Psychoactive Substances Bill [Lords]

Both amendment 4 and new clause 1 deal with the key issue of drugs education and awareness. This ...

At the end of last year I visited St Alban’s RC high school in my constituency, my old school, an...

I thank my hon. Friend for making that point. Wales has a very impressive education programme, an...

My hon. Friend is making an important point about the need for PSHE to include these measures. Gi...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. If I remember my facts rightly, the Government estimated that...

Can my hon. Friend give an example of any anti-drug use education programme here or anywhere else...

I am going to come to that later in my speech when I talk about Wales. Although there has not yet...

While this legislation will go some towards addressing legal highs, there is still the issue of t...

I agree that there is much we can do to prevent the supply of, and demand for, these substances. ...

It is good to hear from the hon. Lady again; I enjoyed listening to her in Committee. I agree wit...

I do so agree with the hon. Gentleman about that. Unfortunately, I have not been lucky enough to ...

There are a lot of very responsible parents out there who will of course talk to their children a...

My hon. Friend is right indeed about that.

These life skills can be taught only by helping ...

I, too, very much commend the Angelus Foundation, which gave evidence to the Select Committee on ...

I say give the hon. Gentleman a job in the Home Office, because we would become much more effecti...

The hon. Lady may not be aware that a very prominent anti-drugs campaigner in my constituency, Ma...

I thank the right hon. Lady for making that point. I know very little about drugs, apart from wha...

I am conscious that this is an intervention and not a speech. Later on, when I have a chance to r...

I am pleased to hear that, and I am grateful to the Minister for his intervention.

Will the hon. Lady give way?

Oh, okay, Why not?

On that point, whatever process the Government go through, it seems to be bordering on crazy to t...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, and, yes, I do agree with him. Despite ...

I agree with my hon. Friend’s approach to this matter, as it makes a lot of sense. The Government...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Let us look at the context and the evidence. Poppers have bee...

I am glad that the hon. Lady has mentioned the National AIDS Trust. I have read its briefing on t...

I do not think that we should be doing this the other way round. I will explain why as I go along...

I wish to express a view that is opposite to that of my hon. Friend the Member for Winchester (St...

I absolutely agree with the right hon. Gentleman.

In giving evidence to the Home Affairs Co...

Just to be fair-minded, while I also share concerns about poppers not being on the exempt list, I...

Genuinely, if the evidence changes and we can see that there are significant harms, we should ban...

Will my hon. Friend challenge the popular myth that, by banning a drug, we reduce its use? That h...

I agree that if we do not place poppers on the exempt list today, we are likely to replace a regu...

The situation is worse than that set out by my hon. Friend the Member for Newport West (Paul Flyn...

I totally agree. My hon. Friend probably puts it better than I could.

I apologise to the hon. Lady for intervening a second time, but I just want to ensure that we get...

Again, I agree with the right hon. Gentleman. The Home Affairs Committee concluded that poppers o...

Order. Before calling the next Member to speak, I point out that we have about two hours remainin...

Amendment 1, which stands in my name, is a probing amendment, as I wish to ascertain the Governme...

My right hon. Friend is exactly right, for two reasons. First, many fitness supplements and other...

I could not put it better myself. That is what concerns me about the Bill. The point was made tha...

Does not the right hon. Lady think that if we treat these nootropic drugs differently from all th...

I do not think that putting them on the exempted list means that anybody should draw the conclusi...

It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham (Mrs Gillan), who is on...

My right hon. Friend says that the name “legal highs” attracts people to the drugs. Does he not t...

They may well do, but we are not going to call them “illegal highs”. The Bill does not seek to ch...

If I get called, I will speak in support of the right hon. Gentleman’s excellent Committee’s repo...

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right and he brings me on to the issue of alkyl nitrites. The sh...

Having served on the Bill Committee alongside my hon. Friend the Member for West Ham (Lyn Brown),...

I thank my hon. Friend for that information. I wonder whether they are still in use around the Ca...

Order. Quite a large number of Members still want to speak. At this rate, if Members go over 10 m...

I will be very brief, Madam Deputy Speaker.

It is a pleasure to follow the Chairman of the ...

It is right to focus on supply, which is the focus of the Bill. It is important to give the clear...

I know that my hon. Friend has done a significant amount of work on this and that he, too, has be...

Supply does seem to me to be a very grey area. I understand that the policy is not intended to vi...

Indeed. I suppose I have advertised the fact that I may be vulnerable to that. I therefore plead ...

I am not alone in having a constituency that has been blighted by the use of legal highs. I do no...

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that in Ireland, after the introduction of legislation very similar t...

I mentioned the closure of the head shops, which is really good news—good stuff. I also referred ...

I thank the shadow Minister for a balanced speech that contained some well-judged comments. I als...

I think that I have to beg to move the amendments that stand in my name. If I have not to beg, I ...

Speak to them.

Oh, I am speaking to them and not begging at all. I wish to speak to the amendments that stand in...

I am sure that the hon. Lady knows that the situation she has just described in which youths plac...

My understanding was that we were trying not to mirror the Misuse of Drugs Act. We have moved on,...

Surely the point is to introduce clarity to the young people that the hon. Lady is describing. Ec...

I am not arguing that we should not be discouraging young people in that way. I am arguing that i...

Following the arguments being put forward from the other side, does the hon. Lady agree that the ...

The hon. Gentleman would not expect me to disagree about the considerable harm that tobacco and a...

There are no time limits in this debate but many Members want to speak and the list is getting lo...

I will move on, then. I will take out all my killer arguments and bring them up when the Minister...

I shall speak to new clause 3. First, though, I welcome the constructive approach taken by my rig...

I support my hon. Friend. Does he agree that the momentum is with his case? The all-party group o...

My hon. Friend is right.

I shall speak, first, about the barriers to mental health research...

Does my hon. Friend also agree that there is a real anomaly when a drug such as DNP, which has ca...

My right hon. Friend speaks wisely. On that subject, looking at the scheduling, steroids come und...

I rise in support of new clause 1 and amendment 4. I start by congratulating my hon. Friend the M...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Diana Johnson). Much of ...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I want to make some progress.

Let me focus on education, because it is important to ensure ...

In case I forget this point in my later comments, perhaps this is an opportune moment to say from...

That speaks directly to amendment 4, which was also tabled in Committee. That is in effect what t...

Will the hon. Gentleman tell us what attention the Committee gave to the fact that the only two c...

I am not convinced by the hon. Gentleman’s premise. We consistently disagree on drugs policy. The...

I support the Bill and its aims. Indeed, I wound up the Second Reading debate in the Chamber beca...

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for calling me slightly earlier than I expected.

I speak in s...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will not, because I am conscious that time is very tight, and I do not want to get into trouble...

I rise to express my broad support for what the Government are trying to do. This is a major issu...

Before I start, may I point out one major error? A picture of me has been widely retweeted by Mem...

I shall be brief.

I wish to emphasise that although so many elements of the Bill are import...

I, too, will be brief.

First, I wish to thank the other members of the Bill Committee. This...

It has been said several times that perhaps this Bill should have been introduced a lot earlier—m...

rose—

I will give way, but I will not do it too much, because we want to get on to the next group of am...

What lessons does the Minister think we can learn from the Welsh schools liaison programme, which...

With devolution, different Governments in different parts of this great nation are delivering pro...

rose—

Let me make some progress. If I have time, I will come back to the right hon. Gentleman.

I ...

Will the Minister give way?

No, I want to make some progress if I can, but I will come back if I have some time.

Last n...

In that case, will the Minister ensure that he writes to me about the substances listed in my ame...

I am more than happy to write to my right hon. Friend with those assurances, so long as we know e...

rose—

I will give way to the right hon. Gentleman, but then I will curtail my comments so that the Hous...

I am grateful to the Minister. On the question of not wanting to criminalise young people, and in...

We need to stop these products from being available to young people, middle-aged people and old p...

rose—

I will not give way again.

Let me now touch on what is an important, and understandably emo...

I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

Amendment 2, in clause 6, page 3,...

In speaking to new clause 2, I praise the work of my hon. Friend the Member for Barrow and Furnes...

I rise to speak to amendments 2 and 3, which stand in my name. They deal with one small anomaly i...

I apologise for any confusion, Mr Deputy Speaker. I thought that this debate would come later. I ...

I apologise to the House that my comments will have to be short because of the limited time avail...

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.

This has been an experience. I ful...

Labour’s 2015 manifesto included a commitment to ban the sale and distribution of dangerous psych...

May I echo the words of both Front Benchers about what a pleasure it has been to work on this Bil...

rose—

I hope the hon. Gentleman will not mind if I do not give way, because two of my colleagues wish t...

I shall be very brief. I wish to congratulate all those involved in bringing forward this Bill, i...

In the spirit with which we have taken the Bill through, I just wanted to say that the Bill does ...

I understand that—as the Minister knows, I am against it—but I was referring specifically to buyi...

I know that time is limited so I shall be very quick. I am absolutely delighted with this Bill. I...

Mr Speaker, may I ask what time will be left for the hon. Members who will follow me?

It is very good of the hon. Gentleman to pursue a bit of information. The answer is that the deba...

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I want to be fair, which is why I asked that question.

I am very ple...

For too long, we have seen shops such as Skunkworks proliferate on our high streets, with their n...

Order. I hope that the hon. Gentleman is going to leave time for the hon. Member for Newport West...

Yes, I am, Mr Speaker.

By its very intent, the blanket ban must be so, or else we will just...

Evidence-free and prejudice-rich, this Bill will do harm. It is evidence-free because the House h...