Diocesan Stipends Funds (Amendment) Measure
Debate between Lord Kennedy of Southwark and Lord Lexden
Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)
My Lords, I am not a member of the Church of England—I am actually a Catholic—but I have great respect for the Church of England and, of course, for all the right reverend Prelates who take part in the deliberations here. I am fascinated by the funding issue. I think this a really good Measure; I did not know anything about it until we heard from the right reverend Prelate. It is good to see that better-off parishes are funding less well-off parishes; I commend that very much. I would like to know a bit more about funding for the Catholic Church but I suspect that is for another debate. I am very happy to support the Measure and I thank the right reverend Prelate for moving it.
Lord Lexden (Con)
My Lords, if I may, I would like to ask just one question. Given that this is such an obviously good idea—that dioceses with money they can spare should be able to transfer it to dioceses where there is need—why has it taken the Church of England so long to get round to implementing it?
Flags (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Regulations 2021
Debate between Lord Kennedy of Southwark and Lord Lexden(2 years, 3 months ago)
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Lord Lexden (Con)
My Lords, I just want to ask a couple of questions.
The Explanatory Note includes the words:
“provide that the Union flag need not be flown on the designated days”
that
“relate to a member of the Royal Family who has died.”
Surely that should be “shall not”? It would be wholly inappropriate and insensitive to fly a flag for a member of the Royal Family who is not alive.
Could I ask which members of the Royal Family are entitled to have flags flown—the children of the monarch, or those in direct line of succession? It would be useful to know. Sadly, there are members of the Royal Family for whom flags may, or perhaps may not, be flown but whose careers, as may be inevitable from time to time, perhaps do not progress as satisfactorily as one would wish and who find themselves in difficult circumstances discrediting their name. Is there provision for the removal of such members of the Royal Family from the entitlement to have flags flown?
It is surprising that there is no existing provision making it mandatory to fly our nation’s flag on the accession of the monarch, but it is gratifying to know that the situation will be rectified. Like other Conservative and Unionist Members—and the noble Lord, Lord McCrea—who have spoken in this debate, what I like most is that the regulations provide that days and times when the flag has to be flown will be consistent with formal guidance issued in respect of United Kingdom Government buildings in the rest of the United Kingdom. It is entirely right that, throughout our country on designated days, in all parts of our country—all four portions of our United Kingdom—the same flag under which we all live should be flown. It is splendid and wonderful to think that there will be days when Cardiff, Edinburgh, London and Belfast will all be flying the emblem of our great nation.
An important day approaches, Accession Day on 6 February, marking the day in 1952 when our Queen ascended the Throne. I very much hope that that great day of 6 February will be marked in a way that is so right and appropriate, with the flag of our country flying in the four portions of our United Kingdom.
Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Caine, has outlined the purpose of the regulations before us today, and, like other noble Lords, I am content to approve the regulations. As we have heard, the union flag will be flown on designated days on government and other buildings, and I very much support the proposal that the flying of the union flag in Northern Ireland should be brought into line with that in the rest of the United Kingdom.
My noble friend Lady Ritchie of Downpatrick rightly set out that flags and emblems are a sensitive issue in Northern Ireland, and respect for difference is so important. I was born in London, as your Lordships can probably tell, and the union flag is the flag of the country I love; my parents were born in the Republic of Ireland, and that is the flag of my ancestors, and I very much love Ireland as well. So I think those things go together.
As the noble Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown, explained, sadly, these regulations are necessary since His Royal Highness passed away. I join with the noble Lord in his warm tribute to His Royal Highness Prince Philip on his work and public service throughout his life to our great country, and I join the noble Lord in his warm tribute to Her Majesty the Queen on the work that she has given to our nation. I join with the noble Lord, Lord Lexden, in looking forward to the day that we celebrate Her Majesty’s accession to the Throne, as that will be a great day for our nation.
I very much support the regulations and look forward to the Minister’s response.
Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 (Transitional Provisions) Order 2015
Debate between Lord Kennedy of Southwark and Lord Lexden(8 years, 6 months ago)
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Lord Kennedy of Southwark
All I can say to the noble and learned Lord is that the commission briefing says there is a benefit of accuracy but also, of course, a risk to completeness—which it ranks as of equal importance.
Lord Lexden (Con)
My Lords, I will strike a more positive note in relation to this order than noble Lords who spoke from the opposite side. This is an important order. It has a clear and explicit purpose: to complete the transition to a new system of electoral registration that is infinitely superior to the one it replaces.
The great majority of those registered electors carried over from the old system have now done what was required to make themselves a full and enduring part of the new arrangements. All those who have not done so have now been reminded at least nine times in one way or another of the need for action. Through the deadline that the Government set in July, as they were empowered to do under the 2013 Act, they have in effect issued a final call for action, one that was rather usefully publicised widely over the national media last weekend.
This deadline of 1 December has been strongly endorsed by a body referred to perhaps unduly dismissively by the noble Lord, Lord Tyler, namely the Association of Electoral Administrators, which represents the people who run our elections. A report it published in July concluded that,
“the end of IER transition should be December 2015 to provide certainty for the important elections in 2016 and the European Referendum whenever that is held”.
The organisation’s chief executive, Mr John Turner, added that,
“it is crucial to have the most accurate register possible and have confidence that everyone on the register is who they say they are”.
There are names of people on the existing electoral registers who would not heed any call for action or respond to any deadline, whether that was 1 December 2015, 1 December 2016 or 1 December 2026. This is because the names relate to people who do not exist. One of the great merits of this order is that it bears down on electoral fraud. Deep disquiet has existed for years in our country about electoral fraud and malpractice. It is unquantifiable, but recent well-publicised cases before the courts exhibited it in its full ugliness. Judges in some of these cases have expressed the gravest concern. The Conservative general election manifesto promised to ensure that,
“the Electoral Commission puts greater priority on tackling fraud”.
This order can perhaps be regarded as the first step in giving effect to that most welcome manifesto commitment.
No one will be robbed of the right to vote by this order. Anyone qualified to vote can register at any point, either before or after 1 December. One of the great benefits of the new system is that registration can be accomplished online in a matter of moments, as nearly half a million people found on registration deadline day before this year’s general election.