My Lords, I too thank the noble Baroness, Lady Fox of Buckley, for introducing this important debate. Freedom of expression has always been the lifeblood of great art. Art flourishes through freedom, not conformity. History reminds us what happens when freedom is lost.
In the Soviet Union, writers …
My Lords, given that abusive conversion practices are already criminal offences, can the Minister tell the House what conduct the Government intend this Bill to criminalise that is not already unlawful? Can he identify a single case in which a victim was denied justice because existing criminal offe…
My Lords, the United States has offered $100 million in aid to be administered by the Catholic Church, which the Cuban Government have not accepted, as they insist that all aid must go through their own institution. Given that the Cuban regime has provided support to the Russian war effort, what ste…
My Amendment 169 is a very modest one. It simply proposes that, if the Bill proceeds, before any doctor raises the possibility of assisted dying, the patient should first receive a psychological assessment from an appropriately qualified specialist. This is not an onerous hurdle but a basic and sens…
My Lords, the title of the report is Unfinished Business , and the quicker we finish the business and properly cement our relationship with the EU, the better. It is becoming increasingly likely that our own democracy could be severely tested in the coming years, if we have a different Government. W…
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have spoken today. I particularly welcome and support the speeches of the noble Baronesses, Lady Monckton, Lady O’Loan and Lady Foster of Aghadrumsee, the noble Lord, Lord Alton, the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Lincoln, and so many others who spoke so e…
My Lords, Amendment 455 in my name seeks to preserve legal protection for unborn babies who could survive outside the womb. Clause 191 would fully decriminalise abortions by stating that a woman would commit no offence in relation to her own pregnancy. In doing so, it would disapply not only Section…
My Lords, I too oppose the removal of the defence of reasonable punishment. I realise that Amendment 97 from the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, no longer does that directly, but it is intended as a staging post, and this is why I would like to talk about the issue.
As a child, I was subjected to phys…
My Lords, I support Amendment 32, to which I have added my name. Giving the Chagossian people a say before their homeland is transferred to Mauritius is not an unreasonable demand; it is basic justice. At its heart lies the principle of self-determination embedded in international law and central to…
My Lords, I shall speak in support of Amendments 14 and 25. This treaty and the Bill that will enact it is bad for our country, for our security and for British taxpayers. As we have already discussed, it will leave Britain poorer, weaker and strategically exposed.
This treaty is also bad for the C…
I presume that a referendum would actually ask the Chagossian people what they want for their future and self-determination.
I open by congratulating the noble Lord, Lord Elliott, on an extremely well-argued speech—even politically balanced, at times. It was a complete contrast to the barrage of criticism that we have had from the Opposition Benches throughout this debate. It was not quite clear to me who the barrage of c…
My Lords, I am pleased to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Meyer—despite not agreeing with a word she said. I am pleased because I have waited a long time to make this relatively short speech in this debate.
I concluded my contribution to the debate on 30 June on the Motion from the noble Lord, Lord…
My Lords, I will speak to all the amendments in this group to which I have added my name and all those in the names of my noble friend Lord Murray and the noble Lord, Lord Strathcarron. Basically, these amendments offer a far more practical and balanced way for the Government to meet their goal of r…
My Lords, I thank all those who kindly wrote to me and sent emails, including members of the public, religious organisations, religious leaders and many people in the medical profession. There is no greater responsibility than how we treat those at the end of their life—the vulnerable, the ill, the …
My Lords, as I understand it, this debate was not about non-crime hate incidents; it was about non-threatening online communication offences, so I shall confine my remarks to that.
Many of the points I would have made have already been made and it has been a very interesting debate. Those arrested …
My Lords, this is not about ping-pong but about reform, and for reform to be legitimate, it must be principled, proportionate, fair and respectful.
The hereditary Peers currently serving this House entered under a binding cross-party agreement in 1999. They did so in good faith, committing to publi…
My Lords, I support Amendments 177, 183CA, 183CB and 458. As my noble friends Lord Nash, Lord Bethell, Lady Penn and many others have so eloquently laid out, the devastating impact of social media on children is not speculative anymore. It is an irrefutable fact. Social media, as many have said, is …
Children could use phones that do not connect to the internet—phones that do not access social media—like the old phones, if they need to phone their parents in an emergency. With the mobile phones that we are talking about now, for children under the age of 16, their brains are not developed enough…
My Lords, I, too, rise to support all the amendments in this group. I support the Government’s ambition to boost productivity, create good jobs and crack down on bad employers. However, as many noble Lords have highlighted before me, Clause 23 risks doing more harm than good. The letter from the UK’…
My Lords, to look at the real world, France has a budget deficit of 5.8% compared to ours of 2.3%. France has an unemployment rate of 7.3% compared to our 4.5%, and France has 19% youth unemployment. Germany’s economy is going down rapidly, with exports going down a lot. So, I am confused when the P…
My Lords, I, too, would like to speak to Amendment 1. I realise that it is a broad amendment, so I shall concentrate on proposed new Clause 1(1)(a), and the
“safety and wellbeing of children”.
Last week, I asked why His Majesty’s Government had not followed France in banning mobile phones in schoo…
My Lords, I shall speak to my amendments, as well as Amendment 84, for the same reasons so clearly highlighted by the noble Lord, Lord Young of Acton, and the noble Baroness, Lady Fox. Of course no one should ever face sexual harassment at work. That is why we passed the worker protection Act 2023 t…
What both the previous Government and this Government have done amounts to rather more than simply guidance; there has been a very clear direction. But I am sure the noble Baroness will understand that the French education system is somewhat more directive than the British education system. If she a…
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow so many excellent, wide-ranging speeches, and particularly to follow the moving contribution from the noble Baroness, Lady Meyer. I, too, add my thanks to the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Peterborough for her thoughtful maiden speech. I, like others, am l…
My Lords, I declare my interests as a governor of Coram and a trustee of the Foundling Museum, both of which institutions work across adoption, fostering and, particularly, the care system. Overall, I welcome the Bill. I have one cause for regret and sadness, which is that my great friend, the late …