Contributions
149 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDAgriculture BillMy Lords, I put my name to Amendment 271 with a degree of sadness, just as, I am sure, the current Defra Secretary of State did when he was temporarily out of office last year. He…28 Jul 2020HANSARDAgriculture BillMy Lords, I shall speak to Amendment 227, in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Young. England—not Britain, but England—is the fifth most densely populated country in the world,…23 Jul 2020HANSARDAgriculture BillMy Lords, I have christened this group of amendments, “Mind the gap”. We need some sort of rethink from the Government on a safer way forward. I support Amendment 143. When I…21 Jul 2020HANSARDAgriculture BillMy Lords, I would like to speak briefly to Amendment 162 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh. I totally support the words of the noble Lord, Lord Curry, and I too…21 Jul 2020HANSARDAgriculture BillMy Lords, when I first saw the amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, I was very supportive of the concept of providing a bottom rung for aspiring farmers. After all, who…21 Jul 2020HANSARDAgriculture BillMy Lords, I want to speak to my Amendment 156. It tries to ensure that as many as possible farming families, who, to me, are the backbone of rural England, will be able to survive…21 Jul 2020HANSARDAgriculture BillMy Lords, I thank the Minister very much for his extensive response to this debate. When will he be able to tell us whether there will be a well-financed, ring-fenced rural fund…21 Jul 2020HANSARDAgriculture BillMy Lords, I have added my name to Amendment 131 because of the worry that political short-termism could interfere with what is a very long-term and often unstable industry. In…16 Jul 2020HANSARDAgriculture BillMy Lords, in line with this amendment, I support the principle of slaughtering animals as close as possible to their place of growth and finishing. To me, there are three main…16 Jul 2020HANSARDAgriculture BillMy Lords, on this group of amendments on training for farmers we have come to the nub, that pivotal point where this Bill will either succeed or fail in its ambitions. These…14 Jul 2020HANSARDAgriculture BillMy Lords, I am so pleased that the question of good soils found its way into this edition of the Bill. We have Rebecca Pow MP to thank for that improvement to the earlier…14 Jul 2020HANSARDAgriculture BillMy Lords, as this is the first time I have spoken in Committee, and for the purposes of all the Committee stage, I declare my interests as a retired farmer and landowner, as chair…09 Jul 2020HANSARDFisheries Bill [HL]My Lords, I noted that in the earlier version of this Fisheries Bill, which came out over 18 months ago now, there was a clause early on that tried to define a UK fishing boat as…24 Jun 2020HANSARDFisheries Bill [HL]My Lords, in any business it is important to ensure that the industry is constantly refreshed by new blood and thus new ideas and new ways of working. The difficulty of acquiring…24 Jun 2020HANSARDFisheries Bill [HL]My Lords, remote electronic monitoring will be hugely important to the future management of our fisheries, for a variety of reasons. First, we do not have the resources to police…24 Jun 2020HANSARDFisheries Bill [HL]My Lords, it is always my ambition to kick-start a change in a Bill in Committee and, hopefully, persuade the Government to pick up the baton and run with their own amendment…22 Jun 2020HANSARDSeaside ResortsMy Lords, UK rural and seaside tourism is not a good business at the best of times, with often only part-time work in the summer from which you hope to save enough to survive the…22 Jun 2020HANSARDFisheries Bill [HL]My Lords, it is probably my naivety, but it seems to me that Amendment 2 is one of those amendments that really should not cause the Government too much of a problem. It just…22 Jun 2020HANSARDFisheries Bill [HL]My Lords, my reference to the Marine (Scotland) Act was really trying to say that the authorities up there went for the socioeconomic objective rather than the long-term…22 Jun 2020HANSARDFisheries Bill [HL]My Lords, I shall speak to Amendment 14 in the name of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay of Clashfern, and I apologise to him that I did not add my name to it. Somehow, in…22 Jun 2020