Subsidy Control Bill

Lord Ashton of Hyde Excerpts

3rd reading
Monday 28th March 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

My Lords, I have it in command from Her Majesty the Queen to acquaint the House that Her Majesty, having been informed of the purport of the Subsidy Control Bill, has consented to place her interest, so far as it is affected by the Bill, at the disposal of Parliament for the purposes of the Bill.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Lord Callanan) (Con)]

For the benefit of noble Lords, I will first make a statement on legislative consent. As promised to the noble and learned Lord, Lord Hope, on Report and as I have sought to do throughout passage, I would like to update your Lordships’ House on the legislative consent process.

Your Lordships will understand that there remain differences of opinion between the devolved Administrations and the Government. This includes the Scottish and Welsh Governments’ retained in-principle objection to subsidy control being a reserved matter, and their objection to the inclusion of agriculture in the scope of the Bill. It is therefore with regret that I inform your Lordships that we have not been able to convince the devolved Administrations of the need for the UK Government to act in this key area. This is, of course, not the end of our engagement with the devolved Administrations. It is our intention to continue to work closely with them on the future regime, and accordingly our next steps will focus on agreements at working level to support the operation of the Act, including a memorandum of understanding in two parts.

I want to reassure noble Lords that it has never been our intention to proceed without consent in place. Our preferred approach throughout has always been to secure legislative consent Motions. I want to reassure the House that the Government remain fully committed to the Sewel convention and the associated practices for seeking consent. We will of course continue to seek legislative consent from the devolved legislatures when applicable.

Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Bill

Lord Ashton of Hyde Excerpts

3rd reading
Tuesday 15th March 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

My Lords, I have it in command from Her Majesty the Queen to acquaint the House that Her Majesty, having been informed of the purport of the Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Bill, has consented to place Her interest, so far as it is affected by the Bill, at the disposal of Parliament, for the purposes of the Bill.

Schedule 1: Modifications of the Arbitration Act 1996 in relation to arbitrations under this Act

Amendment 1

Moved by

Trade Bill

Lord Ashton of Hyde Excerpts

3rd reading & 3rd reading (Hansard) & 3rd reading (Hansard): House of Lords
Monday 18th January 2021 Lords Chamber

Relevant documents: 15th Report from the Constitution Committee

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

My Lords, I have it in command from Her Majesty the Queen to acquaint the House that Her Majesty, having been informed of the purport of the Trade Bill, has consented to place her prerogative, so far as it is affected by the Bill, at the disposal of Parliament for the purposes of the Bill.

[The Deputy Speaker (Lord Bates) (Con)]

I call the Minister to make a statement on legislative consent.

Green Economic Recovery

Lord Ashton of Hyde Excerpts

Monday 14th December 2020 Lords Chamber

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

Baroness Walmsley?

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

The noble Baroness needs to unmute.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

We shall go on because we cannot hear the noble Baroness.

[Baroness Hayman (CB) [V]]

My Lords—[Inaudible.]

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

My Lords, we cannot hear the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman. Perhaps she could unmute herself manually and see whether that makes a difference.

[Baroness Hayman (CB) [V]]

My question was about the Economic Affairs Committee report published today. It makes it clear that recovery from Covid-19 and investment in a green economy for the future are far from divergent aims; they are complementary. Does the Minister agree with the contention in that report that government spending should be on policies more tightly focused on creating job opportunities that reflect the long-term context and that the Government should prioritise green projects that can be delivered at scale and quickly and can take place across the country?

Motor Sector: Export Markets

Lord Ashton of Hyde Excerpts

Monday 14th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[The Senior Deputy Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed.

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

My Lords, we need to have a five-minute break, as usual, so the House will adjourn until 2.06 pm.

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises: Public Procurement Contracts

Lord Ashton of Hyde Excerpts

Monday 7th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Altmann (Con) [V]]

My Lords, could the Minister explain to the House the—[Inaudible.]—The procurement process for public contracts is often enormously cumbersome, time-consuming and costly—[Inaudible.]

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

My Lords, I am afraid the noble Baroness, Lady Altmann, is completely inaudible, but I suspect the Minister might have an idea of what she is trying to say.

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

If we heard the noble Baroness correctly as she was interrupted, I think she was asking about the bureaucracy associated with public sector procurement contracts. We have removed complex pre-qualification questionnaires from low-value contracts and increased the transparency of opportunities via the Contracts Finder website, which covers current and future public sector contracts and award notices above £10,000 in central government and £25,000 in the wider public sector. Contracts Finder is available on a single, free-to-use digital platform and we encourage all SMEs to access it.

Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill

Lord Ashton of Hyde Excerpts

Committee stage & Committee: 1st sitting (Hansard) & Committee: 1st sitting (Hansard): House of Lords
Tuesday 16th June 2020 Lords Chamber

Amendment 37 not moved.

[Lord Ashton of Hyde (Con)]

My Lords, due to the broadcasting restraints, the House was due to rise at 7 pm and I am grateful to the broadcasting team for extending this to 8 pm this evening. The usual channels agreed the scheduling of the Bill and that Committee should be completed today, so I urge all noble Lords to be as brief as they can when speaking to their amendments to allow us to finish in the remaining time this evening.

Amendment 38

Moved by

--- Later in debate ---

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees]

If the Government Chief Whip would like to make a short statement, he can at this point.

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

We will finish this group and then we will have to do the remaining group as first business tomorrow.