🗣️ Speeches and Debates
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My Lords, it is a privilege to speak in this debate. This week, as the right reverend Prelate has just referenced, some of our most experienced former military chiefs wrote: “When crises are left unaddressed, they do not stay distant for long”. One of the most important lessons in foreign and security policy that I learned in my years as the EU foreign policy chief was the connection...
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My Lords, at the request of my noble friend Lord Stansgate, and with his permission, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in his name on the Order Paper.
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I thank my noble friend the Minister for that reply. Given that, in the space inquiry we conducted, The Space Economy: Act Now or Lose Out, we identified that the space sector is worth £18.6 billion to the economy, employs 55,000 people and is growing a rate of about 6% a year, can she tell us more about the priorities across government, as space impinges on every aspect of our lives?
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My Lords, I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Ricketts, for his measured, calm chairmanship of the European Affairs Committee, and I welcome his successor, the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Stirrup, whose military experience will, I am sure, be up to dealing with the lot of us. I served in Brussels for six years, the only woman Britain ever sent as a commissioner. After being the first woman to...
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My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Barrow, as he makes his first intervention in your Lordships’ debates. As the noble Lord, Lord Ricketts, suggested, the noble Lord, Lord Barrow, has aptly shown that we can look forward to rich contributions from a distinguished diplomatic career. I was fortunate enough to work with the noble Lord in Brussels, London and a...
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My Lords, I too am grateful that my noble friend the Minister is leading us in this debate. His determination, knowledge and dedication are clearly well known and respected across your Lordships’ House and, certainly, in a 40-year friendship, by me. I know something of this region of Africa, but my focus was constantly being driven either to the north to Egypt and Libya, or to the south to...
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My Lords, when I was in office at the EU, I visited the Middle East more than anywhere else. In Sderot in Israel, I was presented with a sculpture of a rose, fashioned from one of the hundreds of Hamas rockets fired regularly at the town, and visited the places where children played underground to keep them safe. Sderot was targeted on 7 October by Hamas terrorists. On my visits to Gaza, I...
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My Lords, I too am grateful to my noble friend Lord Turnberg for securing this debate. It is a very long time since I spoke in your Lordships’ House. Indeed, I was sitting where the Minister is, before I was whisked across the Channel into some kind of glorious exile. As noble Lords will know, during my time away, I led and chaired the negotiations with Iran for over four and a half years....
More of Baroness Ashton of Upholland's speeches and debates
✍️ Written Questions and Answers
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We are proud of our legislation introducing civil partnerships for same-sex couples and we encourage other countries to do likewise. Many types of same-sex relationship formalised in other EU countries are recognised as equivalent to civil partnerships in the United Kingdom. These include those registered in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Luxemburg, the Netherlands and Spain. We...
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The Government's view is that our existing legislative framework is broadly compliant. If a similar situation as occurred in the European Court of Justice case of Firma Feryn1 occurred in the UK, our wider domestic law provisions would provide suitable enforcement remedies for the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). In GB, the EHRC is empowered with various enforcement powers under...
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The Prime Minister announced on 28 July that Lord Jay of Ewelme GCMG will succeed Lord Stevenson of Coddenham CBE as chair of the House of Lords Appointments Commission with effect from 1 October 2008. Lord Jay has been selected in accordance with the code of practice issued by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The code requires openness and transparency, independent scrutiny of the...
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The effect of Letters Patent creating peerages can he changed by legislation which has that specific effect. It cannot be changed by legislation of general application. Thus, the Peerage Act 1963 allowed Peeresses in their own right to sit in the House of Lords regardless of the terms of any Letters Patent creating the peerage. The House of Lords Act 1999 removed the right of anyone to sit in...
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When the House of Lords rose for the Summer Recess on 22 July 2003 there were 37 Questions for Written Answer which remained unanswered and in breach of the 14-day rule. None of those Questions related to the future of the Pensions Appeal Tribunal. Publication of the Answers to Parliamentary Questions is a matter for the House authorities.
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We note the judgment of the European Court of Justice in this case, as such decisions can only help to ensure that member states are fully compliant with the directive. The case broadly concerned the enforcement powers that may be required to deal with situations where unlawful discrimination is apparent, but no individual victim has been identified. The Equality and Human Rights Commission...
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Regional Ministers do not have executive powers, and it is for departmental Ministers to answer Parliamentary Questions on issues pertaining to their department's responsibilities. The Government believe, however, that regional Ministers should be accountable to Parliament for their activities and fulfilling the roles set out in The Governance of Britain Green Paper, and have made proposals...
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The Government expect to put forward their proposals shortly.
More of Baroness Ashton of Upholland's written questions
