John Nicolson: I also thank my friend, the hon. Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Damian Collins), for securing this important debate and for his skilled chairing of the Joint Committee. His expertise and diligence ensured a thorough pre-legislative process. I also extend my thanks to the hard-working Committee staff and to the other members of the Committee, with whom it has been a pleasure to work. You...
Lord Kamall: ...of my right honourable friend the Secretary of State, I want to assure noble Lords that we both feel very strongly about inequalities. I say that as someone who grew up in a working-class immigrant community. I was born at Whittington Hospital; I also accessed North Middlesex hospital and Chase Farm Hospital, with which I know the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler, is associated, though I am not...
Paul Scully: Before I respond to the Opposition amendments, I would first like to thank the hon. Members for Feltham and Heston (Seema Malhotra) and for Brentford and Isleworth (Ruth Cadbury) for their continued constructive engagement with the Bill and for their contributions to date. The Bill is key to ensuring we support viable businesses that will continue to thrive and contribute to our economy in a...
Jim Shannon: ... the hon. Member for Easington (Grahame Morris) for setting the scene. We are greatly indebted to him for his leadership, for his interest in this subject matter and for every occasion on which he comes forward. We are also indebted to the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron) as well. We are all on the all-party parliamentary group on cancer together, so we have regular...
Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist: My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Redesdale, on securing this important and timely debate, and welcome the opportunity to respond on our plans to support the British farming industry. I am grateful for the many thoughtful contributions to today’s debate, and I will try to respond to many of the key points raised. However, given the time pressures, I may need to write to noble...
Geraint Davies: ...the Government do not include the self-employed. What a laugh. They have said that there are 1.1 million vacancies, but that is because 1.4 million people have stayed in the EU. These are empty jobs. There are fewer jobs and fewer people working. The Government talk about tax. Last year, the Chancellor imposed £40 billion worth of tax, 2.7% of GDP. That was virtually unprecedented: these...
Esther McVey: I thank my right hon. Friend for the work he has done. To go back to covid and lockdown, many of us wanted to make sure that schools were not locked down, and he is right that pupils need face-to-face connections, inspiration and support. But when that was not possible, the work that I did with Zoom to engage directly with pupils, play videos and allow pupils to meet inspirational role models...
Baroness Thornton: ...1 and speak to Amendment 313 in my name, but I shall allow those noble Lords to leave who do not particularly wish to hear my peroration this afternoon. It is a pleasure to open proceedings in Committee on the Bill. These amendments concern the need to publish an impact assessment, a matter with which your Lordships’ House is very familiar. I expect that the Minister will now tell us...
Christina Rees: I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision about groups of employees at risk of redundancy buying their employing company as a co-operative; and for connected purposes. As a Labour and Co-operative MP, I am very proud that Robert Owen, who was born on 14 May 1771 and is regarded as the founder of our co-operative movement, and whose vision included villages of...
Lord Carlile of Berriew: ...helpful. In an attempt to resolve these issues there have been several discussions, some of them initiated by her, and I am sure that those of us involved would like to place our gratitude on the record. I thank her very warmly. I reassure your Lordships that I do not wish to repeat what I said in Committee. Indeed, the amendment I put down in Committee has not been tabled on this occasion...
Justin Madders: As a co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on leasehold and commonhold reform, I pay tribute to all the campaigners up and down the country who have done a sterling job at keeping this issue on the political agenda. They will certainly welcome the principle, set out in the statement, that innocent leaseholders must not shoulder the burden. I hope that applies equally—not just to...
Lord German: My Lords, congratulations to the noble Baroness, Lady Cavendish, and amen to everything that has been said. I shall concentrate on the antidote to the legislative creep that has been described so well by earlier speakers. If we are to continue to get skeleton Bills and skeleton clauses—or, as the Government like to call them, enabling Bills and enabling clauses—we must have better...
Victoria Atkins: I wish you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and the House a happy new year, and I welcome the right hon. Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper) to her place. With permission, I will update the House on the Government’s continuing support for Afghans. The United Kingdom has always been generous to those fleeing persecution. Last August, as the situation in Afghanistan...
Baroness Hamwee: ...powerful and informed speeches that I decided at about 5.30 pm that I must stop adding namechecks to my notes. I have often heard from the Dispatch Box the term “professional curiosity”—an encouragement to probe, analyse and avoid the unthoughtful and the knee-jerk. It seems to me that professional curiosity has been lacking both from the underlying policy and this Bill. The noble...
Anne-Marie Trevelyan: ...a former incarnation, I was indeed in that other role. I am really delighted to be able to report to the House that, just before Christmas, the Australian Trade Minister, Dan Tehan, and I signed a comprehensive free trade agreement between the United Kingdom and Australia. This agreement deepens our bond of common values and a shared belief in the combined power of democracy, free trade...
Baroness Vere of Norbiton: ...thank all noble Lords for this wonderful Christmas present on the last day of term: a debate about Northern Powerhouse Rail and the integrated rail plan. I am enormously grateful for the thoughtful contributions that have been made and to many noble Lords for coming to the briefing this morning. I am happy to arrange further briefings in due course, as obviously, plans will develop. We...
...circular economy approaches. That includes support for design, remanufacturing and skills development, to support innovative projects that deliver carbon savings, leverage investment and create jobs. I will make two further points. Although it is disappointing that the recycling rate fell back during Covid, I repeat that there was an increase in kerbside recycling. Secondly, in 2020, the...
Lord Kennedy of Southwark: ...point. Many years ago, when I was about 14, I became a shop worker; I started working in a shop on the Walworth Road. It got me talking, and I have not stopped talking since. Meeting people gave me confidence. Equally, over the many years I worked there, there were often incidents when you were abused by customers. In those days, when someone paid by credit card you had to phone up if you...
Paul Scully: ...is protected. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State rightly noted the relevance of the Bill to supporting international trade for our world-leading services sectors. Provisions on the recognition of professional qualifications can make it easier for UK professionals to provide services overseas—for example, by making it easier for regulators to agree recognition agreements with...
Robert Halfon: It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Jo Gideon)—friend being the operative word—on all her campaigning on food. She is doing an incredible job, and I congratulate her on securing the debate. The outbreak of the pandemic posed significant challenges for children and families across the country,...