Queen’s Speech

Lord Cope of Berkeley Excerpts

Wednesday 9th May 2012 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Lord Cope of Berkeley]

That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty as follows:

“Most Gracious Sovereign—We, Your Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled, beg leave to thank Your Majesty for the most gracious Speech which Your Majesty has addressed to both Houses of Parliament”.

[Lord Cope of Berkeley]

It is a special privilege, my Lords, to be invited to move this Motion for the humble Address in Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee year. Her Majesty’s attendance here today in person illustrates her exemplary attention to duty, which is, I think, her greatest gift to our nation. Queen Victoria also lived to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee, but she opened Parliament only seven times in person in the 40 years after the death of Prince Albert. Her Majesty comes in person every time.

Her Majesty has, of course, the wonderful support of His Royal Highness Prince Philip—and it is his Diamond Jubilee, too, as consort. They have also set a fine example of how to move gradually with the times without losing the essential magic of the monarchy. Your Lordships’ House needs the same skill.

The nation is also looking forward to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, on which so many hopes are pinned and on which two of our gold-medallist colleagues —my noble friends Lord Coe and Lord Moynihan—are working so hard.

Mid-term often brings problems to Governments, and Her Majesty’s Government are in choppy waters, just as others have been before. Coalition brings inevitable strains too, but my experience of 25 years on the Front Bench, in both Houses and on both sides, suggests that they are similar to the strains within parties and within Governments. In this House as in the other place, the relationships at the top remain good within the coalition. My ever-buoyant noble friend Lord Strathclyde remains resilient and full of energy. Our gallant allies, without whom of course life would be much more difficult for us, are led my noble friend Lord McNally, who seems comfortable in coalition with almost the only party he has not belonged to, and who continues to amuse us with his wit and humour. Our Chief Whip is always smart in every sense, if not quite as resplendent as her male predecessors as Captain of the Gentlemen-at-Arms on days like this.

Perhaps I may also pay a tribute to my noble friend Lord Shutt of Greetland, until now the Deputy Chief Whip. I can confirm from experience that he has long been a reliable member of the usual channels, the smooth functioning of which is so important to your Lordships’ House. At the same time, however, I cannot fault his retirement from the Front Bench at the age of 70, as I did the same thing at the same age five years ago. His genial Yorkshire approach will be missed.

Opposite us, the noble Baroness, Lady Royall of Blaisdon, leads for the Opposition with all her charm and cool authority. We on this side are divided from her by politics but we know that she always has the interests of the House and its proper functioning high in her priorities. Blaisdon and Berkeley are divided by the mighty River Severn, which is a mile wide in drought or flood—or both, as now—but they are both in Gloucestershire.

The noble Lord, Lord Bassam, when he was a departmental Minister, sorted out the football hooligans most effectively. Whether that experience is useful to him in his present job, I have absolutely no idea.

The gracious Speech made clear that we can look forward to a full legislative programme, and the central themes of growth and jobs are right. I was glad to hear the repeated commitment to reducing the burdens on business. Some of that, of course, will be employment legislation, which may seem unexciting to some, and threatening to others, but the creation of new jobs has to be a priority.

The Government finances remain stretched—and I speak as an accountant, although admittedly a rusty one. We are in difficult economic times. Looking across to the eurozone, I am delighted whenever I hear that farsighted companies are looking to China, India, America—north and south—and the Commonwealth. We have long had trading relationships all round the globe and we need to build on them now, as Ministers remind us. We are promised necessary legislation on banking following the Vickers report and on the green investment bank, which is also welcome.

As usual, the Home Office has a batch of Bills—it is a serial legislator, a recidivist, one might say. The creation of the new National Crime Agency and the other measures go to the heart of people’s concerns, but nothing is more important than the protection of our citizens from terrorism. The security and intelligence services are crucial to that. The new legislation is intended again to strike the balance which allows them to be effective while not trespassing on the liberty of the subject. There is great experience of those matters around your Lordships’ House.

A notable feature of the legislative programme is the number and importance of Bills carried over from the previous Session. In particular, the new timetable for the Session overlaps awkwardly with the annual financial cycle. This year’s Finance Bill has been carried over, but that is for the Commons. Also carried over are the Civil Aviation Bill, the Financial Services Bill and the Local Government Finance Bill. The number of Bills which Parliament has seen in draft is also an interesting feature. Pre-legislative scrutiny is welcome all round. It enables Parliament to focus on the practical effect of proposals and to appreciate and draw attention to the unintended consequences rather than just the headline reasons for legislating.

Among the draft Bills which have been considered is one on individual electoral registration. That is of high importance given the very low turnout in recent elections. It concerns all of us that politics and politicians are held in such low esteem. The turnout at the local elections last week of below one-third should concern us all, even if some find other aspects of the results pleasing.

Your Lordships will have noted the slightly opaque reference in the gracious Speech to the future of your Lordships’ House, in which we all have an interest. No doubt the exact words were carefully dissected and weighed in advance. They fall short of a commitment to press forward with the draft Bill of the last Session. That is no surprise given the report of the Joint Committee, the alternative report and our debate on them both last week. No doubt my noble friend the Leader of the House will expand in the course of our debate in subsequent days on the meaning of that passage of the gracious Speech.

In any case, we in this House need to remember that we will not have the last word. If the Commons takes the advice of the Joint Committee, there will be a referendum. The electorate will be asked whether the problem with the governance of Britain is a shortage of politicians, or whether it is a surfeit of expertise. Our approach to Lords reform and to other measures in the gracious Speech in the coming year will affect the way that the argument about the House’s future goes. We will strengthen or damage our reputation for civilised, erudite, principled and practical debate.

Clearly, the House needs some reform. My noble friend Lord Steel of Aikwood and others have shown the way, and the House has already accepted some of the propositions which affect composition. However, the bigger questions remain. Should we have a largely elected Senate in the interests of democratic accountability, and will a fixed 15-year term give sufficient accountability? I speak as one who has been in this House for 14 and three-quarter years. Will the Commons accept the dilution of their authority, and have the Executive realised the effect on their ability to govern?

Others may, as I say, have the last word, but I have no doubt that noble Lords will explain in the debate the pros and cons of those proposals—probably mainly the cons—and some may even say something novel on the subject. My party’s election manifesto promised to seek a consensus on these matters. I have to say that, at present, I do not think that there is even a consensus about how to measure a consensus. This House constantly changes in smaller ways, but not always easily. Some of us remember the painful atmosphere in 1999—or, at the other end of the scale, the debate about the Lord Chancellor’s trousers. Interestingly, we have now become completely used to the Lord Speaker’s skirt without even debating it.

Finally, I must return to the Motion itself. The debate will range widely on the contents of the gracious Speech and the Government’s legislative programme, which is inevitably controversial. However, the Motion in its literal sense will, I think, have universal acceptance in your Lordships’ House as an expression of gratitude to Her Majesty for her part in today’s ceremonial and for all that she does and has done for the last 60 years —leading the country with her example of duty, self-restraint and honour. I beg to move the Motion for an humble Address to Her Majesty.