Frequent Flyer Airmiles Schemes

Lord Bates Excerpts

Monday 21st October 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates (Con)]

My Lords, might not a positive way to address the issue be to extend the benefits of loyalty schemes to those who use public transport, cycle or walk?

[Lord Duncan of Springbank]

Yes, that is probably true. I am not sure how it would work, but I am willing to go away, look at it and see whether we can do something with it.

Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019: Section 3(5)

Lord Bates Excerpts

Thursday 17th October 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates (Con)]

My Lords, the final few sentences of the remarks of the noble Baroness, Lady O’Loan, were exactly what I sought to say. As was stated eloquently by the noble Baroness, Lady Humphreys, I wanted to express a heartfelt desire for those vital institutions in Northern Ireland to be restored and to function. My noble friend, who is doing incredible work in Northern Ireland as a Minister, said in this House on 9 September:

“Without an Executive, the people of Northern Ireland have seen the quality of their public services decline, and decisions that affect their day-to-day lives kicked into the long grass. The people of Northern Ireland deserve better”.—[Official Report, 9/9/19; col. 1356.]


I was reminded of that when there was a march on Sunday to mark 1,000 days since the Assembly had sat. I read a number of speeches from that day. One was from Nichola Corner, the sister of Lyra McKee. She said:

“Our elected politicians continue to let their differences be barriers to progress, peace and change and have transformed the word concession into a dirty word and use it to refuse to honour the will of the people and work together”.


I read of another group called Our Future Our Choice—a group of young people attending the march. It said:

“The children of the peace process deserve better than this. We have been left without oversight, without decision making and without leadership”.


I was in Belfast on Good Friday this year, as my wife and I began a walk in search of common ground over Brexit, believe it or not—a long time ago, but still relevant, I think. We were beginning a walk from Belfast to Brussels and chose Belfast to start because of the Good Friday agreement. We believed that that was an occasion when, through political courage, people stood up and came together, rising above their differences and reaching out to each other to bring about peace.

As we began that walk from Belfast, news was coming through of the murder of Lyra McKee, which was of course a very significant moment. I remember when Arlene Foster went to the Creggan in Londonderry, stood side by side with Sinn Féin and said: “Your pain is our pain”. It was an incredible moment. The president of Sinn Féin responded by saying that these people were not going to drag Northern Ireland back into the dark days of violence, and she recommitted herself to the peace process.

A week later there was the incredible service in St Anne’s Cathedral, a memorial for Lyra McKee, in which Father Martin Magill asked why in the name of God it took the death of a brilliant 29 year-old woman to bring them all together under one roof. At the end of that powerful address, the entire cathedral, including the leaders of all the political parties, stood up to applaud that sentiment.

And yet—as I was going to say—still we wait and still we hope that this will be brought about. I hope and pray that the reports we are hearing of a possible restoration of the Assembly and formation of an Executive are true, not just for those of us in this place but for all the people of Northern Ireland and for the peace process, in which so many in this House have invested time, treasure and hope.

International Women's Day

Lord Bates Excerpts

Thursday 3rd March 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

My Lords, like everyone in this debate, I rise to say how indebted we are to the noble Baroness, Lady Gould, for securing this opportunity to talk about these important matters. It has been a particularly good debate because of the contributions and the maiden speeches. Having six noble Baronesses giving maiden speeches in a debate on International Women’s Day must be a triple-word score in politics, although the fact that it still has to be done in the House of Lords is perhaps a limitation that shows that we still have a little way to go.

My contribution is on conflict. I was moved to speak in this debate while attending a NATO Parliamentary Assembly meeting last week. We got a briefing on events in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was a horrific presentation. The presenter made a point which got me thinking and motivated as regards this area. He said that it is now more dangerous to be a women than to be a soldier in modern conflict. That is a profound statement, which should make us take note. The days in which gallant knights galloped off to a lonely field to settle their differences “like men”—whatever that meant—are clearly gone. Conflict in the modern era has put civilians in the front line and no macho talk about smart weapons can disguise the brutal reality. While combatants may wear armour, drive around in protected vehicles, carry weapons and empty their payloads from 10,000 feet, women and children on the ground are unprotected in their homes, schools and marketplaces. Increasingly, we are seeing how they are being used as tools of warfare, a point to which my noble friend Lady Ritchie powerfully alluded. Women are in the front line, yet their voice and presence are insufficiently felt.

My argument is not to introduce a quota approach to encourage tokenism, but to say that women and mothers are the prime victims of modern warfare and that their voice desperately needs to be heard—not for the sake of women, but for the sake of humanity. Balance in international relations means that women must push for peace more vigorously. All too often men seem to be incapable of resisting the urge for war. We need more women in the military, not to change the decor but to change the debate. As men, we need to hear the powerful voice of women.

I am in politics and I suggest that we all are because we abhor violence and want to create a free, safe and just society in which to raise our children where the rule of law operates and there is the democratic operation of government agencies. We need that voice to be heard more than ever and to be heard where it counts. This is not a criticism of men about opportunities for women. It is a call to women to take up their responsibilities in public duty in order to influence the debate at the highest echelons of the military and in politics.

We are talking today about International Women’s Day. It was of course pre-dated by Mother’s Day, which is an even more important date in the calendar. Today, we think of Mother’s Day in terms of chocolates, cards and flowers, but it had a very serious purpose when it was first proposed by Julia Ward Howe, who we remember as the great American poet who wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic. She came out of the horrors of the American Civil War and called for a congress of mothers to unite in the international community. She wrote the Mother’s Day Proclamation. I believe that the sentiments in it are even more relevant today than they were then, for the reasons which I have stated. I will close with those words:

“Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts …

Say firmly … Our husbands will not come to us, reeking

with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons will not be

taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach

them of charity, mercy and patience.

We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another

country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs …

The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.

Blood does not wipe out dishonour, nor violence indicate possession …

Arise then women of this day”.

Railways: Intercity Express and Electrification

Lord Bates Excerpts

Tuesday 1st March 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Shutt of Greetland]

My Lords, it is good to have the contribution of the noble Lord, Lord Walpole, and for him to extol the virtue of rail travel to Norwich. I am afraid, however, that I cannot say much about that. I leave that to someone else on another occasion. What the announcement means is that the new train will be electro-diesel. At some point you may even be able to go from London to Norwich and then a diesel will take you on to Great Yarmouth. That could well be possible because of this new way forward. He can at least have the comfort that there are these possibilities of enhancement. I have nothing to say at the moment, I regret to say, on further electrification beyond that which has been announced—or indeed on any other enhancements other than those in the Statement. However, the noble Lord knows about campaigning and knows how to make the case, and I am sure that he will continue—just as he has this evening—to do that.

[Lord Bates]

My Lords, is my noble friend aware how warmly welcomed this announcement will be in the north-east of England, which is the home of the railways, of Stephenson and of the Stockton and Darlington Railway? This is a fantastic announcement for the north-east, which comes on the back of that great announcement of the planned reopening of the Teesside Cast Products at Redcar and the thousands of jobs that that will mean, which itself came on the back of announcements about the Tyne and Wear Metro upgrade of half a billion pounds. This is a huge amount of good news and demonstrates this Government’s commitment to that region. Would he care to contrast that announcement with the time a year ago when the Labour Cabinet arrived in Durham to mothball the TCP plant at Redcar and to postpone the announcement on Agility Trains? Would he care to contrast those two approaches to manufacturing in the north-east of England?

[Lord Shutt of Greetland]

My Lords, I am grateful for the comments my noble friend Lord Bates. Clearly, as a north-easterner, he is very concerned and happy that there is to be investment there. He is quite right to point out the change that has taken place. This positive piece of work will go on there. Not only will north-east England benefit from new employment opportunities, there will be the possibility of even greater employment opportunities because of the railway factory and other places that will enhance and put further work there. He is right that this is a real piece of work about which the coalition Government can be really be proud. As I say, this is a real good news story.