I want to write to Lord Grimstone of Boscobel
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: Supply chain resilience is a priority for HM Government. In October, the Prime Minister appointed Sir Dave Lewis to advise on supply chains and identify both immediate improvements and any necessary long-term changes. We are working to secure the supply chains of the future already, including for critical minerals, by working with like-minded nations around the world. Although not every...
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: The United Kingdom is strongly committed to our trade and investment relationship with Israel. A public consultation on an enhanced bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) with Israel was formally launched on 1st February 2022. We are now in the process of analysing the responses we received during this consultation and will publish a formal response to this in due course.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: My Lords, taken in isolation, the direct impacts on inflation and the cost of living in the United Kingdom will be negligible. The UK imports a very small amount of wheat from India; 88% of the wheat used in the UK is grown here. However, the UK is encouraging all countries to keep their global supply chains open to minimise the global pressure on food costs and, of course, to enhance global...
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: The right reverend Prelate makes good points. The cause of the Indian action is the current heatwave in India curtailing wheat production, which is expected to fall for the first time in some years. However, we have had dialogue with them and we are putting pressure on them, because it does no one any good if people shut down their borders in relation to food supply. As for the dire situation...
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: My Lords, we are indeed working with our G7 partners to bolster the global market and to secure the export of wheat and other grains from Ukraine through grain corridors. I am proud that over 50 WTO members have now supported us in committing to keeping food markets open, predictable and transparent.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: That is an important point, and I will write to the noble Lord giving some background on it.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: My Lords, we had a good debate on these matters yesterday in the debate on the gracious Speech. We are all working very hard on this. However, noble Lords will appreciate that the scope for direct action on this is limited.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: My Lords, working together is obviously extremely important in a situation such as this. I will read the report to which the noble Lord refers and take it up.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: My Lords, as I said earlier, only a very small amount indeed of Indian wheat comes to the UK. Indeed, the majority of production of wheat in India contributes to the domestic market. India produced 109 million tonnes of wheat last year, and of that no less than 90 million was consumed domestically.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: My Lords, I think that following this Question we have an Urgent Question on food shortages, and that may be the opportunity to go more into the detail on that. Of course, the Government understand and deeply sympathise with the fact that the rising cost of living is making life harder for people. We should all be concerned about that, and we should all look for ways in which to ameliorate that.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: My Lords, that is a good point, but I think that the House will appreciate that changing railway gauges is a complex process, which cannot be done in the short term. Let us hope that this conflict does not go on for so long that that becomes the solution.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: My Lords, my department has taken strong action in relation to this, either reducing or eliminating tariffs from Ukraine, which was obviously the right thing to do in the terrible situation facing the people of Ukraine.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: My Lords, food security is, of course, immensely important, and no more important than at the present time. We are fortunate in this country in that we grow most of the wheat that we consume, and I am sure that the lessons that we should all learn from the need for resilience is to boost domestic production wherever possible.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: My Lords, I am sure that those discussions are continuing, but I think that the House will appreciate that we are deep in a conflict there and, when one is deep in conflict, those things are very hard to achieve, much though one might wish them to be achieved.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: My Lords, it is a great honour to open this debate on Her Majesty’s gracious Speech on the important issues of foreign affairs, defence and trade. I am also delighted to be joined by my noble friend Lord Ahmad, who I know will employ his trademark expertise and erudition to good effect. When my noble friends Lady Goldie and Lord Ahmad stood at this Dispatch Box a year ago to open and close...
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.