The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Smith of Basildon) (Lab)

My Lords, I would first like to thank Their Majesties for gracing us with their presence today. I am sure the whole House will join me in wishing Her Majesty a very happy birthday. It is a great pleasure to follow all noble Lords who have moved and supported the humble Address. This is my eighth response from the Dispatch Box—and, in a break from tradition, my first from this side of the Chamber. I have greatly appreciated the many messages I have received from across the whole House. It is a pleasure to welcome back all noble Lords for this Parliament, with a special mention to new colleagues who will take up ministerial office. Although we are not an entirely political House, many Members here were involved in the general election, sharing the highs and lows—and riding, as I am sure the noble Lord, Lord Newby, did, the Ed Davey rollercoaster of campaign emotions. Although today is a happy occasion, I want to take a moment to remember those colleagues who are not with us today. We are fortunate that we make many friends across your Lordships’ House and it is right that we remember those who have passed and retired in the previous Session. On the topic of friendship, I thank my colleagues on the Labour Benches: for the nine long years that I have led the Opposition, I have enjoyed and been sustained by their support. I give my serious thanks to them, particularly to those who have served on our Front Bench, as Deputy Leaders and as Chief and Deputy Chief Whips. I am sure the whole House will join me in thanking those who served in the previous Government. It is not always recognised just how demanding the work of Ministers and Whips can be, and we especially appreciated those whose courtesy and generosity of spirit, both in the Chamber and outside, was in the best traditions of public service. They allowed your Lordships’ House to fulfil our responsibilities as a scrutinising and revising Chamber. It is an honour and a privilege to be the Leader of your Lordships’ House and to succeed the noble Lord, Lord True. His natural modesty and reticence probably means that he will frown at me at this point—and he is doing. He is passionate about the constitutional role of your Lordships’ House, and his respect for that never dims. Having started as a special adviser in 1997, he became a Peer in 2011 and then Leader from 2022. The Leader has a dual responsibility here, to their Government and to this House, and he navigated that with thoughtfulness and consideration. Personally, I also thank him as we generally agreed on House matters, but when we did not we were able to disagree agreeably. I look forward to—I hope—maintaining that constructive relationship. The relationship with the leadership quad of the noble Lord, Lord True, the noble Baroness, Lady Williams of Trafford, and the noble Earls, Lord Howe and Lord Courtown, made the usual channels’ discussions constructive and friendly. My noble friend Lord Kennedy of Southwark paid tribute to the noble Baroness, Lady Williams, at Prorogation and I add my own thanks. Throughout her time in government, she was open and engaging. I also pay tribute to the noble Earl, Lord Howe, who has so far served on the Conservative Front Bench for a record 33 years, latterly as Deputy Leader. He has many friends across this House; I hope he does not mind me saying that those of us who have been privileged to witness his acting skills all concur that the theatre’s loss is Parliament’s gain. It is a great pleasure to thank the proposer and seconder of the Motion for the humble Address. My noble friend Lord Reid served in a number of positions in the Cabinet and was the first Secretary of State whom I worked for, as a Minister in Northern Ireland. That set a very high bar. Then, as today, he showed a deep political analysis, a passion for public service and affectionate humour. Like all in your Lordships’ House, I greatly enjoyed some of his more colourful tales today—there are many more—although I fear I am not the only one left with a lingering image of his hotel pool encounter with Lady Olga Maitland. On a more serious note, we must listen to his warnings about extremism being alive again across Europe. He understands how history can repeat itself and is correct that it will fall on social democrats, in the widest sense, to restore faith not just in good government but in politics more broadly. My noble friend Lady Hazarika, having already impressed with her maiden speech before the election, has trumped it with a contribution that reinforces the star quality that she brings to our proceedings. Many noble Lords will know her as a journalist and broadcaster; I first met her when she was a special adviser in the last Labour Government and we would brief Harriet Harman for PMQs when she stood in for Gordon Brown. That was obviously great training for my noble friend’s next career as a stand-up comedian. That combination of fierce political intellect, generosity of spirit and the ability to see humour in so much of her life makes her a valuable and welcome Member of your Lordships’ House. Having worked on the Equality Act, she knows the transformative power of Labour Governments. She rightly raised issues relating to gender and race, and there is much more work for us to do. I look forward to her contributions. Before turning to the content of the King’s Speech, I want briefly to reflect on the work of your Lordships’ House; I have had some time to think about this. The Government have a clear mandate for their programme, and have made a firm commitment to change how politics is done. I do not want to tread on the toes of the Chief Whip too early in announcing the length of the Session—it will be announced in due course—or which Bills will be coming forward, although I can tell the noble Lord, Lord True, that there will be three Bills starting in this House to be announced very soon. What I will say, however, is that it is important that we in your Lordships’ House have the opportunity to contribute in a meaningful way. The wide range of expertise here can benefit the scrutiny of legislation. Obviously, there was never a golden age when a Secretary of State rejoiced at Lords amendments, but in recent years sensible proposals have too often been resisted just by default. Ministers in our Government will not accept all changes but, when the House expresses a constructive view, the Government should treat that with respect.