Chris Rennard has been a member of the Liberal Democrat party for more than 40 years and was awarded a peerage in 1999. Chris Rennard has written his account of becoming involved with the Liberal Democrats with his book, “Winning Here”.
Lord Rennard in Parliament
Think Tanks: Funding
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the level of transparency required for the funding of think tanks, including in relation to funding from abroad.
It is for each individual think tank to publicise and declare their sources of funding. Think tanks with charitable status must follow Charity Commission guidance, ensuring political activity remains subsidiary and exclusively furthers their charitable purposes. The Government are committed to responding to threats of foreign interference in our democracy. We eagerly await the findings of Philip Rycroft’s independent review into countering foreign financial influence, which will report by the end of March.
Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent
For 25 years, political parties have had to declare their significant sources of income, but so-called think tanks that promote the causes of some political parties, and undertake research and produce reports helpful to them, do not have to declare any such funding. The right-wing think tanks based at Tufton Street refuse to declare their sources of funding but have been linked with the fossil fuel industry, property developers, tobacco companies and dark-money trusts in the US. Since 2012, anonymous foundations in the United States have poured over $14 million into these groups. Money to them is also filtered via charities. Will the Minister confirm that the elections Bill will tackle this anomaly and make such funding completely transparent?
Read the question in full here.
NHS: Corridor Care
My mother-in-law, Molly, is 110.
Last year, she was taken ill and the ambulance took her to a Liverpool hospital in the early afternoon, but, after some tests, no bed could be found for her. She spent the rest of the day and all of the night on a trolley in a corridor. Every hour throughout the night she was moved along, deprived of sleep and the basic provisions, including food and drink, which she would have had on a ward. What are the Government now doing to tackle the problem of delayed transfer of care, which results in fewer beds being available? Does the Minister accept that this can be done only by properly resourcing adult social care?
After two weeks abroad with the Inter Parliamentary Union Assembly in Geneva (400 parliamentarians from 120 countries setting the world to rights), and then with a group of European parliamentarians in Taiwan discussing issues such as security co-operation, it has been back to the House of Lords this week.
On Monday, I was working on the Tobacco and Vaping Bill aimed at preventing new generations taking up smoking.
The Government has accepted something I was pressing for in the 2022 Health Bill. Cigarette packets will in future include inserts providing advice and links to smoking cessation services.
I am continuing to press for health warnings to be printed on individual cigarettes. Too many young people take up smoking when offered a cigarette out of somebody else’s packet. Canada has found that warnings on individual cigarette papers are an effective deterrent to taking up smoking and help people to quit. I want us to follow their example and I found strong support including possibly from the Minister.
I also argued for all filters (not just plastic ones) to be removed from cigarettes. The tobacco industry set out to deceive their customers (half of whom will have their life shortened by the habit) that cigarettes with filters are somehow safer. They are not and the filters cause litter in many places that need cleaning up.
