Agriculture Bill

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock Excerpts

Committee stage & Committee: 3rd sitting (Hansard) & Committee: 3rd sitting (Hansard): House of Lords
Tuesday 14th July 2020 Lords Chamber

With that explanation of how and why we have drafted the Bill in the way we have, I will look at Hansard because I am conscious that there may be some issues of detail I may not have properly addressed. I have always liked to have a tradition of trying to mention everyone’s name, rather like the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Whitchurch. With the speaking lists we have, I am afraid that in getting this Bill through I will have to breach a tradition I have so cherished; it is not a discourtesy. I hope that on this occasion my noble friend Lady McIntosh will feel able to withdraw her amendment.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op) [V]]

My Lords, I warmly congratulate the Minister and thank him for the sympathetic way in which he is dealing with this Bill. Like all of us, he will have clocked in at 4 pm for a delayed start at 4.40 pm and has sat through all these extensive debates. He deserves not just a medal but a whole chestful of medals for the way he is dealing with it, but he has not dealt with one intervention: the one from the noble Lord, Lord Dobbs. He complained —I think he moaned a little—about the fact that on the third day we were still on Clause 1. He called for caution and self-restraint.

During his speech I was checking up. In fact, in this debate more than twice as many Tories as Labour Members—to take a random example—have contributed. We have enjoyed some of the speeches, including the wartime reminiscences. When we eventually get to the next group, we have 12 Tories and only two Labour Members. If the Minister agrees with the noble Lord, Lord Dobbs—I do not, by the way; I think we should scrutinise the Bill carefully both in Committee and on Report—I suggest to him that the person he needs to talk to is the Tory Chief Whip and no one else.

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, it is very nice to hear the noble Lord; I enjoy having this dialogue. I am advised that your Lordships will have three times the amount of time, with the six days or more, to consider this Bill in Committee. We should use it wisely; we need to get through a lot of groups. The whole point calls for a bit of good old-fashioned common sense.