"My Lords, the last question identifies some of the key problems with road pricing. Mention was made of peak-time charging. That may be fine for civil servants and those living in London and the Home Counties, who have a high propensity to travel to work by rail, but the great …..." Lord Spellar - View Speech
"I thank my noble friend for that Answer and welcome him to his new role. He will know, from defence, how we have been producing small nuclear reactors for over half a century, and we were world leaders in nuclear energy. Fortunately, the Government have now made a decision on …..." Lord Spellar - View Speech
"To ask His Majesty’s Government, following the interim report of the Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce published on 11 August, what steps they are taking to improve the UK’s nuclear regulatory system...." Lord Spellar - View Speech
"My Lords, as a mere previous Minister of State for Transport, might I put it to the Minister that 75% extremely challenging, given the very compact nature of England and the relatively short journeys that are entailed compared with many of our competitors?..." Lord Spellar - View Speech
"The Minister’s response is very welcome. Although the agent of change principle was introduced—I played some part in that in my role in the other place—local councils still do not seem to be getting the message. Does she accept that the money in music these days is in venues and …..." Lord Spellar - View Speech
"My Lords, do the Government themselves not also have to place orders with British companies? Like me, does the Minister regret that the previous Administration gave the contract for the fleet solid support ships to a publicly supported, publicly owned foreign shipyard, to the detriment of work in the United …..." Lord Spellar - View Speech
"My Lords, the Minister has rightly outlined some of the concerns regarding the Chinese Communist regime and the way that it treats its nationals, let alone its international activities. However, international relations between states have never implied approval of those states, or indeed of their domestic regimes. They are about …..." Lord Spellar - View Speech
"My Lords, is there not also a deeper issue as to who is entitled to decide who sits—particularly in the elected House—to represent people? Fundamentally, should it not be for the criminal courts of this country and the electorate to decide both on the individual they are being asked to …..." Lord Spellar - View Speech
"My Lords, does the Minister accept that, unfortunately, we have a very inefficient jobs market and there are too many artificial barriers? For example, there are requirements for work experience that prevent science graduates entering industry. There is age discrimination and paper qualifications that are not relevant to the job. …..." Lord Spellar - View Speech
"My Lords, may I put it to my noble friend the Minister that there is also an underlying problem, which was also revealed during COVID, that too often the end-use manufacturers are highly dependent on a supply chain that is often in countries that are either unreliable or, indeed, even …..." Lord Spellar - View Speech