"My Lords, the SDR made it clear that the Russian threat is now not simply a threat from abroad in eastern Europe and the North Sea but is also a homeland threat. It suggested a number of measures for mobilising our domestic population and improving homeland defence and public awareness …..." Lord Wallace of Saltaire - View Speech
"To ask His Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to including in the Cabinet Manual guidelines for government formation in the event of the next election not providing a Commons majority for a single party...." Lord Wallace of Saltaire - View Speech
"My Lords, I welcome this announcement and thank the Minister for alerting me to the Statement yesterday. The coalition Government produced the Cabinet Manual as a guide for future Governments to the conventions of our unwritten constitution. It was intended that successive Governments should update it after each election, but …..." Lord Wallace of Saltaire - View Speech
"My Lords, how are the Government going to get at the increasingly shadowy area of what the Minister has just called political life, where donations are not specifically to political parties but are being used to support particular causes? It is widely reported, for example, that Elon Musk is using …..." Lord Wallace of Saltaire - View Speech
"My Lords, does the Minister remember the argument, at the time of the Brexit referendum, that the divide in Britain was between the intellectual elite, who were people from anywhere, and the real people of Britain, who were people from somewhere? Are we not hearing an argument that it is …..." Lord Wallace of Saltaire - View Speech
"The Minister mentioned music hubs. The key thing in getting an opportunity for disadvantaged students from schools that do not have good musical education is to put them in touch with music hubs. I declare an interest as I used to be chair of the VOCES8 Foundation. What shocked us …..." Lord Wallace of Saltaire - View Speech
"My Lords, this is about local government pension funds and we are discussing guidance; the Minister has just talked about an instruction. Does she recognise that the autonomy of local government ought to be an important principle that we all hold to and that we need to be very careful …..." Lord Wallace of Saltaire - View Speech
"My Lords, like others, I note that the King’s Speech did not mention constitutional or political reform. The Representation of the People Bill addresses many of the external threats to our constitutional democracy but does nothing to address the domestic threats, both from the depth of public disillusion and from …..." Lord Wallace of Saltaire - View Speech
"My Lords, I will raise a couple of broader points about where we are. A strong leadership system operates well when you have only two parties represented on a council. We are about to have local elections in which the number of councils elected with only two parties represented, and …..." Lord Wallace of Saltaire - View Speech
"My Lords, I declare an interest as a recipient of very considerable welfare payments in the form of my old-age pension and my wife’s old-age pension. The whole discussion about cutting welfare seems to leave out the very substantial chunk of welfare that goes to those of us who are …..." Lord Wallace of Saltaire - View Speech