Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Bill

My Lords, I have signed once more on Report this amendment, along with the noble and learned Lord...

My Lords, I mentioned in Committee and I mention again to the House now that I have always been a...

My Lords, I apologise that I was not present during the Committee stage. The noble and learned Lo...

Would the noble Lord acknowledge, as my noble friend has proved, that, in the circumstances about...

The noble Baroness and her friends cannot possibly give an assurance that a circumstance will not...

The noble Lord seems to be missing the fundamental fact that the problems to which he referred to...

With respect to the noble Lord—he knows I have great respect for him—I do not think that he was l...

I am listening to the noble Lord with care and I think that there is a fundamental flaw in his ar...

The answer to the noble Baroness is this: if legislation is put before the House of Commons and i...

But why should a Prime Minister who cannot get a majority of the House of Commons for an election...

Because our Government need decision. If you have a situation in which you have paralysis in the ...

We are talking about a resolution of the House of Commons. Can he give any circumstance —we are n...

The noble Lord talks about a resolution, but what he previously said was that the courts could no...

My Lords, I rise briefly to support my noble friend’s amendment, but with reservations. My reserv...

My Lords, the removal of Clause 3 would be the second-best option. The noble Lord, Lord Butler, k...

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Howard, raised a concern that there might be a Prime Minister who ...

My Lords, the House does not need or want a history lesson, but over hundreds of years power has ...

My Lords, I oppose this amendment. How beguilingly it is put. What could be more tempting than si...

My Lords, I am not quite sure I know how to follow that last remark. I have put my name to this a...

My Lords, I apologise that I was not present during Committee.

When I was a student, a youn...

My Lords, first, I apologise that I was not able to speak in Committee. I did, however, read the ...

My Lords, I apologise for not having attended previous debate on the Bill, but I want to make jus...

What I want is a system where, if the Prime Minister wishes to call a general election, that elec...

Out of courtesy to the noble Lord, I will check the record, but my distinct recollection was that...

My Lords, this is the third time in your Lordships’ House that we have had a debate focused on th...

My Lords, the request for a dissolution is perhaps the ultimate act of humility by an Executive. ...

I am sure the Minister is aware that the House of Commons spent less than two hours in Committee,...

My Lords, your Lordships are required to deal with the Bills that are sent to us by the other pla...

Can the Minister give one example of a spokesman from this side saying that we wish to retain the...

I fear I must say to the noble Lord, who I greatly respect and admire, that I simply stated a fea...

If the Minister is going to give us a history lesson on how people have acted and voted, could he...

My Lords, I promised I would look up my personal record on that Bill. I have not done so, but I w...

I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. He is talking about the use of executive powers. Is...

My Lords, I do not think it is an either/or question. If I may use a phrase that was once popular...

Oh!

It is the launching of a ship of uncertainty in which many questions are unanswered.

I find the noble Lord’s comments quite offensive. He is suggesting that it is inappropriate for y...

My Lords, I reject those remarks—in a friendly manner, of course. I do not think it is in any way...

My Lords, we have probably talked too long already, but I find it wonderful to think that my argu...

Does the noble and learned Lord set at naught the recommendation of the Joint Committee of your L...

There was a majority in favour of the proposition that the noble Lord the Minister has put forwar...

Moved by

Lord Norton of Louth

2: Clause 3, page 1, line 17, leave out “or purported e...

My Lords, on the assumption that the Government invite the Commons to disagree with the amendment...

My Lords, I will speak to my Amendment 5, to exclude Clause 3 entirely from the Bill, which has b...

My Lords, I supported these amendments in Committee and I should like to do so again today. I can...

My Lords, I respectfully agree with much of what the noble and learned Lord said about the drafti...

My Lords, this is a new threat. We have heard of the threat of an election being called to the de...

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Butler, is right to pursue his amendment because it seems quite po...

My Lords, I suppose I should declare a professional interest in the possibility of Miller 3.

I am sorry to interrupt the noble Lord in the middle of his flow, but I think his point was that ...

No, because my point is that hopeless or frivolous applications will be dealt with speedily by th...

My Lords, I too attempted to darn this Bill in Committee and, indeed, spoke at Second Reading, an...

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Butler of Brockwell, was kind enough to quote me from when I spoke...

My Lords, as a layman and an unashamed politician, I want to make a couple of layman’s/politician...

My Lords, I must also apologise for not being here in Committee, although I have followed your Lo...

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Grocott, asks whether the sun has risen. Yes, it is still up there...

My Lords, very briefly, I would like to respectfully adopt the arguments of the noble and learned...

Does the noble Lord allow for the possibility that the reason why there was no precedent prior to...

The use of the word “abuse” is somewhat tendentious. As I was saying on the question of the rule ...

My Lords, I will start where I started in the previous debate, with the parliamentary TARDIS: the...

My Lords, I thank noble Lords again for an interesting debate and their many contributions. Like ...

I understand everything that the noble Lord has said, but is there not a contradiction there? One...

Once the general election genie is out of the bottle, it should stay out of the bottle. The decis...

My Lords, I am grateful to all those who have spoken. This has been a very valuable debate which ...

Moved by

Lord Butler of Brockwell

5: Clause 3, leave out Clause 3

My Lords, I too am very grateful to those who have taken part in this debate.

This for me i...

Moved by

Lord Wallace of Saltaire

6: Clause 6, page 2, line 13, leave out subsection ...

My Lords, I tabled this amendment last week and received a letter on Monday evening from the Mini...

My Lords, I remind the Minister that there was a Constitution Committee report on the Cabinet Man...

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, for his thoughts on the Cabinet Manual. It is imp...

I thank the Minister for repeating that statement. I stress that the revision of the manual shoul...