Category Archives: Government

Aid, Britain, Burma, Government, Politics

UK to review foreign aid to Burma over regime fears

BURMA

GOVERNMENT minister Penny Mordaunt has pledged to review the £100million the UK gives to Burma after MPs said she must do more to ensure it is not falling into the hands of the brutal regime.

The International Development Secretary said money was being redirected to victims of ‘ethnic cleansing’.

And she vowed that no money would be given directly to the Burmese government, which has been accused of human rights abuses.

It came after the Commons international development select committee called for a ‘dramatic change’ in Britain’s approach to the Burma crisis.

It also called on the Government to admit that Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi is ‘becoming part of the problem’. The committee highlighted the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslim population.

The MPs said the main Department for International Development aid programmes were drawn up at a time of ‘high optimism’ after Miss Suu Kyi became the de facto president in 2016.

‘Since then there has been ethnic cleansing, the breaking of ceasefires, a closing of civil society space, including restrictions on media freedoms and the persecution of journalists, and a reduction in religious freedom,’ the MPs’ report said.

‘The situation has now dramatically changed and as a result we need to see dramatic change in our engagement with Burma.’

The MPs said some would argue the action against the Rohingya population, hundreds of thousands of whom have been forced to flee Bangladesh, amounted to genocide.

The report added: ‘There also needs to be a recognition by the UK Government that state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi herself is now becoming part of the problem.’

Committee chairman Stephen Twigg said: ‘British taxpayers must be assured that their money is not being used to subsidise a government accused of crimes against humanity.’

Standard
Britain, Government, Society

Britain: A Revitalised Royal Household

THE MONARCHY

IT was not so long ago when the monarchy seemed to be struggling for its very survival.

In the space of just two decades there have been two messy divorces, an explosive book about the infidelity of the heir to the throne, Camillagate, and the exploits and shenanigans of the Duchess of York. The perceived lack of emotional reaction from Buckingham Palace over the death of Princess Diana capped the turmoil of the Royal Household which looked to have lost its way. There was no doubt that public esteem for the Royal Family had hit a historic low.

 

HOW different the picture looks today. Prince Harry’s wedding to the thoroughly modern actress Meghan Markle has done far more than simply place a seal over a fairytale romance. It has symbolised the monarchy’s evolution into a contemporary institution fit for the 21st century.

And what a glorious day it was. A day in which tradition and modernity were fused in perfect harmony. We had a mixed-race divorcee bride being led down the aisle by our future king, a black Episcopalian clergyman officiating, and gospel singers complementing a traditional choir. On the hymn sheet were the soul anthem Stand By Me and that great Welsh and stirring hymn Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer.

Of course, the rehabilitation of the House of Windsor is about more than this one event. It has been a slow and gradual process.

Much of the transformative changes owes a great deal to Prince William and his own bride, who with their three children are blossoming into a modern family.

Prince Charles himself has also changed from a rather haughty, sometimes petulant royal into a more rounded and contented soul.

Above all, it has been the fortitude and selfless hard work of Her Majesty The Queen – supported in rock-like fashion by the Duke of Edinburgh – which has kept the monarchy on the rails. Through the tumult she has remained a shining example of how a sovereign should act.

If the Duchess of Sussex needs any advice, she should seek counsel from the Queen. Over the course of 65 years, she has proved herself to be the greatest royal diplomat of all.

Standard
Britain, Government, Politics, Society

The treacherous House of Lords that betrays 17.4million

BREXIT

THE House of Lords is out-of-control. This week peers inflicted their 14th successive defeat on the Government’s Brexit legislation and is exercising political grievance and gerrymandering on a grand scale. The Upper Chamber was never devised to inflict such an appalling level of embarrassment on the ruling government of the day. Even many Remain voters are appalled by the way this anachronistic chamber is over-stepping its powers.

For though most Remainer peers peddle the fiction that they are only performing their duties as a revising chamber, their aims are starkly clear: to overturn the result of the 2016 referendum.

Just look at the amendments so far. These are not adjustments in line with the Lords’ constitutional role of ironing out legislative anomalies. They are bids to derail Brexit.

Take the vote to rule out a ‘no-deal’ withdrawal. This would ban our negotiators from walking away from lousy EU terms and diktats. Yet this robs us of the most powerful card in Britain’s hand and removes any incentive for Brussels concessions. It could also postpone Brexit indefinitely.

Then there are the amendments aimed at keeping us in the customs union and the single market – the latter passed by 29 votes. Both represent assaults on the will of the electorate.

Remainers seek to justify their conduct by saying voters were too ill-informed to understand Brexit. Others claim there’s no contradiction between honouring the referendum result and remaining in the customs union and single market.

But as the Europhiles are aware, both sides in the EU campaign spelt out that withdrawal would mean leaving its two principle institutions.

 

THE REFERENDUM was authorised by a Sovereign Act of Parliament, passed by a majority of six to one in the Commons, with politicians on both sides agreeing the outcome would be binding.

In 2016, 17.4million voted Leave, giving the biggest democratic mandate for any party or policy in British history on a turnout exceeding 72 per cent.

Parliament then began the two-year countdown to Brexit – this time by 498 votes to 114 in the Commons.

The pretence that the Lords is defending the constitution is a cynical sham and is utterly disgraceful.

One might be inclined to ask who are these wreckers who believe their views should carry more weight than those of 17.4million of their countrymen?

If they were distinguished elder statesmen or giants of science or business, their opinions might command respect.

After years of being stuffed to the rafters with third-raters, this bloated legislative chamber has become an object of scorn and derision. Here sit around 100 Lib Dems, one in eight of the total number of peers, representing a party so at odds with public opinion that it boosts less than 2 per cent of elected MPs.

Others owe their ermine to no greater distinction than having shared a property with Tony Blair or by putting vast amounts of cash into party coffers.

 

AT this crucial juncture in our history, the House of Lords has violated its constitutional role. In so doing, it has surely set in motion its abolishment.

If the Conservatives are wise, they will enter the next general election on a pledge to swiftly clear this rabble who have abused the trust placed in them – and ask a Royal Commission to come up with proposals for an elected second chamber.

Standard