"My Lords, I am very much opposed to a system other than first past the post, but it seems peculiar that we have a devolved system and then we are to say that people in the devolved Administrations cannot decide how they choose their Government. I find that a very …..." Lord Deben - View Speech
"The noble Baroness kindly said that she liked following my speech. May I say to her that what she said is nonsense, and there is no reason at all to change what happens in the City of London?..." Lord Deben - View Speech
"My Lords, does the Minister accept that this process occurred under previous Conservative governments and that that really is not important in this discussion? She is quite right, of course, to say that the Secretary of State will make the decision in her own time, exactly as a previous Conservative …..." Lord Deben - View Speech
"The noble Baroness has again committed the Government to buying from local farmers throughout the system. The trouble is that the Government do not publish facts regularly so that we can see how they are doing. Everyone locally knows perfectly well that it is not working at the moment. Can …..." Lord Deben - View Speech
"I remind the House that I am a small organic farmer. The Minister must understand that in the farming community as a whole, there is a real feeling of abandonment. She can say what the Government are doing, but there is a real feeling that there is no commitment. The …..." Lord Deben - View Speech
"My Lords, I hope the Minister can answer this simple question: is she not embarrassed that the only way we have been able to discuss this important matter is through a Private Notice Question? Should these issues not be brought in front of Parliament to be discussed? It is a …..." Lord Deben - View Speech
"My Lords, will the Minister please accept that it is very important to ensure that the whistleblowing arrangements work effectively? Otherwise, people will use this opportunity to attack the Government’s excellent policy on moving as rapidly as we can to renewable energy, which is much cheaper and crucial for our …..." Lord Deben - View Speech
"My Lords, my family owns the local pub, and therefore I can speak from trying to employ people. We have very high employment standards in our business, and we have had to reduce staff because of what the Government have done on employment taxes of all kinds. That is true …..." Lord Deben - View Speech
"Would not the Minister agree that this is an interesting example of how, when we thought we would take back control, actually we have given over control in areas where we could have been part of the solution?..." Lord Deben - View Speech