Lords
Statutory Instrument
27 April 2026
Agriculture (Delinked Payments) (Reductions) (England) Regulations 2026
My Lords, I thank everyone for their valuable contributions to this debate. A number of broad concerns have been raised that I will do my best to address now. For any outstanding specific questions, we will look at Hansard and ensure that we write to noble Lords with more detailed responses.
The Go…
Lords
Oral Questions
16 April 2026
Farming Road Map
As a fellow Cumbrian, I absolutely understand and appreciate the concerns expressed by the noble Lord about common land, which is an important part of our farmed landscape. The department recognises the vital role that it plays in supporting wildlife, cultural heritage and rural economies. It is imp…
Lords
Proceedings
26 February 2026
Resetting the UK-EU Relationship (European Affairs Committee Report)
My Lords, today’s debate is ultimately about the national interest. Would a closer relationship with the EU best serve the UK’s economic and strategic needs as an outward-looking global nation? The Chancellor has described stronger EU ties as the country’s “biggest prize”, but would they materially …
Lords
Proceedings
26 January 2026
Water White Paper
My Lords, I am sure there is agreement around the whole House that the state of the water industry in this country at present is very far from satisfactory. In her remarks about the White Paper, the Minister referred to a whole number of possible initiatives and changes and regulations. Does she agr…
Lords
Proceedings
8 January 2026
Broadcasting: Recent Developments
My Lords, I rise to add a little challenge and contrast to what is going on in this debate; it reminds me of the first debate that we had in your Lordships’ House about the state of the BBC, its behaviour and its relevance. As always, I speak to people from diverse communities, poorer communities an…
Lords
Oral Questions
19 November 2025
Telegraph Media Group
The noble Lord makes a fair comment, and I will pass on his comments to the Secretary of State.
Lords
Oral Questions
11 November 2025
British Council
I think we need a bit of reality here. The idea that the Treasury is going to accept art in lieu of a loan is a little fanciful. It is up to the British Council to decide what it wants to do with its assets. Setting aside the loan, the British Council still has work to do to make itself financially …
Lords
Oral Questions
5 November 2025
UK-Norway Defence Agreement: Impact in Scotland
I absolutely agree with that point. The story of Barrow-in-Furness is quite inspiring. Since 1901, Barrow-in-Furness has built 312 submarines, and its current renaissance reflects the importance of skills, innovation, R&D and the supply chain. But I would emphasise that things had got to a very …
Lords
Debate
29 October 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I support the noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Rolfe, and, by extension, the noble Lord, Lord Deben. I was for six years the chairman of a local enterprise partnership. It is often overlooked that the prosperity of the parts of this country that are having greatest difficulties can be majorly …
Lords
Debate
27 October 2025
2 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, in rising to move Amendment 84, I ought first to declare my interest. Most unusually, it has been my lot in life to have lived in a listed building, in the midst of a listed park, for all of it. I am also president of Historic Buildings & Places, which used to be known as the Ancient M…
My Lords, I am very pleased to think that my amendment has led to such a wide discussion that has shown more or less complete unanimity across the House about the importance of green space in place-making in this country. Where we can get unanimity like that, there is the potential to make progress.…
Lords
Proceedings
27 October 2025
Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund
My Lords, for a number of years, when I was a Member of the European Parliament, there were considerable complaints about the illegal landing of black fish. Are the Government satisfied that material quantities of illegally caught black fish are not landed in this country?
Lords
Debate
17 September 2025
3 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, on the grounds of “it takes one to know one”, it is worth noting that this is a debate that we are unlikely to have in the next Session of Parliament—old-style hereditary Peers’ contribution to the governance of this country.
I will talk briefly about invasive species. I declare an intere…
My Lords, I rise briefly to support those who have argued that the levy must be spent exclusively on nature. That is what it is collected for. The Government, who administer these things more generally, have enormous resources at their disposal and they are ordaining that this is the way things will…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
9 September 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, thus far in this debate, we have been thinking in terms of solving the problems that we are discussing by building more houses, but I would like to raise a point that I will describe in a little more detail in a moment: building more houses is, I think, quite the wrong way of approaching t…
Lords
Debate
4 September 2025
2 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I will speak particularly to Amendment 97, to which I have put my name. I am an owner of a listed building, and I have been involved with a large number of others, both as an owner and a trustee, over a long period. I am also president of Historic Buildings & Places, which is one of th…
My Lords, I will briefly support my noble friend Lord Cameron of Dillington’s amendment. In the 1980s, I was chairman of the development and control committee of the then Lake District Special Planning Board, and I can see no reason why those kinds of organisations should not be treated exactly the …
Lords
Proceedings
21 July 2025
State of Climate and Nature
My Lords, I am sure the Minister will agree that talking about climate change does not really do very much about mitigating the problems we all face. What we need to see happen is what my children call “stuff”. Of course, that entails regulatory frameworks and available finance. The noble Earl, Lord…
Lords
Oral Questions
9 July 2025
European Union Entry/Exit System
Indeed—we are very mindful of the fact that, done inelegantly and with the wrong result, this could affect business across the country generally, not merely in the south of England. The three juxtaposed controls are in the south of England, but they affect travellers and freight from all over the co…
Lords
Debate
25 June 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I declare my interest as a trustee of the Fonthill Estate in Wiltshire, and I thank the Minister for introducing this Bill today.
Everybody recognises that we have to get more new houses built, although the failure of all Governments in recent years to control both legal and illegal migra…
Lords
Proceedings
19 June 2025
HS2 Reset
My Lords, I am sure the Minister will agree that the point of railways is moving people and freight around the country and that the railway system is not a kind of glorified train set for the great men of our age to play with. I have travelled up and down the west coast main line for more than 50 ye…
Lords
Debate
17 June 2025
Holocaust Memorial Bill
My Lords, I am a simple sailor, but my thoughts are that, when they start work deep in the basement, would they please not use Navy or Army divers to do the work there but ensure that the money is paid by someone else?
Lords
Debate
11 June 2025
7 contributions
Holocaust Memorial Bill
My Lords, I rise to support the remarks of my noble friend Lord Carlile, whose knowledge and expertise in the field of security and associated matters is way beyond mine. My conclusions are aligned with his.
What was interesting to me was the judgment by Mrs Justice Thornton in the High Court case …
My Lords, unlike most speakers in this debate—although I think I am with the previous speaker—I come at this from the perspective of being concerned about Victoria Tower Gardens. I do not suppose that that is a surprise, coming from somebody who is the president of Historic Buildings & Places an…
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
11 June 2025
Holocaust Memorial Bill
My Lords, I will briefly endorse some of the comments of the noble Lord, Lord King of Bridgwater, about building costs. He has much more experience in the world of construction than I do, but it is a matter that is both of interest to people and very important more generally.
We all know that since…
Lords
Oral Questions
3 June 2025
Farmers: Competitiveness
I am afraid I have to admit to the noble Lord that I know nothing about New Zealand’s inheritance tax law, but I am more than happy to look into it.
Lords
Oral Questions
12 May 2025
UK-US Trade
What we see in this relationship with the US is an opportunity to think about the opportunity it presents to all our British industries and how we can open that up to best effect. When we think about farming, the key area of the trade in beef is a real opportunity here. For the first time, the US ba…