Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill

Baroness Morris of Bolton Excerpts

Report stage
Monday 15th May 2023 Lords Chamber

Amendment 47 withdrawn.

[The Deputy Speaker (Baroness Morris of Bolton) (Con)]

My Lords, if Amendment 48 is agreed to, I cannot call Amendment 49 for reasons of pre-emption.

Amendment 48

Moved by

EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement

Baroness Morris of Bolton Excerpts

Friday 8th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Morris of Bolton (Con) [V]]

My Lords, it is a pleasure, almost four years after we first began debate on the famous Article 50 in your Lordships’ House, to say a few words on the agreement reached between the United Kingdom and the European Union in the final days of 2020, an agreement that fulfilled our promise to the electorate and which, as my noble friend Lord Wharton of Yarm said in his splendid maiden speech, leaves us free to forge our own future. I thank my noble friend the Minister for his thoughtful opening to this debate.

The process of disentangling ourselves from the institutions of the EU after so many years was never going to be easy, but the job must have been made all the more difficult with every step being queried, challenged and second-guessed. I pay enormous tribute to the patience and negotiating skills of all those involved in delivering this agreement. As one of the Prime Minister’s trade envoys, I am privileged to witness on a regular basis the ingenuity and quality of our companies and institutions, and the professionalism and expertise of our trade officials. I believe that, whether we had achieved a trade deal or not, our companies would have adapted and flourished.

I far prefer that we have negotiated this unique deal with no tariffs or quotas, but, as we heard from my noble friend Lady Warsi, there is still much practical detail to be addressed. For me and, I suspect, most people, including our friends in the wider world, the test of a good Brexit deal was always going to be the kind of relationship we could build with our European friends and neighbours, especially in these frightening and testing times for us all. Last week at Second Reading of the European Union Bill, my noble friend Lord Maude of Horsham said that there is now an opportunity to take our relationship forward in a better spirit than when we were in the EU. I could not agree more, and I applaud my right honourable friend the Prime Minister for delivering a deal that does just that.

Economy Update

Baroness Morris of Bolton Excerpts

Tuesday 10th November 2020 Lords Chamber

[The Minister of State, Cabinet Office and the Treasury (Lord Agnew of Oulton) (Con)]

I thank both noble Lords for their comments. I will first address the noble Lord, Lord Tunnicliffe.

The Government have always made it clear that economic support would continue past the end of October and had announced the Job Support Scheme to do just that. Extending the CJRS, or furlough, responds to the latest economic conditions and the national lockdown in England and similar restrictions in the devolved Administrations. The Government have acknowledged that they have not been able to support everyone in the exact way they would want, but they have been proactive in addressing gaps in the scheme where possible. This partially addresses the points of the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer; for example, under the second SEISS grant, self-employed traders facing reduced demand or who are temporarily unable to trade due to Covid were made eligible. It has not been practically possible to include certain groups without introducing unacceptable fraud risks.

The vast majority of the British public has come together, followed the law and helped to prevent the spread of the virus. We are confident that communities will rise to the next challenge and play their part as we come together to fight the second wave this winter. The noble Lord asked about compliance. To ensure that people can continue complying, we have introduced a comprehensive package of support, including extended SSP to employees when they are asked to self-isolate, and for workers on low incomes a one-off payment of £500 under the self-isolation support payment scheme.

Individuals who are asked to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace because they have tested positive for coronavirus, or been identified as a contact, may be eligible for the test and trace support payment provided that they meet the other criteria. If individuals are identified as a contact by the NHS Covid-19 app but they have not been contacted by NHS Test and Trace, they cannot currently apply for the scheme. App users are anonymous, which means that the local authorities that administer the payment scheme cannot confirm that they have been asked to self-isolate. Further work is ongoing to determine if the scheme can be extended to individuals who have been identified as a contact only through the app, while adhering to data privacy requirements.

We have legislated to prevent employers from requiring workers, including agency workers, subject to the duty to self-isolate to attend work. Employers who breach this are subject to a £1,000 fine, rising to £10,000 for repeat offences.

The noble Baroness asked about the potential for negative interest rates. I cannot predict the future, but the noble Baroness will know that we are very against that at the moment. I hope that it can be avoided. I share her concern that negative interest rates put pressure on savers beyond that which has existed over the last 10 years of very low interest rates. It is illustrative of the balancing act that the Government must take between support for people during this crisis and the long-term impact on the Government.

[The Deputy Speaker (Baroness Morris of Bolton) (Con)]

My Lords, we now come to the 30 minutes allocated for Back-Bench questions. I ask that questions and answers be brief so that I can call the maximum number of speakers.

House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) (Abolition of By-Elections) Bill [HL]

Baroness Morris of Bolton Excerpts

Friday 23rd March 2018 Lords Chamber

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness Morris of Bolton) (Con)]

My Lords, I have to tell your Lordships that in the first Division the number voting Not Content was in fact 129, not 127 as announced.

Motion

Moved by

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Young of Cookham]

Without committing my noble friend, who is sitting on my left, the Government are open to further discussions, through the usual channels, with the noble Lord, Lord Grocott.

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness Morris of Bolton) (Con)]

My Lords—

[Lord Low of Dalston]

I accede to what has been said: the noble Lord, Lord Grocott, has reached an agreement through the usual channels. The House has sent a strong signal today that it wants to see further time made available for the noble Lord, Lord Grocott. In the hope that that request will be acceded to, I will not press the point that we take further time in Committee today on the noble Lord’s Bill.

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees]

I apologise to the noble Lord, Lord Low, for being so eager to resume the House.

Motion agreed.

European Union (Withdrawal) Bill

Baroness Morris of Bolton Excerpts

Tuesday 30th January 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Morris of Bolton (Con)]

My Lords, no one ever said that the process of leaving the EU was going to be easy, and we are in for some interesting days and discussions during the further stages of this Bill. As my noble friend the Leader of the House explained so well, put simply the Bill seeks to ensure that by the time we leave the EU, laws which currently govern our everyday lives and give protection to us as individuals, businesses and institutions will be transferred to UK law to ensure continuity and certainty.

In this process, there are those who fear that the Government are making a power grab and that hard fought-for rights and obligations might be threatened. Yet others such as my noble friend Lady Eaton would like to see that process built on to provide greater freedoms for local communities. These are understandable issues and concerns and it is right that, during debate on the Bill, they should be explored to see whether improvements are needed. But what would not be right would be for this House to seek to frustrate that process and to set it at odds with the elected House. It was most reassuring to hear from the noble Baroness, Lady Smith of Basildon, and other noble Lords across the House that this is not their intention. I hope that intention will hold when we start to get into the detail of the most contentious issues.

It is inevitable that throughout today’s debate there has been discussion of our future economic relationship with the European Union. The noble Lords, Lord Mandelson and Lord Hain, along with my noble friend Lady Wheatcroft and others, have said how important it is that we stay in the single market and the customs union. Staying in either of these would mean accepting many of the rules and regulations of the EU that were disliked by the British people and instrumental in leading to a no vote in the referendum, without the corresponding balance of a seat at the negotiating table to argue our corner. If that were to be the case, it would be legitimate to ask what all this palaver had been about.

This is especially the case with the customs union, membership of which would not allow us to negotiate our own free trade agreements with other countries—however difficult those may be, as we heard from the noble Lord, Lord Wilson of Dinton. Yet the IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook database calculates that 90% of future growth will come from outside the European Union. It is these countries which will give the UK the opportunities for new business and increased prosperity. So it is vital that we as a country are free to negotiate and strike deals throughout the world. I declare my interest as one of the Prime Minister’s trade envoys.

The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Leeds and my noble friend Lord Bridges both asked, “What kind of Britain do we want to live in?”. It may surprise some of your Lordships to know that in the referendum I voted to remain, not for economic reasons but for those things so eloquently expressed by the noble Baroness, Lady Royall of Blaisdon, such as tolerance and friendship—the things that the noble Lords, Lord Triesman and Lord Winston, hold so dearly. It was also for the collaboration in a host of areas which I felt brought stability in a world which does not always have a surplus of that. I know that your Lordships might think me a bright-eyed optimist but I am encouraged that these relationships will flourish. I am trying to look at it in a different way now. But I am encouraged—I know noble Lords might think that I am a bright-eyed optimist—that these relationships will flourish, and I am trying to look at it in a different way now. As my noble friend Lady Finn is fond of saying, we were in with opt-outs, now we will be out with opt-ins. There will be many areas of future co-operation, not least on our security and intelligence operations, which are as essential for the security of Europe as they are for us.

Finally, the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, whom I consider a good friend, along with many others is passionate in his desire to stay in the European Union, and I fully understand that. But we have had that debate, and I fear that a second referendum would weaken our negotiating hand and extend uncertainty. As we have already heard from my noble friend Lord Hill of Oareford, business leaders are saying that the political paralysis caused by the process of Brexit depresses them more than Brexit itself. People just want us to get on with it.

I sincerely hope that we can all come together and that the creative and ingenious among our number, many of whom are bitterly disappointed by Brexit, will focus their talents and energies on helping to make this Bill and Brexit a success in the future interests of our country.

Debate adjourned until tomorrow at 10 am.

Universal Credit

Baroness Morris of Bolton Excerpts

Thursday 16th November 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hollis of Heigham]

My Lords, I do not have the time—understandably, given the pressure of other debates—to challenge so many of the assertions the Minister made in her reply which I have to say, from my work on the subject, are not well founded. I thank everybody who has taken part in today’s debate. The meaningful, moving, compassionate, well-informed examples and evidence that have come from around the House show how many of your Lordships are seeking to walk in the footsteps of claimants rather than sign up automatically—I am not accusing the Minister of this—to leafy government assurances which from my research are not supported by the evidence.

None the less, we have a Budget coming. I say to the Minister—I know she and her colleagues in the department will fight for this—that there is a choice. The Government can choose in the Budget to align themselves with the just about managing and the even more deprived—

[The Deputy Speaker (Baroness Morris of Bolton) (Con)]

I apologise, but the time allotted for this debate has now elapsed, and I must put the Question. The Question is that this Motion be agreed to.

Motion agreed.

Housing and Planning Bill

Baroness Morris of Bolton Excerpts

Monday 25th April 2016 Lords Chamber

123A: Clause 146, page 75, line 23, leave out subsection (1) and insert—
“( ) Regulations under section 145 may—(a) equire a designated person (subject to any specified exceptions) to process an application for planning permission if chosen to do so by an applicant;(b) provide that, where an application for planning permission is to be or has been processed by a designated person, any connected application must (subject to any specified exceptions) also be processed by that person;(c) allow a responsible planning authority to take over the processing of an application for planning permission, or a connected application, in specified circumstances.”

[The Deputy Speaker (Baroness Morris of Bolton) (Con)]

My Lords, if Amendment 123A is agreed to, I cannot call Amendment 123B for reasons of pre-emption.

Amendment 123A agreed.

--- Later in debate ---

123D: Clause 146, page 75, line 42, leave out paragraph (g)

[The Deputy Speaker]

My Lords, if Amendment 123D is agreed to, I cannot call Amendment 123E for reasons of pre-emption.

Amendments 123C and 123D agreed.

Israel and Palestine

Baroness Morris of Bolton Excerpts

Thursday 5th March 2015 Grand Committee

[Baroness Morris of Bolton (Con)]

My Lords, I declare my interests as set out in the register. We must never forget that this is not simply a question of one people seeking autonomy from another. As Max Blumenthal said in his book Goliath, this is about,

“people living under a regime of separation, grappling with the consequences of ethnic division in a land with no defined borders”.

To that I would add that it is also about people living under the daily grind of occupation.

Last year Laurence Brass, the former treasurer of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, spoke out about the miserable conditions he witnessed when he visited the West Bank. Following criticism of his statements he was supported by former Israeli ambassadors and a former Israeli Attorney-General, who praised his willingness to see the grim reality on the ground in the West Bank—and to that we must add the appalling situation in Gaza.

Time is running out and I fear that the resilience and amazing good humour of the Palestinian people is at breaking point. With the help of British aid, the Palestinian Authority has built the necessary structures for statehood and, despite the longest occupation in modern history, the Palestinians are highly educated and have universities, hospitals, a rich cultural life and leaders who believe in peace.

I would love to see the Government recognise Palestine as a first step towards breathing new life into the peace process. It is in the interests of all who love Israel, Palestine and the wider Middle East that we, as a Government, and our international partners do all that we can to support the moderate, secular Palestinian authority.

Palestine: Recognition

Baroness Morris of Bolton Excerpts

Thursday 29th January 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Morris of Bolton (Con)]

My Lords, in a powerful speech at RUSI last October, my right honourable friend Sir Alan Duncan said:

“No one who has travelled to Israel and Palestine … can fail to become emotionally engaged in the rights and wrongs of the arguments between the two. The Israeli-Palestinian dispute is one of the most polarising and vexed issues in the world”.

How right he is.

I declare my interests as the Prime Minister’s trade envoy to the Palestinian territories, chairman of the Conservative Middle East Council and president of Medical Aid for Palestinians, in which role I follow in the illustrious footsteps of the noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy of The Shaws, my noble friend Lord Patten of Barnes, who I am pleased to see him his place, and my noble friend Lord Steel of Aikwood. I am enormously grateful to my noble friend Lord Steel for giving us the opportunity to debate the indivisible right of the Palestinians to self-determination.

I travelled to the Occupied Palestinian Territories twice in December. Just before Christmas, I had the pleasure of travelling with my noble friend Lady Warsi on a Caabu and Medical Aid for Palestinians delegation. Earlier in the month, as trade envoy, I visited Gaza. I had not been to Gaza since 2011 and I was shocked not only by the devastation caused by last summer’s bombing but by the general deterioration. There is hardly any fuel, people cannot keep warm, and every other mode of transport is a donkey and cart—and most of the donkeys are lame. The international donations promised at the Cairo conference to rebuild Gaza are not materialising, and young children are dying from the cold. We are honouring our commitment, and many people have found a warm home through the money that DfID has given to pay rents.

In the West Bank, I witnessed ever-increasing settlement building, the threatened removal of the Bedouin from their lands to townships and a proposal to extend the wall—or the separation barrier—in the Cremisan Valley, a most beautiful part of Bethlehem, which will separate the land from local farmers and religious communities.

I also witnessed the work of and pay tribute to some amazing and dedicated Israelis who are working tirelessly for Palestinian dignity and self-determination. I never fail to be impressed by the resilience and good humour of the Palestinian people, but it is hardly surprising that they have had enough. It is also hardly surprising, when they are constantly told that the time is not right, that they have sought to take matters into their own hands. In an article in the Guardian on 9 November 2011, just before the Palestinians applied for full member status at the UN, my right honourable friend Sir Nicholas Soames and I warned:

“The UK cannot support the right to self-determination in every country in the Middle East and then deny the same right to the Palestinians. The World Bank, IMF, UN and EU have all assessed the performance of the Palestinian Authority and reported that it is ready for statehood”.

Recognition will bolster those Palestinians who believe that the path of non-violence will lead to a state coming into being through diplomacy and democratic expression, not destruction, a state which lives side-by-side with Israel in peace and prosperity.

There are those who seek to make recognition of Palestinian statehood dependent on the conclusion of successful peace negotiations. I believe that such negotiations will not come to fruition without Palestinian statehood. Time is running out for all the conditions to be met. How can we talk about a two-state solution when we recognise only one state?

In 2010, President Obama promised in his speech to the UN that Palestine would be a new member of the United Nations by September 2011. That promise was endorsed by the United Kingdom. We should fulfil that promise now.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Baroness Morris of Bolton Excerpts

Thursday 24th July 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Alton of Liverpool]

I am sorry, my Lords, but people stuck to their time limits and one noble Lord removed his name from the list, so there was some extra time. The courtesy of the House is all that I am trying to observe in thanking all those who have participated in this important debate.

Article 18 demands an end to suppression, persecution and gross injustice. It should be at the heart of our concerns, not an orphaned right.

[The Deputy Speaker (Baroness Morris of Bolton) (Con)]

My Lords, I apologise, but the time allotted for this debate has now elapsed and I must put the question.

Motion agreed.