Business of the House
Debate between Lord Purvis of Tweed and Lord Kennedy of Southwark(1 week, 5 days ago)
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Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)
My Lords, I will take this opportunity also to welcome the continuation in their role of the Leader and the Chief Whip.
Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)
I apologise to the Chief Whip if I have just doomed his chances in the reshuffle. Now all of his Back-Benchers are keeping a beady eye on their phones to learn his fate. I also thank on behalf of these Benches the outgoing Ministers for their service. They were open, accessible and often responsive. We thank them for their service and we wish them well. For those Ministers who will be either reappointed or newly appointed, we wish them luck in their role.
On more occasions than I can remember, the noble Lord, Lord True, has said that the House functions on the basis of a degree of respect among the usual channels. He has said it is a fundamental of how this House functions. We are a House of minorities, after all. He has reminded us on many occasions that, if the usual channels break down, the House does not function as it should.
The Chief Whip is leaving the Chamber. I think this brings a new meaning to “The Whip is off”.
Today’s Motion was not highlighted in the usual channels at all. The Government were not informed or consulted. My Benches were not. The Cross Benches were not. The usual channels were ignored. If the noble Lord considers the usual channels to be the fundamental principle of how this self-regulating House operates, why is it just today that he believes that they should be summarily ignored—not consulted, informed or written to?
On the subject of being written to, Peers across the House were this morning written to in a letter from the noble Lord condemning the Government for making announcements outside Parliament first. With a superpower level of irony, the letter was released to the press last night at 9.38 pm. When these Benches were asked by Sky News last night for a comment on the letter, my immediate reflection was to say that this could not have happened: colleagues were not written to, and I did not receive a letter, so obviously this was not the case. Sky News then pinged on X—I will happily give way if the noble Baroness wishes to correct the record.
Official Development Assistance
Debate between Lord Purvis of Tweed and Lord Kennedy of Southwark(1 year, 4 months ago)
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Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)
My Lords, we will hear from the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, next, and then from my noble friend Lord McConnell.
Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)
My Lords, yesterday the Government failed to implement the global tax avoidance scheme for businesses earning profits of more than €20 billion, and which would raise over half a billion pounds this year, because they are waiting for President Trump’s approval. Also yesterday, the Government announced in the Statement an immediate £0.5 billion cut to official development assistance, contradicting what the Minister has just said. What is the morality of allowing large companies like Elon Musk’s X to avoid paying tax in the UK, while implementing programme cuts that disproportionately affect the most vulnerable women and girls around the world? What morality is to be found there?
Democratic Republic of the Congo: M23 Group
Debate between Lord Purvis of Tweed and Lord Kennedy of Southwark(1 year, 5 months ago)
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Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)
We will hear from my noble friend Lord Browne and then from the Liberal Democrat Benches.
Georgia
Debate between Lord Purvis of Tweed and Lord Kennedy of Southwark(1 year, 7 months ago)
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Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)
We will hear from the Lib Dem Benches next.
Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)
The Government were aware that the United States and the EU would be placing visa restrictions on these individuals. The UK now finds itself in the invidious position where these individuals would be able to travel here but not to the EU or the United States. Without prejudicing any decisions on future sanctions, surely the Minister can say that these individuals should not travel to the UK because that would not be conducive to our public good.
Israel: Arms Sales
Debate between Lord Purvis of Tweed and Lord Kennedy of Southwark(1 year, 10 months ago)
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Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)
My Lords, we will hear first from the noble Lord, Lord Howard, and then from the noble Lord, Lord Purvis.