Children: Covert Human Intelligence Sources

Debate between Baroness Williams of Trafford and Lord Tebbit

Thursday 13th September 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

The noble Baroness asks a very pertinent question. This is not a comfortable or easy arrangement. She will know, of course, that it was brought in by the Labour Government in 2000. With the safeguards that are in place and the work that needs to be undertaken, all these things are taken into consideration.

[Lord Tebbit (Con)]

My Lords, would my noble friend agree that it is overwhelmingly in the interest of the child that he or she should grow up in a society in which crime is reduced? That is the purpose of the measures that are being undertaken.

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My noble friend puts it absolutely succinctly and correctly: the overall aim is that children should grow up in a society free of crime.

Terrorist Attacks

Debate between Baroness Williams of Trafford and Lord Tebbit

Thursday 22nd June 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Tebbit (Con)]

My Lords, I welcome most wholeheartedly what the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, said about the duty that falls on all of us to condemn all terrorists. I think today of course of my friends—Airey Neave, Ian Gow, Robert Bradford, Tony Berry—all Members of the other place and all murdered by the IRA. I hope the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, will have a quiet word in the ears of the leaders of his party who have such soft and comforting words for the IRA.

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, as we deal with extremism in all its forms, we look not just at Islamist extremism but at far-right extremism. My noble friend is absolutely right to point out that we cannot forget the events in our recent history that caused such damage in our communities, both here and in Ireland.

Brexit: Crime Prevention

Debate between Baroness Williams of Trafford and Lord Tebbit

Thursday 30th March 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

The noble Lord is quite wrong. The letter says that both sides would cope, but our co-operation would be weakened. We want, and we believe that the EU wants, security to be part of the new partnership. That is why it will be part of the negotiation. That is the right way forward.

[Lord Tebbit (Con)]

My Lords, does my noble friend realise that the appropriate reply to the noble Lord, Lord Kinnock, lies in The Gospel According to St Matthew, chapter 6, verse 21?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

Perhaps the right reverend Prelate would like to comment.

Orgreave

Debate between Baroness Williams of Trafford and Lord Tebbit

Tuesday 1st November 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, it is very important to point out that the IPCC looked at this last year. It has said that if any further information comes to light, it will also look at that. The PCC for South Yorkshire Police is considering what elements of the force’s archive relating to Orgreave to make available to the campaign, while an archivist is also being employed for that purpose.

[Lord Tebbit (Con)]

My Lords, will my noble friend confirm that the Home Secretary is following in her decision the very good precedent set by Labour Home Secretaries, who in a period of 13 years of Labour government saw no reason for such an inquiry, which would do nothing more than enrich lawyers with fat fees in perpetuity?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

As always, my noble friend makes precise points. He also underlines the fact that this is a very emotive subject, with strong views on either side, but he is absolutely right. Thirty-two years have elapsed since Orgreave and no Government up to now have made a decision on it.

Immigration

Debate between Baroness Williams of Trafford and Lord Tebbit

Monday 12th September 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, I have to confess to not having read the document, but what I can say is that exit check data and so on will enhance our understanding of where people are moving to and what they are doing when they do choose to move. Exit check data will definitely enhance our understanding of overstaying over time, but the Government have always been clear that it is not possible to put a figure on the number of people who are residing illegally in the UK at any one time.

[Lord Tebbit (Con)]

My Lords, could it be that some of the university places that are occupied by foreign students might be better occupied by some of our own young people, so that they receive the benefits of a good university education?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, the Government have removed the cap on university places because we want a university system that is open to all but also open to the brightest and the best around the world.

Calais: Refugee Children

Debate between Baroness Williams of Trafford and Lord Tebbit

Wednesday 7th September 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, I do not have the exact figures since the introduction of the Immigration Act but I would certainly like to provide them to the noble Lord. He is an absolute expert in this area, so I am very reluctant to contradict him. It is the case that 120 children have come from France under the Dublin regulations. In the whole of last year, the figure was only 20. However, I will confirm that for the noble Lord in writing.

I know that the wall has received press attention. The measure is intended to further protect the rocade from migrant attempts to disrupt, delay or even attack vehicles approaching the port. I hope that that provides the clarification that the noble Lord seeks.

[Lord Tebbit (Con)]

My Lords, when these unfortunate children come to this country and are given refuge, will they subsequently be joined by their parents, grandparents and wider family, or will we have some system for keeping their parents out? It seems to me that a very large number of people could be involved.

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

Certainly the children who are being prioritised have family in the UK. I do not think that I can give a blanket response on whether they will be joined by their parents or other relatives, other than to say that cases will be considered on a family-by-family basis.

Orgreave: Public Inquiry into Policing

Debate between Baroness Williams of Trafford and Lord Tebbit

Wednesday 20th July 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, last week we were under a different Home Secretary. My noble and learned friend answered accordingly last week. This Home Secretary, who is newly in post, has decided she will look at all the relevant material over the summer and come to her own conclusion very early after recess. She has responded to the campaign to that end today. The IPCC, as its name denotes, is an independent body. It will come to its own conclusion.

[Lord Tebbit (Con)]

My Lords, would my noble friend be so kind as to ensure the Home Secretary remembers at all times that the violence at Orgreave arose because Mr Scargill’s men chose to defy the law on peaceful picketing and sought to prevent other working men going to their work? That was the nub of the whole dispute at Orgreave.

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

Like my noble friend, I remember those years, because I lived in a mining village in the north-east. As she considers all the evidence from the campaign, the Home Secretary will weigh up what it says and decide whether to pursue an inquiry. She will do that quickly.

Enslaved Africans: National Memorial

Debate between Baroness Williams of Trafford and Lord Tebbit

Tuesday 28th June 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

There have been discussions about the issue that the noble Lord pinpoints; as well as the obvious forms of slavery, its supply-chain aspect is not to be dismissed. I do not think I will be involved in that Bill, but certainly the supply-chain aspect of slavery is a very important one.

[Lord Tebbit (Con)]

My Lords, does my noble friend recollect—actually, she probably does not—that there was no memorial in London to those who fought in the Battle of Britain until I as chairman, and my good friend Maurice Djanogly as my deputy, raised the funds, which did not include any from the then Government, to erect the memorial that now stands on the Embankment? I hope it will not be thought that one memorial is more deserving of state funding than another.

Civil Partners: Siblings

Debate between Baroness Williams of Trafford and Lord Tebbit

Wednesday 9th September 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, perhaps I did not explain it properly, but there is an exemption of £325,000, which a spouse may pass on to their surviving partner when they die. That can then be passed down to their children or grandchildren, and there is an additional tax-free exemption of £175,000 on the main property, which can also be passed over in the same way.

[Lord Tebbit (Con)]

My Lords, do the words “slippery slope” come into my noble friend’s mind as she answers these questions?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, the words “society has changed” comes into my mind as we debate this. I have had many discussions with my children on it, and I reminded them that 200 years ago slavery was alive and well and living in this country, and 40 years ago, when I was a child, there were bed and breakfasts that said “No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs”. We are now in the 21st century, society has moved on, and as an Irishwoman, I can tell noble Lords that no one was happier than me that Ireland had moved on.

Devolution: England

Debate between Baroness Williams of Trafford and Lord Tebbit

Wednesday 25th March 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, after talking to local government leaders in both Liverpool and Manchester I know they are very pleased with what this Government have given them. If we just look back over the last 30 years we see that it was a Conservative Minister in the form of the then Michael Heseltine who did so much work in Liverpool. It was a Conservative Minister in the form of the then Michael Heseltine who led the regeneration of Hulme, who brought the Metrolink to Manchester and, indeed, who started the regeneration of Manchester after the bomb. I do not accept the noble Lord’s point.

[Lord Tebbit (Con)]

My Lords, I am extremely grateful to my noble friend for having drawn a distinction between decentralisation and devolution. Devolution we do not need—for who needs another layer of government, another load of paid politicians and another load of hangers-on, all swinging on the taxpayers’ wallets?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My noble friend, as always, hits the nail on the head. I could not have put it more articulately.