Lords
Proceedings
25 June 2026
Democratic Institutions: Threats
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Wallace. I thank him for securing this debate. Democracy is certainly under threat. Some 87% of Britons have either not very much or no trust at all in politicians and 33% sympathise with the view of British political institutions that they s…
Lords
Proceedings
17 June 2026
Thames Water
My Lords, when the water industry was privatised over 30 years ago, it was almost entirely debt-free. Since then, as the Minister said, debt has been racked up. The Minister said that there will be provisions in the new water Bill for creating a new regulator. Further to the previous question, becau…
Lords
Proceedings
11 June 2026
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps: Proscription
My Lords, I am glad to hear that the Government are bringing forward legislation, but it is not before time. We have seen IRGC proxies and operatives attacking British Jews and Jewish institutions. We have just seen two such proxies prosecuted and convicted for an almost fatal attack on an Iranian j…
Lords
Proceedings
18 May 2026
King’s Speech
My Lords, I will speak yet again, as many others have, about antisemitism. I would love to be able to stand here today and say that the tide was being turned against antisemitism and we would not have too many more debates like this, but I am afraid I cannot say that because the tide is still runnin…
Lords
Proceedings
18 May 2026
King’s Speech
My Lords, I will speak yet again, as many others have, about antisemitism. I would love to be able to stand here today and say that the tide was being turned against antisemitism and we would not have too many more debates like this, but I am afraid I cannot say that because the tide is still runnin…
Lords
Oral Questions
20 April 2026
2 contributions
Schoolchildren: Swimming
My Lords, swimming and water safety are vital life skills, and every child should have the opportunity to learn how to swim and how to keep themself safe around water before they leave primary school. The latest figures indicate that 73% of children can swim 25 metres by the time they leave primary …
Starting with the last point first, we are already working with Swim England, among others, to improve both the resource and the curriculum when it comes to swimming and water safety. My noble friend is right about the big fall in pools between 2010 and 2026. In fact, I have a slightly higher figure…
Lords
Proceedings
15 April 2026
Southport Inquiry
My Lords, after what happened in Southport, is it fair to say that the parameters within which Prevent operates are too narrowly drawn? What I mean by that is that the perpetrator’s obsession with violence was drawn to the attention of Prevent three times, but Prevent’s response was, “Well, because …
Lords
Oral Questions
16 March 2026
2 contributions
Antisemitism on University Campuses
My Lords, there is no place for antisemitism on university campuses, and it is essential that Jewish students feel safe along with everyone else, regardless of race or religion. That is why we have strengthened the Office for Students’ monitoring and universities’ Prevent duties, and updated guidanc…
I thank my noble friend. If anyone was listening to the “Today” programme, they would have heard first-hand the experience of many Jewish students. It was pretty outrageous. It is not only about verbal abuse; there are stories of people being kicked out of their accommodation, and so on and so forth…
Lords
Proceedings
26 February 2026
Transnational Repression in the UK (JCHR Report)
My Lords, it was a delight to listen to the noble Lord, and a pleasure to listen to the noble Lord, Lord Isaac, give his maiden speech. Some of us may have been sceptical about the achievements of some new Peers in their past local government or party-political careers, but today we have a new Peer …
Lords
Oral Questions
12 February 2026
Counter-Extremism Strategy
This is an excellent time to be debating this vital issue and I congratulate my noble friend Lord Goodman of Wycombe on initiating this debate and on his recent comments on this important and complex subject. The Government have commissioned a rapid analytical sprint review but have not yet accepted…
Lords
Proceedings
5 February 2026
Iran
My Lords, the impression has been created that government policy has changed and that we are about to ban the IRGC or will do so at some point in the near future. Is that the case, or is it not, because some of us are starting to get a bit fed up with raising this?
Lords
Oral Questions
27 January 2026
TikTok: Bereaved British Parents
We have put in place powers under the Data (Use and Access) Act, which established the data preservation process, to require Ofcom, when notified by a coroner, to issue a data preservation notice to the specified online service companies. Since coming into force on 30 September, Ofcom has issued at …
Lords
Oral Questions
13 January 2026
2 contributions
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
It is the Government’s long-standing position not to comment on the detail of security or intelligence matters, including whether a specific organisation is being considered for proscription. The Government’s approach to threats to the UK is kept under constant review. However, the Government utterl…
As I said to my noble friend, we keep proscription under constant review, and that will always be the case. I am sure he is aware that the IRGC is sanctioned by the UK Government. That sanction means that we have travel bans, so no known member of the IRGC can travel to the United Kingdom. Where it …
Lords
Proceedings
6 January 2026
Venezuela
My Lords, the idea that this is the end of the world order is fantastical. As we have just heard, previous American Presidents have intervened; for instance, in Grenada and in Panama. The difference is that President Trump does not really mind letting people know that he does not give a monkey’s abo…
Lords
Oral Questions
26 November 2025
2 contributions
West Midlands Police: Maccabi Tel Aviv Fans
I am sorry, it is me again. The Government are limited in what they can say at this time about the intelligence used by West Midlands Police following alleged inaccuracies reported in the media, but I can tell my noble friend that the Policing Minister has written to the chief constable of West Midl…
I thank my noble friend for that question. I will deal first with the issues surrounding the football match. Obviously, the police are operationally independent of government, and officials routinely engage with operational partners to support public safety and effective policing. The Home Office do…
Lords
Oral Questions
18 November 2025
2 contributions
Ministry of Defence Procurement: UK-manufactured Products
We will hear from the Lib Dem Benches.
My noble friend makes a really good point, and of course he is right to say that. The total number of direct and indirect jobs supported through MoD expenditure with UK industry a couple of years ago was 272,000, which was up from 244,000 the year before—so defence is growing. Is it growing fast eno…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 November 2025
Trials: Timeliness
I thank my noble friend for that, and I can understand why that seems like an obvious solution. But the separation of powers between the Government and the courts is one of the fundamental protections of any citizen. Therefore, putting pressure on judges to alter a judicial decision would be wrong a…
Lords
Proceedings
27 October 2025
Heathrow: National Airports Review
My Lords, I understand the economic arguments for the expansion of Heathrow, and the connectivity arguments we just heard about. However, I want to address the issue of overflying, which was mentioned earlier.
I was a Member of the other place for a long time, always for an east London constituency…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 September 2025
Sickness Benefits: In-person Interviews
My Lords, most assessments are done in assessment centres. Many of those are conducted by providers because we have to have health providers to do them. My noble friend may be glad to know that we have specific, clear rules about what an assessment centre must do. For example, it must be appropriate…
Lords
Proceedings
14 July 2025
Road and Rail Projects
My Lords, it is widely recognised that rail privatisation has been a spectacular disaster, which is possibly why around 80% of British people, according to most polls, support rail renationalisation—including millions of Conservative voters, who the noble Lord, Lord Moylan, clearly thinks are closet…
Lords
Proceedings
10 July 2025
Government Resilience Action Plan
My Lords, there is a pretty strong chance that any future terrorist attacks in Britain will be linked directly or indirectly to the regime in Tehran. I welcome recently introduced provisions which mean that British citizens who have undeclared links to Tehran can face criminal prosecution. Would it …
Lords
Proceedings
8 July 2025
Actions of Iranian Regime: UK Response
My Lords, is it not about time that we got around to proscribing fully the IRGC? We are talking about a latter-day combination of the Blackshirts, the SA and various other fascistic organisations. They do the bidding of a death cult that is dominated by clerical fascists. It is about time we got aro…
Lords
Proceedings
30 June 2025
UK Modern Industrial Strategy
My Lords, since the noble Lord, Lord Sharpe, talked about energy policy at such great length, can my noble friend confirm that there are two crucial elements in the operation of energy policy, which are diversity and security? Both those elements, which were undermined over 14 years under the previo…
Lords
Oral Questions
24 June 2025
Young People: Sporting Activities
My noble friend is absolutely right. That is why it is a key part of the national curriculum that children should be able to swim before the age of 11. It is why the ongoing commitment to the primary PE and sport premium, which is funded for the next academic year at £320 million, can also be—and ha…