Lords
Committee Stage
4 February 2026
4 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I was going to speak in support of the amendment of my noble friend Lady Royall, which is great, but I will respond to the noble Baroness, Lady Freeman of Steventon, wearing my ex-energy hat.
There are sometimes tensions between growth and environmental protections. I pray in aid the saga…
We also have a terrible risk-averse culture among regulators in this country, which we need to tackle as well—but I really rose to support the amendment of the noble Baroness, Lady Royall. I have a later Clause 53 stand part notice, which partly covers the same ground.
Nye Bevan is a great hero of …
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
29 January 2026
2 contributions
Superintelligent AI
My Lords, I am delighted that so many noble Lords have decided to take part in this debate. I record my thanks to ControlAI for the support it is giving me.
Only two days ago, my noble friend the Minister’s department announced an initiative to bring UK AI experts into Whitehall to help improve eve…
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, on what he just said. I entirely agree with his premise that there is real danger ahead of us if we do not take care and we do not understand what we are dealing with.
This is one of those occasions when we have to maintain control. Control is the…
Lords
Oral Questions
26 January 2026
2 contributions
Superintelligent AI
AI’s superintelligence is the subject of ongoing debate regarding its definition and whether it is achievable. Advanced transformative AI presents both significant opportunities, such as improvements in healthcare and climate action, and risks. As frontier AI evolves, the AI Security Institute helps…
My noble friend is right to mention the research of the AI Security Institute, which is advice the Government listen to and take very seriously. AI is a general-purpose technology with a wide range of applications, which is why the UK believes that the vast majority of AI should be regulated at the …
Lords
Oral Questions
19 January 2026
High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors
On the first part of my noble friend’s question, he should partially congratulate himself, because he was very involved in making that happen, and I join him in congratulating him. We have a very significant nuclear programme with SMRs coming along; and the Fingleton review and a series of other pro…
Lords
Oral Questions
14 January 2026
2 contributions
COP Climate Negotiations: Cities
I thank the noble Lord for the Question. I was so eager to answer that I was up before he asked it.
The Government recognise the essential role that local places, including cities, play in accelerating to net zero and taking climate action. The Government regularly engage with C40 cities and other …
I heartily endorse that sentiment, particularly given that there are 14 US cities in the C40 group and over half of US states already have climate change commitments and net-zero mandates within their areas. We can see that even if the United States has decided at the federal level to take its bat h…
Lords
Oral Questions
12 January 2026
Independent Water Commission
I say to my noble friend that Defra takes this matter with the utmost seriousness. It simply cannot be the case that people are left to go days on end without an adequate water supply. As I have said, we will take every step to make sure that the chief executive and the executives in the water compa…
Lords
Debate
17 December 2025
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I wish to express my sympathy with the amendment in the names of the noble Lord, Lord Marks, and the noble and learned Lord, Lord Garnier. I hope my noble friend will be able to respond sympathetically but will also open the door to a discussion with his Health ministerial colleagues, beca…
Lords
Proceedings
15 December 2025
Resident Doctors: Industrial Action
My Lords, the BMA pay claim has been ridiculous right from the start, and I share my noble friend the Minister’s outrage at the decision to carry out these strikes at a moment when the health service is on its knees, certainly in Birmingham. We are in a critical situation: the service is working und…
Lords
Oral Questions
15 December 2025
Technology Adoption Review
My noble friend is absolutely right that AI has huge potential, but that getting right its adoption and the use of critical skills, whether in the public or private sector, is an integral part of ensuring that it drives productivity and all the promised expectations.
Lords
Oral Questions
11 December 2025
2 contributions
Wheelchair and Community Equipment Strategy
My Lords, I am very grateful to all noble Lords who are taking part in the debate. I particularly welcome the noble Baroness, Lady Gerada, who is making her maiden speech. She has been an absolutely brilliant president and chair of the Royal College of GPs, but more than that, she has been an excell…
My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath. I thank him, first, for securing this important debate; secondly, for his work on improving health outcomes, which he has been involved in for probably far longer than he cares to remember; and, thirdly, for choosin…
Lords
Oral Questions
11 December 2025
2 contributions
West Midlands Police: Maccabi Tel Aviv Match
My Lords—
I am grateful to my noble friend. Let me say two things. The police and crime commissioner for the West Midlands is accountable to the people of the West Midlands for whatever they say. The chief constable is accountable to the police and crime commissioner and it is for them—I say this genuinely—to…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 December 2025
Drax
My noble friend makes a very sound point, in that the new contract that has been signed costs taxpayers half as much as the old contract did. It is on more sustainable terms and, as I have said, makes Drax move towards being a dispatchable plant, which is much more in line with the power grid genera…
Lords
Oral Questions
26 November 2025
West Midlands Police: Maccabi Tel Aviv Fans
I thank my noble friend. On his first point, I have already said, but I am happy to stress, that we do not intend that feedback on the intelligence received from the Amsterdam match and HMI’s assessment of it waits until the overall report, which is due in March; the Policing Minister should have so…
Lords
Oral Questions
25 November 2025
Wales: Further Devolution
Many Members of your Lordships’ House were delighted to see the Prime Minister with the First Minister in Wylfa earlier this month announcing investment of £2.5 billion, which will create 3,000 jobs. It is a true recognition of our faith in, and the ability of, the Welsh economy, and it will drive g…
Lords
Oral Questions
24 November 2025
2 contributions
NHS: Wheelchair Services
My Lords, integrated care boards are responsible for the commissioning of local wheelchair services based on the needs of the local population. NHS England has developed policy guidance and legislation to support ICBs to commission effective, efficient and personalised services. This includes a Whee…
I accept the observations that my noble friend has made; I know he has been a voice on this for many years. I share with him the impatience for change and welcome the work of the APPG and the Wheelchair Alliance. The NHS Medium Term Planning Framework , which was published just in October, requires …
Lords
Debate
21 November 2025
4 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I have a few amendments in this group. My Amendment 118 seeks to introduce
“an independent financial review and background check on close relatives before eligibility can proceed. It aims to block eligibility where there is known financial abuse risk”.
My Amendment 462 aims
“to make coe…
I thank the noble Lord for giving way, because he is clearly trying to be constructive in taking us forward. Is not the real problem that a Private Member’s Bill is just not suitable for this issue, which is so complex and sensitive? We should have had a royal commission; I believe the Commons shoul…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
17 November 2025
Dyscalculia
In the new framework that has been set out, we are expecting Ofsted to place more emphasis than has been the case previously on the extent to which schools are achieving the type of inclusive practice that will benefit all pupils with special educational needs and disabilities, including those with …
Lords
Debate
14 November 2025
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I am grateful for that point from the noble Lord.
I do not want to bring my own personal circumstances into it, but the plain fact of the matter is that I will not be able to participate in the next group because, for obvious reasons, I have to leave. I am a practising barrister. I set as…
Lords
Oral Questions
11 November 2025
Airport Expansion
I thank my noble friend for his question. The sustainable aviation fuel mandate, which is already in force, seeks to reduce aviation emissions by up to 2.7 of a unit that I cannot describe—it is called MtCO 2 e, if anyone here knows what it is; I am sure someone does—in 2030 and by up to 6.3 in 2040…
Lords
Oral Questions
4 November 2025
Energy Market Reforms
I just mentioned battery storage, so that is a very appropriate question from my noble friend. As I said, over the summer we announced our decision not to introduce zonal pricing and, instead, to implement this ambitious package of reforms to improve the effectiveness of our current national pricing…
Lords
Debate
3 November 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I will make a couple of comments. Clearly, my noble friend the Minister will no doubt say that this is outwith the intention and focus of this legislation. I sympathise with that; it is the answer to the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett. However, as a former distinguished chief exec of the Nat…
Lords
Oral Questions
28 October 2025
Offshore Oil and Gas: Venting and Flaring
I thank my noble friend for that question. He is absolutely right. We need to remember the previous Government’s record on this. Because we are heading for net zero, we are seeing massive investment in the clean energy industry, creating millions of jobs in the long term and investments of billions …
Lords
Debate
27 October 2025
2 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
Does my noble friend recollect that we left an economy growing by 2%; they crashed it with their ludicrous austerity drive in 2010?
My Lords, I am sure my noble friend will respond to this interesting amendment by saying that there are some technical issues that the Government need to reflect upon, and that there will be a future vehicle. I just ask her to be sympathetic to having a look at this, perhaps between now and Third Re…
Lords
Debate
17 September 2025
7 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Lord. I thank him for his amendments and for his support of mine. In fact, he very ably summarised my amendments. It is clearly important and good that we are getting back to what the Bill is all about: the growth agenda. As the Explanatory Memora…
My Lords, that does not sound very comradely, if I may say so.
+5 more contributions in this session