"My Lords, we have had two very interesting contributions—I am tempted to call them Second Reading speeches, but perhaps that is unkind or does not fully take into account where the argument has reached. They have been an overall look at where we are. We should remember, first, that the …..." Viscount Eccles - View Speech
"You could run Royal Mail on the basis of the universal service only. That is to say, if you were being properly paid by whoever was using it, you could outsource—I use that word advisedly—every form of sorting except probably the very final sort where you sequence the delivery. You …..." Viscount Eccles - View Speech
"My Lords, I shall be brief. I await with interest the remarks of other Members of the House on this group of amendments. My amendment seeks to leave out the words “as a minimum” as they refer to the universal postal service. I put down the amendment to see whether …..." Viscount Eccles - View Speech
"My Lords, I am very grateful to all those who have taken part in the debate on this group of amendments. I think particularly of the three amendments spoken to by the noble Viscount, Lord Tenby, and the noble Lord, Lord Laming. Their comments have shown very clearly how important …..." Viscount Eccles - View Speech
"Very briefly, I recall that 55 years ago, I used to be responsible for making 5 foot 8 inch diameter tunnel sections for the GPO tunnel system. The firm was called Head Wrightson, and it made many tonnes of the segments that made up the tunnel. There is no question …..." Viscount Eccles - View Speech
"My noble friend has referred extensively to Schedule 9 covering the transitional arrangements, to which the amendment moved by my noble friend Lady Wheatcroft also refers. Those arrangements are very necessary because it has been agreed by Postcomm itself that its present regulatory system is dysfunctional, although to be correct, …..." Viscount Eccles - View Speech
"I intended no criticism of the individuals in Postcomm. We need to remember that regulators have only a limited amount of independence. We are inclined to talk as though they had a rather larger amount of independence than they actually have. When I look at the 2000 Act and think …..." Viscount Eccles - View Speech
"My Lords, I thank my noble friend very much for an extremely clear exposition. We started the group with an extremely clear and well expressed amendment from the noble Baroness, Lady Drake. I want to ask a question that perhaps cannot be answered this morning: namely, what information has been …..." Viscount Eccles - View Speech