Lord Alton of Liverpool (CB)

My Lords, I hope to be able to persuade the noble Lord, Lord Robertson, who knows that I have enormous respect for him, that the safeguards are not good enough and that he should reconsider before we get to a vote on this amendment. The noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, at the end of his remarks, commented about Fraser Nelson’s article this morning. It is a long article, but I will just read a sentence from it: “But the Emiratis and others are using their state investment vehicles as levers of political power”. That is the democratic threat. It is one that Parliament has protected us from, but that protection is now compromised. That is why we are here today. None of us speaking in this debate wants eagerly to support a fatal amendment. I, the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, and others have not supported fatal amendments on any kind of regular basis, but this is an extraordinary set of regulations that we are being asked to approve and these are extraordinary times. I agree with the noble Lords, Lord Forsyth, Lord Fox and Lord Clement-Jones, and others who have expressed opinions outside your Lordships’ Chamber, including the noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy of The Shaws, and the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra, and I have arrived at the same conclusion, albeit reluctantly.