House of Lords: Reform

Lord McFall of Alcluith Excerpts

Wednesday 1st May 2024 Lords Chamber

[The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Baroness Neville- Rolfe) (Con)]

My Lords, I start by sharing the sadness at the sudden death of Lord Stunell.

The House of Lords plays a crucial role by scrutinising, debating and holding the Government to account. However, reform, including in relation to the size and membership of this House, is not a priority in this Parliament.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, is participating remotely.

[Lord Campbell-Savours (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I will ask a very simple question. Due to the ageing nature of Labour’s membership of the House, we are now down to as few as 100 Labour Peers regularly attending proceedings. Meanwhile, the Government are openly challenging the excellent and well thought-through Fowler-McFall reforms with a stream of their own introductions, bringing the Conservative membership to nearly 300. If a Labour Government are elected, how can we possibly secure the public business against a background of such overwhelming odds? Is the Government’s strategy to fill the House to capacity and make it difficult for Labour to appoint without further breaching the reforms?

Vetting Social Media Accounts

Lord McFall of Alcluith Excerpts

Wednesday 21st June 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con)]

The guidelines apply to cross-government diversity networks and they should follow the guidelines, although, obviously, there can be local interpretation.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

My Lords, we now have a virtual question from the noble Lord, Lord Strasburger.

[Lord Strasburger (LD) [V]]

My Lords, the cancel culture to which my noble friend referred in his original Question is just one illustration of the Government’s distaste for challenge and dissent. Other examples are the attempts to stop some workers expressing their views by industrial action, and the outrageous sanctioning of peaceful protest. Why are the Government so scared of citizens expressing their critical opinions?

Carer’s Leave: Government Departments

Lord McFall of Alcluith Excerpts

Tuesday 19th July 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord True (Con)]

My Lords, as I indicated, we are looking at the Private Member’s Bill in the other place. I agree with all noble Lords who pay tribute to the extraordinary work done by carers—those in employment and those not in employment. I remember my beloved mother in those circumstances and what she did for my father. We in government are human. We understand the immense sacrifices made by carers and will do the best that we conceivably can.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

The noble Lord, Lord Jones of Cheltenham, is contributing remotely.

[Lord Jones of Cheltenham (LD) [V]]

My Lords, I do not think I was meant to come in on this Question but on the third Question.

Elections Bill

Lord McFall of Alcluith Excerpts

Lords Hansard - Part 1 & Committee stage
Thursday 10th March 2022 Lords Chamber

Clause 14: Strategy and policy statement

[The Lord Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

I call the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, to move Amendment A1.

[Baroness Meacher (CB)]

I ask the House to forgive me, but I am not aware of having anything to do with Amendment A1.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

I assure the noble Baroness that it is on the Marshalled List.

Amendment A1

Moved by

Money Laundering

Lord McFall of Alcluith Excerpts

Wednesday 24th November 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton (Con)]

My Lords, it is extremely difficult to get the balance right, because the banks are damned if they do and damned if they do not. I am sorry the noble Lord had personal difficulties in that situation, but if it had been a fraudulent transaction with large sums lost, I think he would have been even more upset. We have to err on the side of caution. The banks need to improve their ways of intervening and use artificial intelligence to be more effective and not go after false alarms.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

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

Retained EU Law

Lord McFall of Alcluith Excerpts

Thursday 18th November 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Frost (Con)]

My Lords, the best way I can answer the question is to refer back to what I said on 16 September, when I referred to the democratic deficit issue of such law, and note that

“we will look at developing a tailored mechanism for accelerating the repeal or amendment of this retained EU law in a way which reflects the fact that, as I have made clear, laws agreed elsewhere have intrinsically less democratic legitimacy than laws initiated by the Government of this country.”—[Official Report, 16/9/21; col. 1533.]

There are various ways of achieving that end, and that is what we are working on.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

The noble Lord, Lord Lilley, is not present, so I call the noble Lord, Lord Dodds of Duncairn.

[Lord Dodds of Duncairn (DUP)]

My Lords, a bonfire of regulation or a selective shredding of EU retained law here in Great Britain will of course not apply to Northern Ireland because we still remain under EU control and EU laws and, as the Minister has said, with no democratic input whatever from anyone elected in Northern Ireland. How is Northern Ireland going to remain competitive or even on a level playing field if Britain diverges from it continuously, not just now but over years and decades to come, unless the protocol is changed?

Ministerial Code

Lord McFall of Alcluith Excerpts

Tuesday 9th November 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord True (Con)]

My Lords, of course. Again, I do not agree with the political comment at the outset. The Government will carefully consider comments made by parliamentarians in both Houses, as well as the work of Mr Nigel Boardman, the CSPL and PACAC, when the committee reports. We will make a policy statement in due course but, as your Lordships would expect, we intend to consider these matters carefully.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

The noble Lord, Lord Stunell, is not present. I call the noble Lord, Lord McLoughlin.

[Lord McLoughlin (Con)]

Will my noble friend agree that, while some Members of your Lordships’ House may have had memory blackouts of before 2010, they have always previously been very happy for this to be a non-statutory body? Does he agree that it is right that the Prime Minister, who is elected, is the sole arbiter of who serves in his Government.

Net-zero Emissions Target

Lord McFall of Alcluith Excerpts

Monday 11th October 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton (Con)]

I am sure the noble Baroness will know that the current squeeze on gas prices has nothing to do with the quantity of gas available; it is a geopolitical move by Russia to put pressure on Europe, and we are caught up in it. Public ownership of our own utilities would make no difference.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

My Lords, all supplementary questions have been asked.

Devolved Administrations

Lord McFall of Alcluith Excerpts

Thursday 16th September 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord True (Con)]

Well, I do agree with that; indeed, it has been implicit and explicit in the answers that I have sought to give your Lordships. I believe profoundly that the peoples of these islands have benefited extraordinarily from centuries of co-operation within our United Kingdom, and I hope and pray that that will continue. That must go with mutual respect—and that goes both ways—between the centre and the devolved Administrations. I think that is the devout wish of the whole of your Lordships’ House.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

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

National Insurance Numbers: Electoral Register

Lord McFall of Alcluith Excerpts

Thursday 22nd July 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord True (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I do not have an assessment to hand, but my noble friend raises an important point. I will pursue that matter and report back to her.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord McFall of Alcluith)]

My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed. We now come to the second Oral Question.