"My Lords, I greatly look forward to the Minister’s reply. I just want to say one sentence. The very first thing I had to do when I came to the Bar in 1964 was to act in relation to the Industrial Training Act 1964, which, as I recall, imposed a …..." Lord Lester of Herne Hill - View Speech
"My Lords, I am glad that I put my name to these amendments. I add my support to the Minister for the wisdom of the amendments. It is an open-ended consultation that is not prejudged, it is time-limited so there will not be undue delay, and if there are changes …..." Lord Lester of Herne Hill - View Speech
"My Lords, I too have put my name to this amendment. After two such full speeches by the noble Lord, Lord Alli, and the noble Baroness, Lady Howe of Idlicote, it would be a waste of your Lordships’ time for me to say anything more than that I agree with …..." Lord Lester of Herne Hill - View Speech
"I may be wrong but is it not the case that there was retrospectivity to give effect to the EU principle of equal pay for equal work?..." Lord Lester of Herne Hill - View Speech
"My Lords, some of the amendments moved in the course of our debates have been eccentric. However, respectfully, I should say that Amendment 85 is among the most eccentric, not least because of its very distinguished authors—a former Cabinet Secretary, a Lord Chancellor and my noble friend Lady Williams of …..." Lord Lester of Herne Hill - View Speech
"My Lords, I just wish to add that the process here has been admirable. Had we simply stuck with forcing through an amendment to do the trick, it would not have held in the other place. There would have been ping pong and no public consultation. Including sexual orientation discrimination …..." Lord Lester of Herne Hill - View Speech
"My Lords, like the noble Baronesses, Lady O’Loan and Lady Berridge, I am a member of the Joint Committee on Human Rights. Unlike them, I took the view, and take the view today, that the Bill is perfectly clear, even clearer with Amendments 9 and 10 for anyone who doubted …..." Lord Lester of Herne Hill - View Speech
"My Lords, in my judgment this amendment suffers from the following problems among others. First, it imposes completely unnecessary burdens on employers; secondly, the burdens it imposes are unworkable; and, thirdly, it is discriminatory. ..." Lord Lester of Herne Hill - View Speech
"The Equality Act 2010 is the best civil rights legislation in the world and is vastly superior to United States civil rights legislation...." Lord Lester of Herne Hill - View Speech
"My Lords, I shall not detain the Committee by repeating what I said nine years ago when we debated this issue, and the controversy between those who focused on sexual relations and those who focused on tax and inheritance tax.