Red Benches No 5: The week in the House of Lords

We need the Right to Repair; who owns our media?; #AxeDrax, a short history; Change Everything ready to launch

This week saw the Third Reading of the Rwanda Bill, passing it back to the Commons. (It will be back with us on Wednesday for ping-pong, probably effectively unchanged.) The highlight of this largely procedural event was the beautifully clear and accurate summing up from my noble friend Jenny Jones - this is “an absolute stinker” of a Bill, “the worst of the worst”. (And it now looks - possibly related to the ruling out of a May 2 election - that it won’t then return to the Commons until after Easter.) Better make sure we make changes on Wednesday then!

There were two days of report stage of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill, which saw us insert five amendments into it, and just fail to insert a sixth, with a rare tied vote (199 apiece), which means, according to the standard rules of meeting procedure, that the status quo remains. Probably the most significant amendment was that passed on Wednesday, on tighter restrictions on secondary sales of tickets, tabled by Conservative Lord Moynihan. His speech is well worth a read for its account of the spread, and spread, and spread of ticket touts, and their pernicious effects.

Part 1: Highlights

A. Right to Repair in the Digital Markets, Competition & Consumers Bill

The diversity of the Digital etc Bill is shown in its three appearances in Red Benches, on three very different topics. I thought the speech of Lady Hayman, crossbencher and chair of Peers for the Planet (a very useful and productive organisation), was worth wider circulation.

The government talks of a “circular economy” and “polluter pays”, but singularly fails to deliver. Baroness Hayman said: “The argument that we can rely on progress that is glacial at best simply does not hold water.” In fact we are in some areas going backwards, as I reflected in my contribution to the group of amendments.

B. #AxeDrax

That’s a hashtag I’ve been using for a very long time. In fact back in 2016 I was standing on the site itself (looking a lot younger!) saying just that. But what was really notable this week were TWO oral questions in which the government took a pounding from all side of the House about how cutting down old growth forests, shipping them across the Atlantic, then burning them up, was a really, really bad thing to be subsidising. One was crossbench peer Rosie Boycott’s oral question on the specific subject, the other was on forest risk commodities, which certainly describes Drax’s power.

C. IPP (imprisonment for public protection) licences

In the committee stage of the Victims and Prisoners Bill (when we don’t usually have votes), a range of amendments that would ameliorate the horrendous, indefensible position of prisoners held well beyond their original tariff. To his credit Lord Blunkett, the Labour Home Secretary who brought them in during yet another “tough on crime” political drive, is now campaigning for the issue to be addressed.

Even when released, IPP offenders are on indefinite licence. They can be recalled, often for behaviour that is not criminal. That can lead to terrible tragedies like that of Francis Williams, who took his own life when faced with being returned to jail for being homeless.

More than 1,000 have never been released because they cannot prove they are not a risk to the public, sometimes because of mental health conditions induced by their circumstances. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture is among many who have called for action from the British government on the issue.

But I am afraid it is no secret that the government has said it will not act; the Labour Opposition shows no sign of supporting action, so there will be no significant change in the legislation when we get to votes at Report Stage.

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Part 2: My week

A. Media diversity

A bit of nifty legislative footwork by Conservative peer Baroness Stowell of Beeston and others had the government making a promise to lever into the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill a provision to ban overseas ownership of newspapers, a move prompted by attempts a UAE-backed consortium to buy the Telegraph. I say “promise” because the government said, as it always says, that the drafting of her amendment was not right, but they will at Third Reading, our final stage, introduce their own amendment with the same impact. (Stay tuned, because such debates can sometimes be unexpectedly exciting - the devil, as they say, is in the detail.)

The debate prompted much lyrical musing on the importance of a free press to democracy, which led me to the add the adjective a diverse free press, which is certainly not what we have now: 90% of print reach and 40% of digital being in three hands.

B. Community Interest Companies

An issue that I have a feeling we are soon going to see a lot more on is Community Interest Companies (CICs). Organisations that would once have been charities or even campaign groups are now set up as CICs, the introduction of which was supposed to allow “investment” in community activities, but might be seen as one more way of financialising everything. Now to be clear, I have met some brilliant people doing great things through CICs, but the potential to take 35% of the profits out allows a clear route to abuse. As is the concern that CICs might act like and represent themselves as a charity, without the accompanying regulator, a concern raised by Labour’s Lord Harris of Haringey.

It was interesting that the minister said he’d asked the same question I did - how much IS being taken out? I look forward to his letter in response.

C. Tobacco smuggling (and other nefariousness) from Gibraltar

A cause of friction with Spain, which I raised. Spain may care less about the vast amount of tax-dodging by British betting companies; that’s something I’ve raised before and no doubt will again. There’s nearly two companies registered there for every person, an odd situation.

D. Broadcasting regulation

Yes, I was questioning what Ofcom is doing about GBNews (beyond precious little), as were many other speakers in a debate on this subject on Thursday. But I also raised the issue of Leveson 2 - the planned second part of the inquiry that has never happened. And which Labour under Ed Milliband had supported, but under Sir Keir Starmer has backed away from. Which is a pity. To put it mildly.

E. Nations and the Union

Unfortunately due to doing ITV Last Orders I couldn’t take part in a Thursday debate on “the case for strengthening and safeguarding the Union”, into which I would have brought the case for Scotland and Wales’s independence. It got attention for a frankly awful comment from Lord Moylan on the use of the Welsh language (no, I’m not going to link to it on principle).

But I did get the chance in an oral question to refer to an excellent report from UK in a Changing Europe which referred to the need to strengthen means of liaison and cooperation between Westminster and the national governments. Relations are not as bad as they were under Boris Johnson now. But that’s a very low bar.

You can’t say my political life lacks diversity anyway!

And finally…

In the visiting friends department, it was great to catch up with NSW state Green MP Jenny Leong, who represents my old university-era stamping ground of Newtown in Sydney. And to get in a little international promotion for Change Everything - officially out on Thursday! (Lovely picture-taking by the random visitor we asked to snap it.)

So what did you think of this edition of Red Benches? Please let me know.

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