Pittsburgh: Synagogue Attack
Baroness Tonge Excerpts(5 years, 6 months ago)
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Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
My Lords, the whole House will have great sympathy with the words my noble friend has just uttered. However, I repeat the point that the Chief Rabbi’s office has felt—correctly, I believe—that there has been outstanding support from all communities in Britain with regard to what has happened in Pittsburgh. That is not to say there is not an issue to be addressed, but the action that the Government have taken, which is supported so clearly in the House of Lords, will help us to combat the dreadful evil of anti-Semitism.
Anti-Semitism
Baroness Tonge Excerpts(5 years, 10 months ago)
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Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
My Lords, the noble Lord is right that there is obviously an important balance to be struck between freedom of speech and the definition of anti-Semitism. It is important that people bear in mind the definition of anti-Semitism, but ultimately all freedom of speech is constrained in some way. Nobody can go into a theatre and yell “Fire!”—unless there is a fire, of course—so noble Lords would be well advised when exercising the right of free speech to be aware of the parameters within which it is exercised.
Baroness Tonge (Non-Afl)
Does the Minister realise that one of the problems is that Government of Israel now calls itself “the Jewish State of Israel”? Could he advise us whether we are being anti-Semitic when we criticise the actions of the Government of the Jewish State of Israel?
Business Rates: Devolution
Baroness Tonge Excerpts(7 years, 4 months ago)
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Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
My Lords, the noble Earl is right to refer to redistribution, which is fundamental to the system because we are able to identify it very easily. Quite separate from that but something that he will know we are looking at is the issue of fair funding. We are consulting local government on that with a view to ensuring that new formulas are in place by the end of the Parliament to take account of the very issues of social mobility to which the noble Earl referred and to which the Prime Minister is of course very committed.
Baroness Tonge (Non-Afl)
My Lords, on a related matter, when will the Government consider revising council tax bands, which no longer reflect the value of property, particularly in the south-east?