Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My Lords, I too am grateful to my noble friend Lord Turnberg for securing this debate. It is a very long time since I spoke in your Lordships’ House. Indeed, I was sitting where the Minister is, before I was whisked across the Channel into some kind of glorious exile. As noble Lords will know, during my time away, I led and chaired the negotiations with Iran for over four and a half years....
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: We are proud of our legislation introducing civil partnerships for same-sex couples and we encourage other countries to do likewise. Many types of same-sex relationship formalised in other EU countries are recognised as equivalent to civil partnerships in the United Kingdom. These include those registered in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Luxemburg, the Netherlands and Spain. We...
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: The Government's view is that our existing legislative framework is broadly compliant. If a similar situation as occurred in the European Court of Justice case of Firma Feryn1 occurred in the UK, our wider domestic law provisions would provide suitable enforcement remedies for the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). In GB, the EHRC is empowered with various enforcement powers under...
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: The Prime Minister announced on 28 July that Lord Jay of Ewelme GCMG will succeed Lord Stevenson of Coddenham CBE as chair of the House of Lords Appointments Commission with effect from 1 October 2008. Lord Jay has been selected in accordance with the code of practice issued by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The code requires openness and transparency, independent scrutiny of the...
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: The effect of Letters Patent creating peerages can he changed by legislation which has that specific effect. It cannot be changed by legislation of general application. Thus, the Peerage Act 1963 allowed Peeresses in their own right to sit in the House of Lords regardless of the terms of any Letters Patent creating the peerage. The House of Lords Act 1999 removed the right of anyone to sit in...
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: When the House of Lords rose for the Summer Recess on 22 July 2003 there were 37 Questions for Written Answer which remained unanswered and in breach of the 14-day rule. None of those Questions related to the future of the Pensions Appeal Tribunal. Publication of the Answers to Parliamentary Questions is a matter for the House authorities.
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My Lords, I am grateful to the noble and gallant Lord. Within the Statement, I set out—I thought quite clearly—the issues that we believe we need to continue to deal with, including consideration of the troop level that we need to maintain. To recap quickly, those issues are training the 14th Division, preparing Basra airport for transfer to Iraqi control, pushing forward on economic...
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My Lords, I commented earlier on the fact that the noble Lord continues to press on the issue of interpreters. As I said, if I can get specific details of how many are currently in the UK, I will do so and make sure that he is informed of that. We have already said that any further inquiry should be done at the appropriate time. We have already had four separate, independent inquiries,...
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My Lords, the noble Baroness knows that I cannot give her specific details about any casualties, unfortunate and terrible though they would be. My point was about the breadth of the Iraqi people's ability to access high-quality services, which were certainly unavailable under Saddam Hussein, as is well recognised, and about the importance of ensuring that, in a democratic Iraq, every Iraqi is...
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My Lords, as the noble Lord knows, the Secretary-General's announcement in September 2007, which led to the Iraqi neighbours conference in Istanbul on 2 and 3 November, was part of the process of trying to bring greater stability to the region. It is also important that within the region in which we operate—the European Union—and with our role in the United Nations we work supportively...
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My Lords, no.
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord. I think that we all welcome the United Arab Emirates' important write-off, which I read about yesterday. Hydrocarbons are very important indeed. The Bill has not yet gone through, but I completely agree with the noble Lord that it is important for the future of oil in the region. Local non-governmental organisations and other international...
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My Lords, I am not going to speculate about where government borrowing might go. As the noble Lord will know, the defence budget is about £34 billion for 2008-09; I do not have the breakdown of exactly what is being spent in any current theatre of operation. We are certainly operating within the UN Security Council resolution. However, as I indicated in the Statement, our ambition is to move...
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My Lords, I agree with the noble Lord. Yesterday—I cannot find them now—I was reading the precise details of Iraqi oil production and projections for the future. The noble Lord is completely right that this is an oil-rich state with huge reserves of oil and great potential—hence the question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, about hydrocarbons legislation, which is an important...
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My Lords, I am extremely grateful to both noble Lords for their remarks. I thought that the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, began in a rather philosophical frame of mind, which is important as we consider what is changing, particularly in Basra and with the role of the British forces there. There is no doubt that the improvements are real. Noble Lords will have the benefit of reading the Select...
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My Lords, with the permission of the House, I would now like to repeat a Statement made in another place by my right honourable friend the Prime Minister. "Mr Speaker, with permission, and following my visit last weekend to Baghdad and Basra, I would like to update the House on the latest developments in Iraq. "Let me start by paying tribute to the British service men and women who have...
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: rose to move, That the draft order laid before the House on 15 July be approved.
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My Lords, I have worked closely with my right honourable friend the Leader of another place to ensure that proposals for another place also cover your Lordships' House. I have consulted with usual channels colleagues and with the House Committee about the introduction of this order and I am grateful for their support. It is my strong contention that to carry out our duties in your Lordships'...
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: My Lords, I am grateful for the welcome that has been given to the order. I say to the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, that we have not had discussions with Northern Ireland, but we are very happy to do so. Such discussions may well take place. As Scotland has a separate Act, it is for them to deal with these issues themselves. My noble friend Lord Clark eloquently reminded us of the history,...
