"My Lords, I share some of the worries summed up by Amendments 18 and 19, in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Fuller, about ensuring that all sides of the argument are heard by our newly enfranchised 16 year-olds, especially looked-after children.
"I am about to explain my concerns about the amendment of the noble Baroness, Lady Lister. I think citizenship education can be excellent, and a
“catch-up programme of political and media literacy”
sounds like a sensible, impartial and pragmatic intervention. But I have concerns, and I am raising them. I …..." Baroness Fox of Buckley - View Speech
"I am suggesting that a particular reading of social justice is one-sided and political. We need to show some caution. Civics education per se is one thing. This is an argument that civics education should be used to prepare young people to vote in elections, which is a different thing. …..." Baroness Fox of Buckley - View Speech
"Only two weeks ago, the Government intervened in the problem of the lack of impartiality among teachers on the Israel-Gaza-Palestine conflict. At the time, I congratulated the Government on taking a stance on the difficulties of that issue. The Government were clear that we have to be very careful. I …..." Baroness Fox of Buckley - View Speech
"My Lords, Amendments 34, 35, 36, 38 and 39 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Fuller, do us a favour in that they force us to consider the second-order consequences of a very big constitutional change. Regardless of one’s views on votes for 16 or 17 year-olds, it …..." Baroness Fox of Buckley - View Speech
"Before the Minister sits down, I want to query two things. First, the social media ban will apparently not prohibit young people accessing trusted news sources. Trusted by whom? Who makes that call? That was partly my point. I would have thought that you could trust the Home Office to …..." Baroness Fox of Buckley - View Speech
"My Lords, on why prisoners breach licence conditions, as we have seen prisoners released early armed with tents because they do not have houses to go to, is that not a guarantee that they will breach their licensing conditions, as the Probation Service seems to be using recall as a …..." Baroness Fox of Buckley - View Speech
"My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Farmer. When we debated the Victims and Courts Bill, I had qualms about the targeted punishment of withdrawing social visits, even from those prisoners despicably refusing to attend sentencing hearings. I do not like the families, even of selfish, cowardly perpetrators, being …..." Baroness Fox of Buckley - View Speech
"Can the Minister look at that question slightly differently? Is the message to migrants arriving illegally on small boats that, if they come to the UK then they can stay here for 30 years, and not work or study, and at the end of that 30 years be given leave …..." Baroness Fox of Buckley - View Speech
"Clarification understood. Therefore, I ask the noble Lord to consider that the noble Lord, Lord Fuller, was trying to ensure that people who were entitled to vote were checked up on. The accusation was that he was somehow trying to limit the franchise and I was defending him in relation …..." Baroness Fox of Buckley - View Speech