"My Lords, over the past 27 years, the Parliaments of Scotland and Wales have functioned well after elections in which no party has had a single majority, but in similar circumstances at Westminster, there could be absolute chaos in terms of deciding who is invited to Buckingham Palace and when. …..." Lord Rennard - View Speech
"My Lords, immediately prior to the last general election, the then government party decided to increase the maximum expenditure by political parties standing in every seat in Great Britain by 80%, increasing the amount of money that could be spent from around £20 million to £36 million. It did not …..." Lord Rennard - View Speech
"My Lords, I am mindful of the irony of raising issues of democracy in what is now an entirely appointed Chamber. My expectation when I entered the House in 1999 was that there would soon be elections to this place, and I never thought that it would take 29 years …..." Lord Rennard - View Speech
"My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Lansley, who deserves much personal credit for his work on these issues. The noble Lord, Lord Forbes of Newcastle, and I are on the same side on these issues. I will speak in support of Amendment 202, because …..." Lord Rennard - View Speech
"My Lords, with respect, I am not part of any extreme fringe, and the views I have enunciated are shared almost entirely by the medical profession in this country. For decades, the tobacco companies had evidence that tobacco was linked to lung cancer, yet they kept denying until it was …..." Lord Rennard - View Speech
"My Lords, I oppose Amendment 1 and the associated amendments tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Murray of Blidworth, because I believe wholeheartedly that a country free from the harms of tobacco would transform the public health of this nation and prevent huge amounts of human suffering. We heard from …..." Lord Rennard - View Speech
"My Lords, I hear some responses from the Benches next to me who disagree with this. I hope, however, that they will consider carefully the arguments that I am making, and those that come from the Minister shortly...." Lord Rennard - View Speech
"My Lords, my Amendments 129 and 133 would place a duty on the Government to consult on whether health warnings should appear not just on cigarette packets or the inserts within them but on every single cigarette, by printing the warnings on the paper enclosing the dangerous tobacco. In Grand …..." Lord Rennard - View Speech
"I shall pass on your Lordships’ best wishes to her. Last year, she was taken ill and the ambulance took her to a Liverpool hospital in the early afternoon, but, after some tests, no bed could be found for her. She spent the rest of the day and all of …..." Lord Rennard - View Speech