"My Lords, this is not just about the ambulance service; it is about a culture that is endemic throughout the NHS. I have spent most of my life dealing with the aviation industry, which learned decades ago that if you cover things up, whether deliberately or not, you will never …..." Baroness Foster of Oxton - View Speech
"My Lords, many decisions taken during this pandemic led to unintended consequences across the board. Apart from the devastating economic impact on business and industry, the children of the United Kingdom were most badly affected. Mental health problems escalated, particularly due to lockdowns. I hope that I never live to …..." Baroness Foster of Oxton - View Speech
"My Lords, I saw a notice recently outside a restaurant. It read: “If you’d like to know how it feels to be in the hospitality sector during this Covid pandemic, just remember the ‘Titanic’ when it was sinking and the band played on.” Well, we are the band. Here we …..." Baroness Foster of Oxton - View Speech
"My Lords, I will begin by reflecting on how we arrived at this point today: a gentle reminder of the course of this pandemic might be useful. In September 2019, four months before the rest of the world was alerted to Covid-19, the Chinese authorities were temperature-testing passengers at Wuhan …..." Baroness Foster of Oxton - View Speech
"May I just make a point? My noble friend obviously spent a lot of time on certain aspects of this debate, but he tended to skip a little bit past the issue of whether plan B would be introduced. My question is—because I think it is very key—what exactly the …..." Baroness Foster of Oxton - View Speech
"My Lords, on my election to the European Parliament more than 20 years ago, it became clear early on that the Commission—or the Executive—wielded great power. There were no business impact assessments, despite our enacting primary legislation. The Commission was not keen to change the status quo, but some of …..." Baroness Foster of Oxton - View Speech
"My Lords, I will move on to another point. At the end of May, Portugal was deemed safe to host the Champions League final; five days later, it was not, despite 100,000 tests by the authorities with only six positives. This caused tens of thousands of people and businesses horrendous …..." Baroness Foster of Oxton - View Speech