"My Lords, will the Minister comment on the reports in today’s press that the Chancellor is expected to raise taxes on the oil industry at a time when consumers are not really seeing a reduction in price at the petrol pumps? Will he disabuse us of that idea?..." Lord Hughes of Woodside - View Speech
"Would my noble friend remind the House that the Bill was passed by the elected House of Commons in the first place?..." Lord Hughes of Woodside - View Speech
"My Lords, I wish to follow my noble friend on the point about how we are going to have discussions with the Scottish Government or the Scottish Executive. The trouble is that there are no circumstances whatever in which Alex Salmond and the SNP will sit down to discuss anything …..." Lord Hughes of Woodside - View Speech
"I absolutely agree and, although I do not know whether it is intentional, I think that Alex Salmond has deliberately set out to attack the English and blame them for everything. I guess that I will probably not be around if there is ever Scottish independence to see how the …..." Lord Hughes of Woodside - View Speech
"My Lords, I wonder if I might as a brief introduction point out that, as some Members of your Lordships’ House may recall, in the 1970s when we were debating the setting up of a Scottish Assembly, and indeed later, I was not exactly an enthusiast for devolution. In fact, …..." Lord Hughes of Woodside - View Speech
"I thank the Leader of the House. He speaks about urgency in choosing 5 May of this year. That might have been reasonable in previous times, when an election could be called at any time by the Prime Minister. However, the Prime Minister has said that there will be no …..." Lord Hughes of Woodside - View Speech
"I know the noble Lord’s constituency well. However, in my own case in the city of Aberdeen, we had many major changes. We went from two MPs in a purely city constituency, two MPs with a vast rural hinterland, to three MPs and back to two MPs. If you go …..." Lord Hughes of Woodside - View Speech