Brexit

The noble Lord makes his point in his normal forthright manner. If he has a little patience, I wi...

My Lords, this is the first full opportunity that this House has had to debate Brexit since the S...

My Lords, these Benches also welcome the debate. A benefit of the purported Prorogation being nul...

My Lords, since we last debated Brexit, much has changed and yet, in many ways, nothing has chang...

I have huge respect for the noble Lord and I value his advice. He is arguing that the process of ...

That is a legal issue on which I do not want to reply immediately. I think that is a proceeding i...

My Lords, as the Government are in mid-negotiation with the European Commission, with Belfast and...

My Lords, I fear that we are on the verge of a very great constitutional crisis—probably the grea...

My Lords, I too planned to talk about democracy, but I thought I would start by referring to a br...

The noble Baroness is making an interesting speech about democracy, but would she explain one mys...

My Lords, I am delighted to take that intervention, and particularly delighted that I am taking i...

My Lords, there is an advisory Back-Bench speaking time of six minutes. We have been consistently...

My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, who spoke with her customary zeal ...

My Lords, it is always a privilege to follow a fellow Scot, although I will deal with a rather di...

My Lords, I congratulate the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay, whom it is always a pleasure to...

My Lords, in preparation for this debate, I both watched and listened to the Prime Minister’s spe...

Does the noble Lord acknowledge that both the Master of the Rolls and the Lord Chief Justice disa...

I acknowledge that, but the fact of the matter is that, in our system, the Supreme Court is, as i...

Of the 11 members of the Supreme Court, nine were appointed under a Conservative Prime Minister. ...

There are plenty of illustrations of how those who have had a political affiliation, when elevate...

My Lords, we cannot be dismissive of 45 years’ shared partnership. There is much to reflect on an...

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Viscount, Lord Waverley, with whom I share an inte...

My Lords, I will simply say of the speech from the noble Lord, Lord Lilley, that his likening of ...

My Lords, the three years since the 2016 referendum have stress-tested every aspect of our parlia...

My Lords, it is a little hard to take note of something—the UK’s withdrawal from the European Uni...

My Lords, let us remind ourselves that the case for leaving the European Union is to reclaim the ...

My Lords, there is one matter on which I am able to agree with the Prime Minister: that the Gover...

My Lords, we have repeatedly heard this week the Conservative conference slogan: “Get Brexit Done...

My Lords, we are mired, the road to our present misfortune littered with miscalculation and error...

My Lords, in the House of Commons one week ago, the Prime Minister delivered a Statement demeanin...

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Callanan, wishes to take note of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. ...

My Lords, the Prime Minister said this morning in his Manchester speech that no deal,

“is a...

My Lords, I had not realised that I was the next speaker—

My Lords, my noble friend Lord Saatchi is here.

6.21 pm

My Lords, the Minister was kind enough to praise your Lordships’ House for its stamina. With your...

My Lords, what a delightful speech. There was a lot of wisdom in it.

Let me cast caution to...

My Lords, I very much thank the noble Lord, Lord Taverne, for his remarks. I agree with every sin...

My Lords, however much all of us are suffering from Brexit fatigue, we should welcome the fact th...

My Lords, there was a very interesting quotation in the Times this morning. On the leader page, t...

My Lords, this is my first appearance on matters European since the Article 50 notice was trigger...

My Lords, we are all well aware that, for the last three years, the country and Parliament have w...

My Lords, three days after the referendum I wrote an article in the Mail on Sunday saying, “The f...

My Lords, I want to begin by commenting on two of the speeches made earlier on by the noble Lords...

I am most grateful to the noble Lord and very much appreciate his kind personal words. If he woul...

I must apologise to the noble Lord for adding words that he did not pronounce. I got the distinct...

I very much agree with the noble Lord about the damage that recessions cause. Does he have any re...

I am so glad that I am once again in thorough agreement with my noble and long-standing friend. O...

My Lords, while there has been grace because of interventions, I remind the House that the adviso...

I think that is the cue for me to stand up. As an ex-Chief of Defence and a relative newcomer to ...

My Lords, it is a pleasure to join in at this stage in the debate and recognise the contribution ...

It is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord King. We are here to take note of the UK’s withdr...

My Lords, I followed many of the speeches in this debate with interest, and I am delighted to fol...

My Lords, I have a very tenuous connection to justify taking your time at this late hour of a lon...

My Lords, yesterday in this Chamber, as reported in Hansard, in answer to the noble Lord, Lord Wi...

My Lords, so after three and a quarter years, here we are again discussing Brexit. Actually, ther...

There are only four on your Benches.

There are only three Liberal Democrats here to listen to me. These people have avoided listening ...

The noble Lord says that it is an important measure, but he seems to be critical of what the Hous...

As I was saying, it is a very important measure but, as the noble Baroness knows, the Second Read...

Oh!

I hear the Liberal Democrats laughing. I hope that they are going to pursue their policy even fur...

My Lords, I would like to get back to basics because next week I have a birthday: a birthday that...

My Lords, the Prime Minister is right: we need to get Brexit done. The longer the delay, the more...

No.

Exactly. Brexit delayed is Brexit denied. Yet, with the latest deadline looming, Members of this ...

Would the noble Baroness agree that it is in fact like trying to play the finals while threatenin...

I could not agree with that because, if the Prime Minister is to be able to negotiate, he needs t...

My Lords, for once we have a debate that is timely, following as it does so quickly in the wake o...

My Lords, it is always a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Wigley, although I regret that w...

My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Viscount, Lord Trenchard, because he has tellingly spel...

My Lords, I am glad to have listened to the noble Lord, Lord Judd, and I thought for one brief mo...

What is the noble Lord implying? He should not just put a question mark up. The clue as to why th...

Because I do not know what went on in the previous discussions of the Supreme Court; I was not th...

Perhaps I could help the noble Lord. The Supreme Court judges said they were all of the opinion t...

The noble and learned Lord, Lord Goldsmith, is putting words in my mouth. I did not say anything ...

Will the noble Lord give way?

No. I have given way to so many people, and we are always being told that we cannot go beyond six...

My Lords—

No, I am not going to give way any more. I have given way endless times, and it does not seem to ...

My Lords, I declare, as always, my European interests as detailed in the register. This is the fi...

My Lords, we are now in the endgame of Brexit: less than four weeks to go, a choice between crash...

My Lords, my noble friend Lord Whitty confessed that he is going to weep on 31 October if we leav...

My Lords, once again this has been an extremely wide-ranging debate and it has given us the oppor...

Can the noble Lord explain what would happen if I, as a consumer, buy something and then travel t...

We will discuss many of these proposals in detail tomorrow.

My Lords, I thank the Minister for giving way. I have now had the opportunity to look at the docu...

Of course it will require the co-operation of the Irish Government. We want to discuss with them ...

Since the Leader of the House is here, we repeat strongly the request to have sufficient time for...

The Chief Whip is not here, but the Leader of the House has heard the noble Lord’s comments. I am...

I thank the Minister for giving way. Is not the document presented to the Commission today thorou...

The situation is changing; that is why we need to agree new arrangements. We are leaving the Euro...

It was the sovereignty Act.

That is the political game as we all attach different names to it. The noble and learned Lord, Lo...

Let me pick up this point. He said that of course we will obey the law. If the House of Commons h...

I am not going to get into providing interpretations of an Act that was not government legislatio...

The fact is it is an Act of Parliament. I have a Question on the Order Paper tomorrow. Can my nob...

My noble friend knows what the Government will do in the circumstances. We will obey the law, and...

Some reference was made to it being a Private Member’s Bill. Some of us will remember Sydney Silv...

We will obey the law, as I have said on a number of occasions. The Benn Act is the law; we will o...

I just ask a simple question. In those circumstances, will the Government write a letter seeking ...

The Government will obey the law.

Oh!

I am not going to take any more interventions on this. I do not wish to go any further. Noble Lor...

The Minister just suggested that current legislation would not have an impact on the United Kingd...

If there are significant matters—of course we are still currently a member of the EU—then we are ...

I put on the record that the Minister is not quite right. More people voted in the 1992 general e...

I will check the figures; I am not sure that the noble Baroness is correct on that.

I have ...

Before the Minister sits down, may I thank him for the clarification he has given? He has not sim...

I am afraid that this is becoming a bit tiresome. I do not want to go any further than what I sai...

Before my noble friend sits down, I think I made a speech earlier on. I just wonder whether he ha...

There were 51 noble Lords who spoke in the debate. I made an extensive set of notes and endeavour...