House of Lords: Sittings
Debate between Lord Swinfen and Lord Liddle
Lord Liddle (Lab)
My Lords, I hope that my noble friend Lord Adonis does not press his Motion, not least for the fact that I am due to go on my holidays on 6 August. However, there is a point in what he is saying which is, essentially, that we are at a very critical point in our nation’s fortunes, as we acknowledged in our debate yesterday. We are possibly moving in the autumn to one of the greatest crises that we have had since the Second World War.
The October European Council will be a critical moment for the future of this country and if we think about the amount of time between now and then, this House and the other place will not be in session for much of it. Yet throughout this period, we are going to see a lot of these no-deal preparedness briefings coming out from the Government, all of which could be quite controversial. We may see statements coming from Brussels; amazingly, Brussels will be working through August with our officials to try to make sense of the Government’s latest proposals. I am particularly concerned about the Conference Recess, from whenever it is in September until October. That gap will come at a point where we will really need, as a House, to focus on what our options are as a country. There are very serious matters raised here and we should all think hard about them.
Lord Swinfen (Con)
My Lords, the date of the Recess has been known for over 12 weeks. Why has the noble Lord waited until today for his Motion?