Lords
Debate
26 January 2026
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, my noble friend the Minister suggested that this agreement was supported by our Five Eyes partners, including the United States—the Secretary of State to the US made a statement to that effect. I know from briefings we have had in the ISC the important nature of this base for us, the Unite…
Lords
Oral Questions
13 January 2026
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
As a former member of the Intelligence and Security Committee myself, I would want to see that the committee is kept fully informed. My noble friend will know that Jonathan Hall KC is currently undertaking a review of legislation in this sphere, at the request of the current Government. That is expe…
Lords
Debate
12 January 2026
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, I will just come back to the issue of the environment, which is crucial here. I have a direct question to the Minister, whom I particularly respect in this area. Why on earth was there not a clear connection between our payments and the upkeep of this, the most important marine environment…
Lords
Oral Questions
7 January 2026
Venezuela
Yes, I do agree with my noble friend on that.
Lords
Oral Questions
18 December 2025
Lithuania: Balloon Incursions
I join my noble friend in his congratulations and recognition of our serving Armed Forces personnel and their families who stand behind them. It is important to recognise that, particularly at this time of the year, as my noble friend has just done. I am sure that the whole House joins him in that.
…
Lords
Proceedings
16 December 2025
US National Security Strategy
My Lords, last week the US Congress, on a bipartisan basis, passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which was signed by the President on Thursday night. That Act commits US troops to Europe, highlights that it sees Russia as a threat not only to Europe but to the United States, and commits th…
Lords
Oral Questions
11 December 2025
United States: Intelligence Sharing
I am grateful to my noble friend for reminding me of my time on the Intelligence and Security Committee, and I am grateful to him for his work chairing it now. He has articulated the principles of information sharing. He will understand that I cannot comment on the details of intelligence sharing, b…
Lords
Debate
25 November 2025
3 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, I will speak on Amendment 67. This part of the agreement is being portrayed as though it has some type of special status. It is similar to the agreement we have with the sovereign base areas in Cyprus. The UK and our allies use Cyprus as a staging post for a number of operations outside th…
What the noble Lord is saying is very interesting, but the treaty protects the outer islands from development. Mauritius is one of only two African countries that is not part of the belt and road initiative, so its main interlocuter is not China but India.
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
19 November 2025
Ukraine: UK-USA Discussions
I condemn the attack on the Polish railway. The attacks on Ukraine grow ever more deadly, and the attacks on Ukrainian energy supplies are particularly egregious as we approach the middle of winter. Putin’s actions belie the idea that he is genuinely seeking peace at the moment.
Lords
Proceedings
18 November 2025
China Espionage: Government Security Response
My Lords, as chair of the ISC, I welcome the Statement. As the noble Lord, Lord Fox, said, most of it, if not more, was covered in our 2023 report on China. The reason China has got a foothold here has to be looked back on very clearly, including whether the golden era for UK-China relations during …
Lords
Oral Questions
18 November 2025
2 contributions
Ministry of Defence Procurement: UK-manufactured Products
My Lords, the defence industrial strategy set a vision to make the UK defence sector more competitive, innovative and resilient, including measures backing UK businesses, lowering barriers to entry and increasing competitiveness by supporting SMEs through the defence office for small business growth…
I will look at the specific example that my noble friend has raised about the awarding of that contract. As well as that example, I could give others of where we have been successful in ensuring that shipbuilding is seeing something of a renaissance in our country, not least the recent winning of th…
Lords
Oral Questions
12 November 2025
Caribbean: US Military Action
My noble friend makes a really good point, and he is right to point out that the last Government implemented the particular review and the principles that he is referring to. All I am saying is that the lawfulness of the strikes that the US has conducted is a matter for them. As far as the UK Govern…
Lords
Debate
4 November 2025
3 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Beamish. He deployed a lot of knowledge and insight, and I have great respect for him. He mentioned the former leader of the Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, who has been consistent in his interest in this subject; I would also add Andrew Rosindell…
As I said earlier in my remarks, that was a decision with which I strongly disagreed then, and I strongly disagree now. He was plainly wrong in so saying.
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
22 October 2025
International Maritime Organization: Net-Zero Framework
I thank my noble friend, who is absolutely right. UK shipbuilders and designers are at the forefront, which is why it is important for this Government to continue to support those efforts. We need this for our economy and for our position on climate change, and what is good for the country ought to …
Lords
Proceedings
21 October 2025
Alleged Spying Case: Home Office Involvement
My Lords, as chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee, and on its behalf, I thank the agencies for their very detailed briefing last week on the intelligence behind this incident. We have now decided to have an investigation into the intelligence part of this incident. As a former member of …
Lords
Proceedings
15 October 2025
Manchester Terrorism Attack
My Lords, I think all our thoughts are with the victims, their families and the Jewish community not just in Manchester but throughout the country. I echo the thanks to the security services, the police and other emergency services that reacted so swiftly to this event. I ask the Minister to pass on…
Lords
Oral Questions
15 October 2025
2 contributions
Waste Crime
My Lords, the Government are committed to tackling waste crime. We are preparing significant reforms to the waste carriers, brokers and dealers regime and the waste permit exemptions regime. We are also introducing digital waste tracking to make it harder than ever to misidentify waste or dispose of…
My noble friend is absolutely right to say that this is a really serious problem, and the Government need to get to grips with it. That is why we are taking specific actions to try to start making a real difference in the amount and impact of waste crime in order to genuinely start to reduce what is…
Lords
Proceedings
14 October 2025
Security Update: Official Secrets Act Case
I say to the noble Baroness, Lady Finn, that, as chair of the ISC, I do not recognise some of her comments about our security services concerning China.
This confuses me because, as I understand the situation, the prosecutor has taken the 1911 Act. It was the ISC that, in 2020, called for reform of…
Lords
Oral Questions
18 September 2025
Rail Fares
That is a very welcome sentiment, and I appreciate it. We are trying hard, as is the management of LNER, to get some rationalisation into this, and it is convenient for people. The proposition that you can buy a ticket with plus or minus 70 minutes means that you do not have to travel on the train t…
Lords
Proceedings
10 September 2025
Defence Industrial Strategy
My Lords, I welcome this strategy. It is the first proper defence strategy that we have had since the strategy produced in 2005 by the noble Lord, Lord Drayson. However, I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Goldie: the pace at which it will be delivered is important. I must say to my noble friend t…
Lords
Oral Questions
3 September 2025
Prostate Cancer
My Lords, I join with noble Lords in paying tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Mott, for convening this business and discussing an issue that is absolutely vital in order to save the lives of men across the UK. We are blessed in this House to have eloquent noble Lords who have shared their own experien…
Lords
Proceedings
2 September 2025
Borders and Asylum
My Lords, in 2019 Boris Johnson and the Conservative Government stood on a slogan of taking back control of our borders and our laws. Over the next four years, we saw record levels of immigration and a shambolic and dysfunctional asylum system. Over the summer, we have seen the extreme right try to …
Lords
Oral Questions
24 July 2025
Voting at 16
My Lords, my noble friend makes a very interesting point. In relation to this, my department is working with the electoral administration sector and those in the further and higher education sector to explore approaches to help people register. We will, I hope, take steps to move towards what my nob…
Lords
Debate
23 July 2025
Armed Forces Commissioner Bill
My Lords, I thank everyone who has contributed to this short debate at the end of our discussions on the Bill. I want to comment briefly on a couple of the points that were made. On the point from the noble Baroness, Lady Goldie, about the Written Ministerial Statement, we expect to do that in the a…
Lords
Oral Questions
23 July 2025
Pensions: Low-income and Self-employed Workers
My noble friend is very aware that I am a former trade union official who represented local government workers. I can give a complete commitment to the Local Government Pension Scheme. To be very clear, the terms of reference for the Pensions Commission do not touch on public sector pensions schemes…