Scotland Bill

Debate between Viscount Younger of Leckie and Lord Forsyth of Drumlean

Wednesday 24th February 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Elton (Con)]

Perhaps I could clarify the situation. As I understood it, when those remarks were made, we were discussing Parts 2 and 3 of the Bill. That is when any new regulations might apply; they do not apply this evening.

[Lord Forsyth of Drumlean]

Further to that point, perhaps the noble Viscount could confirm that that is the position. To be fair to my noble friend, he said that it was a matter for the usual channels, but we were led to believe that the usual channels would accede to this. It would be completely unacceptable if we did not have that flexibility for Parts 2 and 3, particularly as all the Statement today said was, “Haven’t we done a great job?”. It did not tell us what this was about: we are not getting that until tomorrow, which is Thursday. Although the House is sitting on Friday, there is not a great deal of time for people to absorb it.

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

My noble friend Lord Dunlop did indeed refer to discussions that might be taking places among the usual channels, but my clear understanding is that no decision was made for Report today.

[Lord Forsyth of Drumlean]

I did actually ask my noble friend to give us an assurance that, as far as Monday is concerned, that will be the case.

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

I cannot as yet give an assurance on that. The rules on Report remain in place for today.

Volkswagen: Emissions

Debate between Viscount Younger of Leckie and Lord Forsyth of Drumlean

Tuesday 19th January 2016 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

I do not know about that, but as I said, that the Government have been pressing Volkswagen very hard and we need to establish what the actual losses are. There is no question but that if UK owners have legitimate claims for compensation for losses, they should be compensated.

[Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (Con)]

Can my noble friend explain why Volkswagen has indicated that it will pay compensation to owners of Volkswagens in the United States but not in Britain?

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

I am very aware of that point. We are trying to establish why the US has done this, but it does have a different emissions regime, and there are fewer Volkswagen cars in the US. We are trying to get to the bottom of that.