Recall of MPs Bill

My Lords, it is the job of Parliament and this House to be clear in our language as far as possib...

My Lords, I have been a little confused by this as well. I imagined that when people signed the p...

My Lords, I am sorry to delay my noble friend; I shall not do so for more than a moment or two. I...

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Cormack, for that very brief Second Reading speech, and I ...

I am very grateful to the Minister for giving way. I think he just said that there were safeguard...

I hope that I will be able to explain, as I continue, what some of the safeguards against intimid...

My Lords, I am puzzled by what the Minister just said: that signing a petition is somehow—what wa...

My Lords, I thank those who contributed to this short, but very important, debate. The Minister r...

Moved by

Lord Tyler

2: Clause 1, page 1, line 13, leave out from “offence” to “, and”...

My Lords, I will also speak to Amendment 3 in my name and those of my noble friends Lord Lexden a...

My Lords, I wish to retain the second trigger, and it is only on that matter that I part company ...

My Lords, I support Amendments 2 and 3, to which, as my noble friend said, I am a signatory. They...

My Lords, Amendments 2 and 3, which have been spoken to by the noble Lords, Lord Tyler and Lord N...

My Lords, I will speak briefly on this. I think that it is a mistake to play off these conditions...

I will briefly comment on the speech of the noble Lord, Lord Norton. I may be mistaken but he see...

You know more than most.

As ever, my noble friend Lord Maxton is complimentary to me. But, immediately recall becomes a re...

My Lords, I was glad to add my name to the amendments tabled by my noble friend Lord Tyler. As my...

I am sorry to intervene on the noble Lord. He may not have the answer to my question—I perfectly ...

As the noble Lord suggested, I will leave that to my noble friend Lord Tyler, as a former Member ...

My Lords, I, too, am a signatory to these amendments. It is a pleasure to follow the noble Lords,...

My Lords, it is always fun to watch the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, having a go at his own side and a...

My Lords, this debate has ranged very widely. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Campbell-Savours, for ...

The report does not suggest that they should have a vote.

Page 6 of the report states:

“We believe self-regulation, with external input, is the appro...

Will the Government provide their response to the Standards Committee’s report before they procee...

My Lords, I will certainly take that back and see what the Government can do. I hope that I have ...

May I ask my noble friend, with his very important noble friends on the Front Bench, to give the ...

My Lords, we intend to proceed to Third Reading with all deliberate speed. The House will, of cou...

My Lords, I am grateful to all Members who have contributed to this debate. I wish that we had ha...

Moved by

Lord Campbell-Savours

4: Clause 1, page 2, line 4, leave out “10” and insert...

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Taylor of Bolton, for her preparedness to take on my a...

My Lords, my noble friend Lord Campbell-Savours spoke compellingly on this issue at Second Readin...

My Lords, perhaps I may briefly intervene. It seems extraordinary that in rising to support the G...

It is entirely right that the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, has drawn attention to the real problem u...

My Lords, you will not be surprised that we do not support these amendments for the reasons given...

Can the noble Baroness explain where the other half of MPs were?

Obviously, the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, will not appreciate that on a one-line Whip an awful lot...

Oh!

He was there; that was a joke.

Joke? No!

It was a joke. It is called irony. It does not work in Hansard; maybe it could use italics. I was...

While my noble friend is celebrating the virtues of House of Commons procedure, will she recognis...

I really do not think it is for me to tell the House of Commons how best to call its votes. What ...

My Lords, triggering the opening of a recall after a 10-day suspension rather than 20 or 21 days ...

The noble Lord is missing the point of my contribution. The climate has completely changed. Do no...

I take on board the noble Lord’s deep concern for the strain on the members of the Standards Comm...

I have had a rather difficult few weeks. I have had all sorts of discussions with colleagues abou...

I again ask the Minister to think this through. The House of Commons has produced a report that h...

It was one o’clock this morning.

It is not a desirable principle to proceed on legislation in conflict with that. The noble Lord, ...

I welcome interventions on my wind-up, although I do not want to delay the House. I appeal to Min...

Moved by

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

7: Clause 3, page 3, line 30, after “within” insert ...

My Lords, Amendments 7 and 8 make a small change to Clause 3 which details the appeal period that...

Moved by

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

8: Clause 3, page 3, line 39, after “within” insert ...

Moved by

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

9: Clause 4, page 5, line 4, at end insert—

“(...

Moved by

Lord Dubs

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

“Electi...

My Lords, we debated an amendment in Committee to deal with this matter. Put simply, the problem ...

My Lords, I have put my name to the amendment, which is milder than the one we considered in Comm...

Does the noble Lord agree that the power of the electorate has already been pre-empted in the fir...

What the noble Baroness said is right to the extent that the whole mechanism of this Bill is doin...

My Lords, I have considerable sympathy with this amendment, and the noble Lord, Lord Dubs, has co...

My Lords, as my noble friends have spelt out, the Bill raises the interesting question not just o...

My Lords, behind this issue are some large questions about the role of election courts and the se...

My Lords, I am disappointed in the Minister’s reply because he has not really faced the point tha...

Moved by

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

11: Clause 7, page 6, line 23, leave out “4” and ins...

My Lords, this amendment would increase the number of signing places that a petition officer can ...

My Lords, I am delighted to see that my noble friends have been able to respond to the views expr...

My Lords, I, too, very much welcome this amendment. It is a step in the right direction. I have j...

I am going to be a little more generous than the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, and thank the Minister f...

My Lords, I am most grateful for the generous comments that have been made. As I said, this has c...

Moved by

Lord Howarth of Newport

12: Clause 9, page 7, line 16, leave out “8” and ins...

My Lords, Amendment 12 would reduce the signing period from eight weeks to three weeks. It is int...

My noble friend has been talking about MPs who have disgraced themselves. Clearly, that is the or...

I agree with my noble friend. The process provided for in the Bill would allow for the intrusion ...

My Lords, my observation is simply on the practicalities of this. I do not know what would happen...

I want to emphasise what I said in my intervention. Bear in mind that when Bobby Sands starved hi...

My Lords, I do not wish to detain the House for long, but would the Minister like to say exactly ...

I was enormously impressed with the noble Lord’s very dramatic introduction of his amendment. Per...

My Lords, I, too, support this amendment for the reasons we discussed in Committee. I argued then...

My Lords, my noble friend Lord Howarth of Newport has made a good case for considering whether an...

My Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Lord for tabling this amendment; we have had a very int...

Does the Minister accept that one of the problems of an eight-week period is that someone who sig...

Another interpretation is that if you have too rushed an arrangement and want to vote by post, al...

My Lords, I am very grateful to everybody who has spoken and certainly to all who have expressed ...

My Lords, I do not think I am in a position to give an undertaking. The truth is that thought sho...

I completely understand that the noble Lord is not in a position to give a solid undertaking that...

Moved by

Lord Kennedy of Southwark

13: Clause 9, page 7, line 22, leave out subsectio...

My Lords, Amendments 13 and 14 are in my name and that of my noble friend Lady Hayter of Kentish ...

My Lords, it seems to me that the horse is actually before the cart. The noble Baroness, Lady Hay...

I thank the noble Lord for his response. I still think it is an odd way to be moving forward. I a...

Moved by

Lord Kennedy of Southwark

16: Clause 9, page 7, line 35, at end insert—

My Lords, the two amendments in this group are in my name and that of my noble friend Lady Hayter...

My Lords, I am very happy to confirm that the Government’s intention is that the regulations will...

I thank the Minister for his response. I am reassured and am happy to withdraw the amendment.

Moved by

Lord Kennedy of Southwark

17: Clause 10, page 8, line 12, at end insert—

My Lords, Amendments 17, 19 and 20 again are in my name and the name of my noble friend Lady Hayt...

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for again raising these issues, which we have discussed in Commi...

I thank the Minister for his response. I hope that outside the Chamber we may be able to have som...