Lords
Proceedings
10 December 2025
Northern Ireland Troubles: Operation Kenova
My Lords, £47 million was spent on the Kenova report, which was made with the benefit of hindsight and makes no mention of the thousands of people who were actually saved from being murdered by the IRA terrorists precisely because of the actions of the intelligence services and brave service men and…
Lords
Committee Stage
26 November 2025
3 contributions
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
My Lords, I add my support for this amendment, which seems very sensible. When we have an amendment in the names of both the noble Lord, Lord Lansley, and the noble Baroness, Lady Fox, we should all be looking at it very seriously indeed.
I have never smoked and never vaped but I remember, when vap…
I think it will be helpful to bring the Committee very briefly up to date on what I raised. This amendment is crucial to this Bill because it is basically about whether we can implement it because of the Windsor Framework. I thought it would be helpful for noble Lords to know that four European Unio…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
25 November 2025
6 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, I will say a few words in support of the noble Lord’s amendment, which seems really sensible: we should not have been paying to give away British territory without a full and proper assessment of who was going to take it over. This all boils down to whether we trust Mauritius. My feeling i…
I am getting rather tired of this Front-Bench thing about what the last Government did. The reality is that the last Government did not sign any treaty. They may have been talking. They could have talked and talked, but they did not sign a treaty. This Government came in and signed a treaty.
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
25 November 2025
2 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, I wish to speak to my Amendment 54. I must say to the noble Lord, Lord Kerr, that I think we are all pleased that we are where we are. It seems very strange to say that we cannot be discussing the Bill—that was almost the way it was put.
My amendment really follows on a little from what t…
My Lords, I will speak to my Amendment 36, which, as the noble Lord mentioned, relates to asylum seekers who arrive on Diego Garcia, or anywhere on the Chagos Islands. Its purpose is very simple: it ensures that, if any person fleeing danger or persecution lands on those shores, they will not be sub…
Lords
Committee Stage
25 November 2025
Road Vehicles (Type-Approval) (Amendment) Regulations 2025
My Lords, I wish briefly to express my solidarity with and sympathy for the concerns that have already been raised by all the previous speakers. This afternoon, we have been presented with an accurate account of the problems that face the car industry in Northern Ireland.
I want simply to make one …
Lords
Statutory Instrument
20 November 2025
3 contributions
Radio Equipment (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2025
My Lords, I too am grateful to the Minister for outlining in detail the impact and effect of the statutory instrument before us today and for clearly setting out the reasons behind it as well. I am also extremely grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Hoey, for her regret amendment, which ensures that…
My Lords, I declare two interests. I am a member of the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, which considered this statutory instrument, and a member of the Government’s Veterinary Medicine Working Group. This is important because those interests are relevant to the general debate on the Windso…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Proceedings
20 November 2025
Asylum Policy
My Lords, I welcome the Home Secretary’s Statement and the acceptance that the current system is unsustainable. It is interesting that perhaps a year or two ago, people proposing some of these measures would have been accused of being racist, so I welcome the Statement. The Government will have to g…
Lords
Debate
19 November 2025
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I too will be brief. I was pleased to add my name to the amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Brady. It is a common-sense amendment that is very much in line with the Bill in reducing police bureaucracy without doing anything to harm public safety. The Government have already consulted on t…
Lords
Debate
18 November 2025
9 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, I support the amendments in this group, and I want to speak to my Amendment 23. Before I go into that, the noble Lords, Lord Hannan and Lord McCrea, have put very clearly just how ridiculous it is that we have a territory that is ours and now we are paying to give it away. The whole thing …
The Minister wants this in writing, but unless I am particularly stupid, I thought it was a very simple question.
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
18 November 2025
4 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, I very much support the amendment in the name of the noble Lord Lilley. Once again, it raises the issue: why do our Government seem to jump as soon as some international court says something that is not even binding but advisory? The public need to know that we are actually selling out the…
My Lords, I support all the amendments in this group, but I particularly like Amendment 64, because it goes to the heart of the issue and is very simple and straightforward: we want a referendum. I think the noble Lord, Lord Hannan, answered the noble Lord on the Front Bench who asked about what a r…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
13 November 2025
4 contributions
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
My Lords, I will also speak to Amendments 138A, 200 and 201A. Before I go into them, I want to remind people that if this Bill goes through in its entirety as it is now, starting in February 2028, adults under the age of 21 in the Republic of Ireland will be barred from buying tobacco at home but wi…
I thank the Minister for her response. I am not sure that I got a reply on the legal aspects. This is not about how terrible smoking is in Northern Ireland; it is about whether we can have the Bill in Northern Ireland. The Minister, while being very gentle, attempted to answer some of the points abo…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
11 November 2025
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
My Lords, I was going to give way to the noble Lord, Lord Mendelsohn, but I will go ahead. I was not intending to speak on this. I also wanted to sign the amendments, but such was the popularity of them that there were too many signatures. I support completely what the noble Earl and the two noble L…
Lords
Debate
4 November 2025
3 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
I would prefer the noble Baroness to be consistent. If she is criticising the Attorney-General under this Government for giving advice on continuing negotiations to cede sovereignty, why is she not as critical of the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Prentis, who was Attorney-General in November 2022…
My Lords, we have an opportunity to right an old wrong and prevent a new injustice. We have an opportunity to stop the handover of tens of millions of pounds a year—billions in total—to fund tax cuts somewhere else while taxes are rising here. We have an opportunity to prevent the handover of strate…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
3 November 2025
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, I support very strongly Amendments 34 and 72. I imagine that if the public are watching this, this is the first amendment this afternoon for which there is wholehearted support. This is just common sense. Personally, I would like anyone who is not a British citizen—a foreign national—who h…
Lords
Statutory Instrument
30 October 2025
3 contributions
Control of Mercury (Enforcement) (Amendment) Regulations 2025
My Lords, I will make a briefer speech, not on the constitutional aspect of this but on the dentistry aspect. I thank the Minister for introducing this, and indeed the noble Baroness for moving her amendment. I do recognise that there is a very important constitutional issue as well. The amalgam ban…
My Lords, I am pleased to support the amendment from the noble Baroness, Lady Hoey. There is no doubt that one of our greatest national institutions is the NHS. The people of the United Kingdom have in the past been exercised about the possibility that those whom they elect might tamper with it, not…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
22 October 2025
2 contributions
Rules on Duty-Free Goods
My Lords, duty-free shopping between Northern Ireland and the EU would require the application of personal allowances and associated border checks to prevent the uncontrolled flow of tax-free goods into either Northern Ireland or the EU. The enforcement controls required for this would run counter t…
I am grateful to the noble Baroness for her question. She says that my Answer was predictable, but one thing that was entirely predictable was the impact of Brexit, which she campaigned for. Back in 2016, Sir John Major and Sir Tony Blair said clearly that Brexit would present specific challenges fo…
Lords
Proceedings
14 October 2025
2 contributions
Digital ID
My Lords, I am very sceptical about mandatory digital ID. Can the Minister tell us how many people at the moment do not even have a mobile phone, never name all the extra that is needed? When the Government talk about inclusion, this is one of the most exclusive kinds of suggestions. It was not even…
My Lords, further to the answer the Minister gave to the noble Baroness, Lady Ritchie of Downpatrick, and me on Northern Ireland, I think more would be helpful. Every time a Minister in different places and parts of the United Kingdom says anything about this issue, something slightly different come…
Lords
Oral Questions
16 September 2025
Undocumented Migrants
The noble Baroness raises an important point. The UK Government continually discuss with the Irish Government the impact of a range of matters on the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, including access to the rest of the United Kingdom via Northern Ireland and Ireland. It is ext…
Lords
Debate
10 September 2025
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
I strongly support Amendment 427C and pay tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Glasman, and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Manchester, who made the two opening speeches. All the speeches today have shone a light on what many people in the country are not aware of.
I was a councillor in Hackney…
Lords
Oral Questions
3 September 2025
2 contributions
Republic of Ireland: Defence Co-operation
My Lords, in 2025 there have been a number of discussions between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland on defence. The Permanent Secretary visited Ireland in January; the Chief of the Defence Staff visited in February, marking the first visit of a Chief of the Defence Staff to Ireland sinc…
I thank the noble Baroness for her question. I start by saying as a Defence Minister how proud we all have been of the contribution of the British Armed Forces to what took place in Northern Ireland. That is the starting point for any discussion. The noble Baroness will have seen the comments by the…
Lords
Proceedings
2 September 2025
Borders and Asylum
My Lords, I welcome the much tougher Statement from the Home Secretary. Not long ago, politicians making some of those suggestions would have been accused of perhaps being almost racist.
Does the Minister think that the huge pull factors for migrants living in horrible conditions in France are bein…
Lords
Oral Questions
23 July 2025
2 contributions
Casement Park: Spending Review
My Lords, before I answer the substantive Question, noble Lords will have seen on the news this morning the heartbreaking reports of a shooting in Fermanagh. My thoughts and prayers and those of the Government are with everyone touched by this heartbreak.
This Government want to support the Norther…
The noble Baroness raises what is at the heart of this: in 2011 the last Government allocated £14.7 million of funding for the redevelopment of Ravenhill rugby stadium, £25.2 million for the redevelopment of Windsor Park, £61.5 million for Casement and £36 million for subregional stadia funds. All t…
Lords
Statutory Instrument
30 June 2025
2 contributions
Marking of Retail Goods Regulations 2025
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Hoey. I also thank the Minister for the meeting she facilitated on this issue, which gave us an opportunity to discuss some of the details.
It is welcome that we are having this debate on a government Motion. If it were not a government …
As I mentioned, we are currently in discussions regarding an SPS agreement in order, I hope, to be able to remove many of the requirements, if discussions meet our ambitions. But the EU has made it quite clear that we are expected to meet our obligations under the Windsor Framework until the outcome…
Lords
Proceedings
30 June 2025
UK-Mauritius Agreement on the Chagos Archipelago
My Lords, I was pleased to take part earlier in a historic parliamentary and Boswell/Prentis family event. I warmly congratulate the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Prentis of Banbury, on her maiden speech, and I sadly say au revoir, but not adieu, to her noble kinsman, the noble Lord, Lord Boswell…
Lords
Statutory Instrument
9 June 2025
2 contributions
Official Controls (Plant Health) and Phytosanitary Conditions (Amendment) Regulations 2025
My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Hoey. I agree with virtually every word that she has said. I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Frost, on bringing this regret Motion before your Lordships’ House this evening. It is extremely important, as I have said on numerous oc…
To be honest, I am not going to take any interventions; it has gone 11 pm.
On plant health threats, the UK Plant Health Service, as I mentioned earlier, has Defra, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government, the Northern Ireland Executive, DAERA and the Forestry Commission as part of it. So it i…