Contributions
1,746 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Domestic Abuse BillI think there are times and places to have these debates. We take different views, but this is not the time or place to have the debate, and to say more would be to worsen that…06 Jul 2020HANSARD Domestic Abuse BillI will in a second. But more than that, it may even frustrate the very purpose of the Bill by putting vulnerable women, already suffering from the fear that I described, into an…06 Jul 2020HANSARD Domestic Abuse BillI am pleased to follow the hon. Gentleman, who, as I said, has made a persuasive case, to which I hope the Government will respond in the way he suggests. For most of us, home is…06 Jul 2020HANSARD Domestic Abuse BillWhile my right hon. and learned Friend is in the mood to concede and be generous, might I ask him to look again at the issue of maximum and minimum sentences? He is of course…06 Jul 2020HANSARD Domestic Abuse BillI was not going to deal with new clause 28 because it has been debated at some length, but I simply say to the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Dame Diana Johnson), who…06 Jul 2020HANSARD Domestic Abuse BillI welcome and endorse the hon. Gentleman’s excellent amendments. Not for the first time, he has brought brain injury to the attention of this House. I wonder if I might, through…06 Jul 2020HANSARD Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) BillMy hon. Friend is right about the balance between migration from outside the EU and from within it, but we need to cut immigration per se. It is not just a question of…30 Jun 2020HANSARD Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill [Lords]We are already in that place. There was a time when what my hon. Friend says is right—that fault had to be established to get divorced at all. But for a very long time now, we…17 Jun 2020HANSARD Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill [Lords]My hon. Friend is making a compelling argument on an amendment that seeks to make what most sensible people would regard as a modest change to the Bill, which is simply to say…17 Jun 2020HANSARD Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill [Lords]With a mix of assiduity and diligence, for which she is becoming well known in this House, the hon. Lady has fleshed out my argument with the facts that I did not have at my…17 Jun 2020HANSARD Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill [Lords]Yes, that is certainly true. Relationships do decline over time. Of course, my hon. Friend is right that in some cases the process of beginning a divorce will not be the start,…17 Jun 2020HANSARD Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill [Lords]But it is even worse than that because, as the Law Society points out, the respondent might not even know that they were being divorced. It will usually be a lady who is divorced…17 Jun 2020HANSARD Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill [Lords]Of course what the hon. Gentleman says is entirely reasonable—that where there is no fault it is right that that should be acknowledged. Where there is fault, should that be…17 Jun 2020HANSARD Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill [Lords]I say this in the spirit of generosity that characterises my view of the Minister, but we conceded that point about fault. The amendment suggests that the Government support…17 Jun 2020HANSARD Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill [Lords]I will happily give way briefly, but I do not want to truncate the Minister’s time.17 Jun 2020HANSARD Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill [Lords]My hon. Friend will, of course, understand from the personal experience of his constituents and from other experience that he has enjoyed that the acrimony he described is often…17 Jun 2020HANSARD Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill [Lords]C S Lewis said: “We are all fallen creatures and all very hard to live with.” Since the fall from the state of grace, the prevailing condition of humankind has been imperfection.…17 Jun 2020HANSARD Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill [Lords]Yes, if the Government carry on down this road, we will have Las Vegas-style drive-through divorces. The hon. Gentleman is right. The Law Society suggested 9 months, and it was 12…17 Jun 2020HANSARD Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing BillI will give way to the right hon. Gentleman and, in doing so, apologise for not being here for his opening remarks.09 Jun 2020HANSARD Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing BillI should reveal to the House, for those who were not here yesterday, that I had a charming exchange with the right hon. Gentleman, where I described him as a “dear friend” and he…09 Jun 2020