"My Lords, I am rather heartened by the exchanges we have had in the past few minutes. I sat through the whole of the Second Reading debate. I did not take part because it seemed that everyone would say everything that needed to be said—a great many times over. Strangely …..." Lord Higgins - View Speech
"I will give way to my noble friend at Question Time next time.
The fact is that we cannot have the matter left in the dark. My noble friend the proposer of the Bill is clear that it is intended to be a consultative referendum. That being so, I think …..." Lord Higgins - View Speech
"My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Kakkar, has raised—entirely appropriately, given the breadth of the Motion before us—a number of extremely important issues. One must hope that in reply the Minister can give him answers to the very specific three points that he has rightly made.
"I am sorry to interrupt my noble friend. We have recently had a great many debates on referendums and, for the first time ever, we have created a precedent whereby a referendum—that in relation to the AV Bill—will be mandatory. All previous referendums have been advisory, rather than mandatory. We …..." Lord Higgins - View Speech