The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Stowell of Beeston) (Con)
My Lords, first, it is a real pleasure to follow the noble and learned Lord, Lord Wallace, in supporting the Motion of the noble Baroness, Lady Smith. Indeed, I am sure I speak for the whole House in congratulating her on her first State Opening as Leader of the Opposition. Before I go any further, and on behalf of all noble Lords, I join my noble friend Lord King in extending our thanks to Black Rod and all the staff of your Lordships’ House. They have, once again, made this State Opening—the 61st by Her Majesty, in her 90th birthday year—a resounding success.
That might also be the verdict on last week’s lesser-known ceremony of Prorogation, with its Norman French about-turns by the clerks, and synchronised doffing from a crack team of noble Lords. Synchronised doffing is not as easy as it sounds. While I would not like to cast aspersions on the efforts of previous teams, I cannot overlook the glowing reviews from last Thursday: “The best doffing we’ve seen for years”, said one TV commentator; “Superb doffing”, said another; and, my favourite, “We’ve never seen doffing like this before”. Though I thought that it was a bit uncharitable when one media correspondent described it as:
“All the camp incomprehensibility of Eurovision with none of the songs”.
More seriously, the Lord Speaker, the other party leaders, the Convenor and I regularly work together in the best interests of your Lordships’ House. I should of course add the noble Lord, Lord Laming, to that group. We all owe him a debt of gratitude for accepting the Lord Chairman of Committees’ responsibilities in rather unexpected circumstances last summer and for discharging them with such good grace.
My noble friend Lord King is quite right: I did not know what he was going to say in his speech, but I knew that I could rely on him to inform and entertain. It is a great pleasure to congratulate him on his speech, but I just say two things to him: I wish that I were 101 pounds and I would like to put on record that I am not 60 inches, I am 61 inches.
My noble friend and I have crossed paths on several occasions over the years, first at the Ministry of Defence, when he was Secretary of State and I was a civil servant, and later when I became a Whip in your Lordships’ House and he was a member of my flock. My noble friend has always been known for his wisdom and courtesy but it is, perhaps, fair to say that his reputation with the ladies took a hit after his infamous encounter with my other noble friend Lady Trumpington. I have to say that I noted that my noble friend Lady Goldie referred admiringly to his profile, although I do not know whether other noble Lords noticed that. What was most striking when watching the footage of his encounter with my noble friend Lady Trumpington again is not the two-fingered salute itself, but the fact that my noble friend, having had such a response from my noble friend Lady Trumpington, simply ploughed on obliviously.
Fortunately there is another Lady T whose attention he caught for all the right reasons earlier in his career. When Baroness Thatcher made him Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, she was clear as to why he was the right person for the job. “Tom”, she said, “Ulster needs a dose of your manly good sense”. What marks my noble friend out above all is his inner steel. In addition to his time in Northern Ireland he was our Defence Secretary during the first Gulf War and the first chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee. He has seen and lived through many of the great threats this nation has faced, even surviving a terrorist attempt on his own life. That makes his central call today for vigilance in the face of the many threats before us all the more authoritative and it is exactly why the Government have placed our national security at the heart of our programme. Indeed, with the perspective and experience my noble friend brings to his contributions, he really does showcase this House at its best.
We also heard a wonderful speech from my noble friend Lady Goldie. As she said, in the past couple of weeks there has been a remarkable turnaround north of the border; an incredible achievement for Ruth Davidson and the Scottish Conservatives. Ruth won her own Edinburgh Central seat all the way from fourth place, something the Liberal Democrat Members of this House I believe may have noted and taken heart from, especially as the noble and learned Lord describes them as optimistic. But any great project needs solid foundations, and recent Tory successes in Scotland are very much built upon the hard work of my noble friend Lady Goldie as Ruth’s immediate predecessor. My noble friend has now stood down from her seat in Holyrood and will be able to devote more time to her work here. Their loss is our gain, and it means that noble Lords can get to know my noble friend Lady Goldie and the quick wit behind her formidable demeanour rather better.
I am sure that sketch writers everywhere were a bit dismayed today that she did not encounter Prince Philip while he was in the building because legend has it that Prince Philip got short shrift one time when he asked my noble friend if she was wearing tartan knickers. But to be fair, I think that the reporting at the time of that encounter was unfair to His Royal Highness because, having learned of my noble friend’s fondness for what has been described to me as wild swimming off the west coast of Scotland, it seems that His Royal Highness had got the measure of my noble friend Lady Goldie. She is well known for her one-liners and I would not even want to try to share with noble Lords today what she said when she was sat astride a Harley-Davidson. But like my noble friend Lord King, she allies good humour with keen good sense, and today she spoke powerfully on the union, bringing real authority to the subject as a pivotal figure on the Smith commission. As she says, the referendum showed a settled will for us to remain united, but it was the start and not the end of the job at hand. To secure our United Kingdom, we must and we will continue to bring growth, jobs and success to all our nations and regions.
I will come on shortly to the programme that Her Majesty laid out this morning, but before doing so I want to look back on the Session just gone. Last May, there were those who asked what this Government could achieve with a small majority of 12 in the other place and no majority in this House. The answer, and contrary to what has been suggested this afternoon, is a lot. In the course of the past 12 months we have passed 23 Acts into law, delivering on a wide range of the commitments on which we stood at the last general election. We cut tax for 31 million working people, established a national living wage, doubled free childcare for working parents and made it possible for housing association tenants to own their own homes. What is more, we legislated for a referendum on our membership of the European Union, meaning that next month, for the first time in a generation, the people of this country will get to have their say. I hope, as a member of this Government, that they will vote for us to remain part of a reformed EU.
The last Session was an important milestone for this House as well, because even though we are an unelected House, general elections have an impact here too. The Liberal Democrats returned to the opposition Benches, the Labour Party elected new leaders in both Houses—although they are very different from each other—and a majority Conservative Government were outnumbered by the two opposition parties in the Lords for the first time.
For many of the Bills this Government brought forward, such as the EU referendum, welfare reform and trade union Bills, there was apprehension about how this House would approach its scrutiny role. Yet in each of those cases, we made changes through dialogue not endless rounds of ping-pong with the other place. That approach is when this House is at its most effective, because this House improves legislation. Every Minister will agree that their Bill is better for the scrutiny it receives here. Our scrutiny serves an important purpose: to hold the Government to account and to help give the public confidence in the laws Parliament makes.
Upholding our role as a revising Chamber is hugely important to me. But if we want to be legitimate as an unelected House, we have to be mindful of the limits of that role. I believe it must always be for the elected House to have the final say. Our conventions are important because they help to protect that balance. Yes, the Government rely on those conventions to secure their business, but the House and Parliament as a whole also rely on them in order to protect our scrutiny function and our purpose.
There are three very clear themes at the heart of this Session’s programme: delivering security for working people, strengthening our national defences and increasing opportunities for the most disadvantaged. Our first task must always be to ensure that the British economy and British families are secure. To bring the public finances under control, to spread prosperity across our country and to give our police, security and intelligence agencies the powers they need to keep us safe—that is what our programme will do.
However, just as we must keep the people of this country safe and secure, so we must give them a chance to get on in life, because our society cannot be strong and cohesive as long as there are millions of people who feel that doing their best is not respected or not worth the effort. People’s opportunities are still too often shaped by where they started in life and the environment they grew up in. As a society, we have too often put people from certain backgrounds on the track only to certain kinds of jobs.
We have too many talented people unaware of how much they are capable of or what they can achieve. We want that to change. We are determined to give people, whatever their background, the tools—the character, the knowledge and the confidence—to unlock their potential. As someone who has travelled an unconventional path, and as a champion of those who might be starting from a similar place, I could not be prouder to serve in a Government who have made this a priority.
Looking at specific Bills, I am delighted that one of the three starting its passage in this House, the children and social work Bill, is linked to that life chances agenda, helping more young people to get a better start in life. Other Bills shortly to start in your Lordships’ House are the bus services Bill and the cultural property Bill. In addition, we are due to receive two Bills that will carry over from the previous Session: the Investigatory Powers Bill and the Policing and Crime Bill.
I am proud to lead this House into the Session ahead. The work we do is important and we have a vital part to play. Above all, our scrutiny is about helping to give people confidence in the laws Parliament makes. It is that purpose we must all defend and promote.
I look forward to the rest of our debate on the Address and I am delighted to say I support the Motion to Adjourn.