International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Bill

My Lords, I hope that the noble Lord will not mind me interrupting, but this is Committee stage a...

I am speaking to the amendment. It is a very modest amendment: it just introduces the word “a”. T...

My Lords, this Bill has cross-party support.

We will see about the support. I am sure my noble friend is right that there different views in d...

I apologise for intervening on my noble friend. After five minutes he is obviously gearing up to ...

My noble friend is absolutely right. It is the second “the” that I seek to change. I am most grat...

The noble Lord said that he was not going to make a Second Reading speech, and that is exactly wh...

I am making a speech which puts the context, which is essential for all the amendments on the Mar...

The noble Lord is not listening to the Committee. Will he please address whichever “the” or “a” i...

The reason for changing the Bill in this way to make it less bad is the contents of the Bill. The...

I have a question which is directly relevant to the amendment. Yesterday, I was told that we cann...

That is a question for the promoters of this Bill, not for me. However, it is certainly a good qu...

This has absolutely nothing to do with the Bill. The noble Lord may have a very fine record—I wou...

I am talking about debt relief for low-income countries. This is just prolonging the debate. I do...

The noble Lord, Lord Lawson, and I used to be Members of the other place. Does he recall that if ...

That is a bit rich coming from the noble Lord.

The noble Lord is absolutely right.

Amendment proposed, “Page 1, line 2, leave out the second “the” and insert “a”.

My Lords, I support the amendment, the purpose of which is to remove a fixed target—“the”—and to ...

My noble friend Lord Lawson made an interesting speech. It did not command the total agreement of...

I understood the noble Lord, Lord Lawson, to say that he meant to say that it was the second “the...

I appreciate what the noble Countess is saying but the point is central regardless of which “the”...

My Lords, I have been listening very carefully but I have yet to hear any justification for the a...

We are trying to have, I hope, a sensible, analytical debate in your Lordships’ House on how we c...

I understood the mover of the amendment to accept that it was not what he intended to achieve. He...

I wonder whether the noble Baroness was listening when the Lord Speaker put the question. She put...

I am sorry if the noble Baroness is worried about this because she has some extremely valid and i...

The Committee has been very patient. This is a Second Reading speech and these are arguments that...

Hear, hear!

I hesitate to disagree with the noble Countess, but the Committee stage is where we should look a...

I wrote to the noble Lord when he left the Foreign Office because I had so much respect for the c...

I appreciate the contribution that the noble Lord makes, but I have not spoken against the Bill; ...

Will the noble Lord accept that the clause does not use the word “prime”, either with the first “...

I am sorry; I am not quite sure what point the noble Lord is making. I am trying to deliver the l...

My Lords, I want to make one observation, which alas may be deemed to be going for the man rather...

My Lords, perhaps I could make a very brief intervention. My noble friend referred to the Colonia...

My Lords, I was not able to attend Second Reading because of long-term commitments in Norfolk. Th...

Perhaps the noble Lord might be able to help me and in so doing, I hope, help the House. I unders...

My Lords, there are two themes to all our amendments: hypothecation is one and the other is value...

My Lords, with some trepidation I rise to speak to this amendment. Perhaps I should make it absol...

I apologise to the noble Lord, but his noble friend sitting next to him said that he got the wron...

Very occasionally, my noble friend gets things wrong. I thought that we should we speak to the am...

The noble Lord’s noble friend—the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale—reminded the noble Baroness, Lady...

In which case my noble friend got it right and that is what we will discuss. If we are to talk ab...

I apologise to the noble Lord. With that point, is he now addressing Amendment 2, which is in a s...

No, but I will do so at length—I keep being interrupted—when we get to Amendment 2. I am simply m...

I apologise, but just point out that the second “the” would make it the duty of “a” Secretary of ...

If ever I am on a charge, I will make sure my noble and learned friend is there to defend me. If ...

Come on, Michael.

I am sorry that the noble Lord does not seem to accept my word on that.

Anyway, to the find...

No.

The noble Countess says no. I could go through the whole of the report strengthening the point ab...

My Lords, I am now puzzled. Usually, I can follow the logic of the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth. The ...

I apologise to the noble Baroness, but I think that she is making a Second Reading speech with th...

I have.

No, she has not, because if she had read the report she would not have made that intervention. Th...

We have already heard that on a number of occasions, and this repetition is becoming tedious.

I defer to the noble Lord, who is the absolute expert, as acknowledged by everyone in the House, ...

My Lords, I make a very brief intervention in support of the word used by my noble friend Lord Bu...

Will the noble Lord comment on whether it might be better if some aid projects were managed by th...

All I would say is that if we are talking about 0.7%, it should include every contribution made b...

My Lords, before we go any further, can I just get something clear? Are we talking about “a” duty...

My Lords, I recognise that it is unusual for the Chair to make an intervention in Committee like ...

My Lords, perhaps I may make a short intervention arising from the comments of my noble friends L...

My Lords—

Let me go on, if I may, because we have just heard the noble Lord. If he will just be patient, th...

I am most grateful to my noble friend. When I used the phrase “the money had been rushed out”, I ...

I am grateful, but not for the first time I think that Margaret Hodge is wrong. When my noble fri...

When my noble friend says that I am wrong to say that it was rushed out, does he acknowledge that...

No, I do not think it does and for the reasons I have just stated. Untypically, I do not think th...

Can my noble friend comment on the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Butler, about hypothecation...

I am, in fact, comfortable in this position, because I think that we have a particular duty as fa...

My Lords, as the sponsor, I will attempt to sum up this short debate. Perhaps the House will offe...

The noble Lord referred to me but he has misrepresented what I said. I did not say that the UN ta...

Yes; and indeed that seems a very tempting preview of the debate on the next amendment. My noble ...

My Lords—

I will give way to my noble friend in just a moment. The questions about the undertaking we have ...

I am not going to quibble with 0.7%, nor with the idea of the target. However, will the noble Lor...

I not only respect my noble friend but acknowledge the point that he makes. However, I will refer...

My Lords, we have had an interesting debate so far. I would like to reply to some of the points t...

My Lords, I am afraid the noble Lord is slipping into Second Reading mode again. Would he kindly ...

This is the necessary background to the amendment. I repeat what my noble friend Lord MacGregor s...

Will the noble Lord accept that the noble Lord who is proposing the Bill showed some respect to t...

I was not repeating myself in the slightest. I was making a number of additional points which are...

Moved by

Lord Tugendhat

2: Clause 1, page 1, line 4, leave out “national income” and ...

My Lords, this amendment stands in my name and in the names of my noble friend Lord Forsyth and t...

My Lords, I rise to support my noble friend’s amendment. It may seem a nitpicking point to distin...

The noble Lord is very rude today.

Well, I have been on the receiving end of a certain amount of abuse, and this is a very important...

This is a sensible change proposed by my noble friend Lord Tugendhat. It would obviously put the ...

My Lords, I sat through virtually the whole of the Second Reading debate, as my noble friend Lord...

I very much support my noble friend Lord Tugendhat’s amendment. In the spirit of my noble friend ...

My Lords, I intervene briefly at the invitation of my noble friend Lord Forsyth. Amendment 2, pro...

I apologise if my noble friend thought I was referring to her. I was referring to the Opposition....

That does not make it better.

Being somewhat short, I could not see who was over there and who my noble friend might have been ...

I think my noble friend would acknowledge that the target originally set by the UN was GDP. This ...

Certainly. GNI became the preferred method of measuring a country’s wealth. As I said, we are mee...

I do not dispute the truth of what my noble friend said, but could she tell us when and why this ...

I think I just said when this change occurred. I emphasise too that the budget is subject to annu...

My Lords, I regret that I cannot accept my noble friend Lord Tugendhat’s amendment. Let me explai...

What are we doing here? Are we passing law that affects what the United Kingdom will do in terms ...

We are making law and debating an amendment that proposes a change to the Bill. I have explained ...

My Lords, I thank those noble Lords who have participated in the debate. I also thank the propose...

Moved by

Lord Forsyth of Drumlean

3: Clause 1, page 1, line 5, leave out from “kingdo...

My Lords, the amendment seeks to leave out the provision for meeting the aid target annually and ...

At the risk of provoking the noble Lord to read out the whole of the NAO report, I hope that he w...

I am not seeking to take sides with anyone. If the National Audit Office and the Chairman of the ...

The report, which I have read in great detail, praises the department for the way in which it sou...

And rightly so. The department is absolutely heroic. It has been given an impossible task. If the...

I am delighted that the noble Lord has repeated my argument.

The noble Lord’s argument is no good if we stick with the provisions in the Bill, because, as he ...

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for giving way, but I want to introduce a degree of rea...

I am grateful to the noble Lord for making my argument, because if he really is concerned about t...

My Lords—

I will, if I may, reply to the noble Lord’s noble friend first. This is the National Audit Office...

I am again grateful to the noble Lord, and this, I promise your Lordships, will be my last interv...

I agree that I could not make the noble Lord’s arguments because they are confused. He is confusi...

I thank the noble Lord for allowing me to respond to his reference to my Second Reading speech. I...

My Lords, before my noble friend replies to the noble Lord, will he confirm that he is speaking t...

It is true that there are a lot of amendments in the group but they are consequential on the conc...

My Lords, unfortunately, I was not able to speak in the Second Reading debate, even though I was ...

My Lords, I had not intended to speak a second time, but I feel that I cannot allow the words of ...

I thank the noble Lord. I am happy to go back to the record but I think that it will show that I ...

Perhaps I may ask the noble Lord whether he believes that the way in which one’s words are viewed...

My Lords, I have always believed that we must speak in defence of our principles without hesitati...

I am afraid that the way in which human beings are constructed means that error is endemic in all...

My Lords, I have very few qualifications for speaking in these debates, although I had the extrem...

My Lords, I listened almost with amusement to the last forceful intervention of the noble Lord, L...

I follow my noble friend Lord Howell on the remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Cashman. He is absolu...

My Lords, in considering this group of amendments, I hear what my noble friends are saying about ...

My Lords—

12.45 pm

I think I had better continue. I am sure the noble Lord will wish to come in later. Therefore, a ...

My Lords—

I am not going to give way. I will carry on in the interests of time. We also faced Typhoon Haiya...

I am most grateful to my noble friend for giving way. I think that her argument is that, if the d...

My noble friend has made his case very clear and others have, too, but we are managing the budget...

Before my noble friend sits down, one point on which it would be helpful if she could come back—p...

I do not need to come back on Report, because I hope that I can answer my noble friend now. I fin...

As I understand the Bill, it places a duty on the Secretary of State to meet the target. If the t...

I am sure that my noble friend Lord Purvis will address this issue. It is a Private Member’s Bill...

I hope very much that my noble friend Lord Purvis will give a full and complete answer to the imp...

On the point of creating impressions, my noble friend might be interested to know that the noble ...

That is disgraceful. No doubt the noble Lord, Lord Cashman, will want to withdraw his tweet. I am...

My Lords, I think it might be sensible if we adjourn for five minutes, if that is the wish of the...

My Lords, I am very sorry for the cause of the disturbance. I hope the noble Baroness who had the...

My Lords, I also reinforce the concern for the noble Baroness. We have had an hour on this group ...

I have just one very small point. I simply do not understand why my noble friend cannot grasp tha...

My noble friend again conflates two aspects. One is that we are not dealing with annual programme...

My Lords—

I have obviously not satisfied my noble friend, but with the clarification provided on the first ...

I am rather alarmed by that, because I thought that I must be misreading the Bill, because I aske...

It is not just what is on the tin but what is in the Bill. I am a proud parliamentarian. I take v...

My Lords, we have had a very interesting debate, particularly that last confirmation from the pro...

Good.

The noble Baroness, for whom I have the highest regard, says, “Good”. I have to say that the Euro...

It was some years ago now that I went to visit my noble friend Lord Patten of Barnes when he was ...

Indeed, and while I do not particularly wish to detain the House, that is also an issue for DfID....

That was a government decision.

I do not know whether the noble Baroness shares my concern, but she is quite right that it was a ...

My Lords—

In a second. Indeed, the promoter of the Bill at Second Reading in the other place, Michael Moore...

My Lords, in view of the fact that we have two Second Readings on the Order Paper, I beg to move ...