Local Government (Religious etc. Observances) Bill

I should remind your Lordships that if this amendment is agreed to, I cannot call Amendments 2 to...

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Cormack, and the Minister for the meeting we had ...

My Lords, it is not necessary to support the racist remarks of some councillors to resist this am...

My Lords, perhaps I should declare an interest, having just led the Prayers in this Chamber.

But these amendments have nothing to do with Remembrance Day services.

My Lords, I preface my remarks in support of the amendments by declaring an interest as a patron ...

My Lords, first, I want to draw attention to what the noble Lord, Lord Elton, said. There is a ve...

I apologise for intervening and am grateful to the noble Baroness, but this Bill allows that to h...

As regards there being a party line on this side which is—

I am sorry; I had not finished speaking. I am glad to hear what the noble Lord said but it is not...

My Lords, for the avoidance of doubt, as regards my reflecting a party line on this side of the H...

My Lords, I intervene as a leader of a local authority. I declare an interest as leader of the Lo...

Is there any reason whatever why those matters should not be dealt with outside the ambit of the ...

They do take place at the start of the meeting. Everybody in a free society can meet whenever the...

Will the noble Lord clarify to the House that I am right in suggesting that he is not implying th...

No, I am certainly not saying that. However, I would vastly prefer it if the National Secular Soc...

I take issue with the noble Lord’s remark about bringing division where there is no division. Thi...

My Lords, I wanted to conclude my remarks but I must respond to those comments. My local authorit...

My Lords, like the right reverend Prelate, I also have a declaration to make. I am a Christian—a ...

My Lords, I want to put the argument in a wider context for a moment. The reason why theocratic s...

My Lords, many of your Lordships will remember the late Lord Orr-Ewing. He had a relative in the ...

My Lords, perhaps I may reply briefly to the point that my noble friend Lord Taverne made. It is ...

I will not delay the Committee long. For all my life, I have been an avowed atheist. I have no pr...

My Lords, it is often the case that the power of religion is thought to be harnessed for a mistak...

My Lords, in the most religious part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, we have no establis...

My Lords, I am an elected member of a council that does not have prayers or any time for reflecti...

My Lords, so far there has been reference to time for prayers. In fact, if one looks at new Secti...

My Lords, I declare an interest as an elected councillor in the London Borough of Lewisham. We do...

My Lords, I am grateful for this opportunity to discuss both the broad intentions of the Bill—to ...

My Lords, I am sorry to interrupt my noble friend but I would like an answer to the question that...

My Lords, nothing in the Bill would prevent that. This is about choice at a local level. As we ha...

My Lords, I am extremely grateful to my noble friend for his robust and totally convincing defenc...

My Lords, I thank all those who have spoken in this debate and who have made powerful contributio...

Moved by

Lord Avebury

6: Clause 1, page 1, line 16, leave out from beginning to end o...

My Lords, Amendment 6 would leave out new Section 138B which the Bill proposes to insert into the...

My Lords, I must advise the Committee that if this amendment is agreed to, I shall not be able to...

My Lords, I have little against the contents of proposed new Section 138B. I think I am probably ...

My Lords, I rise to support the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, and I will not repeat the evidence that...

My Lords, we have heard from noble Lords who have spoken so far that they believe that it is perf...

My Lords, like the previous group of amendments, I do not think that any of the amendments in thi...

My Lords, we have heard how councillors go to functions such as celebrations of Diwali and Eid, w...

My Lords, again I thank noble Lords for our debate and I want to clarify again the Government’s s...

Very briefly, I have seen these festivals take place and I have attended them, but I am trying to...

It is not often that I beg to disagree with the noble Baroness, but in many cases councils suppor...

My Lords, first, I thank the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, for withdrawing his amendment in the pre...

I just want to make something absolutely clear for the Committee. The noble Lord, quite rightly, ...

My Lords, I do not think that anything I or any other noble Lord has said in this debate, or on a...

My Lords, I am most grateful to my noble friend for the unexpected compliments and for the courte...

As I tried to say a few minutes ago, this Bill seeks to put matters beyond doubt. Until the Bone ...

With respect to my noble friend, I did not think it was beyond doubt. I thought Section 111(1) di...