"My Lords, I rise briefly to deal with Amendments 10, 12 and 14. I said when I spoke to Amendments 7 and 8 that they were paving amendments. In many ways they lead on to what the three amendments in this group now seek to deal with.
"Does the Minister think that the law is so adequate that these words are irrelevant or does she think that the words should not be incorporated in the Act at all?..." Lord Dear - View Speech
"My Lords, I am partly confused and certainly not in agreement with what I think I heard the Minister saying. I feel that we have already heard that the Equality Act has been shot through a number of times as being inadequate. A number of cases have been cited. Clearly, …..." Lord Dear - View Speech
"Of course, I defer to the noble Lord’s view on this but nevertheless we have heard of a number of cases in your Lordships’ House tonight where people have expressed a view and been sued for it. I do not in that sense move away altogether from the point I …..." Lord Dear - View Speech
"If I may respond, that situation is really an exercise of emotion rather than fact. The likelihood of a registrar suddenly seeing a gay couple in front of them and turning on his or her heel and walking away is so fanciful as to be almost ludicrous. I would expect …..." Lord Dear - View Speech
"With the greatest respect, we are trying to get to the facts in all these debates. If I may say so, the noble Baroness is painting a picture that is so unlikely to happen as to be almost irrelevant...." Lord Dear - View Speech