🗣️ Speeches and Debates
-
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for his answers. He is always informative, courteous and diligent at that Dispatch Box. If it is true that we have, as reported, widened the quota for India, we have presumably done so on two very sensible grounds. The first is good relations with India. This is a really important trade deal, and we can hardly renege on it when the ink is barely dry....
-
My Lords, I will take the Minister back to his answer to the noble Lord, Lord Haywood, who asked about the Minister’s fellow Old Alleynian, the coming by-election and the legal processes, and said that maybe we should hold off on the legislation until we have seen that process play out. I think I understood the Minister to say that he understood the argument and to “watch this space”,...
-
My Lords, I sense this is going against the masochistic mood of the House, but how is a failure of the EU our fault? The noble Baroness, Lady Ludford, in asking her question, said her fondness for the EU does not blind her to the fact that this is a chaotic and badly implemented scheme—for everyone, not just for us. Any third-country national trying to enter the EU will run up against these...
-
My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Moraes, whom I have considered a friend for some 30 years. He was a great champion for those in the European Parliament who had no voice but his—often overlooked and marginalised groups—and was always in the best Labour tradition of trying to build people up rather than trying to drag others down. “But the peculiar evil of...
-
My Lords, I was a little alarmed by the Minister’s response to the noble Lord, Lord Wallace of Saltaire. He does not like some things that are being said on X. He was not talking about incitement, harassment or the promotion of illegal activities. He specifically cited campaigning for a candidate whom he did not like—something that is legal but which he did not like. The Minister said, I...
-
My Lords, I was very encouraged by the Minister’s excellent Answer to the excellent Question from the noble Lord, Lord Barber. We do indeed need to remember where we are from, and history is a manual of what works and what does not. Can the Minister think of a single example—anywhere in human history—of where a wealth tax has raised more revenue than it has driven away, or where rent...
-
My Lords, the French economist Frédéric Bastiat said that the distinguishing feature of a good economist is looking beyond the visible and seeing the secondary consequences. There are some 34,000 people employed in the steel sector in this country; one can argue about whether protectionism will help even them. Let us look at the numbers in the steel-using industries: 183,000 people work in...
-
My Lords, I declare my interest as the director of the Institute of Economic Affairs, the longest established free market think tank in the country. I recently came across something called Munchausen syndrome by proxy. The medical or legal name for it is FDIA—factitious disorder imposed on another. It means giving people poison in the guise of medicine. Sometimes, it is a mental health...
More of Lord Hannan of Kingsclere's speeches and debates
✍️ Written Questions and Answers
-
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the Government of Tunisia regarding the sentencing of Rached Ghannouchi, former Speaker of the Tunisian Parliament, to 20 years' imprisonment; and what steps they are taking to press for his release in light of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention’s finding (Opinion No. 63/2025) that his detention is arbitrary.
-
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the continued detention and sentencing of political figures in Tunisia, including Rached Ghannouchi, is consistent with the UK Government’s stated commitment to democracy and human rights in its engagement with Tunisia.
-
To ask His Majesty's Government what conversations they have had with the government of Pakistan to ensure that Imran Khan is allowed access to his own doctors.
-
To ask His Majesty's Government, in the light of their statements denouncing the lack of democratic legitimacy of the Venezuelan election of 28 July 2024, whether they plan to evict the representatives of the government of Venezuela from the legation building at 1 Cromwell Road, and to make the premises available to representatives of those they consider won the election.
-
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made any representations to the government of Venezuela about the whereabouts of Jesús Armas and reports that he is being held in El Helicoide.
-
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the remarks by the International Commission of Jurists that the passing of the 26th Constitutional Amendment by the government of Pakistan is a “blow to judicial independence, the rule of law, and human rights protection”; and what representations they have made to that government in that regard.
-
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Pakistan about the continuing detention of Imran Khan; and what assessment they have made of reports that he has been denied phone calls and visits.
-
To ask His Majesty's Government what impediments remain in the way their ambition to eliminate tariffs on fresh produce imported from Morocco.
More of Lord Hannan of Kingsclere's written questions
