Holocaust Memorial Bill

Lord Taylor of Holbeach Excerpts

Report stage
Wednesday 11th June 2025 Lords Chamber

There are three gates to the park. We are told that the centre is going to have a bag check—oh, great. What about the three gates to the park? Are we going to have police officers at each of the gates? Are we going to put fences up to make quite sure that we protect it, as we should and as we have a responsibility to, as the noble Lord, Lord Inglewood, has just said.

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach (Con)]

There are four gates.

[Baroness Walmsley (LD)]

There are four gates to the park. Thank you for that correction. One of them is very near the playground. We feel it necessary to put horse guards on horses in Whitehall outside Horse Guards and at various other buildings around Westminster and this city. Are we going to have armed guards outside this centre? That is not really very appropriate when you are trying to remember the horrible deaths of so many millions of people.

As I said earlier, I am absolutely in favour of an appropriate memorial, but the learning centre is a government choice. For the actual implementation of the wish that we all have to have a good learning centre, it is the Government’s choice to do it like this and it is wrong. It is not good enough and it should not happen.