Contributions
879 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment BillMy Lords, I will raise a couple of broader points about where we are. A strong leadership system operates well when you have only two parties represented on a council. We are…23 Apr 2026HANSARDWorld Economic Outlook: UK Growth and InflationMy Lords, I declare an interest as a recipient of very considerable welfare payments in the form of my old-age pension and my wife’s old-age pension. The whole discussion about…22 Apr 2026HANSARDCivil Preparedness for WarMy Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Robertson, gave me a copy of his Salisbury speech last week. I want to quote the final sentence because, in some ways, that speech was a cry of…20 Apr 2026HANSARDBusiness Improvement District Ballots: Digital VotingMy Lords, a quick look at international comparisons for introducing digital voting suggests that experiments in other advanced democratic countries have shown that it is okay at…20 Apr 2026HANSARDStrategic Defence Review: FundingMy Lords, I say simply from the Liberal Democrat Benches that I cannot think how many times I have spoken to the noble Lord, Lord Robertson, in the last few months. We are fully…16 Apr 2026HANSARDDiego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory BillMy Lords, the Minister says that this is a vital base for Britain as well as for the United States. Just how vital is it for Britain? Nearly 20 years ago, I did some work and…14 Apr 2026HANSARDMinisterial Salaries (Amendment) BillMy Lords, we on these Benches support this modest improvement. In the late 19th century, the Liberal Party spent a great deal of time campaigning for MPs to be paid, against…14 Apr 2026HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment BillMy Lords, I looked last night at Labour’s 2024 manifesto and would like to quote, extremely briefly, a few phrases from it. It said: “Labour is committed to strengthening our…13 Apr 2026HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment BillMy Lords, I rise to talk to Amendment 181, which is grouped with this. Britain has an unwritten constitution, which gives us flexibility but also lacks constraint on changing…26 Mar 2026HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment BillBefore the noble Baroness sits down, can she clarify one point? We are heading towards a model of English governance in which there will be roughly 35 elected mayors. Do the…26 Mar 2026HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment BillThis time on a Thursday afternoon, just before the Recess, is not the ideal time to call a Division, much as many of us on these Benches would have liked to do so. We do not…26 Mar 2026HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill26 Mar 2026HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment BillCan the Minister explain what a “devolution island” is?24 Mar 2026HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment BillMy Lords, democracy starts with local engagement. As the saying goes, all politics is local, and people start by worrying about their own local community. We talk about pride of…24 Mar 2026HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment BillMy Lords, I am not at all sure that the Government understand that decentralisation and devolution are fundamentally different things. What we have here is a Bill for continued…24 Mar 2026HANSARDLord Mandelson: Response to Humble Address MotionMy Lords, we on these Benches hesitate to criticise the due diligence process by the security services and the Civil Service; it seems to have been effectively and efficiently…17 Mar 2026HANSARDIranian State-sponsored Cyber Attacks: Mitigation and PreparationMy Lords, if we are going to have a whole-society response, we had better make sure that the whole society is informed about the nature of the threat. Nearly a year ago, the…11 Mar 2026HANSARDIran and the Middle EastMy Lords, we are hearing from administrative figures in the United States, including the Secretary of War, that this is a crusade and that we are fighting a battle between…09 Mar 2026HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment BillMy Lords, this is not the first time I have found myself getting in the way of the last part of a Bill, usually in talking about territorial extent. The last train that would get…05 Mar 2026HANSARDBallot Secrecy Act: BreachesMy Lords, family voting, as it is now called, is not an entirely new phenomenon. When I first started out as a candidate, a very long time ago, it was most common in working-class…04 Mar 2026