Lords Bradshaw, Teverson and Berkeley, who together have a strong interest in railways and the South Wests’ economy today wrote to Transport minister Baroness Kramer urging her to instruct Network rail to undertake a major study with Government and business and local authorities to investigate alternative inland route(s) for the main and only railway line…
These are normally described by the newspapers as “political jollies” which actually could not be further from the truth. So I thought I would give a brief description of my trip to Egypt last weekend along with six colleagues. Since I joined the House of Lords three years ago many groups including development agencies, human…
Today, February 6th, is the internationally recognised day against female genital cutting (FGC). Today, fourteen communities, representing over 60,000 people, are declaring their abandonment of female genital cutting in Mali. Approximately 2.8 million women and girls have undergone FGC in Mali, around 85%. This makes the declaration an important milestone, not least because the Government…
On Tuesday, the House had a question for short debate (QSD) on the recent report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) on its survey of public attitudes towards standards in public life. The survey reflects a continuing lack of confidence in politicians, as distinct from institutions. The debate was initiated by the…
The EU referendum debate last Friday brought out an important point about leaving a union of which you are already a member. A similar argument applies to Scotland leaving the UK as well. Lord Shipley in a very well informed contribution made the point that leaving the EU could make the UK more, not less…
The Single Market in railways is an important part of why it is so essential for the UK to remain a full member of the European Union. It is not only that we have a good railway system in the UK which comes near the top of the European Commission’s regular survey of passenger opinion,…
I agree with Prince Charles’ view that climate change sceptics are the ‘headless chicken brigade’ but is it right that the heir to the throne expresses such strong views in public? He is now doing a joint venture with the Queen on Royal duties, but can one imagine HMQ ever making such public attacks on…
When I was an MP (nearly ten years ago now), my main line of communication to my constituents was via the very vibrant local Cornish press. I would issue a press release saying what I had done, with a quote from me, and a local journalist would then find a quote from someone else on…
Procedures in the Lords are different to those in the Commons, not least in term of the rules governing votes. For example, if an MP votes in both lobbies during a division, his or her name is shown in the division list as being in both lobbies. Voting in both lobbies has become a way for MPs to show that they…
