European Union (Withdrawal) Bill

Baroness Oppenheim-Barnes Excerpts

Committee: 8th sitting (Hansard - continued): House of Lords
Monday 19th March 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Altmann]

My Lords—

[Baroness Oppenheim-Barnes (Con)]

My Lords—

[Noble Lords]

Order!

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Altmann]

My Lords—

[Baroness Oppenheim-Barnes]

My Lords—

[Noble Lords]

Order!

[Baroness Goldie]

For once, I am grateful to the noble Lord opposite. Can I ask one of my colleagues to determine who should precede the other?

[Baroness Oppenheim-Barnes]

I would just like to put the opposite view. Some of the regulations that we have had to accept from the EU on health matters were likely to be completely unhelpful and possibly even make matters worse. I remember when people were concerned about harmful additives in food and parents, in particular, wanted to know more, so the EU produced a regulation in which the information was to be given in tiny letters, smaller than anything else on the label. You had the vision of a busy mother with a child on each arm who possibly needed her glasses to read what it said. She would get a completely opposite view because the writing was so small: she would think that it was the good thing that they should have when in fact it was trying to warn her against it. I was unable to get that amended at the time. That was just one small example of such misinformation or lack of information. I am looking forward, when we complete everything and achieve Brexit, to redrafting a number of these regulations that we had to accept to make them much more sensible for those who are rightly concerned about these matters.

[Baroness Altmann]

My Lords—