The Lords voted to keep food standards and protect family farms by amending the Agriculture Bill on Tuesday. The government managed to unite the National Farmers Union, consumer organisations, supermarkets and greens in lobbying for the Lords to defeat the government by 307/212. It was one of six government defeats in the Lords on what used to be considered rural, home turf for the Conservative Party. Continue reading “Victory on Agriculture Bill”
Lord Bruce of Bennachie asked what steps the government will take to ensure the recovery and diversification of the United Kingdom oil and gas industry supply chain…
Continue reading “This government lacks vision on climate change”
Yesterday, the Lords debated the Counter Terrorism and Sentencing Bill. The government missed their legal deadline for carrying out a review of Prevent, their scheme for dealing with extremism. Jenny has repeatedly called for Prevent to be replaced by a more neutral approach to safeguarding the vulnerable. Continue reading “Will there ever be a review of Prevent?”
The Brexit campaign promised an end to live exports and we must amend the Government’s Agriculture Bill to force them to deliver.
Continue reading “Live Animal Exports and the Agriculture Bill”
Buffer zones along waterways are a robust measure to limit pollution by run off from farm land AND they provide wildlife corridors to help species move around.
Continue reading “Positive response from the Government on Buffer Zones”
One of the joys of being a peer is being able to give a completely fresh view of things that disrupts the accepted dialogue about a topic. Here I am raising objections to the Investigatory Power Bill at a meeting in the Grand Committee
Putting my amendment to the Lords https://youtu.be/a0VX6BdDPh0
Continue reading “Immigration Bill and staffing the care sector”
The number of people prosecuted and convicted for rape has fallen to the lowest level since records began. Prosecutions and convictions more than halved in three years while rapes increased.
Continue reading “Rape Review question”
The Covid lockdown has resulted in a big drop in energy consumption and because of the government’s strange system of contracts will result in a big increase in home energy bills. Covid has exposed the fundamental flaws in this whole system of funding new energy generation. The government intends to tie us into tens of billions of pounds of these contracts over the coming years, for everything from new nuclear power stations to solar and wind energy. Contained in these contracts is a guarantee that energy payers will pay high energy prices whether or not the wholesale price is much, much lower, and whether or not we use much less energy. Continue reading “Energy policy: use less, but pay more”
This Agriculture Bill will shape how our countryside looks for the next generation. It will change the way money is spent on food and land management as the £20 billions of subsidies that flowed through the European Union’s (EU) Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) are replaced by a new system. We do not support this bill, but we are doing our best to make some good of it. We are attempting to insert new clauses and substantial amendments, as well as co-signing a number of important amendments from other peers. The wording of our clauses and amendments are detailed below in topic groupings.
