Brexit: Sheep Farmers

Debate between Baroness Vere of Norbiton and Lord Morris of Aberavon

Tuesday 22nd May 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

My Lords, we are confident of getting a deal on Brexit, which is very important to remember. Obviously assessments are going on all the time as new data becomes available. Independent assessments have also been made, such as, for example, the Impacts of Alternative Post-Brexit Trade Agreements on UK Agriculture. This assessment covered the sheep sector and highlighted the importance of low-friction trade.

[Lord Morris of Aberavon (Lab)]

My Lords, my family’s interest in Welsh agriculture has been declared. The noble and learned Lord, Lord Keen of Elie, responding on 2 May to my speech on the withdrawal Bill, was unable to set out what the basis of the agricultural payments will be after 2020. Would it not be grossly unfair and a backward step if future payments in Wales were made on the Barnett formula rather than on the present basis? Further, can the Minister clarify the position and put an end to the anxiety of sheep farmers, whose livelihoods are at stake?

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

I thank the noble and learned Lord for his question and am happy to give a little more clarification if I can. As noble Lords will know, the consultation closed earlier this month, to which we had 40,000 responses. Agricultural policy is a devolved matter so there will be a system by which the Government have committed £3 billion of funding, which will continue. That money will be divided up between the four devolved Administrations according to an agreement between them and from then it will be up to the Welsh Government to decide how that money gets to Welsh farmers. In doing so, two considerations must be borne in mind. First, the UK as a whole will always be the unit for international negotiations and, secondly, we must maintain the integrity of the UK internal market.

Freedom of Speech: Hate Crime

Debate between Baroness Vere of Norbiton and Lord Morris of Aberavon

Wednesday 6th December 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

I thank my noble friend for his series of questions. The CPS legal guidance and public statements on all strands of hate crimes were revised and published in August 2017. However, the flagging definition of hate crime was not changed—indeed, it has been the same since 2007. Both the police and the CPS use this definition to flag potential hate crime. He also mentioned the attrition of freedom of speech. I am afraid once again to disappoint my noble friend, but I am not sure I can agree with him. I am an avid user of Twitter and think we could all agree that there is freedom of speech on a daily basis, and perhaps increased vociferousness, which I think is a good thing.

[Lord Morris of Aberavon (Lab)]

My Lords, will the Government and the prosecuting authorities always remember that freedom of speech is one of our hard-fought-for liberties? Regrettably—and for very good reasons—inroads have had to be made, but there can be unintended consequences if one does not tread extremely carefully. When I was Attorney-General it was my statutory personal responsibility to authorise some prosecutions. One was of an old lady in her 80s who repeatedly published vile anti-Semitic literature and was repeatedly jailed for disobeying the court, and got immense publicity from so doing. When I eventually decided not to prosecute, no more was heard of her.

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

I think almost all noble Lords would agree that freedom of speech is a fundamental right. I think the noble and learned Lord was referring there to the offence of stirring up hatred from his time as Attorney-General, and indeed it does need the Attorney-General’s permission to prosecute those offences. In the last year there have just been four such prosecutions, all of which were successful.