Contributions
734 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDSkills and Post-16 Education Bill [HL]My Lords, as the Minister who gave the authorisation to Crossrail, I can say that it was never the intention that the Central line would close; there would be pandemonium in…24 Mar 2022HANSARDElections BillThat should be a matter of huge concern. In an extraordinarily un-Conservative statement earlier, the noble Baroness said that voting in the way that we used to vote 50 years ago…21 Mar 2022HANSARDElections BillMy Lords, the speech that we have just heard from the noble Lord was utterly compelling. Indeed, he gave the House a detail that I was not aware of about the impacts of compulsory…21 Mar 2022HANSARDElections BillThe issue that I hope the Minister will address, and which goes to the heart of my noble friend’s Amendment 64, is that he said when he replied to me earlier that, under paragraph…21 Mar 2022HANSARDElections BillThere is a fundamental issue. The Minister has said that it will be possible to apply for the two at the same time, but paragraph 2(4) of Schedule 1 says: “Regulations may make…21 Mar 2022HANSARDElections BillThat is a fundamental point. They were piloted in local elections. The scale of the pilots has not been nearly proportionate to the scale of the proposed reform.21 Mar 2022HANSARDElections BillThe Minister has been extremely helpful on this point. An extremely important statement has been made from the Front Bench. To close the point completely, in the regulations that…21 Mar 2022HANSARDElections BillThe point is that the MP would be turned away, because that pass does not mean that someone can turn up and vote. The pass is an accepted document with which someone could apply…21 Mar 2022HANSARDElections BillMy noble friend makes a compelling point, which is really a point for the noble Lord, Lord Willetts, as he constructs that amendment that I very much hope he will bring back on…21 Mar 2022HANSARDElections BillDoes the Minister therefore intend to accept my noble friend Lady Hayman of Ullock’s Amendment 64, which says that explicitly?21 Mar 2022HANSARDElections BillMy Lords, I am sorry to labour the point, but can the Minister write to us on this? It is one thing for him to say what the Government’s policy is but what the law says is…21 Mar 2022HANSARDElections BillMy Lords, I was not absolutely clear from what the Minister said whether the phrase “undue spiritual pressure” exists in existing legislation. He may not have the answer to that,…21 Mar 2022HANSARDElections BillMy Lords, I want to return to what the Minister said in the last group, because it is going to be of great importance as this House proceeds with the Bill. I totally and…21 Mar 2022HANSARDElections BillMy Lords, the underlying issue here clearly might lead to concern in certain circumstances, but the point I took the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, to be making is that this is a very…21 Mar 2022HANSARDElections BillMy Lords, the figures that the noble Lord gave will of course be of concern to the Committee and to any reasonable person following our proceedings. I have just been reading the…21 Mar 2022HANSARDElections BillI am grateful to my noble friend for giving way. What he and the Committee are addressing are the potentially very serious but unknown and unquantified ill effects of this reform.…21 Mar 2022HANSARDElections BillThe noble Lord is implicitly saying that he does not regard the Conservative Party manifesto as extending to photo ID. Indeed, there is a very good reason for not regarding it as…21 Mar 2022HANSARDElections BillThe big issue in Tower Hamlets, which the noble Lord referred to earlier, was electoral registration. What happened there was clearly improper registration. If the issue of…21 Mar 2022HANSARDElections BillIf I may intervene, I knew where the pilots had taken place, but they were not nearly proportionate to the scale of the reforms being introduced. We do not know anything about…21 Mar 2022HANSARDElections BillHas not the noble Lord just undermined his own argument, then? If things are moving in the right direction, with what problem is this legislation seeking to deal? In addition, the…21 Mar 2022