Lord Trimble: Perhaps the noble Baroness will allow me to point out to the noble Lord that, while I was First Minister, I had the pleasure of operating from an office in Stormont Castle.
Lord Trimble: My Lords, I, too, had the pleasure of serving on the ad hoc committee on the Barnett formula. I use the word "pleasure" because, as my noble friend Lord Forsyth, said, the committee turned out to be great fun. At the outset, I had difficulty conceiving how the committee might result in agreement, let alone a unanimous agreement. It was a very pleasant surprise to find that we all agreed. The...
Lord Trimble: My Lords, I would like to think that, in the briefing material available to the Leader of the House, there is a reference to the wise words of Seamus Mallon that were uttered in a debate in the other place in reply to my having called for the devolution of policing and justice. He said that for that to happen, the Northern Ireland Executive would have to show that the Assembly is robust and...
Lord Trimble: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to reduce the number of speed cameras in the United Kingdom.
Lord Trimble: I thank the Minister for that reply. The Government would find it easier to persuade motorists that cameras are there for safety rather than revenue reasons if they made greater use of the devices often seen at road works which show the speed of the oncoming car. Does the Minister agree that those devices have more impact and effect on the behaviour of drivers than speed cameras; and that the...
Lord Trimble: No dual mandate operates with regard to the Welsh Assembly or the Scottish Parliament. It proved possible to achieve that objective quite some time ago informally by agreement between the parties. It has not been possible to achieve that agreement informally in Northern Ireland. Legislation, therefore, will be necessary. As we stand at the moment, legislation is not necessary with regard to...
Lord Trimble: I express my delight and pleasure at what the noble Baroness has just said in supporting an early end to double-jobbing. I hope that it will send a clear message to the Alliance Party, with which the Liberal Democrat Party is sometimes regarded as having a relationship. Its members voted against an early end to double-jobbing, and I am glad that they have been reproved in this way.
Lord Trimble: My Lords, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Cohen, on securing this debate on a very important matter. Like her, I thank those who gave evidence to the committee, and its staff and advisers. It has helped us enormously through a very difficult area. As the noble Baroness has said, the Doha round started in 2001. Last year, there were hopes that that might have been concluded but it has...
Lord Trimble: My Lords, I thank the noble Earl for that advice, and will content myself simply by urging people to read the report. They will get a much better view of the matter by doing that than by my holding up the relevant page. As I was saying, the numbers and the different interests in the WTO militate against it being easy to get an agreement. We may not get rounds in which everyone agrees-indeed,...
Lord Trimble: My Lords, despite the final comment of the noble Lord, Lord Grocott, I agree with the primary points that he made in the first half of his speech. It was a pleasure to hear those points so effectively and clearly made. I shall observe a self-denying ordinance and simply make one point on a matter that has not yet been touched on. It may be thought not to be important but it is worth...
Lord Trimble: As the noble Lord made reference to my comments on the origins of the AIFM, it may be that the rumour I heard was incorrect. I heard that the origin of the concept was Oskar Lafontaine many years ago. But if the noble Lord is correct that some other ideologue produced it more recently, that underlines the failure of the Commission to keep a grip of what it was doing.
Lord Trimble: My Lords, I shall speak to the report of the European Union Select Committee Sub-Committee A, of which I have the pleasure to be a member. I shall not try to go into all the detail of the proposals for financial regulation and all the matters that are spun off from it: the de Larosière report and many other things. There were times when we were looking at this issue when I felt the need for...
Lord Trimble: My Lords—
Lord Trimble: My Lords, are there not lessons to be learnt—
Lord Trimble: My Lords, is there not a lesson—
Lord Trimble: My Lords, did the report by Amnesty International comment on the tactics of Hamas? Colonel Richard Kemp, formerly of the British Army, recently said, describing them: "Not only was Hamas's military capability deliberately positioned behind the human shield of the civilian population ... They also ordered, forced when necessary, men, women and children, from their own population to stay put in...
Lord Trimble: My Lords, do those conclusions not include a provision whereby there could be arbitration between competing regulators and that the Lamfalussy committees would then have the power to impose a decision? Was the Commission not instructed to draw up legislation along these lines, or advancing further along these lines? This matter is by no means concluded.
Lord Trimble: 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.
Lord Trimble: 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.
Lord Trimble: My Lords, I declare an interest as a boat owner; one, indeed, whose boat's safety certificate is due for renewal within the next year. As noble Lords mentioned earlier, I was on the Committee and found it an interesting experience. It is the first time that I had served on an Opposed Private Bill Committee, so it rounds out my parliamentary experience in that respect. It is also the case, as...