In the Lords we get to grips with the detail of legislation and improve it; we take part in debates on a whole range of issues, and we question and hold government ministers to account.
For up to date information about the work of the Lib Dem group in the Lords, follow us on Twitter: @LibDemLords
Monday 1st March
William Wallace asked a question about the UK’s relationship with the new American administration. He argued that sovereign equality is needed for the UK to take its proper place on the world stage having lost the advantages that EU membership brought us, and therefore the Government needs to urgently reconsider some of the unequal aspects of our relationship with the USA, such as the use of US bases in the UK and extradition arrangements.
The PM says sovereign equality is needed to become Global Britain.
— Lib Dem Lords (@LibDemLords) March 1, 2021
Lord Wallace asks if that means the Government will reconsider some of the structurally unequal aspects of the US-UK relationship such as #US bases in Britain or arrangements on extraditions?
The litany of cronyism and mistakes from the Government seems to grow each day. During a statement on the pandemic, Paul Scriven listed some of the problems that have come to light.
- A pest-control firm was given a £59m contract- 25 million masks couldn’t be used
— Lib Dem Lords (@LibDemLords) March 1, 2021
- A Mauritius hedge fund was given £252m contract - masks couldn’t be used
- A £70m contract was given to a Florida-based jeweller, #PPE couldn’t be used #COVID19 @Paulscriven
He called for a judge-led public inquiry into the handling of some PPE procurement.
A list of PPE multi million pound contract disasters and note the Minister wouldn't commit to judge led public inquiry... I wonder why 🤔 pic.twitter.com/5SqKf8ygbx
— Paul Scriven🔶️ (@Paulscriven) March 1, 2021
Kate Parminter does a huge amount of important work in promoting awareness of eating disorders and getting better care and support for those who suffer from them. The House of Lords library is an ally during what was Eating Disorder Awareness Week.
Thanks to the fantastic staff in the House of Lords Library for producing this article to mark Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2021 https://t.co/Votvijrj9j
— Kate Parminter (@kateparminter) March 1, 2021
Tuesday 2nd March
Chris Humphreys asked the government about the growing economy on Ynys Mon (or Anglesey to non-Welsh speakers!) and she pushed the Government to encourage a major new energy scheme there, including options for tidal power with both barrages and free-standing turbines.
During a question on the financial settlement for TfL, Sarah Ludford pushed the Government to publish a report into TfL’s finances which they are so far refusing to do.
The Government commissioned a report into #TfL’s finances last June, this was to “understand TfL’s needs”.
— Lib Dem Lords (@LibDemLords) March 2, 2021
The Government are now refusing to publish the report despite requests from #businesses, this report must be published says Baroness @SarahLudford
There was an Urgent Question on how the pandemic has disproportionately affected ethnic minority communities. Meral Hussein-Ece urged the Government to publish proper assessments of how the pandemic has impacted different people and showed that higher susceptibility to COVID, social inequality and racism has meant that the last year has been much worse for people from ethnic minorities.
Increased levels of #COVID19 are affecting South Asian communities, particularly Pakistani and Bangladeshi. Baroness @meralhece asks what action is being taken to address this.
— Lib Dem Lords (@LibDemLords) March 2, 2021
During a statement on homelessness, Olly Grender laid bare the lack of social housing built during the last year and called again for the Government to do more to provide targeted access to secure accommodation.
Rough sleeping statement: Social housing built last year was only 5,716- this was below @Shelter’s target and the National Housing Federation’s goal of 145,000 social homes a year, says Baroness @OllyGrender. @natfednews
— Lib Dem Lords (@LibDemLords) March 2, 2021
And Dick Newby joined many other Lib Dem parliamentarians in challenging the Government to do more to stop investment flowing to China.
As #China imprisons more advocates for democracy in #HK, there is silence from our Govt. They should be pressing UK companies to stop investing there. #Uyghurlivesmatter #HongKongProtests
— Dick Newby (@RichardNewby3) March 2, 2021
Wednesday 3rd March
Today we marked an important day –
Happy 33rd birthday to us then! 🎉🎈 🥳 https://t.co/gHNIEerAv6
— Lib Dem Lords (@LibDemLords) March 3, 2021
Today Lib Dems had three of the four Oral Questions.
Sarah Ludford asked about the programme and timetable for refugee resettlements in the UK. Under the UK Resettlement Scheme, only 800 people were resettled in 2020 compared to more than 5,500 in 2019, and she pushed the Government to commit to 5000 resettlements during 2021 and a 10-year commitment to resettle vulnerable refugees from Syria and other conflict areas.
Mike German asked about the new funding in Wales that is replacing money previously provided by the EU. He urged the Government to aim to administer as much of the money as possible by the Welsh Government in Cardiff, rather than the UK Government in London, and wanted reassurance that the funds will not cut across devolved areas of competence without the approval of the Welsh Government – our break from the EU must not mean that devolution to the nations is watered down!
And Brian Paddick asked about police stop and search powers, drawing attention to a new report that not only doubts the efficacy of stop and search in reducing serious crime, but also highlights the impact it has in reducing trust in and reducing the legitimacy o, the police. Much more needs to be done to help community policing thrive again, he says.
The main item of business in the Chamber was Report Stage of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill (the voting stage) – led for us by Jonathan Marks, Brian Paddick and Sally Hamwee.
Happy 33rd birthday to us then! 🎉🎈 🥳 https://t.co/gHNIEerAv6
— Lib Dem Lords (@LibDemLords) March 3, 2021
We voted on Lib Dem amendments that would stop 24/7 curfews for people without convictions and to stop the use of polygraph tests on people who are not convicted of anything.
Unfortunately Labour chose to abstain on these important issues and we didn’t win.
We did defeat the Government on an important cross-party effort to ensure that Terrorism Preventions and Investigation Measures are not used inappropriately.
The Lords voted 316 to 267 for an amendment to stop the Government from being able to extend Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (TPIMs) indefinitely. TPIMs should be temporary measures - Lib Dem Peers supported the addition of the time-limit in this amendment.
— Lib Dem Lords (@LibDemLords) March 3, 2021
The issue will now return to the Commons and we wait to see what the Government’s response will be.
Thursday 4th March
During a statement on the COVID pandemic, and in response to a question from Sal Brinton, the health minister confirmed that barcodes would now be put on all COVID tests so that a test is traceable.
Astonished health minister @JimBethell responds to my question that only *now* is our test & trace system going to add barcodes to tests sent out (so that they can be tracked). Surely this is a fundamental flaw from the start despite £22bn being spent on the system. Unbelievable
— SalBrinton (@SalBrinton) March 4, 2021
In answer to my @LibDemLords colleague @SalBrinton the Minister says they will now put barcodes on all Covid tests so a test can be traced back to an individual.Goodness £22BN spent on test and trace and such a basic issue not in place. No wonder we have such a high death rate
— Paul Scriven🔶️ (@Paulscriven) March 4, 2021
Shas Sheehan pushed the Government on effective engagement with the COVID-19 Technology Access Pool, which helps reliable supplies of the vaccine to get to poorer parts of the globe, and Matthew Taylor urged them to use the G7 Presidency this year to coordinate a global action plan that is more ambitious than what we have already seen from developed nations. </p
The final stages of the Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill went through the Lords with a Government concession in response to a Lib Dem amendment about broadband access at an earlier stage of the bill – a good victory!
The Govt. has brought an amendment to the Telecomms Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill in response to Lib Dem amendment passed at Report to clarify that tenants will be able to get access to fast broadband, even when their landlord had refused to grant access. A great win!
— Lib Dem Lords (@LibDemLords) March 4, 2021
And David Chidgey led a short debate on the promotion of anti-slavery projects throughout the Commonwealth. He said that slavery is not a relic of history and remains embedded in cultures and communities around the world. He talked about the actions the Commonwealth are taking to end modern slavery and urged the Government to work with Commonwealth Governments across the globe to further these actions.
NEXT WEEK AND BEYOND…
The Domestic Abuse Bill will have two days of Report Stage (meaning votes) and Robin Teverson will ask about prohibiting gas-flaring on off-shore gas rigs. International Women’s Day will be marked with a debate on empowering women during the COVID-19 recovery, and the state of the economy will be debated in light of the Budget Statement.
And Kath Pinnock reminds us of an important date for the following week…
#EndOurCladdingScandal put March 17 in your diaries. That’s the date for the Lords response to the Commons rejection of the @LibDemLords amendment to prevent leaseholders being expected to pay the costs of building failures.
— Kath Pinnock 🔶💙 (@KathPinnock) March 3, 2021