Defamation Bill

My Lords, I beg to move Amendment 1, which is in my name and that of my noble friend Lady Hayter....

My Lords, I am not sure what the proprieties are but for the record I had the privilege of chairi...

I thank the noble Lord for giving way. Will he explain to us—because it is not clear to me—whethe...

I think the truthful answer to my noble friend is that I cannot tell him that. However, my unders...

My Lords, Amendments 1 and 2 seem thoroughly sensible and I support them without hesitation. Howe...

I am grateful to the noble and learned Lord. I quite understand the argument. If the guidance iss...

I do not think that would fall foul of it at all. If the parties are given sufficient time to col...

I declare an interest as a practising barrister. I practise principally in the law of tort, which...

I shall offer some thoughts as a practising scientist who on one occasion only was confronted wit...

I was not going to speak until I heard the noble Lord, Lord May, just now. He is identifying one ...

My Lords, I shall begin with my usual disclaimer. I am not a lawyer. As I often say about my frie...

I am sorry to interrupt but I am trying to be helpful to my noble friend. I think that he just re...

It was 10 December.

I am most grateful, because I have a letter from 8 October.

It was my fault. I thank my noble friend for drawing my attention to that. I hope that that sets ...

Two things seem to be beyond dispute. One is that powers already exist for the courts to exercise...

First, I have already pointed out that my noble friend’s concerns about costs are being addressed...

My Lords, with all respect—a phrase that lawyers use when they have no respect—to all noble Lords...

My Lords—

My Lords—

If the noble Lord will excuse me, I will give way to his noble friend the solicitor first; then I...

I must confess to being confused by the noble Lord’s argument. He started with a passionate point...

I am grateful to the noble Lord for his intervention but I am perfectly happy to adopt the distin...

The noble Lord said that I was technically correct. That is fine. If I am technically correct, th...

I accept what the noble Lord has said and I respect it enormously. I do not treat it light-hearte...

I do bear in mind that we want to move on. I may well have missed some of the points, but I think...

I am again grateful to the noble Lord, Lord May, whom I think I misnamed earlier. However, I have...

Moved by

Lord Hunt of Wirral

3A: Clause 1, page 1, line 4, at end insert—

“( ) ...

My Lords, as I move this amendment I would like to highlight the fact that it is currently imposs...

My Lords—

My Lords, my contribution to this debate will be anecdotal. I am a lay person. I am not a very ex...

I do not know whether my noble friend Lord Hunt knows the history of this interesting idea. In 19...

My Lords, not out of loyalty to my late uncle, I think there was a considerable amount in the maj...

My Lords, in the House of Commons, Helen Goodman sought to amend this Bill to allow certain categ...

Leaving aside smoking for the moment, how does the noble Lord respond to these various committees...

I am enormously grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Lester, but perhaps my powers of advocacy have f...

My Lords, perhaps I may add to what has been said. The inability to bring an action for defamatio...

My Lords, again we are indebted to my learned friends for enlightening this debate. Dealing with ...

My Lords, I thank my noble friend the Minister very much indeed for his response. He said that he...

Moved by

Lord Mawhinney

4: After Clause 1, insert the following new Clause—

“Re...

My Lords, I start by saying to the noble Lord, Lord May, how much I appreciated his earlier speec...

I am not sure whether the noble Lord has followed what the Minister was saying. The Government ha...

As always, I am grateful to the noble Lord for his interjections. Let me cheer him up by assuring...

Before I speak to the amendment that has just been moved, and to Amendment 8 which is tabled in m...

My Lords, I have broad sympathy with this amendment and with Amendment 8, and I want to share a s...

My Lords, I support these amendments and what the noble Lord, Lord Triesman, said. He is quite ri...

My Lords, some believe that corporations should not be allowed to sue for libel at all. I think t...

I apologise that I was out of the Room when the noble Lord started speaking, but I substantially ...

I should be careful what I say, because I shall now offend some members of what is known as the l...

I am wholly in favour of these two amendments. I want to raise one question that probably illustr...

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Wirral, is not here, but he made me think that I should ha...

My Lords, although I am sure Lord Mawhinney will respond, as he moved this group, I shall make on...

I have known the noble Baroness so long that I know when she is tempting me into sin. However, th...

I am grateful to my noble friend. I understand the point that he makes and he understands that pa...

In terms of what was actually said to Lord Dyson, if it is on the record somewhere, I will make i...

Most of what the Minister has said is extremely persuasive, and certainly his criticism of Amendm...

Once again I shall use my ultimate defence: I am not a lawyer, so I am not going to say yes on th...

I accept without reservation the determination of my noble friend the Minister to face the real i...

Moved by

Lord Mawhinney

5: After Clause 1, insert the following new Clause—

“Re...

My Lords, this amendment gets to the heart of one of the other major issues that we addressed in ...

I shall also speak to Amendment 7, which stands in my name and in the name of my noble friend. Th...

My Lords, I understand what is behind these amendments and of course I share the desire of other ...

I commend very highly subsections (5)(c) and (d) of the new clause proposed under Amendment 7. Th...

My Lords, again, I want to be able to think about and to look at the arguments that have been dep...

My Lords, I was loath to interrupt the Minister while he was in full flow, but if I have understo...

Again, because I am not a lawyer, I will take that away and take advice on it. As regards wealthy...

Before the Minister finally sits down, I hope that I may ask him one further thing. This is somet...

Again, I will take that matter back. The noble Lord may be interested to know that my right honou...

My Lords, I thank the Minister for putting on the record the Government’s reaction to these amend...

My Lords, I beg to move. This amendment follows very closely the wording of the draft Bill of the...

Not unusually, the noble Lord begged to move his amendment at the beginning rather than the end o...

My Lords, it is true that my Bill had a similar revision in it, but it did not have a serious har...

I shall read out a short excerpt from our report. Paragraph 87 states:

“Once our proposals ...

My Lords, I may have been rather hasty in saying that the Lord Chancellor is in favour of county ...

My Lords, I shall do my best to get my words in the right order, something that I am learning to ...

Moved by

Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town

9: After Clause 1, insert the following new ...

My Lords, there are good reasons for the amendment, which I think is probably one that the Minist...

My Lords, I declare an ancient professional interest. I was counsel in the Derbyshire case from b...

My Lords, if this amendment was passed, it would make my life notably more comfortable, but none ...

Would not my noble friend’s criticisms in the capacity in which he has described them be protecte...

Yes, but that is not the way things operate in practice. A lot of the time, the views expressed b...

My Lords, listening to our debate with great attention means that one defines it almost along the...

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that response. I also thank the noble Lords, Lord Lucas and ...