Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park: It is a disgrace, and I am glad for that reassuring remark from behind. Over the course of dozens of tweets, the noble Lord was trying to make his—let us face it—not always balanced Twitter followers believe something about me and the Government that is simply not true, and which he knows to be untrue. Indeed, by suggesting that we are making it easier for companies to pollute our waters,...
Alison Thewliss: ...whether to congratulate the Minister on his promotion, as he has come here to give us the Budget a day early. What he has not given this House is an apology. He should not be announcing things on Twitter; we should be waiting for the Budget to see the full detail. This has been going on since September—it is not new. There have been daily announcements drip-feeding the entire Budget...
Alison Thewliss: ...whether to congratulate the Minister on his promotion, as he has come here to give us the Budget a day early. What he has not given this House is an apology. He should not be announcing things on Twitter; we should be waiting for the Budget to see the full detail. This has been going on since September—it is not new. There have been daily announcements drip-feeding the entire Budget...
Baroness Wheatcroft: My Lords, the Minister now boasts on his Twitter feed profile: “You don’t get something for nothing, you can’t have freedom for free.” Apparently, it is from a Rush song from “2112”. I do not recall him carrying that message around as he was leading us into Brexit. Since we have heard what we are going to do with that new-found freedom, in the absence of an impact assessment, can...
Matt Western: ...of the DfE itself. The idea that the online sphere should be included has come from within the Government. Amendment 53 seeks to build on amendment 52. It would ensure that when the financial costs of hosting speakers were unreasonable and disproportionate, a suitable online platform would have to be provided as an alternative. We have seen over the past year and a half how easily that can...
John Martin McDonnell: ...email that I have received says this: “The impact of the Fire Safety Scandal on leaseholders’ mental health is considerably underestimated” by the Government. “From the many messages on Twitter and Facebook, there are millions of devastated lives and souls in the country. Many families and young adults had to live through not just the pandemic during the last 18 months, but also...
Baroness Vere of Norbiton: ...2020 via the GOV.UK website. There was a press release announcing the public consultation, which went to marine trade press and industry press. Notice of the consultation was posted on the MCA’s Twitter account. Of course, we cannot force people to respond to a consultation; sometimes they do not for any number of reasons. It may be that the people who run these vessels are very focused...
Lisa Cameron: ...to highlight the link between animal abuse, domestic violence and other social issues, as well as through its education programme. I was interested to hear that local shelters often have to pay the costs of animals seized until their court date, amounting to hundreds of thousands of pounds. It has been particularly difficult during the pandemic to raise funds. Much more must be done in...
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle: ...which does not have a particularly good environmental record—everyone will know which company I am talking about. If it produces a telephone or device that is worth £1,000 or more, the packaging cost would have to be very large to discourage it from making it look as fancy and as flash as you could possibly want. Then there is the other end of the market—supermarkets, as the noble...
Jonathan Gullis: ...of an extended school day. I look forward to going around and rallying that cry from all the students across my constituency to pass that on to the Minister. But we are back here again. On Twitter, the Labour party clearly did not get the likes and retweets it wanted, so decided to try to repeat this debate all over again. The Not Education Union seems to own the Labour party when it comes...
Adam Holloway: ...or even using local sources. This is what gives us a true picture of the world that we cannot get from fake news, internet memes, propaganda and sophisticated Government propaganda, often over Twitter. But there is a terrible cost to this type of journalism, and we owe a debt to those who have lost their lives in pursuit of the truth. All too often today, news is confused with...
Chris Matheson: ...ago, Laura Kuenssberg felt that she had to have a bodyguard to attend the Labour party conference. Once again, I send my apologies to her for that. More recently, a Conservative Minister caused the Twitter pile-on of a journalist who was asking perfectly innocent questions, and we have heard some unhelpful comments from the Prime Minister attacking all journalists. We have got SNP Members...
Baroness Warsi: ...s investigations into war crimes in Palestine. Each time that we fail to implement our own policy, we send out the message to an ever-extremist right-wing Israeli Government that there will be no cost of consequences for their treatment of the Palestinians. This total impunity is feeding Israel’s prolific rise in far-right extremism, leaving a society fighting for its soul. Often, when...
Munira Wilson: ...about the size of the problem. Air pollution contributes to diabetes, dementia and heart disease, and can even cause problems for children in the womb. Public Health England has estimated that the cost of air pollution to the NHS will be approximately £1.5 billion by 2025, and £5.1 billion by 2035. Research by Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation has found that over 8,500 schools...
Catherine McKinnell: ...my baby as soon as possible, she didn’t seem to care about easing any part of my pain or reassuring me for the many worries I had at the time—she rushed my labour along and as a result almost cost me my sons life.” Another said: “I already seemed like that hyper-emotional black woman worried about nothing and I let that silence me. I really wish in this moment I expressed my...
Simon Hart: Departmental social media advertising spend since January 2020 is shown below:Date: December 2020, Campaign: EU Transition, Platform/Outlet: Twitter, Cost: £241.94;Date: December 2020, Campaign: Covid-19 business support, Platform/Outlet: Twitter, Cost: £201.26;Date: December 2020, Campaign: Covid-19 business support, Platform/Outlet: Facebook, Cost: £500. The above figures relate to...
Simon Hart: Departmental advertising spend since January 2020 is shown below:Date: November 2020, Campaign: EU Transition, Platform/Outlet: Business News Wales print publication, Cost: £6,000;Date: November 2020, Campaign: EU Transition, Platform/Outlet: Reach PLC x 3, Cost: £73,840.33 (£30,000 + £30,000 + £13,840.33);Date: December 2020, Campaign: EU Transition, Platform/Outlet: Twitter, Cost:...
Siobhan Baillie: ..., plus posts that have the veneer of a justified challenge but are really just deliberately spiking pile-ons and hate. Constituents I have spoken to are clear that the reporting does not work, the cost of legal remedies are out of the reach of normal people and the law needs updating. We need to make social media known more for the good in our society, rather than as a toxic, unsafe...
Robin Swann: ...approach that is taken across the Executive when making or easing restrictions so that we are doing it in a proportionate manner. One of the things that Ms Hunter raised was how she finds out on Twitter what has happened. I have raised my frustration in the House about that because often a conversation is not finished before a journalist reports it. That is detrimental not just to the...
Darren Jones: May I begin by congratulating you, Madam Deputy Speaker, on your increasingly iconic videos on Twitter, which, with a lower budget, provide more charm than the Chancellor’s glitzy versions on Instagram? Five years ago, the Paris agreement committed the world to limiting global warming to at least 2° C above pre-industrial levels but called on all of us to get as close to 1.5° C as...