Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, does the Minister agree that, with almost 30% of the country under lockdown and more lockdowns to come, the key solution is mass testing? Does he also agree that we could have the equivalent of the ventilator challenge to manufacture the portable LAMP machines, which could greatly enhance testing capability, and have the Abbott Laboratories Binax-type, $5, 15-minute test available...
Lord Callanan: My Lords, I first thank all noble Lords for their contributions. As always, we had some very important and vital speeches. I have taken careful note of all the points made. I particularly enjoyed the proposal made by the noble Lord, Lord Singh, about the “rule of Sikhs”. Obviously this is a tragic situation, but it is important to retain our sense of humour at this time. The noble Lord...
Division number 1 See full list of votes (From The Public Whip)Content Lord Addington Lord Adebowale Lord Adonis Lord Alderdice Lord Allan of Hallam Lord Allen of Kensington Lord Alli Lord Alton of Liverpool Lord Anderson of Swansea Baroness Andrews Baroness Ashton of Upholland Lord Bach Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville Baroness Barker Lord Bassam of Brighton Lord Beecham Lord...
Lord Bethell: My Lords, I am enormously grateful for the thoughtful questions and rich debate that we have had. I shall try to knock off some detailed questions about the app, and I will then address some of the broader themes in the 10 minutes I have. I will try to move as quickly as I can. A number of speakers asked about feedback on the app over the past three weeks. It often takes three years for...
Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, a second national lockdown will be devastating for our economy, so it is right to prioritise bringing infections under control. Local lockdowns are a crucial piece in the puzzle of managing the risk of infection and reopening the economy, so we must get good at them. Does the noble Baroness agree that all restrictions must be based on clear, transparent evidence, that rapid mass...
Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, we are talking about the rule of six. I declare my various interests. The hospitality industry employs 4 million people and has been one of the hardest hit in this crisis. The British Beer and Pub Association said: “Make no mistake, a 10pm curfew will devastate our sector during an already challenging environment for pubs.” During the current circumstances, every hour of trading...
Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, the winter economic plan, including the Job Support Scheme, is bold and will, I hope, save hundreds of thousands of viable jobs this winter. However, will the Government acknowledge that the Chancellor’s announcements will not help everyone, especially when the medium-term outlook for some sectors, such as hospitality and the creative industries, looks so uncertain? Do they agree...
Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, I declare my various interests and acknowledge that health always comes first. The hospitality industry employs 4 million people and has been one of the hardest hit throughout the pandemic. The British Beer and Pub Association said: “Make no mistake, a 10 pm curfew will devastate our sector during an already challenging environment for pubs … During the current circumstances...
Lord Bethell: My Lords, I too thank the noble Baroness, Lady Donaghy, for her very kind words. Let me please make it plain to the Chamber: it is an absolute honour to stand here—to have some time to consider these SIs and to do our best, as a Government, under difficult circumstances, to bring in complex regulations and laws that have a huge impact on people’s everyday lives and to try to bring the...
Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, the coronavirus pandemic has consumed businesses’ attention over the last few months, and business preparations for the end of the transition period have not only stalled but gone backwards. This has left businesses with very little capacity to prepare for a chaotic exit from the EU. Does the Minister agree that the priority for business still has to be a negotiated outcome and...
Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, the hospitality and restaurant sector has suffered hugely during this pandemic. Can the Minister confirm that the Government have extended the moratorium on the eviction of commercial tenants until the end of the year, which will be of great help? Can he confirm that the help could be extended beyond that? Many restaurateurs are really struggling to be able to pay rent when their...
Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, the signing of the UK-Japan trade deal is a breakthrough moment and is welcomed by business across the country. May I build on what the noble Baroness, Lady Bottomley, just said? How will the Government use this trade deal as a launch pad to secure accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership? Given that this deal supposedly has benefits...
Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, Professor William Hanage of the TH Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University has said of the lack of mass testing that: “By the time you become aware of the problem it is likely to already be much larger. You are not going to detect outbreaks if you don’t look for them.” He also said that you need “very good diagnostic tests as well as tests that may be less...
Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, a programme of nationwide mass testing is exactly the ambition we will need to build confidence in the public and businesses before a vaccine becomes available. Professor Devi Sridhar of Edinburgh University says that the only safe way is mass testing. I agree with the Minister: look at where we were in March, with 2,000 tests a day, and now we have the capacity for well over...
Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, does the Minister agree that the time has come to very rapidly implement testing at airports? The ability to get quick results from mass testing at airports is available now. You could have a test, followed by another test five days later, and that would shorten the quarantine period. Furthermore, the Abbott Laboratories’ BinaxNOW test costs $5 and gives a result within 15...
Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, I was delighted to hear the Secretary of State, Matt Hancock, announce the Government’s investment of £0.5 billion for testing innovation. Is the Minister aware of Abbott Laboratories’ new $5 antigen test, released just two weeks ago in the United States? On a card, within 15 minutes it can give results anywhere—at a school, a university, in the workplace or at the airport....
Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, the UK is one of the greatest trading nations in the world. It is an open economy and one of the largest recipients of inward investment, often in the top two in the world. The Bill is extremely important to maintain that. First, I welcome my noble friend Lord Grimstone. We have known each other for many years, and I congratulate him on his excellent maiden speech. There are those...
Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, businesses up and down the UK have worked with devolution for over 20 years. Will the Minister confirm that the proposed UK internal market Bill must continue to respect the devolution settlement while providing certainty to firms as powers are returned from the EU to the UK? Will the internal market work to ensure that costs or barriers to doing business between different parts of...
Baroness Williams of Trafford: I thank noble Lords for all their contributions over the course of four or five hours, and I am sure that they will understand that I will not be able to answer every single question. We have covered a wide range of issues, and the fact that there has been either support for the Bill or comments such as “tragedy” and “squalid” shows that there is a wide range of views in this House....
Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, England and Wales lost more than 20,000 police officers between March 2010 and March 2019. I have spoken several times, requesting the Government to increase police officer numbers by 20,000. Eventually, almost exactly a year ago, the Prime Minister said that the target is to recruit 20,000 new police officers in England and Wales, as the Minister has said. He said that this would...
