Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, on the penultimate day of my membership of this House, my intervention this afternoon seeks to cover my considered views of this Bill and 30 years in Parliament, all in three minutes. I must disappoint the noble Baroness, Lady Hayter: there is no time, alas, for oysters. I thank my noble friend the Leader of the House for her excellent opening speech. I look forward to supporting...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Browne. I have heard it suggested that there is no need for this Bill. Indeed, such doubts are rehearsed by the distinguished Select Committee on the Constitution in its 17th report. This may be technically and legalistically correct. However, I would contend that such a view overlooks a significant historical consideration. Before we...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, notwithstanding time constraints, I must also thank the noble Lord, Lord Boswell, for his opening speech and for his outstanding chairmanship of the committee that authored this report. I should very much like to discuss many aspects of the report, especially the need to enhance diplomatic representation, as discussed in paragraph 79, and the importance of rebuilding bridges, but,...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, a new year, a new Parliament and a new gracious Speech. I do not think that six months ago many of us could have predicted the shape of today’s Parliament. For those of my persuasion, there is no point in pretending that we do not have much to celebrate, but I recognise that a victor’s satisfaction is matched by acute sadness and disappointment on the part of political...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, will the noble Lord remind the noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy, that we are not discussing the Bill? The House got the Bill only an hour or two ago, if that. We are discussing the Business of the House Motion—and nothing more.
Lord Cavendish of Furness: The noble and learned Lord talks about the feelings of the people. Something I want to endorse from my noble friend’s intervention is that, since 1910 or thereabouts, your Lordships’ House and the people have walked hand in hand. “The Peers and the people” has been an expression that had real meaning. I fear that that is not the case any longer and my impression, as an inhabitant of...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, I regret to say that I feel the noble and learned Lord has been negligent, and not for the first time today. Surely, as my noble friend Lord Mancroft has said, it is only reasonable to explain the rationale for a part of the process. Again, the noble and learned Lord has failed to do so, so the House needs to look for a proper explanation of this part of the Motion.
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Viscount, and I may comment on some of his remarks in due course. We are indebted to my noble friend for securing this debate and for the compelling speech with which she introduced it. She covered much of what I might have wanted to say with greater insights than I can offer. I have two matters by way of introduction: since I intend to identify...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, my noble friend Lord Finkelstein never fails to amuse. Less often does he convince me. He says, as so many people do, that no deal will give an economic blow and, like everyone else who says so, does not explain why, but I will come to that later. As I intend to make passing reference to my family business, I start by declaring an interest, which can be found in the register. Before...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: It goes two ways.
Lord Cavendish of Furness: I go to ERG meetings, which my noble friend does not. It is a very broad church; he might be surprised by that.
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, it is fascinating to follow such a fluent speaker. I do not think that I am qualified to challenge what he told your Lordships. As a convinced supporter of leaving the European Union, I recognise that I am in a tiny minority in your Lordships’ House. I invite noble Lords to pause for thought that this House, for the first time since 1910, has parted company with the people. There...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: I wish I understood the question. Will the noble Lord repeat it?
Lord Cavendish of Furness: How nice to hear from an old class warrior. Yes, I did go to Eton and, yes, I do have land, or my family does—I have declared an interest; it is all in the register—and I should have thought my party were really rather enthusiastic redistributors ourselves. My point is not that we are redistributing other people’s money incontinently but that we are happy to face the voter at election...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, it is a privilege to follow the noble Lord, Lord Skidelsky. As always, I listened with intense interest to his contribution. I say today with great sadness but with absolute conviction that the agreement so painstakingly negotiated by my right honourable friend the Prime Minister stems from dreadfully flawed advice and is nothing short of catastrophic. I am on record in your...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, however much I disagree with the noble Lord, it is always a pleasure to listen to him and I admire enormously his commitment. I thank and congratulate my noble friend the Minister on her elegant opening speech explaining to the House the purpose of the Bill. It is a technical Bill, in my view. I recognise that it is important and I wish it safe passage, but I will leave it to others...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, I follow a powerful and analytical speech from the noble Baroness, Lady Deech. I fear that this White Paper cannot fly. In fact, I wonder if it is not already a casualty of gravity. My principal and reluctant reason for opposing the White Paper is that the more I read it the plainer it becomes to me that its adoption would render this country worse off than we are now. And that is...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords—
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords—
Lord Cavendish of Furness: Before the noble Lord sits down, could he tell us what the question would be in his referendum? Would it be in essence his speech?
