Lord Sarfraz: My Lords, I congratulate the Minister and my noble friend Lord Petitgas on their excellent maiden speeches. Both played an incredible role in government over the last few years. I welcome the Government’s economic growth strategy and wish the Front Bench the very best in their new roles. As noble Lords will know, SMEs are our economic backbone; 99% of our businesses in this country are...
Lord Sarfraz: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that Russia is planning to open a naval base in Tobruk in Libya.
Lord Sarfraz: My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lady Sater for securing this debate and for her very powerful opening remarks. Many kids today will be alive and transacting in the year 2100. A child who is in year 4 today will in 2100 be only in their 80s and will probably live another 20 years after that. So, when we design content, it needs to be future-proof and include ideas such as “Making money is...
Lord Sarfraz: My Lords, it is such a great pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Alton, who is such an incredible subject-matter expert. I rise to make a brief and narrow contribution to this important debate, specifically on the role that the Royal Navy has played in enforcing sanctions. Enforcing sanctions is never easy, but we are fortunate that the Royal Navy has a permanent presence in the...
Lord Sarfraz: My Lords, I congratulate the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Norwich and my noble friend Lord Gascoigne on their superb maiden speeches. To meet our economic ambitions, as laid out in His Majesty’s most gracious Speech, we will need to source critical minerals from all over the world. Whether it is tungsten or gallium in defence, or tantalum in medical devices, at least two dozen...
Lord Sarfraz: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recent incitement to violence and hatred by Swedish politician Rasmus Paludan; and whether they will consider refusing him entry to the UK on the grounds that his presence will not be conducive to the public good.
Lord Sarfraz: My Lords, I declare an interest as an investor, adviser and entrepreneur in the technology industry, as set out in the register. I welcome the Bill, although it is big, complicated and difficult to understand. However, there is a real risk that we are regulating the past instead of thinking about the imminent threats of the future. I will focus on two very narrow issues. First, as immersive...
Lord Sarfraz: My Lords, I too offer my deepest condolences to the Royal Family on the passing of Her Majesty the Queen. My family and I will join millions of people in praying for them during this difficult time. There is a simple reminder that all Muslims say out loud when someone passes away: “Ina lilahe wa ina ilayhe rajioon”, or “We come from God and to God we shall return”. All day I have been...
Lord Sarfraz: My Lords, I agree with all that has been said by noble Lords today and I am grateful to my noble friend the Minister for hosting a very useful briefing yesterday. The bank has made its first six investments, two of which are in infrastructure funds managed by third parties. It would be very helpful to get a sense of how much direct investing, versus fund investing, the bank intends to do....
Lord Sarfraz: My Lords, when I think of all Britain’s success stories over the years, it is hard to look at our domestic automotive industry without a great sense of pride. I draw the House’s attention to my interests as set out in the register, particularly in early-stage battery technologies. The United Kingdom has been blessed with industry pioneers: Frederick Bremer built the country’s first...
Lord Sarfraz: My Lords, one of the stated objectives of a project awarded by Innovate UK to Newport Wafer Fab is to provide the UK with a novel sovereign gallium nitride capability. Can my noble friend tell the House how that capability can possibly remain novel, or indeed sovereign, following acquisition by a foreign state-backed entity?
Lord Sarfraz: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the private security industry about protecting the (1) mental, and (2) physical, well-being of licensed professionals in that industry; and what steps they are taking as a result.
Lord Sarfraz: My Lords, Eid Mubarak to all those celebrating. While we are very efficient in detailing the human rights abuses in overseas supply chains that we source from, we do not demonstrate the same enthusiasm when we export our trash to those same countries. What about the environmental and human rights abuses that happen in the global waste trade in which we participate? Can my noble friend see how...
Lord Sarfraz: My Lords, I too thank my noble friend Lord Howell for securing this debate. If we are to realise our ambition of achieving $2 trillion-worth of trade within the Commonwealth by 2030, we must build and strengthen the institutions that will facilitate that trade. Today, the Commonwealth does not have a trade finance bank, a development finance institution or an investment guarantee agency. It...
Lord Sarfraz: My Lords, the increased attention given to climate change in boardrooms is largely being driven by investor sentiment. Last year, over 100 new environmental, social and governance funds were launched in Europe alone. ESG funds happen to be performing exceptionally well, demonstrating that ethical investing is profitable investing. Can my noble friend send a clear message to ESG investors...
Lord Sarfraz: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the report by the United States Office of the Director of National Intelligence Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, published on 25 June; and what data they hold on unidentified flying object sightings in the United Kingdom.
Lord Sarfraz: My Lords, for decades, people who have been concerned with UFOs have been dismissed as fantasists, but now the US Director of National Intelligence, who oversees 17 intelligence agencies, has published a report saying that the data on UFOs is inconclusive. The report offers several possible explanations and does not rule out that these could be military aircraft with very advanced...
Lord Sarfraz: My Lords, I declare an interest with several not-for-profit organisations working on animal welfare, as set out in the register. I welcome the Bill: it gives a voice to animals, which have no ability to speak. In 50 years’ time, historians will look back in shock that we have 70 billion animals in factory farms to feed 7.8 billion humans. Animals have no voice, but consumers are speaking...
Lord Sarfraz: My Lords, your Lordships’ House is full of one thing—semiconductors; computer chips. They are in our cell phones, in our laptops, in those screens, in the audio system. They are also in our vehicles outside, in our microwaves and washing machines at home and in every ventilator and every operating theatre across the country. We are a nation addicted to semiconductors, we cannot live...
