Lords
Proceedings
14 July 2026
State of Climate and Nature
Why cut back and close jobs at home, shutting down oil and gas, food production and our factories when it increases world CO₂? This is self-harm on a crazy scale. Why do the Government want to lose jobs and investment?
Lords
Debate
13 July 2026
Clean Water Bill: Chalk Streams
Can the Government give us their estimate of the cost and the timetable for putting in the extra pipes and processing capacity so that we can clean up our rivers?
Lords
Proceedings
9 July 2026
UK Migration
What sustainable rate of net inward migration would the Government like to see going forward?
Lords
Debate
8 July 2026
3 contributions
Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Fox, for reminding us of the importance of contingent liabilities and the need for the Government to complete due diligence before any acquisition. He rightly says that in a hypothetical case—not British Steel Scunthorpe—it might be necessary to move q…
My Lords, there will be an issue with the public interest case, if and when we get to the full nationalisation of British Steel at Scunthorpe. Many of us are unclear as to whether the Government’s aim is to find a medium-term or longer-term solution to the problem of how to keep the two existing bla…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Proceedings
7 July 2026
Military Conflicts: International Law
My Lords, why does the Attorney-General wish to break the US-UK treaty on Diego Garcia, when the ICJ has no ability to order us around on Commonwealth and defence matters, and we need to keep that base?
Lords
Debate
7 July 2026
Railways Bill
I agree with the Minister’s three main aims for railway improvement. He is right that punctuality is insufficient. Last year, under 85% of trains arrived within three minutes of timetable and over 4% of services were cancelled altogether. He is right that we need to improve the quality of the passen…
Lords
Proceedings
6 July 2026
National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation
My Lords, my sister died at birth, so I remember well the impact this has on families. What more can the Government and the NHS do to help those families who have lost a baby in such painful circumstances, or who are now bringing up a disabled child as a result of medical difficulty?
Lords
Proceedings
6 July 2026
International Marine Protected Area: Sargasso Sea
I urge Ministers to look again at the giving away of the Chagos. There is no legal need to do so, and my noble friend Lord Cameron, as Foreign Secretary, realised that, did not do so, and had the full support of many of us.
Lords
Proceedings
1 July 2026
Farming Road Map and Profitability Review
Is this not a policy to make us more dependent on imported dairy and meat from the EU, because these policies will find that the carbon targets, the grazing policy and the wilding policy will mean far fewer farm animals in our country?
Lords
Proceedings
30 June 2026
Civil Service Pension Scheme
My Lords, will the Government be asking the contractor for compensation for their costs and inconveniences, as well as the contribution it should be making to those who have lost on their pension?
Lords
Debate
29 June 2026
2 contributions
Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill
My Lords, I fully support this amendment and hope that it will tease out from the Minister a little more about what the underlying purpose of the general legislation is, as I am not too enamoured of this becoming a fully nationalised industry with the ability to acquire all sorts of other steel inte…
My Lords, I welcome these three amendments. Amendment 2 is a necessary slight curtailment but would still leave the Government with enormous scope, given how wide-ranging the three cited reasons for public interest intervention are. Like my noble friend, I cannot think of any other reason why they m…
Lords
Proceedings
23 June 2026
Social Media: Use of X by Government Departments
Does anyone in government have the job of reading all the incoming messages, following the Government’s submission, and do they ever take any of them seriously?
Lords
Proceedings
23 June 2026
G7 Summit
As the Government have decommissioned the last minesweeper and the last frigate we had in the Gulf, what assistance can we practically offer in the very important task of clearing the mines and safeguarding shipping, assuming the ceasefire holds?
Lords
Statutory Instrument
23 June 2026
Carbon Budget Order 2026
My Lords, as a Member of Parliament, I was unable to vote for the original climate change legislation. It seemed to be totally unrealistic, it was likely to be extremely expensive, and I thought it would be self-defeating. It was quite obvious that a large number of important economies around the wo…
Lords
Proceedings
22 June 2026
HS2 Ltd: Consultants
When will we have a realistic timetable and budget to complete the works on this much-delayed railway line?
Lords
Proceedings
18 June 2026
Steel Tariffs
This is a very large increase in costs for steel processors, so what is the Government’s estimate of the job losses and business losses that are sure to follow such a comprehensive, large increase in a major cost to these businesses?
Lords
Proceedings
17 June 2026
2 contributions
Thames Water
My Lords, do the Government agree that Thames Water needs to put in a lot of new, larger waste pipes and an extra reservoir to cater for the extra population that we have experienced in the area? What is the Minister’s rough estimate of how much capital this new investment will take?
Pursuant to the Minister’s kind reply to me, I welcome the Government’s wish to have more reservoirs. She might like to ask about the Abingdon reservoir plan for the Thames area, which has long been around. It was much needed when I was MP for my local area and is even more so now.
Lords
Proceedings
16 June 2026
Russian Shadow Fleet
To deter these ships, surely it is important that the Government tell them what would happen to their cargo and what would happen to their vessel if they persist.
Lords
Proceedings
15 June 2026
Immigration: Eurodac and SIS II
Should not every migrant arriving by illegal boat be asked who they paid, who told them about the service, and who was driving the boat? If they do not co-operate, should not the authorities look at their bank records and their phone records?
Lords
Proceedings
10 June 2026
New Towns: Laying the Foundations (Built Environment Committee Report)
My Lords, in 2004 the Labour Government were struggling with a shortage of homes and rising housing costs, so I offered some published advice on how, for example, they could initiate the construction of a new garden city by the Thames. I provisionally called it Thames Reach—it was in the Ebbsfleet a…
Lords
Proceedings
9 June 2026
Further Education Colleges: Recovery of VAT
Why do the Government so often favour a model that takes a lot of tax off institutions, people and companies and then has to give some back by way of grant to help pay for it? Is that not just a double handling charge that we do not need?
Lords
Proceedings
9 June 2026
Water Companies
We do need more capacity for reservoirs and water storage. Where have the Government and the regulator got to in granting the permits so that work can get under way to make that much-needed provision?
Lords
Proceedings
8 June 2026
Royal Mail
Is not the financial performance of Royal Mail so much better than that of the nationalised Post Office, with Royal Mail requiring no subsidy from taxpayers and the Post Office sending colossal bills for big losses and for damaging treatment of staff who require compensation?