"My Lords, I very much associate myself with those who have congratulated my noble friend Lady Taylor of Bolton, who has performed the trick of delivering unanimous support from people who did not agree with one another on more than one occasion over the 40-odd years that she and I …..." Lord Grocott - View Speech
"Has my noble friend had time to reflect on the merits and demerits of EU membership, and the decision in particular of the people of Iceland over the weekend? Does she agree that a particular significance of that, which might be of relevance to this country, is that it was …..." Lord Grocott - View Speech
"Can my noble friend provide some details and facts? She may not be able to answer now, but I would like her to do so in writing. The Statement claims that there will be very substantial savings from this operation—savings of £1 billion are mentioned at one point—but it is …..." Lord Grocott - View Speech
"My Lords, I thank my noble friend for making this Statement. As he is in his place, I must also mention my noble friend Lord Blunkett, who brings experience and common sense to pretty much everything he does. There is a “but” coming, and it is this: I get slightly …..." Lord Grocott - View Speech
"Can my noble friend cheer us all up by reminding us, in the election following five years of coalition government, when the public were asked to give their judgment on it, how many Liberal MPs were left?..." Lord Grocott - View Speech
"My Lords, it is great to hear my noble friend’s tributes to the railway engineers, who keep the trains going at the same time that they are trying to build in many places new rail developments—which is a much harder job than building a new railway on a completely open …..." Lord Grocott - View Speech
"My Lords, there is a great deal in this Statement that I warmly welcome: in particular, the bit the Minister has just referred to about what was HS2, the link from Crewe to Manchester. He has repeated, and it is clear in the Statement, that
"My Lords, I particularly want to speak today because I am on the IRDC. I am proud that we completed a near-impossible task given to us by Parliament, which was to try to summarise the feelings of the Chagossian community on the UK-Mauritius agreement. I do not know precisely, but …..." Lord Grocott - View Speech
"My Lords, on Erasmus, I remind my noble friend that, as I am sure she knows, we are talking about very large sums of money. It was £570 million in the first year alone, and that is with a terrific 30% discount. When large sums of money are involved, I …..." Lord Grocott - View Speech