![]() That Harriett Baldwin, Nickie Aiken, Ms Harriet Harman, Philip Davies, Christine Jardine, Mrs Maria Miller, Jess Phillips, Esther McVey, Sarah Champion, Tim Loughton and Sir Christopher Chope present the Bill. Let us agree today that we will make this small and symbolic change for our country’s sake, and for the sake of equality between men and women. I also pay tribute to Charlotte Carew Pole of Daughters’ Rights, who helps to keep this just cause alive in this place. Friend the Member for Shipley (Philip Davies), who tried to introduce the same Bill in March 2019 he is a champion of true equality. I cannot rest until this posh glass ceiling is broken. We want every person born in this country to enjoy the same chance to make a difference, to thrive and to prosper. As that demonstrates, it is already possible to be a female hereditary peer, but clearly, because of the current system, that does not happen as routinely as it does for males, and the system clearly is not fair.Īs a Conservative, I stand for equality of opportunity. I understand that the register of peers for the by-elections has 210 peers on it, only one of whom is female. The Bill would affect 803 hereditary peers, including 24 dukes, 34 marquesses, 191 earls, 115 viscounts and 426 barons, and four countesses and nine baronesses in their own right.Įach of them could potentially be one of the 92 hereditary peers, or be on the register to stand as a hereditary peer in a by-election to the House of Lords. If there were already a son in the line of succession, that would remain the case. My Bill would not apply immediately when a son is due to inherit a title, and it would certainly not be retrospective. The hereditary peerages in the other place should go automatically to the eldest child, but at the moment that very rarely happens. If it is good enough for the succession to the Crown, it should be good enough for everyone else. Put simply, daughters should be treated the same as sons across society. ![]() If we cannot change inequality at the top of our society, we will never be able to change inequality for the whole of our society. For example, only 13% of land in the UK is owned by women-in other words, 87% is owned by men-and boys are twice as likely as girls to inherit family businesses. That is unacceptable and indefensible, and it has terrible real-world consequences. Women are treated unfairly for no reason other than that they are women. Whatever our views are of the other place or of hereditary peerages more generally-I know that there will be a wide range of views-I hope we can all agree that in the 21st century, that embedded sex discrimination is simply not acceptable. Can you believe that, Mr Speaker? I will repeat it, as I find it so shocking: an eighth of the seats in the upper House of this Parliament are reserved for men only, through the system of reserving 92 seats for hereditary peers. As a result, in this very Parliament, an eighth of the seats in the other place are reserved for men only. The Act ended male primogeniture for the Crown, but we left undone any wider reform to primogeniture in the United Kingdom. The Succession to the Crown Act was given Royal Assent in 2013, meaning that henceforth the firstborn child of Prince George will be in line to succeed him. We celebrate her platinum jubilee with true devotion. On this day, when we join in wishing Her Majesty a very happy birthday, we can note that we have been blessed to live in a new Elizabethan era in which Her Majesty has long reigned over us. That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision for the succession of female heirs to hereditary titles and for connected purposes. We get on with the job, while they flip-flop around like flounders on the beach. That is as a result of the decisions-the tough calls-that this Government have made. We are fixing our economy, with record numbers of people now in work, productivity back above what it was, and over half a million more people on the payroll than there were before the pandemic began. and learned Gentleman would have elected a Putin apologist-that is what he wanted to do, and he campaigned to do that. We are standing up to Putin, when the right hon. This Government are getting on with the serious problems that require attention, such as fixing our energy supply issues and, by the way, undoing the damage of the Labour Government, who did not invest in nuclear power for 13 years, with a nuclear power station every year. That is the limit of his willingness to ask sensible questions today. I said no such thing, and there are people behind me who will testify to that. ![]() I did not attack the BBC last night for their coverage of Ukraine. What he says is completely without any foundation whatever. and learned Gentleman is willing to sink that he accuses me- He accuses me of traducing journalists. ![]() It is an indication of the depths to which the right hon.
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