"My Lords, I met Leonardo’s chair and CEO today. He told me that, as the Minister may know, Yeovil accounts for 3,300 direct jobs and an annual input into the local economy of £320 million. As the Minister also knows, that is our only sovereign capability for full helicopter construction …..." Lord Fox - View Speech
"My Lords, further to the question from the Cross Benches, does the Minister accept that some family farms, frightened as they were by the original plan, have taken irrevocable actions in terms of assets and how they run their businesses? Does the Treasury accept any responsibility for scaring those people …..." Lord Fox - View Speech
"The Minister has already said that this new body will involve existing bodies, many pointing in opposite directions in their reporting. The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority points to the Home Office, the Director of Labour Market Enforcement points elsewhere, and there will be bits of Treasury in there. This …..." Lord Fox - View Speech
"My Lords, this time last week I said that much had happened in the preceding interval. Today, the opposite is true. We are now down to one issue, but the arguments on that issue remain as they were last week. For that reason, unlike last week, this speech will be …..." Lord Fox - View Speech
"My Lords, similarly to the Minister, I beg the House’s indulgence because, if this speech is longer than a speech would normally be for round three of ping-pong, it is because, as she pointed out, there have been developments since we last debated the Bill.
"Leave out from “disagreement;” to end and insert “do disagree with the Commons in their Amendments 1E and 1F in lieu of Lords Amendment 1B; and do propose Amendments 1G and 1H in lieu of Commons Amendments 1E and 1F—..." Lord Fox - View Speech
"My Lords, there was a moment when I was engulfed in shame that I had misunderstood the difference between median and average. Fortunately, the noble Lord, Lord Hendy, distracted your Lordships quite quickly, so I have recovered.
Nobody in this House is pretending that this is perfect. We are at …..." Lord Fox - View Speech
"My Lords, where we are now is, I think, not where the Minister expected to be when the previous statutory instrument was introduced. So how did we get to this point? With great haste, and I would say possibly fuelled by intense pressure from beyond these shores, the Government tabled …..." Lord Fox - View Speech
"My Lords, in answer to my noble friend’s question, the Minister described a storage facility for high-level nuclear waste. He knows that this is not a sustainable solution to the long-term issue of disposal of nuclear materials. There has been a long-standing stymie on the future of storage of waste. …..." Lord Fox - View Speech
"My Lords, I am sure the Minister and I will agree that the best way of helping businesses of all sizes is for there to be growth—meaningful growth—over the period. Given the words of the OBR boss, Richard Hughes, this morning on the “Today” programme that none of the measures …..." Lord Fox - View Speech