Results 1-20 of 180 for in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates' speaker:Lord Mancroft

Succession to the Crown Bill: Report (13 March 2013)

Lord Mancroft: My Lords, I am delighted to support my noble friend's amendment. I start by saying to my noble friend Lord Hamilton that I have not always shared flats with people who are noble and certainly not always with my friends, but that is slightly beside the point. When legislating, we should always adopt the precautionary principle. The amendment before us is not a matter of principle; the...

Succession to the Crown Bill: Committee (28 February 2013)

Lord Mancroft: My Lords, I, too, support my noble friend's very important amendment. I was going to make the point that I have heard repeated again and again-which my noble friend Lord Lexden has made very strongly for me-that not only does the Duke of Cornwall need a Duchy but the Duchy needs a Duke. Estates, businesses, or whatever you may choose to call them in the modern day and age, that are run by...

EU Drugs Strategy: EUC Report — Motion to Take Note (19 July 2012)

Lord Mancroft: My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Hannay of Chiswick, and his colleagues on the Select Committee on what is a really thorough and incredibly useful piece of work-one which we have not had before the House for a very long time. It makes some extremely useful recommendations and comes to some very helpful guiding conclusions, and I am grateful for the opportunity to debate it today....

Subterranean Development Bill [HL]: Second Reading (10 February 2012)

Lord Mancroft: My Lords, my attention was drawn to my noble friend's Bill by my own experiences in this area. I was born not far from here, in Montague Square in Marylebone. We lived in what I suppose was a terraced house-a larger terraced house in a large square in London. We lived there for a long time. I was born, as were my sisters, in the same room that my father had been born in some 40 years before....

Rural Communities: Prince's Countryside Fund — Debate (7 October 2010)

Lord Mancroft: My Lords, it falls to me to congratulate my noble friend Lord Younger of Leckie on his excellent maiden speech. I do so wholeheartedly. He comes to your Lordships' House with great experience of both rural Buckinghamshire and rural Scotland, as his speech revealed, and he has clearly picked up his late father's political mantle effortlessly. He also comes to us with an enviable track record...

Health: Addiction to Prescribed Drugs — Question for Short Debate (6 October 2010)

Lord Mancroft: My Lords, your Lordships will be grateful to the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, for initiating this important debate. I commend the noble Earl on his courage in describing through the example of his own family the particular and peculiar degree of suffering as the result of addiction to benzodiazepines and other prescription drugs. I declare an interest as chairman of the All-Party Group on the...

Dog Control Bill [HL]: Second Reading (9 July 2010)

Lord Mancroft: My Lords, I will keep my remarks as short as possible because, like other noble Lords, I like to get away to the country to walk my dogs. I recognise fully and agree with the purpose of my noble friend's Bill, and as I am sure are all noble Lords, I am grateful to him for the care and courtesy with which he has introduced it to us. It is perfectly clear that too many people in this country...

Drugs and Crime — Question for Short Debate (15 June 2010)

Lord Mancroft: My Lords, it is my first and very pleasant duty to thank on behalf of the whole House the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, not just for initiating this debate but for co-ordinating the letter to Ban Ki-Moon, working with the UNODC and going to Vienna, which I am quite sure, as she suggested, has had a considerable effect. I do not think that this is a discussion paper; it is more a positioning...

Health: Alcohol — Question (2 March 2010)

Lord Mancroft: My Lords, if it is correct that the Government have put so much money into treatment-as they claim that they have, and as the figures reveal that they have-can the Minister tell us why so many rehabilitation beds are currently empty and, at the same time, the waiting list is so long?

Gambling Act 2005 (Gaming Machines in Bingo Premises) Order 2009: Motion to Approve (28 January 2009)

Lord Mancroft: My Lords, I have little to say about the first order, on bingo. I am not a great expert on bingo. However, I noticed that the Minister referred to the economic downturn. I do not think that that has any real consequence for the bingo industry. The downturn in the bingo industry has been a consequence of the enactment and slow implementation of the Gambling Act, which has frankly nearly...

Gambling Act 2005 (Gaming Machines in Bingo Premises) Order 2009: Motion to Approve (28 January 2009)

Lord Mancroft: My Lords, I do not for a single moment let my own party off the hook. If the noble Lord had been in this House longer, he would know that I have given Ministers on both sides an equally hard time on this, and when we get back into power, very shortly, I shall give my noble friend Lord Howard, when he is sitting on that side of the House, just as much of a hard ride as I have given the noble...

Drugs — Debate (22 January 2009)

Lord Mancroft: My Lords, I did not mean it rudely, and I hope that the Minister will forgive me if he took it that way, when I said that his answer would be inadequate. In fact, he has given a hugely comprehensive response to the many points raised. However, what I was fearful of has happened; the central theme that ran through so many speeches was that we as a nation—partly because of the UN...

Drugs — Debate (22 January 2009)

Lord Mancroft: My Lords, the whole House is very grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, for introducing this debate. It is a very rare sort of debate in your Lordships' House. Indeed, I have a suspicion that if the noble Baroness had not introduced it, the Government in the form of its junior Minister might have slipped off to Vienna without consulting any of us. That is partly the problem that we...

Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Amendment) Order 2008 (25 November 2008)

Lord Mancroft: My Lords, before coming here this evening, I took the trouble to read the debate that we had a few years ago, when we declassified cannabis. It was in many ways like our debate this evening—it was rather too emotional and not based on facts. I happened to believe at that time that the Home Secretary, Mr Blunkett, was doing the right thing for the wrong reason; I happen to think this...

Farriers' Qualification (European Recognition) Regulations 2008 (3 June 2008)

Lord Mancroft: My Lords, I, too, along with my noble friend Lord Ferrers, congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Addington, on bringing this matter to our attention. I apologise for not being in my place at the start of this short debate. I had not realised how quickly your Lordships would read the Pensions Bill a second time. As others, including my noble friend, have said, there is great concern among...

Categories of Casino Regulations 2008 (15 May 2008)

Lord Mancroft: My Lords, I reiterate what was said by the noble Lord, Lord Faulkner of Worcester, and thank the noble Lord, Lord Davies, for the manner in which he has brought forward these instruments. It is so nice to see him at the Dispatch Box with a proper brief. If noble Lords throw their minds back to the previous occasion when we threw out these instruments, they will remember that he had to work...

NHS: Patient Care (28 February 2008)

Lord Mancroft: My Lords, I too am grateful to my noble friend Lady Eccles of Moulton for giving us this opportunity to debate this subject. It is the first time that I have ever spoken in a debate of this sort, because the amount that I know about running hospitals and healthcare could be put into a nutshell, leaving ample room for the nut. I have always been lucky to enjoy very good health until last year....

Drugs: Government Consultation Paper (29 October 2007)

Lord Mancroft: My Lords, far be it from me to interrupt the Minister when he is in full flow, but he has made his position very clear to the whole House. He acknowledges that many of us here do not agree with that position. The difference is that we have explained why have reached the conclusion that some of us—most of us, including me—arrived at. The noble Lord has said, "This is the...

Drugs: Government Consultation Paper (29 October 2007)

Lord Mancroft: My Lords, as the noble Lord, Lord Bassam, so kindly reminded us, this debate comes at the end of the Government's consultation on their new drugs strategy. Consultations are never perfect and are often easy to criticise, but as consultation papers go this one was noticeably thin and woolly. Frankly, its language is bland and while there is nothing much to disagree with, there is nothing much...

Gambling (Geographical Distribution of Casino Premises Licences) Order 2007 (28 March 2007)

Lord Mancroft: My Lords, I have tabled my amendment, which is the third on the list, alongside those of the noble Baroness, Lady Golding, and the noble Lord, Lord Walpole, to demonstrate that the concerns about this order are not party political and are shared by all those who have been involved with the Gambling Act since its inception, and in particular by those of us who were members of the...