On Tuesday 22nd September, a Labour peer called the UK’s lack of action over a devastating fire at a migrant camp in Greece an “absolute disgrace”. Two weeks agoa fire occurred at the Moria Registration and Identification Centre (RIC), incinerating tents that had been home to 13,000 people, including at least 4,000 children. Now, leaders in the UK including Yvette Cooper have urged the UK to take in some of these refugees.
Only recently, Lord Loomba supported a specific amendment to the Immigration Bill that would also assist displaced people and go some way to fulfilling humanitarian obligations to refugees. He said, “The Amendment will help those fleeing conflict and persecution in their own country to build their lives in the UK. I support the amendment because it has the foresight to do something positive for displaced people at a time in their lives when they often have no one to turn to, and no means of supporting themselves and their family. The amendment would help this country through the skilled workers who wish to make it their home.”
Lord Loomba also queried what preparations have been made regarding the country’s ability to provide enough power from the national grid to support wider usage of electric cars, to ensure that there are no outages of supply. He reminded the House of the problems that ensued when there was an outage of supply in August 2019 that resulted in chaos on the road and rail networks as well as affecting supplies to many homes and businesses.
Lord Loomba also participated during questions on both the levelling-up agenda and entitlement to benefits for people self-isolating due to coronavirus. Focusing his remarks on the campaign to get better resources to the red wall seats in the North, Lord Loomba asked how does the Government propose to ensure levelling up across the whole of the country, especially with regard to non-reserved matters, such as education and health?
He was also concerned that the new entitlement to benefits when mandated to self-isolate would not cover all situations that people found themselves in. Noting that it appeared to be aimed at geographical areas where Covid-19 was prevalent he wanted to know what people would do if they were mandated to self-isolate after travelling from a specific country or working in a specific workplace? In these circumstances; he asked, how will such people be covered by any benefits so that the choice is not between feeding themselves or health protection for anyone affected?
On the quality of aid-spending in the UK which is monitored by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) he said, “I am concerned that with the forthcoming review of its remit, and in the light of reports that the aid budget will be reduced, how will the commission ensure its independence and maintain its primary purpose?
