"My Lords, it is always a pleasure to follow my noble friend Lord Saatchi, who has considerable wisdom in these affairs. The Government’s multiple dilemmas over their economic and budgetary policies are well known; they have been widely aired in the press, and many media experts and economists have declared …..." Lord Howell of Guildford - View Speech
"My Lords, the Question we have just heard did not get a very reassuring Answer. Is this not precisely the sort of resource that we, as an advanced country, should be developing to underpin both our security and our trade? Is this not the sort of glue that binds together …..." Lord Howell of Guildford - View Speech
"My Lords, I apologise for delaying the Committee for another four minutes, but my own Select Committee was cancelled at short notice at 4 pm, so I was able to come here and listen to the considerable wisdom on an issue with enormous implications for the future. In the four …..." Lord Howell of Guildford - View Speech
"My Lords, the period from 1970 to 1990 was a time of rapidly increasing productivity, of rapidly increasing Japanese investment in particular, and of great reduction in trade union restrictive practices, which the Japanese would not put up with. What lessons does he draw from that for today?..." Lord Howell of Guildford - View Speech
"Does the Minister know why we turned down the Moroccan offer of about 3.2 gigawatts of green electricity from a colossal solar development in Morocco, for which they were prepared to offer very attractive prices, since we are certainly going to need it in due course?..." Lord Howell of Guildford - View Speech
"Given that Hinkley, the French-designed nuclear project, has been billed as the most expensive the world has ever seen, and the plan is to repeat that in a replica at Sizewell, can the Minister tell us what thoughts the Government had on an alternative design at Sizewell of small reactors, …..." Lord Howell of Guildford - View Speech
"My Lords, we should concentrate on and give priority to building smaller nuclear reactors, as the Minister’s noble friend has suggested, which can be built in two years, rather than building the gigawatt giants, which apparently we are dedicated to doing, which take years to build and are far more …..." Lord Howell of Guildford - View Speech
"My Lords, bond markets obviously charge for their lending to certain countries, on the basis of differing judgments on the health of the borrower, on the prospects and on the signs of coherent strategy and direction. Could we interpret the movement of the Chief Secretary to the Treasury over to …..." Lord Howell of Guildford - View Speech
"My Lords, I declare an interest as a former Minister for the Civil Service—although it was an awfully long time ago. The record shows that the biggest increase in output and productivity in the Civil Service and the biggest fall in numbers in modern times occurred between about 1972 and …..." Lord Howell of Guildford - View Speech
"The question is: what areas are the Government going to look at now to remove functions from the state sector, which will be the sure way to increase productivity and reduce numbers?..." Lord Howell of Guildford - View Speech