Lords
Proceedings
12 January 2026
Election of Lord Speaker
My Lords, I am most grateful for these very flattering tributes from all the Front Benches. My father would have been astonished and my mother would have believed them. I am overwhelmed and slightly humbled, believe it or not—I do not know why noble Lords are all laughing—by the confidence and trust…
Lords
Oral Questions
17 December 2025
Employment Gap for Blind and Sight-impaired People
I have always known the noble Lord as a good European—I am glad to hear him speaking up for the European Parliament today. To be honest, I am not sure we can use that as an excuse. We do not have to be made to do something to do it, and the House should look at it.
Lords
Oral Questions
25 November 2025
Schools: Funding
The point I was making was that the VAT on private schools is raising £1.8 billion a year, and in just one year we are investing £3.7 billion in the increase in the core schools budget. If the argument that noble Lords opposite are making is that this is a small amount of the increased investment th…
Lords
Oral Questions
19 November 2025
Telegraph Media Group
It would be inappropriate for me to speculate on the potential approaches that might be taken at this stage, although I and the Secretary of State are keenly aware that the sale process has taken too long. We are clear about the negative impact of this uncertainty, not least on the Telegraph staff. …
Lords
Oral Questions
17 November 2025
Inheritance Tax: Pensions
As I say, given that all the normal nil-rate bands will continue to apply, an estate can pass on up to £1 million with no inheritance tax. If you are leaving £1 million, you probably have the cash to pay the tax.
Lords
Oral Questions
12 November 2025
Barnett Formula: Wales
I think it is fair to reiterate to the noble Lord what I have already said: Wales is receiving a massive uplift in its budget via the Barnett formula. It is the biggest increase since 1998, and I think we should welcome that. As I said earlier, we are looking at the Barnett formula again, with the d…
Lords
Oral Questions
3 November 2025
Public/Private Partnerships: Shares
I agree with the noble Lord and accept his point of view. There have been a lot of benefits from public/private partnerships in the past—they have invested in many schools and hospitals, where pupils and patients have benefited—but we need to look at how we reform public/private partnerships and mak…
Lords
Oral Questions
13 October 2025
2 contributions
Chinese Espionage: Parliament
The noble Lord is famous for asking such straightforward and easy questions. The Government are clear that our relationship with China is complex: we are to compete, to challenge and to co-operate. Choosing not to engage with China is no choice at all. Let us be clear: state agents of the Chinese Go…
Just for the noble Lord, I will read from my pack: “The Government knows that China poses a series of threats to UK national security. We have seen Chinese espionage and cyberattacks on our soil and transnational repression of Hong Kongers”. Based on that, I think I can say yes.
Lords
Debate
19 September 2025
3 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
I can only repeat the point I made that the Government Chief Whip will listen to the will of Parliament and will review as necessary.
The Motion and the amendment in the name of my noble friend Lady Berger refer to a Select Committee reporting to the House ahead of Committee of the Whole House comm…
My Lords, noble Lords may recall—but I will remind them in case they have forgotten—that I tabled an amendment to amend the amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, because it seemed to me that the noble Lord wanted to turn this Bill into a government Bill and give it all the authority of a gove…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Proceedings
18 September 2025
Procedure and Privileges
I add to that the fact that I remember listening to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had one minute to speak.
Lords
Oral Questions
17 September 2025
Making Tax Digital
I am grateful to the noble Lord for his question. I of course remember my time on the Economic Affairs Committee, and I was privileged to serve when he was the chair of that committee. We produced many high-quality reports. I do not think I was on the committee at the time of the report that the nob…
Lords
Debate
12 September 2025
2 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I should make it clear at the outset that I am opposed to this Bill in principle but, above all, I am opposed to it because it is not an adequate Bill to deal with all the issues raised and does not provide anything like sufficient protection for those vulnerable people who might be persua…
My Lords, I declare my interest as an ambassador for Thames Hospice, but the views that I express today are my own. I recognise that across this House there will be very firmly held views on both sides of this argument, some coming from personal experience, as we heard from my noble friend Lord Fors…
Lords
Oral Questions
8 September 2025
Labour Market
My Lords, I presume the noble Lord is referring to the stories about universal credit. The structure of universal credit was created by the last Government. It was designed to operate in and out of work. We have become aware that there were some imbalances in the system. As the noble Lord will be aw…
Lords
Statutory Instrument
22 July 2025
8 contributions
Enterprise Act 2002 (Mergers Involving Newspaper Enterprises and Foreign Powers) Regulations 2025
It is important to distinguish between foreign Governments and state-owned investors. If the noble Lord will allow, this is covered in my opening remarks.
The first set of measures extend the scope of the media merger regime to online news publications. The Enterprise Act 2002 (Definition of Newspa…
My Lords, I rise to support the Government on this measure. I think that 15% passive ownership is perfectly okay. I very much support a lot of what the noble Baroness, Lady Stowell, said about the roles of proprietors. I have edited three national newspapers, so I know a lot about proprietors. Indee…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
22 July 2025
Independent Commission on Adult Social Care
The noble Lord raises the point about consensus. I did not mean to offend anyone in this House if the report came to consensus, but the fact is that there was a feeling, particularly in the other place, that the work could not be put on to the statute book. That is where we have the problem. We have…
Lords
Debate
21 July 2025
House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill
My Lords, I am afraid I am going to break the melancholy mood that we have heard from previous speakers. I thought that this day, when this Bill do now pass, would never come. It is a Bill that removes the hereditary principle as a basis for membership of this House, which is now apparently supporte…
Lords
Oral Questions
21 July 2025
Weight Loss Medication
I am delighted to hear the intervention from the other Benches. This is something to be welcomed. Obesity is complex. I would not like to stand here and put it down to one cause. There are multiple causes, as we heard earlier, around mental health and so many other issues. Everything needs to be on …
Lords
Oral Questions
16 July 2025
Newspapers: Foreign Ownership
On the regulations and the exception, I want to be clear: this is a privilege, not a right. It is about passive investment, which is why the level has been set at 15%. The Government have published the second set of regulations today, to put it beyond doubt that multiple states cannot act in concert…
Lords
Debate
9 July 2025
5 contributions
House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill
My Lords—
Amendment 13A (to Amendment 13)
I apologise for jumping the gun, but the enthusiasm I feel for this amendment from my noble friend goes back to the previous Parliament: I pay tribute to the Leader of the House and to my noble friend for the efforts that were made in the last Parliament to right this wrong. Perhaps I could just mak…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
3 July 2025
Grangemouth Oil Refinery Closure: Job Losses
I think the noble Lord will understand that I do not agree with that assessment of the situation. Our objective is net zero and what the Secretary of State is doing is thinking about the future. The jobs being lost in Scotland at Grangemouth are because the company has lost over £700 million since i…
Lords
Debate
2 July 2025
8 contributions
House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill
Before the noble Baroness sits down, the proposal is to set up a Select Committee to consider the issues that have been discussed with her. Those issues include offering life peerages to hereditary Peers. Is that something that the Select Committee would consider?
How can the noble Lord possibly argue that it was second best when the Leader of the House has told us that, had we accepted Grocott in the last Parliament, this would not have been necessary?
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
19 June 2025
Social Housing
I am pleased to be able to tell the noble Lord that we have a £600 million package for construction skills. We set up the Construction Skills Mission Board under the very able chairmanship of Mark Reynolds from Mace; I worked with Mark and Mace on the regeneration of Stevenage, so I am sure that he …
Lords
Statutory Instrument
13 June 2025
Statutory Instruments (Amendment) Bill [HL]
The noble Lord makes an excellent point. As the Attorney-General has made clear in several speeches, that is absolutely the intention and objective of this Government’s legislative programme.
I do not wish to repeat the reasons why the Government cannot support the Bill. We will continue our effort…
Lords
Proceedings
12 June 2025
Spending Review 2025
My Lords, I very much welcome the fact that the Chancellor reiterated yesterday, in the other place, a commitment to no unfunded increases in expenditure. Could the Minister reassure me about the other promise which she made in the autumn Budget—I am going to read it so I am not misrepresenting it—t…