Contributions
313 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDPlanning and Infrastructure BillMy Lords, I strongly support this set of amendments, particularly Amendment 135HZE, which I think my noble friend is just about to wrap up on. Noble Lords will recall that I have…04 Sept 2025HANSARDPlanning and Infrastructure BillI will answer the noble Lord’s question directly, because this is an unsatisfactory state of affairs. The points I have just made—04 Sept 2025HANSARDPlanning and Infrastructure BillI am grateful to my noble friends for answering some of the technical questions for me. I was not aware of the numbers, but I am better apprised now. The point I was trying to…04 Sept 2025HANSARDPlanning and Infrastructure BillBefore the Minister sits down, I have a question. She mentioned that when Ministers—who are lay people, not specialists in this field or professionally qualified in planning—take…04 Sept 2025HANSARDLocal Audit (Amendment of Definition of Smaller Authority) Regulations 2025My Lords, I declare an interest as I have, in the past few days, stepped down as the vice-chairman of the local government resources panel, which has oversight of audit and…03 Sept 2025HANSARDLocal Audit (Amendment of Definition of Smaller Authority) Regulations 2025As the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, was speaking, I was looking at the RPI tables from the Office for National Statistics. Had the £6.5 million been increased by inflation, it would…03 Sept 2025HANSARDLocal Audit (Amendment of Definition of Smaller Authority) Regulations 2025I am grateful to the Minister for that important clarification, which will give local taxpayers a great degree of reassurance that this is wholly separate from the LGR process.03 Sept 2025HANSARDPlanning and Infrastructure BillMy Lords, I support Amendment 79A in the name of my noble friend Lord Swire about the presumption in favour of burying cables as the default method. He spoke of insanity, but I…01 Sept 2025HANSARDPlanning and Infrastructure BillI am reminded to reprise what the noble Lord, Lord Khan, said earlier about the need to have pre-scrutiny and the fact that a national organisation, the HSE, was the competent…01 Sept 2025HANSARDPlanning and Infrastructure BillThe point is that the difficulty that farmers are under may be aggravated by poor weather, either too wet or too cold, but the real problem is that this Government are engaged in…01 Sept 2025HANSARDPlanning and Infrastructure BillI am prompted to intervene only because the head of the noble Lord, Lord Khan, nearly seems to be falling off with nodding. The point is that the NSIP regime is combining schemes…01 Sept 2025HANSARDPlanning and Infrastructure BillTrue. The noble Lord makes a good point, and so I sense even further a degree of consensus on both sides of the Committee on this matter. If we take the fact that the grid…01 Sept 2025HANSARDPlanning and Infrastructure BillMy Lords, I speak to Amendment 92 in my name. The amendment is simple and straightforward: it recognises that solar farms have a role to play in our energy security, but that that…01 Sept 2025HANSARDPlanning and Infrastructure BillMy Lords, we have had an interesting, brief debate which actually had a few twists and turns. The Minister asked me whether I was satisfied with his response and I regret to say…01 Sept 2025HANSARDPlanning and Infrastructure BillMy Lords, I will not detain the Committee greatly with this amendment. It seeks to ensure that, when electricity storage systems are planned, it is with the full knowledge and…01 Sept 2025HANSARDPlanning and Infrastructure Bill01 Sept 2025HANSARDEmployment Rights BillMy Lords, I will speak to all the amendments in this group. I approach it from the perspective that democracy is always about cherishing minority views and making reasonable…21 Jul 2025HANSARDRenters’ Rights BillMy Lords, I shall speak on Amendment 47 in the name of the noble Baroness, Baroness Miller. I speak as a landlord of rental properties in Norwich, as declared in the register.…07 Jul 2025HANSARDRenters’ Rights BillWe can bandy around the distinction regarding the superior landlord with the offshore pension fund and hundreds of thousands of dwellings, but what about the small charity that…07 Jul 2025HANSARDRenters’ Rights BillMy Lords, I will speak briefly against Amendment 61. It is well-meaning, but I am afraid it is a blunt instrument full of unintended consequences. I do not deny that to require a…07 Jul 2025