Lord Judd debates involving the Cabinet Office during the 2019 Parliament

Wed 30th Dec 2020
European Union (Future Relationship) Bill
Lords Chamber

3rd reading & 2nd reading (Hansard) & Committee negatived (Hansard) & 3rd reading (Hansard) & 2nd reading (Hansard) & 2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & 3rd reading (Hansard) & 3rd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & Committee negatived (Hansard) & Committee negatived (Hansard): House of Lords & 2nd reading & Committee negatived
Wed 18th Mar 2020

European Union (Future Relationship) Bill

Lord Judd Excerpts
3rd reading & 2nd reading & Committee negatived & 2nd reading (Hansard) & 2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & 3rd reading (Hansard) & 3rd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & Committee negatived (Hansard) & Committee negatived (Hansard): House of Lords
Wednesday 30th December 2020

(3 years, 3 months ago)

Lords Chamber
Read Full debate European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020 View all European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020 Debates Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts Amendment Paper: Committee of the whole House Amendments as at 30 December 2020 - (30 Dec 2020)
Lord Judd Portrait Lord Judd (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, it is with considerable sadness that I shall vote to support this Bill; the alternative is even worse. The Bill is further confirmation that we have turned our backs on a great European initiative. From the earliest days of the Coal and Steel Community, the driving vision has been political—of course, it has. Economic arrangements have never been a primary end in themselves; they were the practical means of building a peaceful, stable Europe in which the horrors of two world wars would never return.

In this context, I want to record my admiration for the statesmanlike fortitude and firmness of Monsieur Barnier, the President of the Commission and their colleagues, who largely refused to be provoked by the petulant and provocative way in which our media and, too often, our own Government performed. We owe our European friends great appreciation for the fact that there is in the end any deal at all, however thin the gruel.

We are the prototype of a highly interdependent nation. It is difficult to think of any major issue confronting the men, women and children of the United Kingdom, not least the coronavirus, which can be resolved by the UK alone. We desperately need international co-operation, starting with our European neighbours, on climate, health, security, law, education, human rights and much more, as well as on trade, finance and social policy, especially workers’ rights. It is essential from this moment onwards to make central to our foreign policy the rebuilding of our friendship and trust with our many European friends and a determination to recognise our interdependence and the indispensability of international co-operation to our mutual interests.

While we must of course seek to meet the frustrations and anxieties of too many of our fellow citizens, we must never do so by selling them short on the imperative of the international co-operation which is necessary to build a strong future in their own interests, let alone those of anybody else.

EU: Future Relationship

Lord Judd Excerpts
Wednesday 23rd September 2020

(3 years, 6 months ago)

Grand Committee
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Lord Judd Portrait Lord Judd (Lab) [V]
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My Lords, there are sinister and ugly forces at work in Europe. They evoke too many reminiscences of what happened in the 1930s. One of the reasons why I shall always be sad that we are no longer a member of the European Union is that I believe we should be at the heart of the European community, with those who stand firm for democracy, justice and human rights. We should be strengthening the resolve of Europe, and the people of Europe, to see off these new tendencies.

Not for the first time in this debate, I was greatly cheered by the thoughts of the noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria, who seemed to get it absolutely right. He certainly seemed, if I may say so, to live in the same world that I live in. The first reality of life and politics is the total interdependence of human society. It is there in migration, climate change, health and the virus with which we are now contending. There is no way we can look to the interests of the British people and their well-being without full co-operation with others across the world. What is called for at this stage in our history is statesmanship, wisdom and leadership of that calibre, leading a Britain of which we can all be proud to be a part because of the respect with which it is held in the world because of what it is contributing to the solutions that are necessary.

On the immediate front of our preoccupations this afternoon, we should not in any way allow the importance of Northern Ireland to slip from our priorities. The people and institutions of Northern Ireland have taken the Good Friday agreement and all that followed from it as an opportunity to start building stability and hope for the future. Many people in Northern Ireland—this came out in the referendum—as they determined to try to build a new reality in that part of our country, felt reassured by our membership of the European Union and the other institutions that were there. That is no longer there, so what is terribly important—more than ever—is certainty and trust. I simply do not understand how the present state of uncertainty and double talk can possibly be helpful as the people of Northern Ireland struggle and work to build their future. That is why that issue is crucial, together with the deal.

I conclude with the point that I made earlier. Vocabulary and demeanour are terribly important in leadership and in weighing the place we want to have in influencing world affairs. We want to be seen as a nation that is wise and statesmanlike, not as one that is selfishly and opportunistically playing all sorts of unpredictable games. It is a serious time—this debate re-emphasises that—but I believe that at the centre of our concern for the future is the character and calibre of leadership in this country. It certainly must not fall into the hands of unelected people in No. 10 who have a very unfortunate view—to put it mildly—of what kind of Britain they want.

Beyond Brexit (European Union Committee Report)

Lord Judd Excerpts
Tuesday 12th May 2020

(3 years, 10 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Judd Portrait Lord Judd (Lab)
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My Lords, I join those who have paid tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Boswell, for this very helpful—indeed, excellent—report. I take this opportunity to say how much we should all appreciate his dedicated work on the European scene for so long.

The work of the European committees becomes more important than ever. It is vital. I am totally convinced that Governments will be judged in history by their effectiveness in playing a dynamic part in international co-operation. The first reality of life—of humanity itself—is that we are, demonstrably, totally interdependent. We must therefore face the fact that the major issues that affect us—Covid-19, climate change, security, Ireland, migration or economic stability—cannot be successfully handled but on an international, co-operative basis.

I am concerned: where is the evidence that the Government understand this and have made it central to their whole approach to governance? For example, what is the evidence of what the Government are doing with European allies to combat the ugly and sinister jingoistic nationalism that is now, unfortunately, raising its head again in Europe, the United States and elsewhere in the world?

It is on international co-operation and effectiveness—not least with our European allies, although we are no longer part of the European Union—that our future depends. Anything less is to betray our people.

Budget Statement

Lord Judd Excerpts
Wednesday 18th March 2020

(4 years ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Judd Portrait Lord Judd (Lab)
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My Lords, I evidently failed to register my strong interest in this subject by not putting my name down to speak in this debate, and therefore I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in the gap.

Of late, we have heard an awful lot about having more people in work than we have ever had before, but we have failed wantonly to look at the nature of much of that work and the conditions of employment that go with it. The vulnerability of many people between their work and the abyss that awaits them is frightening.

We have also had too much ideology in our approach to politics and economic management in recent years. This debate and this situation bring home to us that we need a reassertion of humanitarian and economic pragmatism in fulfilling our objectives. There is just no room for bigoted ideology.

This morning I have been in touch with the chief executive of Hospice at Home West Cumbria, of which I am a vice-president. She is disturbed about how the present situation is making it very difficult to raise the public funds that are essential to provide for the work of that organisation. That must be typical of many charitable organisations across the front line, which become part of the indispensable fabric of our social infrastructure. Can we have an assurance from the Government that, when they are looking at industry and the big institutions, they will look also at the charitable sector and the support that must be provided at this juncture?