"My Lords, the newspapers are carrying reports of how other nations, and maybe this one as well, are expanding their defence spending without resort to government accounts, by using an expansion of the old PFI model, which obviously would be a great relief for the bond markets and relief from …..." Lord Howell of Guildford - View Speech
"My Lords, I join in the congratulations to the noble Lord, Lord McConnell, not just on his luck in the ballot but also on his continuing zeal and determination in trying to focus our minds on these vastly important, indeed giant, world issues. Mediation, conflict prevention, peacebuilding and our role …..." Lord Howell of Guildford - View Speech
"My Lords, the Statement includes a proposal that there should be a North Sea energy wealth fund, which will put £2 billion into further development of some kind. I am proud of the way in which, under both parties, we developed the North Sea in an amazing way and at …..." Lord Howell of Guildford - View Speech
"My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend Lord Bridges on bringing forward this debate—he probably had to do a bit of pushing and shoving—and for his crystal-clear demonstration, which will be hard to challenge, that with our national debt interest we are on a path to unsustainability and no one …..." Lord Howell of Guildford - View Speech
"My Lords, the Minister mentioned the private finance initiative. As he will probably be aware, many countries now, in many jurisdictions, are adopting new risk allocation systems built on PFI. These include—I have a long list here—France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Canada, Australia, South Korea and Japan. What are we …..." Lord Howell of Guildford - View Speech
"My Lords, it is time for the formal and ritual congratulations to the noble Baroness, Kidron, not merely on starting the debate but for recognising her enormous energy, concentration and focus on the real issues, which I am glad we are debating now at the end of this term. Of …..." Lord Howell of Guildford - View Speech
"My Lords, Herbert Laming, as Chairman of Committees, was the one who enabled us to set up a foreign affairs Committee; we called it the International Relations Committee. At last, after many struggles and many years, he enabled it to happen. That committee, of course, has been an outstanding success …..." Lord Howell of Guildford - View Speech
"My Lords, commitment is not enough. There is a mood going around the capitals of the world that Ukraine would be in much better shape today if it had kept its nuclear weapons. This has led a number of other countries to say that they want to be in on …..." Lord Howell of Guildford - View Speech
"My Lords, I know that we have signed the global ocean treaty, but have we ratified it yet? Does the Minister think that the Commonwealth, which is increasingly involved in maritime affairs, with 33 island states, has an important role to play and could it make it work still better?..." Lord Howell of Guildford - View Speech
"My Lords, I welcome part of this plan—it obviously has some holes in it, as we have already heard. I also welcome, as I do every time I hear the Minister speak, a great deal of his comments and his profound thinking. However, I wonder today whether the brief he …..." Lord Howell of Guildford - View Speech