"My Lords, it is a privilege to follow the noble Lord, Lord Stevens, who gave a pretty good summary of many of the arguments against this group of amendments. I join him in all that he said. My fundamental motive is twofold. First, I would like to see the eradication …..." Lord Bethell - View Speech
"Noble Lords have, perfectly reasonably, rebutted me on that. But my point is that the modern retail experience does not rely on retailers squinting to try to judge the difference between 21 and 22 year-olds. It is mandatory for almost everyone to produce ID when they are purchasing any restricted …..." Lord Bethell - View Speech
"If my noble friend is correct, I will absolutely and humbly correct myself. Maybe we could have a drink afterwards and compare notes on that.
On the question of freedom, I too am a passionate believer and fighter for freedom. However, the freedoms I care about are not only the …..." Lord Bethell - View Speech
"My noble friend is looking very well on it. He mentioned that 4 billion cigarettes had been taken by the police in 2024. According to HMRC, the number is 24 million. I draw attention to that because there is a lot of loose use of numbers in the description of …..." Lord Bethell - View Speech
"My Lords, I echo the praise of other noble Lords for the report. Professor Peter Johnson has done an enormously worthwhile job, and there is so much richness and so many good things in the report.
I will put a spotlight on the unfortunate framing that catching cancer is, largely …..." Lord Bethell - View Speech
"My Lords, I pay tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Addington, for a very moving speech there, but I will address his point directly.
This amendment does not object to a child having a basic phone for safety. My plucky 11 year-old son travels to and from school every day …..." Lord Bethell - View Speech
"My Lords, it is such a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Kidron. She is absolutely right. We have a choice today on whether we will send an amendment to the Commons to put pressure on the Government to act or whether we are going to flunk this opportunity. …..." Lord Bethell - View Speech
"My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Ritchie, has just given an utterly compelling speech on the subject of the debate today. I do not want to repeat the points she has made; they are completely convincing. Instead, I want to build on her arguments from my experience as a Health …..." Lord Bethell - View Speech
"My Lords, I am enormously grateful to the Minister for reassuring us that all chatbots are captured by the Online Safety Act; that is very good news indeed. Can he reassure us that Ofcom will confirm that in writing to the House? I appreciate that he is a Home Office …..." Lord Bethell - View Speech
"My Lords, I too support the amendments in this group, particularly those tabled by my noble friend Lord Nash on security software and by the noble Baroness, Lady Kidron, on AI-generated child sexual abuse material. I declare my interest as a trustee of the Royal Society for Public Health.