Lords
Proceedings
10 September 2026
Defence Spending
My Lords, does my noble friend the Minister agree with me that, in this debate on the level of defence expenditure, we should look at how we got to where we are today? Between 2010 and 2017, from the Tory-led coalition Government onwards, the then Government cut the defence budget by 16% and made pe…
Lords
Proceedings
9 September 2026
UK Automotive and Components Sector
My Lords, I begin by declaring an interest in that, like the Minister, I own a Jaguar Land Rover car. The Minister said that government procurement should be competitive, but in France or Germany, for example, no government Minister would get in a foreign-made car. What more can the Government do ce…
Lords
Debate
1 September 2026
Public Office (Accountability) Bill
I begin my speech with one thought in my mind: the 97 individuals who lost their lives on 15 April 1989 at Hillsborough, and their families and friends. It is through the tenacious campaign of those families and friends that we are here today. What occurred on 15 April 1989 was a shameful saga. It s…
Lords
Proceedings
1 September 2026
Nepal: Flooding
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Lancaster, mentioned the Gurkhas. Our thoughts are with all those who serve in British forces and with their families in Nepal. Could the Minister say what support is being given to the Gurkha Welfare Trust and other organisations that support Gurkha veterans in Nepal?
Lords
Proceedings
22 July 2026
Pensions Commission
My Lords, I too welcome my noble friend back to her rightful position. She talked about people working hard to save for their pensions. They include pensioners who worked at Nissan in the north-east. Many now find themselves in very dire straits, because for those who accumulated in a pension scheme…
Lords
Proceedings
21 July 2026
Natural England: Gamebird Release Licensing
My Lords, local shoots are important to many local rural economies. I would be interested to know the view of my noble friend the Minister on the position that National England takes in doing economic impact studies on the effects of its policies on local farming communities.
Lords
Proceedings
16 July 2026
Artificial Intelligence: Legislation
My Lords, I agree with my noble friend that AI is going to be transformational, but the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Houghton, raises a very important point about warfare, where it is going to be transformational and not necessarily for the good. I hear what my noble friend says about the MoD, but t…
Lords
Proceedings
15 July 2026
National Shipbuilding Strategy
Sir John Parker produced his report on national shipbuilding policy in 2017. It was adapted by the then Government, reviewed in 2022 and adopted by the incoming Labour Government. The Minister’s own department has made some progress towards ensuring that there is a throughput of work in UK shipyards…
Lords
Proceedings
7 July 2026
British Industry and Services: Public Procurement
My Lords, a central tenant of the UK’s national shipbuilding policy is that we have a drumbeat of orders through UK shipyards, recognising that 38p of every pound put in by the taxpayer comes back directly in tax and national insurance. Can my noble friend explain why the Department for Transport is…
Lords
Proceedings
25 June 2026
Waste Management Carriers: Regulation
My Lords, I have been talking rubbish for many years. This is not just a blight on people’s neighbourhoods but an environmental time bomb ticking away in many communities. It is also a driver of organised crime, with the money used for other nefarious activities. The last Government set up the Joint…
Lords
Proceedings
17 June 2026
Foreign Interference in UK Democratic Processes
My Lords, in its 2020 report on Russia, the ISC highlighted the malign influence of Russia and, more recently, in our report on Iran, we highlighted the use of the online space to sow division within our politics. Does my noble friend the Minister agree that we should condemn those politicians who r…
Lords
Proceedings
17 June 2026
State of Extremism Report
My Lords, my noble friend will recognise that an increasing number of the subjects of interest, in both the right-wing space and the Islamic space, being investigated by the security services are individuals under the age of 16. What more can be done to tackle the radicalisation of individuals, whic…
Lords
Proceedings
15 June 2026
Defence Investment Plan
The DIP has a had a gestation period longer than an African elephant, and we are still no further forward. When they came into power, this Government said they were about growth, and a growth agenda for Britain. Does my noble friend agree with me that a growth agenda would be if we actually invested…
Lords
Proceedings
2 June 2026
Prostate Cancer Screening
My Lords, the problem with prostate cancer is that most men do not have symptoms; it was certainly like that in my case. The Minister said that wide screening would lead to worsening outcomes, but I am sorry: being alive is far better than the alternative. We will have a problem: in affluent communi…
Lords
Proceedings
19 May 2026
Lord Mandelson: Government Response to Humble Address
My Lords, the ISC was given a clear task to look at documents that were going to be released on the humble Address for national security and international relations harm. We have done that. We spent many hours doing it. I pay credit to the committee members for their hard work and thank in particula…
Lords
Proceedings
28 April 2026
Lord Mandelson Humble Address: Government Response Update
My Lords, I rise to bring news from the front to your Lordships’ House. After another five-hour meeting today, the Intelligence and Security Committee, which I chair, has now completed reviewing all the documents that have been referred to it. I stress to the House that this has been a long process.…
Lords
Proceedings
20 April 2026
Security Vetting
My Lords, the humble Address that Parliament passed gave the Intelligence and Security Committee, which I chair, the responsibility to consider those documents that, if released, would affect national security or international relations. This February, we asked the Cabinet Office to prioritise all t…
Lords
Oral Questions
17 March 2026
Fujitsu: Post Office Horizon Case
I share the frustrations my noble friend expresses. The Government are absolutely committed to ensuring that this inquiry takes place, and the findings will be published soon. As he will note, the first volume of the inquiry has been published, and it makes it clear that Fujitsu has an obligation to…
Lords
Debate
10 March 2026
Victims and Courts Bill
My Lords, I support my noble friend Lady Chakrabarti’s amendment. We discussed this in Committee. My involvement, like that of the noble Lord, Lord Arbuthnot, is through the experience of the Post Office Horizon scandal. In those cases, we saw computer evidence put before the court with the presumpt…
Lords
Proceedings
2 March 2026
Middle East
My Lords, I thank my noble friend for repeating the Statement. I also thank her, and through her the Government, for the intelligence brief I had this afternoon on the current situation. Clearly, President Trump and now His Majesty’s Opposition seem to have forgotten Secretary of State Colin Powell’…
Lords
Proceedings
24 February 2026
Lord Mandelson: Government Response to Humble Address
My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Finn, raised ISC staff. Their job, and that of the committee, was made incredibly difficult by the previous Conservative Government cutting the budget and interfering with the appointments to the committee. The committee met the Prime Minister last year. This was t…
Lords
Oral Questions
12 February 2026
Environment Agency: Waste Crime
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Sheehan, on securing this debate and thank her both for her excellent leadership as the chair of the Environment and Climate Change Committee, of which I have the privilege to be a member, and for her comprehensive introduction to this topic. I also …
Lords
Oral Questions
12 February 2026
Post Office Capture and Horizon Scandals
Again, I thank the noble Lord for his work overall on the Horizon and Capture scandals. While, again, it would be inappropriate for me to comment on a specific case, I can say that the Post Office was the original prosecutor in the criminal case on this specific Capture conviction—not this departmen…
Lords
Debate
11 February 2026
3 contributions
Victims and Courts Bill
My Lords, I too support Amendment 61 in the name of my noble friend Lady Chakrabarti.
When I left my home in Durham on Monday morning, I had a phone call. It was from an individual I had met five years earlier. He was the husband of a postmistress in Northumberland who had been prosecuted by the Po…
I am not opposed to consultation, but, I am sorry, this Government are hiding behind consultation. Once the consultation is finished, we then need action, but that is not happening, not just in this area but in a whole host of other areas.
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Proceedings
26 January 2026
Chinese Embassy
My Lords, my noble friend, in her answer, referred to the ISC. The ISC has looked at this very closely. We were given access to all the confidential and sensitive documentation, and we took evidence from our security services and Ministers; I thank them for that. We came to the conclusion that Minis…