Contributions
879 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDPublic Sector: Working From HomeClearly, if we are going to raise public service productivity, we must tackle training and skills. I deeply regret that the coalition Government sold off the National School of…20 Mar 2025HANSARDVictory in Europe and Japan: 80th AnniversariesMy Lords, I welcome this Statement. I encourage the Government to make as much as possible of this, as an opportunity to explain to our younger generation and educate them on the…20 Mar 2025HANSARDOverseas Companies: UK-registered SubsidiariesMy Lords, noble Lords will recall that, when the Covid pandemic broke out, the contract for setting up local testing services was given to two multinational companies, one of…17 Mar 2025HANSARDHouse of Lords (Hereditary Peers) BillMy Lords, beneath the wide-ranging and sometimes unfocused discussion we have had on these amendments, there is a degree of limited consensus that we should build on. The…12 Mar 2025HANSARDHouse of Lords (Hereditary Peers) BillMy Lords, I support the sentiment of this amendment. Again, this is a longer-term issue, but separating the honour from the obligation is an important part of how we should be…12 Mar 2025HANSARDHouse of Lords (Hereditary Peers) BillMy Lords, my noble friend Lord Scriven has his name to Amendments 48 and 49 but is unable to be here, sadly, so let me speak briefly from our Benches. I declare my interests as a…12 Mar 2025HANSARDCouncil of Nations and RegionsTo ask His Majesty’s Government what are the intended functions and constitutional role of the Council of Nations and Regions.11 Mar 2025HANSARDCouncil of Nations and RegionsMy Lords, the devolution White Paper said that the Council of the Nations and Regions “will provide unparalleled opportunities for Mayors … to engage government at the highest…11 Mar 2025HANSARDHouse of Lords (Hereditary Peers) BillMy Lords, this and the next three groups are about related issues, and we cannot avoid moving from one on to the other. They are about limiting the conditions under which one…10 Mar 2025HANSARDHouse of Lords (Hereditary Peers) BillMy Lords, the noble Earl, Lord Dundee, has just indicated the difficulty of discussing some of the broader issues that this Bill raises when we have so many different groupings. I…03 Mar 2025HANSARDHouse of Lords (Hereditary Peers) BillMy Lords, I remind the Conservative Benches that if we are talking about what has been in manifestos, there was a very clear pledge in the 2019 Conservative manifesto to set up a…03 Mar 2025HANSARDHouse of Lords (Hereditary Peers) BillThe first four separate amendments seem to me to have a very natural linkage, and it would have been much more sensible to debate them in a group, for example.03 Mar 2025HANSARDHouse of Lords (Hereditary Peers) BillWell, let us agree to differ on that. The Gordon Brown proposals are out there, and there are a range of other matters that we could begin to pull together very quickly; we do not…03 Mar 2025HANSARDEuropean Union: Court of JusticeMy Lords, I regularly hear from the Conservative Benches the idea that the worst thing we could ever do is to accept some sort of alignment of regulation with the European Union.…26 Feb 2025HANSARDUkraineMy Lords, can I ask about expertise within the Government on Europe and the Russian sphere, so to speak? I well remember that there used to be a very good Soviet cadre, and an…25 Feb 2025HANSARDUK-EU RelationsMy Lords, we on these Benches note with interest the call from the noble Lord, Lord True, for a substantial increase in our defence spending—and no doubt for the higher taxes to…13 Feb 2025HANSARDBritish CouncilMy Lords, we welcome today the vice-chair of the British Council as a new Labour Peer. We on these Benches look forward to robust defence of the British Council from the…13 Feb 2025HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Local GovernmentMy Lords, the White Paper seems to have a dreadful confusion between local and regional running throughout it. Does the Minister share my concern about the low level of public…12 Feb 2025HANSARDProcurement Act 2023 (Consequential and Other Amendments) Regulations 2025My Lords, I may be the only person here who actually took part in the Committee and Report stages of the Procurement Act, to which we are considering this SI. The Minister may…10 Feb 2025HANSARDBelarus: ElectionsMy Lords, does the Minister agree that what happens in Belarus depends, more than anything else, on the outcome of the war in Ukraine? In the support we give Ukraine, we must all…10 Feb 2025