Baroness Falkner of Margravine: My Lords, what specific plans do the Government have to host people in Leicester who test positive for Covid-19 in hotels to isolate them from multigenerational households and to keep the other members of the family safe?
Baroness Falkner of Margravine: My Lords, it is a pleasure to have added my name to the amendment moved by the noble Lord, Lord Alton of Liverpool, whose expertise on human rights is paralleled by no one else in this House. Deng Xiaoping, one of China’s most impressive leaders, had a lesson for his countrymen: “Hide your light and bide your time,” he told them. What he meant by that was that China’s power was extant...
Baroness Falkner of Margravine: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to reassess their relationship with the government of China.
Baroness Falkner of Margravine: My Lords, first, I pay tribute to Sir Simon McDonald as he stands down from the FCO. He has been a remarkable leader and an exceptional head of our foreign service, and I wish him well in his future roles. There is a pattern in Chinese policy, which is increasingly assertive towards countries which do not bend to its will—take the experience of Australia, Sweden, Norway, France or even ours...
Baroness Falkner of Margravine: My Lords, following on from the noble Lord, Lord Randall, does the Minister accept that on consumer welfare it is difficult for us to have confidence in his reassurances? When the Government announced this digital markets taskforce a few months ago, they said that “any future interventions must strike the right balance between promoting competition and innovation on the one hand and...
Baroness Falkner of Margravine: My Lords, I declare an interest as a former employee of the Commonwealth and as someone in receipt of a Commonwealth Secretariat pension. The Commonwealth has never been in greater need of stability. Its funding, staff morale and governance are at an all-time low in the secretariat. As Chair-in-Office, the UK needs to announce a quick decision. Does the Minister agree that the current...
Baroness Falkner of Margravine: My Lords, we are entering a period of much harsher international relations. That is what Sir John Sawers told us on the “Today” programme this morning, and I agree. I can see the argument for a more strategic approach to our international relations in the round—although I am slightly sceptical about the timing of this announcement—but since the noble Baroness has mentioned Australia,...
Baroness Falkner of Margravine: My Lords, I, too, pay tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Arbuthnot, but I think that the Minister is playing with semantics to the extent that he talks about how the review will be independent. Does he recognise that people want responsibility to fall where it should, whether on this Government, the previous Government, the Post Office, Fujitsu or anyone else? Does he not think that 20 years is...
Baroness Falkner of Margravine: My Lords, the target for female representation at 15%, as set out in the biannual diversity report, seems to me too low. Why are they not being more ambitious, with a higher target? Nearly half the BAME staff are of non-UK nationality. Why are they not succeeding in recruiting people from United Kingdom BAME communities, and what lessons can be learned from the recruitment for Future Forces...
Baroness Falkner of Margravine: My Lords, for clarity, I did not request to speak after the Minister; it was due to an inadvertent error that I ended up not being on the list to speak when I should have spoken. In fact, as I am speaking after the Minister, I will use the opportunity to make one or two general observations about this process that conform to what the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts, and the noble...
Baroness Falkner of Margravine: My Lords, I served on the Constitution Committee during the passage of the then Bill. We heard extensively about the many concerns regarding it, which eventually came to pass during 2017-19. If ever a demonstration was needed that the Act is unsuited to our constitution, the last few years provided it. Can the Minister therefore please press for the review to be announced as soon as possible...
Baroness Falkner of Margravine: My Lords, I will start with a simple question because, like all those who have spoken, I am not clear as to the Government’s evidence or why they are hesitating to recommend the widespread use of face coverings across the board, not just for public transport. There is one question that has not been answered: have the Government had discussions with the security services, the police or other...
Baroness Falkner of Margravine: My Lords, I am second to none in wanting to assist poorer countries, but will the noble Baroness accept, in the context of debt forgiveness, that the World Bank has done recent research to show that aid flows through the poorest countries straight back into the wealthier countries—something called aid leakage? So unless we want to give money to Switzerland, Luxembourg, the Cayman Islands...
Baroness Falkner of Margravine: My Lords, it is a huge relief to be back here in the flesh. I give an enormous vote of thanks to all those who have made it possible. I apologise to the Minister for being unable to attend his briefing session on the Bill yesterday. I am afraid that the invitation, which came late on a Friday afternoon, somehow got missed in the flow of traffic to my inbox. If I had known that it was taking...
Baroness Falkner of Margravine: My Lords, I accept what the Minister says about the strength of feeling in this country and what the Government are trying to do, but will she accept the premise of the original Question and tell us whether they have made representations to the American Government? Has the US ambassador been called in? Has any member of the Government spoken out clearly, palpably addressing non-white...
Baroness Falkner of Margravine: My Lords, I wholeheartedly welcome the United Kingdom Government’s proposals on a route to citizenship for BNO passport holders. I ask the Minister directly whether we could start the process by allowing the 16,000 university students from Hong Kong who are currently in the country the right to convert their tier 4 visas into that process as soon as possible. My second question is this:...
Baroness Falkner of Margravine: I understand that we have to wait for the data to come through that addresses what underlying health conditions and comorbidities might impact on BME critical care and death rates from Covid, but, to reassure the community while we are waiting for further information, I wonder whether the Minister’s publicity campaign could be very directly targeted at those vulnerable groups to make it...
Baroness Falkner of Margravine: The Minister mentioned reciprocal arrangements for UK citizens, but I wonder if she could disaggregate that and concentrate only on people in the performing arts. If reciprocal arrangements are not negotiated, will she consider the UK unilaterally allowing access for EU musicians to come here, in the hope that at least individual EU countries will then reciprocate? If we wait for the...
Baroness Falkner of Margravine: My Lords, I will speak briefly in opposition to the amendment. I can see why the noble Lords, Lord Clement-Jones and Lord Fox, tabled it, because targets are quite important to ensure that the Government do what they set out to do. However, the narrow timeframes given in the amendment are not practicable and will not tell us any more than we will know through other means. I go straight to the...
Baroness Falkner of Margravine: My Lords, I start by thanking the Minister for the manner in which she has dealt with this Bill. I will take up that offer of further conversations on it. In the meantime, I shall briefly address some of the issues raised by noble Lords. I was grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, for his support. Yes, these amendments are very close to those tabled in the House of Commons. They are...