Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)
My Lords, before we move on to the main business, I will update the House on business today and tomorrow in the light of events overnight in Ukraine. In doing so, I express my thanks to the usual channels for their co-operation. The current plan is that the Prime Minister will make a Statement in the House of Commons at around 5 pm. On that basis, the Leader of the House will repeat the Statement here at a convenient moment after 7 pm. The rest of the business will proceed as planned. The business tomorrow will be changed to a general debate on Russia/Ukraine, starting at 10 am. Members can sign up now on the Government Whips’ Office website. That list will close at 6 pm this evening. The three Select Committee reports that were due to be taken tomorrow will now be debated on Friday 11 March. I am very grateful to the noble Lords, Lord Lipsey and Lord Ricketts, and the noble Baroness, Lady Suttie, whose reports were due to be debated tomorrow, for their timely assistance this morning to allow this change to happen.