Lord Newton of Braintree: My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend on the Front Bench for her courtesy to me, although I should emphasise that I see as no part of that that I am now speaking formally on behalf of the Opposition as distinct from speaking in my capacity as chairman of what was a very non-partisan committee of Privy Counsellors. I saw my noble friend nodding vigorously. I am glad to see that that is...
Lord Newton of Braintree: My Lords, it is particularly important that the Minister moved the Motion, because, as I was going to start by saying, it would be slightly disingenuous of me to welcome the debate in view of the fact that it is virtually essential for the Government to pass the Motion. Under Section 123 of the Act, the result of our report is that the whole Act would disappear into thin air were it not...
Lord Newton of Braintree: My Lords, I wish to intervene only briefly, because it could be said that others have already said much of what I wish to contribute to this subject. They have also written it, in the shape of the report of the Hansard Society Commission, to which so many friendly references have been made in the course of the debate--or at least, I think that all the references have been friendly. However, I...
Lord Newton of Braintree: My Lords, I rise to speak briefly in this important debate. I should like to express my thanks to the noble Lord, Lord Judd, for giving us the opportunity to discuss this subject. Perhaps I may say to the noble Baroness in passing that I share her feelings about following the noble Earl, Lord Russell, whose erudition and eloquence I have struggled to match since we first took part in debates...