"My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, is to be congratulated on stimulating a very good debate. I agree with her fundamentally about freedom of speech and the shocking rise in antisemitism and intolerance in our universities, but I do not agree with the central thrust of her argument: that …..." Lord Liddle - View Speech
"My Lords, is it not clear that this is a welcome step forward, but that it cannot be the end of the story? We have to reaffirm our commitment to 3% by the end of this decade, and 3.5% by the middle of the next decade, as firm commitments of …..." Lord Liddle - View Speech
"My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Evans of Rainow, on securing this debate and on the largely non-partisan way in which he explained the problem.
I would love to see cross-party consensus on welfare reform, but if we are to get that, I totally agree with my noble …..." Lord Liddle - View Speech
"My Lords, I declare an interest in that my wife was a board member of the English National Ballet for many years. I want to follow up on the original Question. It is the case, as the Home Office would know if it bothered to consult the ballet companies, that …..." Lord Liddle - View Speech
"My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, whose brand of Conservative politics I have always personally admired. He raises very important questions about the steel industry. However, I will make just two points. First, I agree that there is a case for a …..." Lord Liddle - View Speech
"I will just say very briefly: what a load of hypocrisy from the other side of the House. I was a member of Cumbria County Council from 2013 onwards. In 2021, a Conservative Minister took a decision to ignore our wishes and create two unitary councils in Cumbria instead of …..." Lord Liddle - View Speech
"My Lords, I echo the tribute from the noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria, to the noble Lord, Lord St John of Bletso, and pay tribute to his wonderful public service to this House over many years.
This year, I had the great privilege of chairing a Select Committee for the first …..." Lord Liddle - View Speech
"My Lords, I join in the congratulations to the noble Lord, Lord Ricketts, on the excellent report he has produced, which is exactly what I would expect of a committee which he chaired. However, our debate today has shown the difficulties he had in producing a consensus, because there are …..." Lord Liddle - View Speech
"I am finishing—and it is an advisory speaking time.
On defence, we face huge challenges. The transatlantic alliance now hangs by a very insecure thread, in my view. We have to be much closer to our European allies and partners and we have to get closer to Europe. We need …..." Lord Liddle - View Speech
"My Lords, it is a great pleasure to welcome my new colleagues who are making their maiden speeches today—my noble friends Lady Gill and Lord Docherty, my good friend who is to come later, and my noble friend Lord Doyle, who is a very close friend and from whom we …..." Lord Liddle - View Speech