Why do we not just compare their records? Where the previous Government delivered the slowest projected growth in the G7, growth in the first half of this year was the fastest in the G7. Where they presided over the worst Parliament ever for living standards, living standards have increased by 2.1% …
It sounds to me as if the noble Lord is dancing on the head of a pin here. The Government’s intention is that all elections that are due to take place in May 2026 will take place.
My Lords, in my PNQ on Monday, I asked the Minister, for whom I have enormous respect, two questions. He was then reminded by the noble Lord, Lord Young of Cookham, that he had not answered one of the two questions. Much of this discussion has related to moving away from a paper-driven system to som…
LordsOral Questions10 November 20252 contributions
My Lords, any release in error is one too many. Releases in error have been increasing for years and are another symptom of the justice system crisis inherited by this Government. The Ministry of Justice has already taken immediate steps, including introducing stronger release checks with more direc…
Both the Deputy Prime Minister and me were informed first thing on Wednesday morning when we woke up. The Deputy Prime Minister quite rightly thought it was irresponsible to potentially give incorrect information to Parliament. The information was changing rapidly and the Deputy Prime Minister did n…
The noble Lord raises an important point. As has been noted in this House before, the Department for Business and Trade has slashed electricity costs for steel producers and is in the process of streamlining grid access for major investment projects, while reaffirming this Government’s commitment to…
My Lords, it is a pleasure to speak in this debate. I begin by thanking the noble Lord, Lord Watson of Wyre Forest, who has sponsored this Bill and dedicated much time to ensuring its smooth progress. I am also grateful to all noble Lords who have contributed today. The noble Lords, Lord Hayward and…
I can confirm to the noble Lord that I have had exactly those sorts of conversations with some supermarkets. There are certain items that they say they need to wrap in plastic—cucumbers, for example. I am waiting to be convinced as to the need for everything to be wrapped, but I am happy to work wit…
My Lords, I too thank the noble Lord, Lord Murphy of Torfaen, and congratulate him on bringing this Bill so speedily before this House. Now that Wales has much better digital services and the young use digital means in preference to postal and other services, it is a timely measure. I wish to make t…
Does the noble Lord mean in relation to how many people are employed by the regulator? To be honest, that will be largely down to the incoming regulator itself. As the noble Lord will be aware from our lengthy discussions during the passage through Parliament of the Bill, now an Act, there is a broa…
My Lords, let me say first that I always welcome encouragement from the noble Lord, and I will take that back. To address his question directly, we intend to actively explore and test new and more automated methods of registration, including better use of data to identify people who are eligible and…
I will need to take some of that away so that I get the precise answer. To deal with the noble Lord’s first question, one of the areas I think we have not been good at—by we, I mean the administration, candidly—is project delivery capability. One of the reasons it was decided that the commercial dir…
My Lords, my friend the noble Lord, Lord Hayward, has made all the points that I was going to make, except with more technical details, so I shall not delay the Committee very long. The fact is that these major women’s events have proven that they can attract large crowds. They are slightly differen…
I appreciate that, but I hope that both noble Lords will recognise that that was not an item that I expected to debate today. It seems eminently sensible to examine that, but I cannot give the noble Lord final chapter and verse on that proposal based on the helpful discussion that we have had. The c…
I will give way shortly, but I have a lot of questions to answer.
So, it is unacceptable, but the reassurance I can give is that the directorate is changing. I think that joint working, with a Parliament-wide department to deal with these issues, seems a no-brainer. Why have we not done it before? …
My Lords, it is an accepted tradition that we do not disclose security information and the costs. Costs on this have been available to Members on the relevant committees, so they were available—and I will probably be sacked later for giving the costs anyway. Given that there was this degree of suspi…
First, I thank the noble Lord for informing me. I know that he has great depth of experience in this area. Any suspected violations of donation rules fall under the jurisdiction of the Electoral Commission or the police. The Electoral Commission has the authority to investigate breaches and impose c…
The noble Lord makes a very important point, and, like many others, I have heard a lot about DOGE in Kent. Local government funding is incredibly complex and, if what I have seen in the press is true, it is very important that anyone looking into this has a very detailed understanding of the subject…
I thank the noble Lord for that question. I am not aware of any government initiative to extend the number of protected characteristics. If I am mistaken on that, I will write to the noble Lord.
We are looking at how we publicise the scheme, but of course we can always do more. Let us reflect on the noble Lord’s question and see whether there is more that can be done to publicise the scheme. I reassure people, including anybody who may be seeking to apply for this, that it is important to r…