"My Lords, I rise to speak to two amendments in this group, 270 and 279, which are both under the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes. I support and have added my name to both of them. I will start with Amendment 270, which addresses Clause 91 and calls—quite …..." Lord Londesborough - View Speech
"My Lords, I address Amendment 287 on the creation of an office for a freelance commissioner in the name of my noble friends Lord Clancarty, Lord Freyberg and Lord Colville of Culross, who has managed to beat our limited motorway system but arrived just too late to speak, sadly.
"My Lords, perhaps I might offer some Cross-Bench objectivity. Here it comes. The 0.7% growth rate in Q1 was encouraging, but the growth rate over the last three quarters, which covers this Government’s tenure, is just 0.8%. That is less than in both the eurozone and the US. Does the …..." Lord Londesborough - View Speech
"My Lords, does the Minister accept that some of these business closures, particularly for SMEs—where payroll is their largest expense—were triggered not only by the scheduled increase in NICs but by the steep hikes in the national minimum wage? As the noble Lord pointed out, this was demonstrated by the …..." Lord Londesborough - View Speech
"My Lords, I rise to speak to Amendment 102 in the name of my noble friend Lady Wolf of Dulwich and pitched so perfectly by my other noble friend Lord Aberdare—I realise that that sounds as though I only have two friends in this House, which I hope is not …..." Lord Londesborough - View Speech
"My Lords, I will speak in particular to Amendments 83 to 85, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Young of Acton. Clause 20, on harassment by third parties, although well-intentioned, has triggered this batch of amendments, none of which is perfect. Most seek to damage limit the Bill or bring …..." Lord Londesborough - View Speech
"My Lords, a number of pension providers have warned that progress will be dependent on
“a steady supply of high-quality UK investment opportunities”.
That is a big pipeline challenge, because our record of financial returns on infrastructure projects is, as we know, suboptimal. Investing in fast-growing start-ups and scale-ups, whether …..." Lord Londesborough - View Speech
"My Lords, I give some credit to the Government for signing a damage-limitation deal with the US, for that is what it is, but this five-page agreement does not actually constitute a legally binding document. Can the Minister confirm that, currently, it can be terminated at will by either side? …..." Lord Londesborough - View Speech
"My Lords, I will speak to Amendment 63. I agree that the impact of Clauses 1 to 8 will be especially felt by these three sectors: hospitality, retail and social care. But, to be frank, I would not stop there; I advocate expanding this impact assessment, not only to small …..." Lord Londesborough - View Speech
"My Lords, I will speak briefly to Amendment 19A in the names of the noble Lords, Lord Sharpe of Epsom and Lord Hunt of Wirral, and offer my support for Amendments 20 and 21.