🗣️ Speeches and Debates
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My Lords, very briefly, I support Amendment 168 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Sharpe, and of other noble Lords, because it seems so reasonable. Surely there is no harm done if the advertisement is in a licensed premises; is not visible, except from inside the venue; is not for a tobacco product; mentions a smoke- or vape-free area; and is age-restricted to adults only. I cannot see what...
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My Lords, I support the amendments in this group. If there is to be a retail licensing scheme, it needs to be more robust, fairer and more enforceable than currently envisaged. It needs to respect and reward retailers who are already complying with the law, which is the point behind Amendments 23, 30, 43, 45, 114 and 115 in the name of the noble Earl, Lord Lindsay, and other noble Lords, and...
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To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the performance of South Western Railway since nationalisation, and whether they have taken account of its performance in their plans to nationalise other railways.
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I thank the Minister for his reply, and I agree that this has been a disaster for years. However, passenger groups report that since nationalisation, South Western has suffered a 50% increase in cancellations—it is even worse on Monday mornings and Friday afternoons—and delay minutes per hundred miles have risen by 29%. Rakes have often been halved, leaving passengers standing for whole...
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My Lords, I will speak to Amendments 83, 85, 86 and 88 in my name. I am sure noble Lords will have noticed that, after the Second Reading of this Bill, media reports the next day focused disproportionately on what was reported as the absurdity of employers being held responsible for employees who are offended by third parties in situations in which the employers had no control over who said...
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My Lords, I declare an interest, in that a minority investor in one of my companies also manufactures vapes, although my concerns for this Bill have nothing to do with vapes but relate to its treatment of cigars and pipes, and the fact that a generational ban is, in practice, unenforceable and therefore unworkable. It is an unfortunate part of this Bill that, as drafted, pipe tobacco and...
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My Lords, I too welcome the four maiden speakers and congratulate them on their speeches. Meanwhile, like some of us here today, I was in the other place yesterday afternoon listening to the Chancellor’s Statement and her quest for growth. Yet here we are today in this Chamber, debating the Second Reading of a Bill of which certain parts are absolutely guaranteed to regulate the life out of...
More of Lord Strathcarron's speeches and debates
✍️ Written Questions and Answers
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To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill on 9 March (HL14964), whether they will now answer the question put; namely, whether the TS Shtandart is prohibited from entering UK territorial waters; if so, what is the legal basis for that restriction, including any sanctions, maritime regulations or national security considerations.
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To ask His Majesty's Government whether the TS Shtandart is prohibited from entering UK territorial waters; if so, what is the legal basis for that restriction, including any sanctions, maritime regulations or national security considerations; whether any guidance has been issued to port authorities or maritime enforcement agencies regarding the treatment of the vessel; and whether any...
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To ask His Majesty's Government whether they knew in November 2025, when Hive Energy Ltd secured a £60 million loan from HSBC guaranteed by UK Export Finance, that it was close to bankruptcy; who authorised the loan on behalf of His Majesty's Government; and what due diligence was performed in connection with this.
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To ask His Majesty's Government how they arrived at the estimate in the Clean Energy Campaign that it costs approximately £2,000 a year to heat a typical three-bedroom house with a gas boiler; and what assessment they have made of the accuracy of Ofgem’s estimate of the cost of heating a typical three-bedroom house with a gas boiler.
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To ask His Majesty's Government why the cost of upgrading the electricity grid is estimated at ÂŁ60 billion in the report Clean Power 2030, published on 5 November 2024 by the National Energy System Operator, and at ÂŁ80 billion in the Ofgem press release on 1 July about initial investment in energy security; and whether they will update their costing.
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To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Merron on 23 April (HL Deb col 741), what evidence is there that "There are around five times more people smoking non-cigarette tobacco, such as cigars, than a decade ago"; and what are the precise statistics for different categories of non-cigarette, including hand-made cigars, machine-made cigars, pipe tobacco and...
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To ask His Majesty's Government how many pieces of content the National Security Online Information Team has flagged for review by social media platforms in the past 12 months.
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To ask His Majesty's Government how they intend online intermediaries to combat misinformation and disinformation on their websites, as set out in their Draft Statement of Strategic Priorities for online safety, published on 20 November, when this is not explicitly referenced in the Online Safety Act 2023.
More of Lord Strathcarron's written questions
