Lord Cavendish of Furness: Before the noble Baroness sits down, and for the sake of clarity, what exactly did she mean by charities being communities? What is the status of that?
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, how hugely refreshing to follow a speech which is so constructive and given with such authority, hoping to make these negotiations work. I congratulate the Government on their use of the long recess to provide us with a large folder of position papers, and I thank my noble friend the Minister for giving the House the opportunity to debate them. I also thank her for introducing the...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: I will read very carefully what the noble Baroness has said and I hope I will be clearer. I will now briefly look to the future, because I believe there is a vision for this country behind which we could reunite and thrive—the vision of global free trade. There are people I know devoting energy and talent beyond the minutiae of current negotiations who see in the ancient notion of free...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, while it is always interesting to follow the eloquence of the noble Lord, Lord Morris, I wish that at some point somebody would explain to me how one can reconcile giving up austerity with keeping the national finances in good heart without endowing future generations with debt. I should very much have liked to speak on many aspects of the gracious Speech but concluded that I would...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, the frequency with which this topic comes before us suggests to me a degree of attrition on the part of those who believe in assisted suicide. Much but not all of my thinking on the subject derives from my experience as a founder of St Mary’s Hospice in south Cumbria 25 years ago. I remain its patron, as appears in the register of interests. My reason for opposing the introduction...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, I support the Bill and hope that it goes through unamended. I should say that I joined the Brexit campaign but only after hearing the proposed deal that Mr Cameron came back with. One of the functions of parliamentary democracy is to provide means of resolving differences that citizens cannot be expected to resolve among themselves. By their very nature, those differences tend to be...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, first I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Massey, for introducing this timely debate so elegantly. Her view of the dangers of centralisation came across powerfully. My own contribution is from the perspective of small business in my part of the north, especially Cumbria. Before venturing further, I need to declare my personal interests. I remain on the board of, or am otherwise...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness. I find myself in agreement with some of the comments she makes regarding agriculture, although I think she should not be surprised that farmers voted in the way that they did, having spoken to many of them myself. My decision to intervene in this debate came to me when I reflected on the fact that I was in a minority in your...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: I have no doubt about the noble Lord’s enthusiasm for the European Union; it has been plain over many years. Fourthly, we are indebted to the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of Canterbury for an immensely powerful speech. It is for all of us to reflect long and hard on an intervention which redeemed an otherwise rather sad day. Of the many facets of the EU debate, nothing has driven me...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, I rise to oppose both these Motions, but especially that in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Featherstone. I should perhaps declare an interest, in that I have been a beneficiary of feed-in tariffs, albeit not with solar. Feed-in tariffs cost about £1 billion a year—last year it was £851 million—and most of that goes on solar. That is a considerable sum of money, and every...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, as other noble Lords have done, I commend my noble friend on securing this debate and on introducing it with such thought and clarity. This afternoon I will draw attention to various aspects of the Autumn Statement and to do so largely through the prism of my own experience of living for most of my working life in south Cumbria. Accordingly, I declare a personal interest. Although I...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend Lord O’Neill of Gatley for introducing this Second Reading debate. I was not quite sure how to approach it, as it is a strange one to be holding in your Lordships’ House, but I start by congratulating the Government on their continuing determination, as I see it, to do whatever is needed to restore good health to the nation’s finances. I...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Warner. I have always listened to him with great respect and, however he describes the seat he is in now in this House, I will continue to do so. I wish him well. However, I regret that, along with the noble Lord, Lord Davies, he chooses to keep alive the question of the Assisted Dying Bill following the rather conclusive vote in the...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, what a tremendous pleasure it is to follow my noble friend Lord Young of Cookham and to hear his outstanding maiden speech, on which I congratulate him. As has been said, he had a distinguished career in another place. I have seen the way he has been greeted in your Lordships’ House by former colleagues. He is obviously incredibly well respected and incredibly well liked. Not...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, it is always a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Dubs. I always enjoy his breadth of interest, although I would probably hesitate to cite the European arrest warrant as the EU’s high-water mark. I rise to support the measure before us and do so with enthusiasm. I congratulate the Government on its introduction; the time has surely come for this hugely important issue to be...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: With the leave of the House, I follow the Lord, Lord Brooke, in apologising for not having taken part at Second Reading. I declare an interest: I am what is called a recovering alcoholic. I am not about to fall over—it is 30 years since I last had a drink—but in keeping with what the noble Lord was saying, I regard myself as possibly still being an addicted person and therefore have to...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, the House is indebted to my noble friend Lord Risby for introducing this short debate. As he said, the contribution that small business makes to our national life is now, finally, well understood and appreciated. As the Federation of Small Businesses points out, 99% of our nearly 5 million businesses are small or micro—another point my noble friend made. In contributing briefly...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, I am pleased to join other noble Lords in thanking the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, for introducing this important debate. His considerable experience, knowledge and enduring interest in Britain's economic performance were all evident in his eloquent opening remarks. In contributing today I declare my interests, which are quite numerous and varied, so I refer noble Lords to the...
Lord Cavendish of Furness: Has the noble Lord not detected in his correspondence, as I have, that being mealy-mouthed about language has been rumbled by the public? In this Bill, they are discovering there is an element of sophistry in the Title.
Lord Cavendish of Furness: My Lords, with the leave of the Committee and with the agreement of my noble and learned friend Lord Mackay, I shall speak to Amendment 10 under the new regulation that we have. With that amendment, I would probably include Amendments 52, 164 and 170. When I left Cumbria, Amendment 70 was included in that grouping but it was moved while I was on the train. Before speaking further, I should...
