Lord Birt (CB)

My Lords, I worked at No. 10 some 20 years ago, when the decision was made in principle to build a national high-speed rail network in the UK. As we know, that network now goes just from Birmingham to

I think we all share the sympathy that the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, has identified SMEs need. There are 5.7 million SMEs in the UK and many of them—indeed, most of them—will purchase what are r

Before the Minister sits down, I ask her to reflect, at the end of our second day in Committee, that the noble Viscount, Lord Camrose, has mentioned more than once that he would like to see a national

My Lords, these amendments are highly pertinent. We simply must ensure that non-UK providers of services in this sector are firmly and wholly within the scope of the Bill—they are only partly in scope

Can I ask the Minister to comment on another point that the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, raised? Why should this not apply to the higher reaches of government? I ask the Minister specifically: what

Let me just say, very briefly, that, as I made clear earlier in the week, the scope of the Bill is far too narrow. I suggested and will continue to suggest that we have to extend the definition of ess