Lords
Oral Questions
3 February 2026
Shamima Begum
Again, with due respect to the noble Lord, I am not going to comment on individual cases, which the Government are currently actively considering, in terms of both the original decision and the court case to date. The noble Lord has said what he said and the House will have heard it; I cannot commen…
Lords
Proceedings
26 January 2026
Chinese Embassy
My Lords, I certainly support the noble Baroness our Front-Bench spokesperson and the noble Lord the Lib Dem spokesman. This is a regrettable decision but we now have to move on. I am being pragmatic; I accept that it is going to happen, and we have to make the best of it. China wanted this embassy …
Lords
Debate
26 January 2026
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, the Minister appears to be in a parallel universe. Can she comment on what the President of the United States, Scott Bessent and Marco Rubio said last week? Is it not perfectly obvious that they are not going to agree to amend the 1966 treaty?
Lords
Oral Questions
22 January 2026
Diego Garcia: Comments by the President of the United States
I do not know what I have done that is not statesmanlike, but our intention is to have those conversations with the United States and come to an agreed position, and that has consistently been our view. I encourage the noble Lord to consider the words of the Prime Minister yesterday, when he made ou…
Lords
Debate
19 January 2026
2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, my Amendment 51 seeks to highlight the need to include health agencies in the RCC arrangement.
As I mentioned in my speech in Committee back in June, integrated care boards now have a pivotal role to play in the NHS. The main argument advanced when they were proposed that they should repl…
My Lords, I listened very carefully to what the Minister said. Although she went some way to satisfying me and others who support this amendment, I do not think she went far enough. I would like to test the opinion of the House.
Lords
Oral Questions
13 January 2026
United States: Withdrawal from International Organisations
There is a lot more involved in this than peacekeeping, but it is a very important element of what the United Nations and other multilateral organisations involve themselves in. The point about value and efficiency is critical. We are being quite forward-leaning, as they would say in the Foreign Off…
Lords
Oral Questions
7 January 2026
Venezuela
It is not for me to say whether it is or not. My point is that it is for the United States to explain its actions and where it feels they sit within the context of international law. That is the position of our Government and of many of our allies in the European Union.
Lords
Debate
5 January 2026
5 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, I will please the Government by being extremely brief, because I spoke at length at Second Reading and in Committee and have contributed to every Question we have had on this subject.
I agree entirely with the noble Baronesses, Lady Hoey and Lady Meyer. Why do we have this indecent rush? …
Before the Minister sits down, could I clarify one point? She is aware that the committee was set up under the UN charter to monitor the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. All UN members signed up to that and, although it is advisory, it carries a huge…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
11 December 2025
Business Improvement Districts: Town Centre Renewal
As I have already said, the Chancellor announced a number of steps to support our high street businesses as part of the Budget process, including steps on business rates. We are all focused on making sure that we do all we can to support the hospitality industry, including the licensed trade, and we…
Lords
Oral Questions
9 December 2025
Tropical Forest Forever Facility
No. The particular circumstance surrounding the TFFF itself, as I am sure the noble Lord will be aware, was one of intense UK participation in the setting up of the TFFF. As the noble Lord mentions, we consider it to be an essential and significant initiative as far as the future of forests and biod…
Lords
Debate
25 November 2025
2 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, I certainly do support the amendment moved by the noble Lord, Lord Hannan. I will be very brief. The amendment on which I want to focus is not one regarding referenda and consulting the Chagossian people, even though that is very important. Amendment 20L simply states—and I would be surpri…
I understand that, but circumstances can change and this may well be seen as a precedent in the future.
I want to mention one other territory: Anguilla. As the Minister will know, Anguilla went through a period of huge unrest to resist becoming part of St Kitts and Nevis. The consequence was that a…
Lords
Debate
25 November 2025
4 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, I would certainly agree with the noble Lord, Lord Jay, when he says that the Chagossian people, in the disparate parts of the world in which they live, are not united on many issues. However, one thing on which they are united is their desire for employment opportunities on Diego Garcia, s…
Yes, the previous Government set out to give sovereignty to Mauritius across the archipelago, but not necessarily on the sovereign base. In fact, the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, has made it very clear that one of his red lines was protecting the sovereign base in perpetuity, as in Cyprus. That would h…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
18 November 2025
3 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, I rise in support of the noble Lord, Lord Callanan. I think the noble Lord, Lord Grocott, was being a little bit unfair on him. He said very clearly that this is an appalling Bill that he wants to stop, and he has an amendment about Clause 1 standing part.
I would like to speak on one poi…
Will the Minister give way? We keep hearing that the previous Government negotiated over 11 rounds and went on negotiating, but surely that reveals something about the previous Government’s steadfast determination to secure a good deal. If the Government had not been able to get a deal, would they h…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Proceedings
11 November 2025
Conflict in Sudan
My Lords, those were very moving remarks by the Minister. In addition to what the noble Baroness, Lady Sugg, said a moment ago, there are many other examples that the most appalling war crimes are being committed—crimes against humanity. The Minister mentioned the gathering of evidence. What early d…
Lords
Oral Questions
11 November 2025
Police: Records
The noble Lord makes a very important point. There is the idea of 43 police forces, going back to the noble Viscount’s initial point, but we should be trying to encourage co-operation on procurement, on personnel services and on a whole range of other issues where we can save resource and put it int…
Lords
Oral Questions
5 November 2025
Prison Services: Insourcing
The noble Lord is right that drugs are a huge problem: 49% of prisoners who arrive in prison declare to us that they are addicted to drugs and alcohol. We then put them in prison with many serious organised criminals, who make their livelihood from supplying drugs. That is where we have the problem.…
Lords
Debate
4 November 2025
2 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, it is always a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Bellingham, and particularly his very thoughtful speech today. I say at the outset that I support the Bill as a necessary consequence of the Chagos Islands agreement, which I also support.
I will not deal with the future of the Chagos…
I am grateful to the noble Lord; I listened carefully to his speech, which he made in his characteristically sincere way. I will try to address that point in a moment.
I asked: what changed? In the absence of the noble Baroness, Lady Goldie, explaining when she winds up on behalf of her party what …
Lords
Oral Questions
29 October 2025
Corruption: Low and Middle-income Countries
We have had a great deal of success in seizing assets and returning them to those Governments. I remind the House that most people in positions of leadership across Africa are not corrupt and are working incredibly hard for the benefit of their populations. I know the noble Lord agrees with that. We…
Lords
Debate
27 October 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I support both amendments. I made a speech in Committee in which I laid out very similar arguments to those put by the right reverend Prelate and the noble Baroness, Lady Willis. I will not repeat them now, except to say that the right reverend Prelate referred to a number of chalk streams…
Lords
Oral Questions
23 October 2025
Jobcentres: Staffing Levels
My Lords, I suspect that the noble Lord has been reading our Get Britain Working plan—that is the only explanation for that comment. That is exactly what we want to do, and he is so right on this. We have been saying from the beginning that one size does not fit all, and that in employment intervent…
Lords
Oral Questions
22 October 2025
Rules on Duty-Free Goods
This may have been another of the fantasies that people had about certain Brexit outcomes rather than reflecting reality. What we have ended up with—I pay tribute to the previous Government for negotiating this—is the Windsor Framework, which, as I said, is the best workable solution to Northern Ire…
Lords
Oral Questions
17 September 2025
Making Tax Digital
We have an extensive growth agenda, not least in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill that we talked about yesterday, and I hope all noble Lords will help that to move swiftly through the House.
Lords
Oral Questions
16 September 2025
Ethiopia and Eritrea
I thank the noble Lord; I would be delighted to play my part. I put that on record now. The question of working with international partners is central to this Government’s approach. The approach to any tensions should be about dialogue. We have helped to identify suitable facilitators for that dialo…
Lords
Debate
15 September 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I support this amendment, which my noble friend has proposed with a very powerful argument indeed. He is not asking for a stop to housing or these other developments; he is asking for an audit so we have the information to hand.
I want to make just three quick points. Quite often, when it…
Lords
Debate
11 September 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I speak in favour of Amendment 146, on which I am a co-signatory, and Amendments 147 and 148. I will be brief because we have already heard from three noble Lords who have made very powerful contributions—the noble Lords, Lord Blencathra and Lord Berkeley, and the noble Viscount, Lord Tren…