Grand Committee

Lord Etherton Excerpts

Tuesday 4th March 2025 Grand Committee

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Lord Duncan of Springbank) (Con)]

My Lords, it is the usual drill: if there is a vote in the Chamber, a bell will ring and we shall adjourn for a time to allow your Lordships to go and vote. So let us begin.

[Lord Etherton (CB)]

My Lords, before we start, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the other members of the Select Committee on the Bill: the noble Lords, Lord Faulkner of Worcester and Lord Jamieson, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Hope of Craighead, and the noble Baroness, Lady Scott of Needham Market. I particularly express gratitude on behalf of the House, as much as the committee, for the extraordinary devotion to the committee’s work on the part of those who supported us, bearing in mind that there were 18 petitions against the Bill and three KCs. They were Chris Salmon Percival, the clerk to the committee; Che Diamond, assistant counsel to the Chair of Committees; Mike Wright, private and hybrid legislation manager; and Kiran Kaur, committee operations officer. They worked well above and beyond their duty.