I want to write to Baroness Stroud
Did you mean many speaker:Baroness Stroud?
Baroness Stroud: ...set our economy and society on to a resilient footing. Geopolitical risk should be run through our every decision. If this means directing investment into local and reliable supply chains, that may be necessary. If it means increasing military spending, we should do that too. If it means adjusting our net-zero targets to avoid critical dependencies on China, then we need to consider this...
Baroness Stroud: ...set our economy and society on to a resilient footing. Geopolitical risk should be run through our every decision. If this means directing investment into local and reliable supply chains, that may be necessary. If it means increasing military spending, we should do that too. If it means adjusting our net-zero targets to avoid critical dependencies on China, then we need to consider this...
Baroness Stroud: It may be helpful, therefore, to clarify what is happening in Amendment 164. In January, the Government will lay a report detailing the safe and legal routes that they are choosing to introduce. The amendment says that, two months later, the Government have a duty to implement what they say they want. The amendment makes no mention of numbers and does not throw open the door at all; it purely...
Baroness Stroud: ...I emphasise “additional”—safe and legal routes by 31 January 2024, six months after the anticipated passage of the Bill, under which refugees and others in need of international protection may come to the UK lawfully from abroad. The whole purpose of the Illegal Migration Bill is to shut down unsafe and illegal routes and its whole narrative is to ensure that genuine asylum seekers...
Baroness Stroud: ...stay enslaved and exploited as a result of this Bill, because it will give the slave drivers and traffickers another weapon to hold people in slavery and exploitation. We need to hear Theresa May when she says that, on this issue, this Bill is “bad for victims, bad for the prosecution of slave drivers and bad for the reputation of the United Kingdom.”—[ Official Report, Commons,...
Baroness Stroud: ...country, most victims will be unable to co-operate with investigations. I believe that this House will want to pick up the amendments tabled by the right honourable Iain Duncan Smith and Theresa May in the other place. But I also want to engage constructively with this Bill, so I ask whether there are things that could be done to ensure the new system reflects the values of our nation. We...
Baroness Stroud: ...that has unified us. She has shown leadership through service. A role model, she has shown the same ethos that guides the lives of heroes across society: duty, service and responsibility. They may feel outmoded, but these virtues are the root of our prosperity. It is no small thing to have a Head of State who sees their role as being one who serves. Institutional trust, so fundamental to...
Baroness Stroud: May I clarify with my noble friend the Minister that my comment about online learning was that schools could put the materials online so that parents could access what was being taught in school? I was not actually encouraging online learning.
Baroness Stroud: ...up agenda is committed to addressing these regional health disparities, but we also know that a 65 year-old in, say, Kensington and Chelsea lives for a further 24 years, while someone in Manchester may live only for another 18 years. In Halton, 78% of the population are experiencing obesity, but in south-west London, the figure is only 42%. These are real health disparities that we were...
Baroness Stroud: ...right-to-work reforms because all those in this category should be held in immigration detention anyway and would be unable to work by virtue of that status. Secondly, there is a concern that this may encourage more mendacious claims; again, I believe that this has become an exaggerated argument. The figures as they stand find that 72% of people who apply for asylum get accepted on the...
Baroness Stroud: ...abortion, in practice this amendment is significantly more about the health and protection of women. First, let us take a look at why this is not an abortion amendment. Perhaps, in this instance, I may be able to address some of the recent comments from the noble Baroness, Lady Barker. In the UK, in practice if not in law, we have abortion on demand up to 24 weeks. In 2020, there were...
Baroness Stroud: ...it last time, through the events in Ukraine. This tragic and unnecessary unfolding humanitarian crisis will certainly play out through the European continent. Many refugees fleeing Ukraine may well attempt to come to the UK. Last Saturday evening, the Prime Minister clearly stated that we would welcome refugees from Ukraine here. By Sunday, that commitment had become that we would support...
Baroness Stroud: ...can cause destitution and lead children to experience homelessness, hunger and mental health conditions. If, as seems to be the case, group 2 refugees would be subject to NRPF, this policy may not achieve its intent. I would value the Minister setting out the exact policy intent of NRPF, as I have found it hard to find what the intent of no recourse to public funds is. My work as chair of...
Baroness Stroud: ...been a place of sanctuary. Post-Brexit global Britain should aspire to continue this tradition. While I agree with the objectives of the Bill, I will start with why I am raising concerns that it may not achieve its stated aim, and I will then turn to areas where it could be constructively amended, which it would be good to explore in Committee. As we have heard, the Bill aims to...
Baroness Stroud: ...myself to keep listening. It has been really helpful to have everybody’s feedback tonight. It is, however, as we all know, the eve of the Budget and I am still hopeful that inside No. 11 there may be ears to hear what we are saying tonight. It would cause me great sadness to divide the House on an issue on which we should all be so firmly united—the protection of the poorest in our...
Baroness Stroud: ...can choose not to accept it; we are not forcing legislation on the other place. The House of Lords cannot force legislation on the House of Commons. The House of Commons must agree to this and may choose not to. Process, scope and convention aside, why do I believe so strongly that this issue should be of interest to this House? The reality is that the removal of the £20 uplift should...
Baroness Stroud: ...investment should remain. I have heard it said that the £20 uplift has to go to protect work incentives. This is a totally specious argument if you understand anything about universal credit. It may be an argument for increasing the work allowance, or lowering the taper rate, but it cannot be an argument for protecting work incentives. The work allowance always makes it pay to take work,...
Baroness Stroud: ...attached, often alone at home, to their smartphones or computers. We must look at the impact that social media has on a young person’s self-esteem, the damaging material that many young people may be exposed to, and the impact that increased discussion and awareness of mental health issues may have on normalising mental health issues in a young person’s mind. We must also explore the...
Baroness Stroud: ...said, on foetal development and on-going stresses, such as domestic abuse, can disrupt babies’ neural development. Finally, I am delighted that guidance will recognise that while pregnancy may increase risk of abuse, the interaction with health professionals provides an opportunity for women to seek support, as well as for professionals to reach out to women who may be experiencing...
Baroness Stroud: ...is not a gendered issue, the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London, in conjunction with For Baby’s Sake, found that intervening in the perinatal period may prevent early childhood trauma and its consequences. New fatherhood is a motivator for change in men who use violence in their relationships. Therefore, intervening in the perinatal period and...