Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: My Lords, I rise to make my first contribution in your Lordships' House and, in doing so, seek the indulgence of noble Lords for a speech that I hope will meet with the normal conventions of being both succinct and uncontroversial. I am very grateful to many noble Lords from across the Chamber and, indeed, to the officers of the House, who have extended the warmest of welcomes to me and, on...
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: My Lords, I thank the Minister and also the noble Baroness, Lady Symons, for her remarks, which were clearly based on wide experience of middle eastern affairs. Change is occurring in the region: across North Africa and the Middle East. As we debate the issue this morning and into this afternoon, the situation is so fluid that changes are occurring not by the day but by the hour, and perhaps...
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: My Lords, I thank my noble friend for her earlier statement. I join her in thanking the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, for his stewardship of what has been a very sensitive area. I am reminded of when control orders came about, how they were introduced and the sense of the terrorism that gripped our very shores. I remember 7/7 vividly for various reasons: first, as someone who was travelling at...
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: My Lords, I thank my noble friend the Leader of the House for the Statement that he has made. We have talked previously about the domino effect gripping the Middle East and I wondered whether he would like to make some statement on the situation that we see emerging in Yemen and on the news stories that are reaching us about the Saudi intervention in Bahrain. Have the Government made any...
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: My Lords, I join other noble Lords in thanking the noble Lord, Lord Lawson of Blaby, for bringing forward this debate at an important time for our country. I, too, wish to pay tribute to the maiden speeches of the noble Baroness, Lady Stedman-Scott, and the noble Lord, Lord Hussain. One touched on the issue of youth engagement and youth employment, and the other on community cohesion and...
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: My Lords, I join others in thanking the Minister for his opening statement and his continuing leadership in this House, alongside the leadership being shown by our Government on the international stage for the necessary and measured action to date in Libya. I also join many in this House in extending our thoughts and prayers to our brave Armed Forces and, of course, the innocent civilians who...
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: My Lords, I wish to make three basic points. First, the whole essence of the European Union Bill concerns the transfer of powers and competences. As has clearly been stated by noble Lords before, the amendment does not relate to a transfer of power or competence and so remains firmly outside the scope of the Bill. Secondly, as has been made clear, the amendment, which is on the subject of...
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: My Lords, I thank my noble friend for repeating the Statement. Like many in this House and beyond, I welcome the removal of an individual who preached hate and promoted the taking of innocent lives by hijacking a noble faith. I think Muslims around the world welcome his removal from the face of the earth. I ask my noble friend to reflect and perhaps comment further on the point that, while...
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: My noble friend Lord Hamilton referred earlier to the importance of connecting again with the British people. Is the noble Lord, Lord Davies, suggesting that military independence, the loss of our decision-making around defence and judicial independence are less important than financial independence?
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: My right honourable friend the Prime Minister put forward the Bill, which is all about connecting with the British people, not with the Whips. The important thing is what the British people care about. They care about our defence, our military independence and our financial independence. That is what this Bill is all about.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Greaves for initiating this debate. I believe the coalition Government have made it quite clear that they see a transition away from a bureaucratic interfering state to involving, engaging and encouraging the active participation of all communities in all spheres of public life-a move away, if you will, from big government to big society. This involves...
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Before I comment specifically on the sunset clauses-and notwithstanding the masterful innings of my noble and learned friend Lord Howe-it is important to reflect on the ultimate purpose of the Bill. We have heard the noble Lord, Lord Kerr, and other noble Lords talk about connection with the British people. The fact that people on the streets are not talking about Parliament debating the EU...
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: My Lords, as someone who works within local authorities and has local authority experience over 10 years, I welcome the Statement, not least because when we have looked at procurement of services we have, for far too long, seen a repeated reliance on what has happened before continuing. I welcome the White Paper because it opens up different channels, whether it is the state sector, the...
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: My Lords, I welcome the Statement of my right honourable friend the Prime Minister. I also wish to reflect for a moment that Croydon North is an area I know well. As the riots took place, I was on the phone to a lady who saw her business burnt down in front of her eyes as she watched from a flat opposite. She saw her tenant, an elderly lady, being taken out as the gangs took hold. She saw the...
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: My Lords, first, I thank and congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Mitchell, on securing this timely debate in view of the challenges that we face-not just in Britain but across the globe. Notwithstanding the hundreds of differences we have between us, people of faith all believe in God, in creation and in the Creator. After all, we belong to the same denomination. We are all God's creatures. We...
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: My Lords, I welcome this Bill and there is a sound premise in what I say. It has noble intent; it seeks to simplify a very complex system; it seeks to decrease bureaucracy in the assessment of benefits, which has gone on for far too long; it increases transparency; but most importantly, as we have heard, it incentivises work. There is that look on a person's face as they secure their first...
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: My Lords, first, I join others in welcoming my noble friend the Minister to his new responsibilities. Clearly this is an area not only of great interest but of great importance, and I am sure he will discharge his duties with his usual aplomb. I also join other noble Lords in paying tribute to my noble friend Lady Browning. She is someone I have known for a very long time and I am sure I...
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Parekh, for initiating this debate and offer him my apologies for arriving a tad late in the Chamber. The joy of Divisions is that you get talking to a colleague or two outside, and it is funny how time flies, but there we are. Life is like that sometimes. The noble Lord spoke very eloquently about the importance of the relationship between India and...
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: My Lords, yet again the question of Europe is one which we find dominating headlines. Indeed, it is impacting daily lives and for this reason and others, I join in the chorus of approval and tributes being paid to the noble Lord, Lord Pearson of Rannoch, today. His timing of this debate is quite impeccable. "What we should grasp, however, from the lessons of European history is that, first,...
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: My Lords, first, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Noon, for initiating this debate. 9/11 and 7/7 changed Britain and the world. From London to Lahore, from New York to New Delhi, terrorism cannot be ignored. A new kind of terror emerged with 9/11, as we saw on 7/7, attacking the very basis and basics of British society-a society enriched by its secular democracy, multitude of faiths and diversity...