Queen’s Speech

Lord Young of Cookham Excerpts

Thursday 13th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Young of Cookham (Con)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness and to be the first to congratulate her on an excellent and moving maiden speech. It may sound counterintuitive but this is the second time I have listened to her maiden speech, having been in my seat in another place on 3 July 1997, when the noble Baroness again spoke eloquently on a range of subjects and strongly criticised the rail service to Lincoln, for which I had had ministerial responsibility only a few weeks before.

I first met the noble Baroness when she and I both sat on the Committee of Selection in another place, when she was a Government Whip. The proceedings were carefully scripted, with the usual channels reading out a list of names hand-picked for party loyalty. The meetings lasted seconds rather than minutes, so there was little opportunity for anyone to display talent. But subsequently, the noble Baroness was promoted and held seven different government jobs in 10 years, demonstrating the skill, stamina and versatility needed on the Opposition Front Bench in your Lordships’ House, to which she has rightly been promoted.

In her gap years between the other place and here, she gave strong leadership to the Board of Deputies of British Jews, addressing, among other issues, the anti-Semitism in the Labour Party at the time. She was popular and respected on both sides of the House in the other place, and I know the same will be true here. We all bid her a warm welcome.

On the constitution, the Fixed-term Parliaments Act clearly has not worked, whatever the theoretical benefits. The last Parliament had “Do not resuscitate” at the end of its bed, but the Act officiously kept it alive. It has to go. The dominant issue now is the future of the United Kingdom, as Brexit adds momentum to the centrifugal forces in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

I have three points. First, we should learn the lessons from the excellent report by the UCL Independent Commission on Referendums:

“Referendums are best suited to resolving major constitutional issues, such as those relating to sovereignty. They work best when they are held at the end of a decision-making process to choose between developed alternatives … It is of utmost importance for the proposals put to a referendum to be clear and for voters to know what will happen in the event of a vote for change. Hence, the Commission considers standalone pre-legislative referendums to be highly problematic.”


Developed alternatives were not present in either the EU referendum or the referendum on Scottish independence. If a referendum is to be held, the UK Government, whose consent will be required, should make it a condition that clear answers to the questions of currency, fiscal balance and borders should be given first.

Secondly, there are reports that we are going to love-bomb Scotland with public money to combat the threat of the nationalists, but this risks aggravating the existing imbalance between public funds for Scotland and for England and is fraught with moral hazard. The SNP will argue that any fresh influx of funds has come about only because of its success in the recent election and that, if the influx is to continue, voters should continue to vote for the SNP. This is 21st-century Danegeld.

Thirdly, following the excellent point made by my noble friend Lord Forsyth, it is worth looking again at whether the franchise for any referendum should be extended to Scots living in other parts of the UK. This would follow precedent. When we held the EU referendum —again, an issue involving sovereignty—UK citizens living overseas were given a vote. I believe the case is even stronger for Scots living in other parts of the UK if they have been on the register in Scotland during the previous 15 years.

Finally, there is one conspicuous omission from this year’s Loyal Address. The last one said:

“A Constitution, Democracy and Rights Commission will be established.”


That was also a manifesto commitment:

“In our first year we will set up a Constitution, Democracy & Rights Commission”.


That commitment has been ditched, but in its place we move straight to legislation to

“restore the balance of power between the executive, legislature and the courts.”

In his wind-up speech, can my noble friend shed some light on what is proposed? If we are not to have the promised commission, will there be a Green Paper or a draft Bill before any legislative button is pressed? What is proposed for your Lordships’ House?

I end with this question. Over the past 12 months, the Executive have taken unprecedented powers away from the legislature and the courts. Any balance that needs restoring now should reverse that, but is that what the Government have in mind?

Vagrancy Act 1824

Lord Young of Cookham Excerpts

Thursday 23rd April 2020 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Young of Cookham]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to repeal the Vagrancy Act 1824.

The Question was considered in a Virtual Proceeding via video call.

[The Advocate-General for Scotland (Lord Keen of Elie) (Con)]

My Lords, the Government believe that no one should be criminalised simply for sleeping rough. In the cross-government review entitled the Rough Sleeping Strategy which was published in August 2018, we committed to review the Vagrancy Act. The review has consulted with stakeholders on all the options, including retention, repeal, replacement or amendment. The Government will announce the conclusions of the review in due course.

[Lord Young of Cookham (Con)]

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble and learned friend for that reply. Does he agree that attitudes to those who sleep rough have softened over the past 200 years and that legislation which refers to “idle and disorderly”, “rogues” and “vagabonds” living in “coach-houses” and “stables” has no place in modern legislation? Given that charities working with rough sleepers have criticised the use of the Vagrancy Act for drawing rough sleepers into the criminal justice system, at the very time when the Government’s commendable Rough Sleeping Initiative is seeking to tackle the problems of rough sleeping at their roots, can my noble and learned friend say when the review he has referred to, which was scheduled to be completed in March this year, will come to an end? Further, does he agree that we should replace the Act with legislation that is more appropriate and effective?

[Lord Keen of Elie]

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for his further question. The review, which was led largely by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, has essentially been completed. However, in light of the work being done in respect of Covid, it has not yet been reviewed by Ministers, although we will seek to bring it forward as soon as possible. I would acknowledge that the language of the 1824 Act is archaic, albeit that the meaning is clear. I should reiterate that we have no desire to criminalise those who are simply sleeping rough, but the provisions of the Act also apply in respect of, for example, begging and persistent begging. We have consulted with all the interested parties, including local authorities and the police, in order to determine a way forward.

Queen’s Speech

Lord Young of Cookham Excerpts

Wednesday 8th January 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Young of Cookham (Con)]

My Lords, I join others in commending my two noble friends for their high-quality maiden speeches. I follow up the point made by my noble friend Lord Parkinson. He pointed out that my party annexed a substantial number of votes from Labour in its heartlands—aspirational, patriotic, small “c” conservatives. My party may now need to annex some of Labour’s more sensible policies as well in order to secure those votes next time, notably putting public services before tax cuts for the better off. A good start has been made with the NHS, but we need to follow through with investment in social housing, regional policy and the reform of universal credit. The DNA of the Conservative Party is changing, and we should acknowledge that, as earlier generations have, to ensure its continuing success as a one-nation party.

I turn to the constitution. The Fixed-term Parliaments Act has had a bad press and has itself come to the end of its term. It was not, as some have claimed, a knee-jerk reaction to the formation of the coalition Government, preventing its unilateral dissolution by David Cameron at a time inconvenient to our partners. It was actually a manifesto commitment by both the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats before the 2010 election that was generously, but perhaps ill-advisedly, adopted by my party. However, it has not worked, as we have seen, with the Government twice choosing when they want an early election.

The Loyal Address said:

“Work will be taken forward to repeal the Fixed-term Parliaments Act.”


But in the list of Bills published by the Leader in another place, there is no mention of what I assume is a straightforward repeal Bill. Can my noble friend shed some light on that?

Related to that is the manifesto commitment on boundaries. The last election that I fought was in 2010, using boundaries based on the electoral register drawn up 10 years earlier. Amazingly, those are the boundaries used in the three subsequent elections, last month’s being based on boundaries 19 years out of date. Without spending too much time on the reasons for that—glossing over the voting down by the Liberal Democrats of legislation introduced by their own Leader—the question arises what to do to prevent a repetition of this distortion of the democratic process. We have, to use the Prime Minister’s words, an oven-ready set of proposals, presented by the Boundary Commission in September 2018 that should have been laid before both Houses, in the words of the legislation,

“as soon as may be”,

but over a year later they have not been. Is it the Government’s intention to proceed with those, giving us a new House of Commons with 600 Members at the next election? Or is it their intention, as rumoured over the weekend, to revert to a House of 650 Members, which will require primary legislation to be introduced very soon if new boundaries are to be in place for the next scheduled election?

I turn next to voter ID, a commitment which I welcome. This has been portrayed as a sinister conspiracy by my party to disenfranchise our political opponents—see Owen Jones in last week’s Guardian. It is nothing of the sort. Compulsory ID was introduced by Labour for Northern Ireland and was recommended four years ago for the rest of the UK by the independent Electoral Commission, on which all three main parties are represented. It has repeated that recommendation several times since. The chair of the Electoral Commission has said:

“Unfortunately this proposal risks becoming a political football”—


a sport unknown in your Lordships’ House. Can I ask when this legislation will be introduced?

I welcome the consultation announced in the Queen’s Speech on electoral integrity. I have often said, as the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, reminded us, that we have an analogue legislative framework in a digital age. Much of the groundwork is being done by the Select Committee on Democracy and Digital Technologies, under the chairmanship of the noble Lord, Lord Puttnam. His committee is in turn drawing on the 14 reports already issued on this subject. We now need a Minister in the Cabinet Office to drive this agenda forward urgently, perhaps taking the committee’s report in June as the basis for the promised consultation.

Finally, I turn to the proposed commission on constitution, democracy and rights. The briefing tells us this will

“examine the broader aspects of the constitution in depth and develop proposals to restore trust in our institutions and in how our democracy operates.”

I hope its members will be youthful polymaths, as I suspect that to live up to its name it will have to sit for a very long time and cover a wide range of subjects, including the royal prerogative, judicial review, party funding, the voting system, the future of the union, the ECHR, the role of House of Lords, the freedom of the press, franchise for 16 year-olds and appointments to the judiciary, to mention but a few. It must be prioritised and broken down into component parts if it is to be manageable.

All this is a major programme of constitutional reform, which should, wherever possible, be secured by consent. As it passes through Parliament, I hope the expertise of your Lordships’ House can be applied to it so that any emerging reforms might last longer than the Fixed-term Parliaments Act.

Sentencing (Pre-consolidation Amendments) Bill [HL]

Lord Young of Cookham Excerpts

Thursday 6th June 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Keen of Elie]

That the Bill be referred to a Second Reading Committee.

[Lord Young of Cookham (Con)]

My Lords, on behalf of my noble and learned friend Lord Keen of Elie, I beg to move.

Motion agreed.

Draft Scotland Clauses

Lord Young of Cookham Excerpts

Thursday 22nd January 2015 Commons Chamber

[David Mundell]

I very much welcome the hon. Gentleman’s commitment, and indeed that of his party both in Scotland and across the United Kingdom, to the implementation of the Smith commission proposals. The position could not be clearer: whichever party is in government after the next general election, the proposals will be taken forward in the Queen’s Speech.

The hon. Gentleman raised a number of issues. The Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the leader of the Liberal Democrats have made it very clear that the Barnett formula is here to stay. The discussions on the creation of the fiscal framework will have to take into account the additional revenue raised by the Scottish Parliament. It is very important for MPs from Scotland to make it clear to our colleagues that the Scottish Parliament’s additional ability to raise funds will not be in addition to the block grant that it receives, because an amount still to be calculated will be deducted from the block grant under the Barnett formula.

The hon. Gentleman raised the issue of VAT. The Smith commission clearly made a recommendation on the standard rate of VAT, and the Government feel that it is entirely consistent to apply the same recommendation to the lower rate—the 5% rate—of VAT. That will ensure that Scotland receives 50% of the revenue raised.

The hon. Gentleman raised several issues about the welfare proposals. We and the Scottish Government have established a joint welfare working group at ministerial level—I will co-chair it with Alex Neil, the Scottish Cabinet Secretary with responsibility for such matters—which will take forward some of the issues. I assure the hon. Gentleman that the Scottish Parliament will have full legislative responsibility for the Work programme. As I understand it—I will provide confirmation—my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has already written to the hon. Member for Glasgow East (Margaret Curran) to set out why he and the Government do not believe that the section 106 route is the right way to transfer the programme. If the letter has not already been delivered, I will ensure that the hon. Gentleman receives a copy.

Of course we will proceed on the basis of good faith in relation to the Scottish Government and further devolution within Scotland. The hon. Gentleman will be aware that the Scottish Cabinet is coming to Dumfries on Monday, which will be a good opportunity for the Scottish Government to demonstrate that they are listening to people outwith the central belt of Scotland. I am sure that they will discuss the Crown estate, which is certainly an important issue in my constituency.

If I have not covered all the points made by the hon. Gentleman, I will write to him about those matters.

[Sir George Young (North West Hampshire) (Con)]

The coalition Government have moved with commendable speed to meet the aspirations of the Scottish people, and I welcome the statement. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Government should now move with equal speed to meet the aspirations of the English?

[David Mundell]

As has already been made clear from the Dispatch Box, the proposals for Scotland are stand-alone proposals that will proceed whatever arrangement is reached for other parts of the United Kingdom. My right hon. Friend the Leader of the House has published a Command Paper setting out various options in relation to England, which I am sure will continue to be the subject of vigorous debate in the House.

Smith Commission

Lord Young of Cookham Excerpts

Thursday 27th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young (North West Hampshire) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is important for the integrity and credibility of the political process in this country that commitments given by political leaders during the referendum campaign are honoured? Does he further agree that the proposals he has just announced further accentuate the imbalance in the British constitution between England and the rest of the United Kingdom? Does he therefore agree that it would be wrong, as some have proposed, to kick the McKay proposals into the long grass? They now need to be addressed with some urgency.

[Mr Carmichael]

I could not agree more with the right hon. Gentleman on the importance of honouring the vow that was made, and that is what we are about today. As I have acknowledged, there is currently an imbalance within the UK constitutional framework. As a federalist, I have long believed that that needs addressing. I do not think anything should be kicked into the long grass. He has been involved in the management of this House in various capacities for many years now, so he will be as aware as I am that once these things are changed it is difficult to change them back if we get them wrong. There is a need for constitutional reform and it goes far beyond the Standing Orders of this House.