BARONESS CHRISTINE HUMPHREYS
NOW that all the pomp of the State Opening of the new Parliament is over and the Queen has delivered the Speech outlining the Government’s plans for this session, work can begin again.
But first, seating arrangements had to be settled and, because of the election results, my group, the Lib Dems now find themselves on the Opposition benches. It’s a bit strange not having to work with the Conservatives any more and, although I’m proud of the influence we were able to exert during the Coalition years.
It was interesting to listen to the opening speeches after the Queen had left Parliament and to hear Peers from all parties pay tribute to the work the Lib Dems had done in Government - interesting and, I must admit, surprising.
The jubilant scenes we saw in the House of Commons as the victorious Conservative MPs took their seats certainly weren’t repeated in the Lords. The atmosphere was far more muted and it seemed as if no group wanted to dwell on the election result. That’s because the situation is very much different in the Lords. The Conservatives have no majority here; every vote and every piece of legislation is likely to be a battle.
The Leader of the Lib Dems in the Lords, Lord Jim Wallace, has already highlighted his attitude to future legislation - the Lords have the right to say ‘no’. Lib Dems, along with an increasing number of voters, believe that it is only our out of date voting system that has given the Tories a majority in the Commons.
Thankfully, the Government are taking things slowly with their plans to replace the Human Rights Act with a Bill of Rights and will. Opponents of the Human Rights Act have pedalled the myth that the Act favours criminals and terrorists when, in fact, it protects us all. Human Rights are My Rights and a Government that attempts to tamper with these Rights, established in the aftermath of the 2nd World War, needs to tread very carefully.
For the Lib Dems outside Parliament the process of rebuilding begins. We have welcomed 15,000 new members to our Party since Polling Day. Many of t them cite the quality of Nick Clegg’s resignation speech as their reason for joining.
Nick was an admirable L Leader of our Party; he was an excellent friend to the Welsh Party, a attending almost every o one of our Conferences. But our Party also needs to move forward and this Saturday sees the first step on that journey. We will welcome Tim Farron and Norman Lamb to Builth Wells and to the Welsh Hustings for the new Party Leader. Both are admirable politicians and I’m looking forward to listening to them and getting closer to a decision on which to vote for!
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