"My Lords, I am sure the Chief Whip and my noble and learned friend Lord Falcolner would agree that it is impossible to improve a Bill if you do not get to a point where you can pass it...." Lord Blunkett - View Speech
"I am putting the proposition that Clause 59 and Schedule 27 should not stand part of the Bill. I was very grateful to my noble friend and her colleagues last September for the modest amendments they moved to what was then Clause 57 in the Commons —Amendments 152 and 153. …..." Lord Blunkett - View Speech
"I thank my noble friend for that response. I shall of course not press my amendment at this stage. I cannot promise the Liberal Democrats what I shall do when we reach Report, not least since—as I said in a meeting a couple of days ago—I am a critical friend …..." Lord Blunkett - View Speech
"My Lords, I apologise to the House and to the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries, for not being here at the beginning of this group. I have a member of staff who lives a normal life, and I quite rightly agreed that she should go home. As a …..." Lord Blunkett - View Speech
"Before my noble friend responds, I just want to say that when I have not been able to sit in the House in Committee, I have followed the debate. Does my noble friend agree that it would be really helpful if people debated the Bill that is before us and …..." Lord Blunkett - View Speech
"Would my noble friend accept that politics is given a very bad name when people condemn Britain and say it is broken, when they were Ministers in Government—in fact, were Home Secretaries —and were responsible for breaking it?..." Lord Blunkett - View Speech
"I apologise to the House for my premature and ill-timed intervention earlier. After 10 years in the House, I need to go back and sharply revise my understanding of procedure. I am grateful to the House for the opportunity of being able to intervene.
"My Lords, may I take one minute of the House’s time? I commend what was just said by the noble Lord, whom I was pleased to work with many years ago, when he was the Minister. I am very pleased that he recalled the last contribution that my long-standing friend, …..." Lord Blunkett - View Speech
"I do not want to put my noble friend the Minister on the spot, but will she take cognisance of what has happened with the noble and learned Baroness’s interim report in relation to the use of statistics and the suggestion that a week-earlier lockdown would have saved 23,000 lives? …..." Lord Blunkett - View Speech