Lords
Proceedings
30 January 2026
Arrangement of Business
My Lords, responding directly to that point, it is indeed true that the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, wrote to some members yesterday. Sadly, I did not receive his letter directly from him, but it was forwarded to me. Part of the problem here, directly relating to the noble Baroness’s quest…
Lords
Oral Questions
29 January 2026
Erasmus+ Eligibility: Asylum Seekers
Of course, the nature of the rights of asylum seekers means that they would not, for example, be able to benefit from travel overseas. Were they to be volunteering or in education, they could benefit from Erasmus programmes there.
Lords
Oral Questions
27 January 2026
3 contributions
Hospitality Businesses
My Lords—
My Lords—
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
23 January 2026
16 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I thought we were taking the remote contributors first. If we are not, since there are amendments from my noble friend Lord Mackinlay of Richborough to which I have attached my name—he is unable to be here today; he sends his apologies and has asked me to speak to his amendments—I will spe…
I am grateful for that intervention; it is a very good point. The importance of it is emphasised by one of the points that the noble Lord, Lord Birt, made in his opening remarks: that many people do not seek to make decisions on these matters until quite late in the process. If you were facing consi…
+14 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
21 January 2026
2 contributions
Great Western Railway: Infrastructure
My Lords, it is the turn of the Labour Benches, and then we will come to the Conservative Benches.
I think the noble Lord is a bit optimistic. If mother nature continues to pour water into the railway infrastructure, because of the way it is built, any fix will be related to what the climate is actually doing.
Network Rail is very confident that there can be further reductions, some of which wil…
Lords
Proceedings
19 January 2026
Northern Powerhouse Rail
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for recognising the success of the trans-Pennine route upgrade—which was, of course, started by the last Conservative Government, when a lot of significant work was done. The Minister also had responsibility for that in a previous role.
I have two specific qu…
Lords
Proceedings
19 January 2026
Digital ID
My Lords, the Minister fell into the same trap as his colleague at the other end of the Parliamentary Estate by saying that the digital ID would be free. He may quibble with the OBR’s assessment of a £1.8 billion cost, but it is not going to be free, is it? Why do the Government think that a governm…
Lords
Debate
16 January 2026
8 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I will speak to two blocks of amendments in this group. Before I turn to that, I just want to pick up on the points that my noble friend Lord Deben made. I strongly agree with the thrust of his speech, and I look forward to the response of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer of Thoro…
I am very grateful to the noble and learned Baroness and, of course, I defer to her knowledge of the law. The point I am making, which I think is the same point, is that we should make sure that the legislation is absolutely clear, so that there is no risk of that. The other issue, of course, is tha…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
15 January 2026
Exercise Pegasus 2025
The noble Lord is right. However, it is about not just this House and the other place but the four devolved Assemblies, making sure that all nations and regions have proper democratic oversight and engagement in any process. That is why Pegasus included not only ministerial leads, which it did, and …
Lords
Oral Questions
14 January 2026
Boarding of Sanctioned Vessels
The legal basis is the fact that these ships are operating as either false flag or stateless vessels. That gives us the legal basis. I have read the reports that the noble Lord has read, but the current situation is that that is the legal basis that we are using in relation to the stateless, flagles…
Lords
Debate
13 January 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
Very briefly, in the spirit of trying to be helpful, and in answering my noble friend Lord Attlee, one of the things that was very helpful in my time at the Department for Transport was that National Highways sought a pre-emptive injunction to set out certain behaviours that should be prohibited and…
Lords
Proceedings
12 January 2026
Ukraine and Wider Operational Update
My Lords, to take the Minister back to the question of resources, he will be aware that the Chief of the Defence Staff gave evidence to a Select Committee this afternoon and confirmed that there is a gap between the funds available and the ability to spend on current strategic defence programmes. Fo…
Lords
Debate
9 January 2026
7 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, the flaw in that argument is that not all of the questions for the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, and the Minister have been asked. If they answered some of them now and more were then asked, we would need to hear from them again. That would not help the Committee make progress. It…
That is very good. I am glad that the noble Lord has confirmed that the Minister will respond; I look forward to her doing so.
My final point concerns whether the Bill’s sponsors have carried out the modelling and costings that their proposals will require. Have those been put before this House so …
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
8 January 2026
Buses: Safety and Security
The noble Lord is clearly in possession of information that I do not have, because my department and other parts of government are still looking at this. But it is a fact of life that all modern vehicles, including buses, are using software to support safer driving, improve diagnostics and provide a…
Lords
Proceedings
6 January 2026
Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief
My Lords, my noble friend on the Front Bench made it very clear that farmers had to campaign long and hard to get this necessary change, and it happened at the very last minute. A similar campaign is being waged by the hospitality industry, which faces a near doubling of its business rates over the …
Lords
Oral Questions
6 January 2026
Defence Spending
I understand the challenge that the noble Lord makes, but I cannot give him a specific time—next week or by the end of the month—by which it will be published. We are determined, through the defence investment plan, to make sure that we get this right; that we make the right choices and that we do n…
Lords
Proceedings
16 December 2025
NHS: Winter Preparedness
My Lords, can I press the Minister a little on the reasons why NHS staff are reluctant to get vaccinated? The noble Lord, Lord Scriven, drew attention to the very low vaccination rate. What are the top reasons for those barriers? What is the Minister doing about it as a matter of urgency, given the …
Lords
Debate
12 December 2025
8 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, gave a very welcome response to the opening speech of the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay. He set out a range of protections that there may be. Once he has had those conversations, if he is persuaded that there need to be some protections, will he be …
I am grateful to the Minister for making that point, which I think was the question I asked last time. This is very relevant to the question that I posed to the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer. It is very important that we put protections in the legislation, so that they are not subsequently u…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
10 December 2025
7 contributions
Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill
My Lords, I rise to speak briefly to this group of amendments. I strongly agree on the importance of having a proper framework for these contracts and a competitive process. The lesson from the energy market is that that competitive process is important to make sure that we achieve the policy object…
I am grateful to the noble Lord for that clarification. As I said, I certainly agree with the thrust of his amendments; I just would not want there to be a legislative mandate for the Government to do something that proves to be unnecessary. Again, I think we need to understand from the Minister wha…
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
25 November 2025
Forthcoming Fiscal Changes
As I have said already, I am not going to comment on individual measures ahead of the Budget.
Lords
Debate
24 November 2025
3 contributions
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
It is not that unfair to say that he may not carry on being the Minister for ever; indeed, he may not want to be the Minister for ever. He has another piece of legislation on borders coming very soon. He may say that he is going to publish it but it would be better, I think, if it were in statute so…
My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Jackson of Peterborough for tabling Motion A1, that this House,
“do insist on its Amendment 37”.
The amendment that we made to the Bill on Report has a simple purpose. My noble friend simply wishes the Home Office to publish data on overseas students, and tha…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
21 November 2025
3 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I support the thrust of the amendments in this group, but first, I want to say a word or two on one of the issues that has come up in this morning’s debate. I hope the Committee will indulge me if I just quote a few lines from yesterday’s maiden speech by the right reverend Prelate the Bis…
My Lords—
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
20 November 2025
Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill
My Lords, I add my congratulations to the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chester on his entertaining and informed speech. He should moonlight and take a second job on the Climate Change Committee.
It is a great pleasure for me to follow my noble friend Lord Harper, who rightly stressed that w…
Lords
Proceedings
20 November 2025
Asylum Policy
My Lords, there is not a word of the Prime Minister’s foreword to this Statement that was not true on the day that he became Prime Minister. It is welcome that the Government have got to where they have. The Minister referred to our record; my recollection is that, every time we proposed tough thing…
Lords
Proceedings
18 November 2025
Police Reform
My Lords, I very much welcome the introduction of powers going to mayors where there are mayors. That remains the democratic accountability. Can I ask the Minister to think again about policing boards, though? That did not work in the past. It is very important that there is proper democratic accoun…