Vol. 806 Monday No. 129 19 October 2020 PARLIAMENTARYDEBATES (HANSARD) HOUSE OF LORDS OFFICIAL REPORT ORDEROFBUSINESS Introduction: Lord Dodds of Duncairn...........................................................................1269 Questions Historic Statues ............................................................................................................1269 Project for the Registration of Children as British Citizens v Home Office.................1272 Gender Recognition Act 2004 ......................................................................................1275 Trains: East Midlands...................................................................................................1279 High Speed Rail (West Midlands–Crewe) Bill Order of Commitment ...................................................................................................1281 United Kingdom Internal Market Bill Second Reading.............................................................................................................1282 Grand Committee Medicines and Medical Devices Bill Committee (1st Day) ..............................................................................................GC 315 Lords wishing to be supplied with these Daily Reports should give notice to this effect to the Printed Paper Office. No proofs of Daily Reports are provided. Corrections for the bound volume which Lords wish to suggest to the report of their speeches should be clearly indicated in a copy of the Daily Report, which, with the column numbers concerned shown on the front cover, should be sent to the Editor of Debates, House of Lords, within 14 days of the date of the Daily Report. This issue of the Official Report is also available on the Internet at https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2020-10-19 In Hybrid sittings, [V] after a Member’s name indicates that they contributed by video call. The following abbreviations are used to show a Member’s party affiliation: Abbreviation Party/Group CB Cross Bench Con Conservative DUP Democratic Unionist Party GP Green Party Ind Lab Independent Labour Ind LD Independent Liberal Democrat Ind SD Independent Social Democrat Ind UU Independent Ulster Unionist Lab Labour Lab Co-op Labour and Co-operative Party LD Liberal Democrat LD Ind Liberal Democrat Independent Non-afl Non-affiliated PC Plaid Cymru UKIP UK Independence Party UUP Ulster Unionist Party No party affiliation is given for Members serving the House in a formal capacity, the Lords spiritual, Members on leave of absence or Members who are otherwise disqualified from sitting in the House. © Parliamentary Copyright House of Lords 2020, this publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 1269 Introduction: Lord Dodds of Duncairn [19 OCTOBER 2020] Historic Statues 1270 House of Lords with Cecil Rhodes in my home city, I maintain that he did more good than bad and should not be sacrificed Monday 19 October 2020 to current concerns, but should be joined by a statue of Mandela. Will the Minister do all she can to stop The House met in a hybrid proceeding. the destruction of important historical statues? 1 pm Baroness Barran (Con): The noble Baroness gives Prayers—read by the Lord Bishop of London. some very helpful examples. The Government share her concern, particularly at some of the scenes we have seen recently, which have been deeply troubling. Introduction: Lord Dodds of Duncairn It is very unfortunate when figures such as Churchill 1.07 pm have to be boarded up to avoid desecration. The Government continue to prioritise this. The right honourable Nigel Alexander Dodds, OBE, having been created Baron Dodds of Duncairn, of Duncairn Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab) [V]: Webster’s in the City of Belfast, was introduced and took the oath, Dictionary’sdefinition of putting someone on a pedestal is supported by Lord Morrow and Lord Browne of Belmont, “to think of someone as a perfect person with no faults: to admire and signed an undertaking to abide by the Code of someone greatly”. Conduct. The erection of a statue is not an objective act, but a subjective judgment of an individual’s historical Arrangement of Business contribution. Does the Minister agree that just as the Announcement civic leadership of communities most often decided who should have a statue placed on a pedestal in 1.12 pm public places, their modern equivalents, not Ministers, The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler): My Lords, the should be trusted to decide whose statues are representative Hybrid Sitting of the House will now begin. Some of a community’s current values? Members are here in the Chamber, respecting social distancing, others are participating remotely, but all Baroness Barran (Con): Obviously local authorities Members will be treated equally. Oral Questions will are primarily responsible in this area and will take the now commence. Please can those asking supplementary view of their community into consideration, but my questions keep them short and confined to two points? understanding is that for the most contested examples I ask that Ministers’ answers are also brief. there has been not a uniform community view, but a divided one. Historic Statues Lord Oates (LD): My Lords, I declare my interest Question as an ambassador of the charitable education and arts 1.13 pm project, The World Reimagined. Does the Minister agree that people would be more likely to accept Asked by Baroness Deech existing statues if we showed greater recognition of Toask Her Majesty’sGovernment what assessment the full history of our country? In 1682, William they have made of the future of historic statues in Godwyn proposed a statue in London to prominently England. acknowledge the injustice suffered by enslaved Africans. Does the Minister not agree that, 350 years on, it is TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department well past time that a national memorial should be for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Barran) constructed in London to commemorate the millions (Con): My Lords,there are approximately 12,000 outdoor of Africans enslaved under British rule? statues in England. In the region of 3,500 are protected as, or as part of, listed buildings; of those, 473 are of Baroness Barran (Con): The noble Lord is right historical figures. The future of the vast majority of when he talks about a full history of our country, and these historic statues is the responsibility of the owners, we hope our approach of retain and explain goes some usually local authorities. The government policy on way to addressing that, but he is also right that there is historic public statues is quite clear: they should not be a place for new statues expressing many different removed but retained, with a fuller contextualisation issues, both permanent and temporary installations, on the background and history of those commemorated such as the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. provided; this is summarised as “retain and explain”. Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford (Con) [V]: Baroness Deech (CB) [V]: My Lords, the wish on My Lords, while I in no way condone criminal damage, the part of some to eradicate our past, in the belief I note that our historical statues signally fail to recognise that it is evil, does not justify vandalism. I am dismayed the contribution of women to the scientific and medical to see re-evaluation, often uninformed, of the contribution advances we enjoy today. In fact, research by the of historical figures, most of whom have both good campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez suggests that there and less good elements. For example, there are strong are only 158 statues of women. Of those, 110 feature reasons to take away the prominent position enjoyed mythical or allegorical women, 46 depict royals and by Richard the Lionheart outside our own front door 14 show the Virgin Mary. Does the Minister agree but I am content to walk by him every day, knowing that, rather than myths, princesses or virgins, we should that the study of history places him in context. Likewise, invest in a few statues that commemorate some of our 1271 Historic Statues[LORDS] ChildrenasBritishCitizensVHomeOffice 1272 [BARONESS BLACKWOOD OF NORTH OXFORD] Baroness Barran (Con): It is perhaps worth separating great female innovators and role models, such as Dorothy out the different issues here. The noble Lord is right Hodgkin, Ada Lovelace and Jocelyn Bell Burnell? that many issues, as he has described, relate to and fall There are many to choose from and they would be a within the responsibility of local government. Where great addition to our landscape. central government has been clear in setting out its position is in relation to publicly funded institutions, Baroness Barran (Con): My noble friend is absolutely where we have stressed their need for impartiality. right. There is plenty of room for more women of extraordinary talent and contribution to be represented Baroness Uddin (Non-Afl): My Lords, on 17 December in that way. Indeed, more broadly, we welcome the 2015, I drew to the attention of this House the brutal recent decision by English Heritage to unveil the portrait legacy of slavery which led to the establishment of of Sara Forbes Bonetta during this Black History Buxton memorial fountain just across from the Chamber. Month. Colonisation across the globe was a trade of human misery, of men and women, families, communities and Lord Woolley of Woodford (CB) [V]: My Lords, nations, shredded, bound and pillaged, against