"My Lords, I rise to support the principle of what the noble Lord is suggesting, but with a “but”, which I hope the Minister will give some careful thought to across the summer before we come back to debates in the autumn. The noble Lord, Lord Hunt, is absolutely right …..." Lord Grayling - View Speech
"My Lords, very briefly, I support my noble friend in this probing effort to establish what the intention of the Government is. He is right to highlight the risk that this becomes a revenue-raising mechanism as opposed to a cost-offsetting mechanism. There have been many examples over the years where …..." Lord Grayling - View Speech
"It may be that this is not the right vehicle for this, but most local authorities do not have the resource to inspect works carried out by utility companies, for example. As a result, the works tend to deteriorate faster than they should do. Putting in place a punitive regime …..." Lord Grayling - View Speech
"My Lords, I listened carefully to the noble Baroness’s comments. I was not planning to speak but, given that I was the Secretary of State alongside the Mayor of London when we had the bad news about Crossrail, I thought I would contribute a thought to this discussion.
"My Lords, I do not doubt the Minister’s personal commitment, on biodiversity in particular, but, given that there are still serious misgivings about elements of Part 3 of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, notwithstanding the amendments last week, given the fact that there is still a serious question mark over …..." Lord Grayling - View Speech
"My Lords, I refer to my entry in the register as an adviser to Hutchison Ports. I looked carefully through last week’s announcement. I could not see anything in the Government’s plans that would deal with the bottlenecks in the system that prevent rail freight growth. Can the Minister enlighten …..." Lord Grayling - View Speech
"My Lords, the European Union appears to be interested in joining CPTPP, which is something the United Kingdom has already done. Will the Government ensure that we use any leverage in that negotiation to ensure that the kind of problem we are discussing today is resolved?..." Lord Grayling - View Speech
"My Lords, the work capability assessment was introduced by the last Labour Government. Back in 2010, when I was Employment Minister, I and my noble friend Lady Stedman-Scott worked hard to improve it. I believe very strongly, having sat through many assessments, that some kind of challenge is needed in …..." Lord Grayling - View Speech
"My Lords, I commend the Minister on the work being done on plastics. One other major threat to marine life is illegal and unauthorised fishing around the world. What steps are being taken by the international community to address that problem?..." Lord Grayling - View Speech