My Lords, I want to exploit my position here at the moment, standing right behind the Minister. He opened the debate by referring to some of the major achievements that have been made, in particular that the European Court of Justice no longer applies in Great Britain, and other related matters. I am sure the noble Lord will realise that I could, and perhaps should, exploit my position here...
My Lords, I have listened with great interest to the debate so far. I am sorry to hear so many occasions where people are criticising the Government for what they have done and in particular suggesting that in some way they were dragging out the proceedings, for whatever benefit. This is a most unfair approach. One could predict at the beginning of the negotiations that there would always be...
My Lords, I should point out at the outset that there is no significance whatsoever in the positioning of my name on the Order Paper. Although it is set up that way, I have nothing to do with the wind-up of this debate. I have a sad story to tell. Before the debate started, I was looking for somewhere to sit, which is difficult in this building at the moment. At that point, some of the...
My Lords, these comments from other Members are what one would want to hear, in many respects, but we must remember that we are dealing here with the republican movement. I use that term to underline the extent to which and way in which it tries to present itself as something innocuous, wanting to rewrite the past—or, if it cannot do that, pretend or create a situation in which blame can be...
My Lords, I must start with a disclosure. Many years ago, I invested what to me was a substantial sum of money in NS&I. We are now seeing the rates go down to well below 1%—indeed, to a fraction of 1%. Is it going to stop there? Will the Government look at negative rates? If not, will they make a clear commitment to move away from them? How much of that target of £35 billion has been...
My Lords, in addressing the House at this stage of the evening I shall try to keep things as tight as I can, but there are some important points that I want to make. Obviously one would desire free trade on as wide a scale as possible. Whether we will get that, I am not sure. As to this legislation, really the same Bill has come back a number of times, so it will be very well construed. I...
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for having the paper circulated to us. I briefly refer to the last paragraph, which talks about measures targeted specifically at groups most at risk but goes on to say: “Such a policy should probably have been started before the end of June”. I fear that the authors are not being realistic about the date for the targets and have not taken account of...
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Holmes, on raising this issue. For me, the issue is still open and the jury is out, and we shall see how these things develop. I suggest that noble Lords should emulate the Conservative Party in 1945, which accepted the result of the election, which brought in a reformist Government. They should realise that the recent election that we have had...
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 15 September (HL1347–1351) relating to prisoner release, whether they will now answer the questions asked.
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many prisoners have been released under the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998; and of that number, how many prisoners were designated as (1) loyalist, and (2) republican.
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many republican prisoners sentenced for a scheduled offence have been refused release under the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998 and have not yet been released.
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many loyalist prisoners sentenced for a scheduled offence have been refused release under the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998 and have not yet been released.
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many republican prisoners, released under the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998, have been recalled; and of those, how many were subsequently released under that Act.
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many loyalist prisoners, released under the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998, have been recalled; and of those, how many were subsequently released under that Act.
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they regard ambulances operated by the Glengormley Ambulance and Rescue Unit as ambulances within the meaning of the Road Traffic Acts.
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they regard ambulances operated by the Red Cross or St John Ambulance and other voluntary ambulances as ambulances within the meaning of the Road Traffic Acts.
