this important debate. We are good at making weapons and weapons ...
Roger Berry | 490 c151WH (Link to this contribution) I agree with the right hon. Gentleman. I gave that quote knowing that it had subsequently been deres...
John Stanley | 490 c150-1WH (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to follow the hon. Member for Kingswood (Roger Berry), who chaired the four Committees ...
Gordon Prentice | 490 c154WH (Link to this contribution) The Gaza strip is twice the size of my Pendle constituency, but it has a population 17 times as larg...
John Stanley | 490 c152-4WH (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the Minister who is replying to the debate has heard what my hon. Friend said. I tur...
John Bercow | 490 c151WH (Link to this contribution) Obviously, the Secretary of State in any Department is ultimately responsible for all that happens o...
John Stanley | 490 c151WH (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. His intervention is entirely correct. I have discussed the issu...
Gordon Prentice | 490 c148WH (Link to this contribution) I have a briefing from Campaign Against Arms Trade that touches on the point that my Friend just mad...
Roger Berry | 490 c148-50WH (Link to this contribution) I can confirm only that I have read that in press reports, so the Minister might be the best person ...
Roger Berry | 490 c141-2WH (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to introduce this debate. Thank you, Sir Nicholas, for your very kind comment...
Speaker | 490 c141WH (Link to this contribution) I have pleasure in calling the Chairman of the important Committee on Arms Export Controls, Dr. Roge...
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown | 490 c142WH (Link to this contribution) Does not the hon. Gentleman think that it is unsatisfactory that the Government response to the prev...
Roger Berry | 490 c142-3WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman raises an important point, but it is not the fault of the Government. We have thi...
Speaker | 490 c143WH (Link to this contribution) Order. I assume that the Chairman of the Committee will use his discretion when referring to matters...
Roger Berry | 490 c143WH (Link to this contribution) As always, I am extremely grateful to you, Sir Nicholas. Let me start with a few comments about the...
Roger Berry | 490 c143-4WH (Link to this contribution) The Committees have repeatedly expressed concern about end-use controls, about which I shall say mor...
David Drew | 490 c143WH (Link to this contribution) I apologise for missing the first few minutes of my hon. Friend's remarks. Has the Committee looked ...
Roger Berry | 490 c144-5WH (Link to this contribution) I recall that conversation. The Committees have again recommended that there should be a register. I...
John Bercow | 490 c144WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will recall that when giving evidence, the Minister referred us to ongoing discus...
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown | 490 c145WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is being generous with his time and is giving a clear and erudite account of his ...
Subjects
Arms trade Licensing Export controls Parliamentary scrutiny Regulation
Link
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