"It has been said that the Americans are against the necessary revision of the 1966 exchange of letters. That is not my understanding. I would be grateful if the Minister could confirm that the text of the revised exchange of letters has been agreed by officials from the Foreign Office, …..." Lord Kerr of Kinlochard - View Speech
"It is daunting to follow two such experts on the subject. I cannot match their eloquence, but, like them, I feel strongly that these rule changes are wrong. Some of them, we have to admit, we were warned of in the White Paper, which we discussed on 17 November. Even …..." Lord Kerr of Kinlochard - View Speech
"Four years ago, the Government chose not to act on Alexander Downer’s recommendation to then Home Secretary Patel that responsibility for search and rescue in the channel pass from Border Force and the Home Office to the coastguard and the Department for Transport. The Cranston report now recommends that that …..." Lord Kerr of Kinlochard - View Speech
"I was making the point that the European Parliament has the right to vote on the outcome of any treaty negotiation, of course: treaties require its positive consent. Its debates informed ours. My point is not just that there is an accountability gap relative to the European Parliament, but that …..." Lord Kerr of Kinlochard - View Speech
"My Lords, I need to respond to the rather surprising compliment from the noble Lord, Lord Lilley. I can do so because I agree with a number of things that he said, in particular on the case for parliamentary scrutiny during negotiation and before a deal is struck. I am …..." Lord Kerr of Kinlochard - View Speech
"I shall save my panegyric on the noble and learned Lord, Lord Goldsmith, for 16 March. I had prepared several pages of panegyric, but he throttled me by reminding me that he has yet one more report prepared under his supervision to present to us.
"It is an excellent report and very well presented, but I wonder why the negotiation has to be so transactional, so timid and so slow. What could be done to speed it up? I suspect that one of the reasons is that the Commission negotiators are the same guys who …..." Lord Kerr of Kinlochard - View Speech
"I did not agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, about Just Stop Oil blocking motorways and I do not agree with her now about animal testing, which must be carefully controlled but is still essential, but I come to the same conclusion as she does for the constitutional reason …..." Lord Kerr of Kinlochard - View Speech
"I thank the noble Lord, but I think I will stick to my line of argument. I do not think we discussed laboratories. Hansard shows that we did not.
It is important to remember that the demonstrator outside the factory or laboratory is already covered by the Act because he …..." Lord Kerr of Kinlochard - View Speech