Lords
Debate
24 June 2026
Sporting Events Bill [HL]
My Lords, at Second Reading, I raised the example of the butcher in Weymouth who, during the 2012 Paralympics and Olympics, was threatened with a £20,000 fine because he displayed in his shop window five strings of sausages in the shape of the five Olympic rings. He eventually got around this by cha…
Lords
Debate
22 June 2026
Sporting Events Bill [HL]
My Lords, in addition to moving Amendment 2, I will speak to the 11 other amendments in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Addington. I declare my interests as the chair of Peers for Gambling Reform and of Action on Gambling.
Together, my 12 amendments cover just two issues. The first is ille…
Lords
Proceedings
18 May 2026
King’s Speech
My Lords, the Government are right to focus on economic growth. But in parts the plans are timid and in others they are, frankly, bizarre and wrong. They are timid about rebuilding our relationship with the European Union, given the inhibiting red lines. The recent first quarter 0.6% of GDP rise pal…
Lords
Proceedings
18 May 2026
King’s Speech
My Lords, the Government are right to focus on economic growth. But in parts the plans are timid and in others they are, frankly, bizarre and wrong. They are timid about rebuilding our relationship with the European Union, given the inhibiting red lines. The recent first quarter 0.6% of GDP rise pal…
Lords
Debate
13 April 2026
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I declare my interest as chairman of Peers for Gambling Reform and as chair of Action on Gambling. I thank the Minister for her very kind words just now. As she said, giving local councils greater power to control the number of gambling premises on their high streets is something I have pu…
Lords
Proceedings
16 March 2026
2 contributions
Social Cohesion Action Plan
My Lords—
My Lords, there is much to welcome in the plan, including the agreement to produce an integration plan. It would obviously be very helpful if the Minister could tell us when that is expected to be produced. But it also includes a commitment to refresh the Life in the UK Test. Only last week, in the …
Lords
Committee Stage
5 March 2026
2 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, rather like the noble Lord, Lord Hampton, I apologise for being a Johnny-come-lately, having left my noble friends to do all the heavy lifting on this Bill. I have come to raise only one issue: the concern that many of us have about the prevalence of gambling premises on our high streets.
…
My Lords, before I do exactly that, I thank the Minister for her very warm response. I am well aware of the difficulty around the issue of planning and licensing. The Minister will be aware that many councils have combined the two, even though they must have separate business because of the regulati…
Lords
Proceedings
26 February 2026
Electronic Travel Authorisation: Dual Nationals
My Lords, further to the point raised by my noble friend, the Minister himself confirmed that the Home Office’s current arrangements are that, “at their own discretion”, carriers “may” accept “some” expired British passports as appropriate documentation. Does he not accept that that is the worst of …
Lords
Proceedings
12 February 2026
3 contributions
Better Prisons: Less Crime (Justice and Home Affairs Committee Report)
My Lords, as the chair of the Justice and Home Affairs Committee, it is a pleasure to lead this debate. I look forward to the five maiden speeches from new Members; I welcome them all. I am delighted that they have chosen the committee’s report on prisons, Better Prisons : Less Crime , for their fir…
My Lords, I feel deeply honoured to be making my maiden speech today. I thank noble Lords on all sides of the House, as well as Black Rod and his team, the doorkeepers, police officers and all the other amazing staff for their warm welcome—not least in being so patient with me as I try to find my wa…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
6 January 2026
2 contributions
Sentencing Bill
My Lords, I declare my interests as chairman of Peers for Gambling Reform and chairman of Action on Gambling. Amendments 95 and 99 are based on concerns that I have previously expressed during earlier stages of our consideration of the Bill. At present, gambling disorder, unlike drugs and alcohol ad…
My Lords, I thank the Minister for what have been very constructive conversations on these issues, both with him and his officials. In light of what he said, I hope he will be willing to sign up as a member of Peers for Gambling Reform. I also thank him for the incredibly generous compliments he gav…
Lords
Debate
6 January 2026
Sentencing Bill
My Lords, during our various deliberations throughout the passage of the Bill, I have on a number of occasions expressed great support for many of the measures within the proposed legislation but, at the same time, a concern that we may not have the means to deliver the ends—in particular, the conce…
Lords
Debate
26 November 2025
5 contributions
Sentencing Bill
My Lords, I will briefly challenge some of what has been said. The noble Lord, Lord Hogan-Howe, rather implied that it was his belief that the Bill intends to remove all short sentences. From the Minister’s opening remarks and those of others, that is clearly not the case. There is, however, very go…
Without wishing to delay our deliberations, I point out to the noble Lord that if he feels passionately about it, there is still time for him to draft and put down amendments on the issues he raises. He may well find support from these Benches.
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
13 November 2025
Prisoner Releases in Error
My Lords, I genuinely welcome the quick action by the Government and the measures that have been proposed—in particular, as just discussed, the use of AI. The Minister refers to the hard-working staff, but the truth is that although we have more and more prisoners, we have fewer and fewer prison off…
Lords
Debate
12 November 2025
Sentencing Bill
My Lords, I so want to be able to welcome this Bill; instead, I feel rather despondent. I ask the Minister, of whom I am something of a fan, not to take that personally.
The issue of sentencing matters—to me, to all of us here and to the public—and it has been rightly agitating the public of late. …
Lords
Debate
29 October 2025
6 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I begin by declaring my interest as chairman of Peers for Gambling Reform. I intend to speak only to Amendment 117 in my name. I am enormously grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, for her support for the amendment.
I raised this issue in Committee and explained th…
Before the noble Lord sits down, I would be enormously grateful if he would make it clear to the House what his position is on Amendment 117. He said that he will hold the Government to account but wants to know what the timescale is. Well, the timescale is a couple of minutes, if we have a vote on …
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
21 October 2025
2 contributions
Education in Prisons
We inherited a crisis in our justice system and I am passionate and focused on providing good education and work opportunities, which are vital to prisoner rehabilitation. The education budget has not been cut—in fact, it has increased by 3%—but many prisons will face reduced delivery due to rising …
The noble Lord and I share the ambition for our prisons to be places where people turn their lives around, and education has a big part to play in that. We are making progress. In five prisons, we have the working week happening now—31 hours of purposeful activity. This year, 10% more prisoners part…
Lords
Debate
9 September 2025
5 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I declare my interest as chairman of Peers for Gambling Reform, and I congratulate the Government Chief Whip on keeping us here to a point at which my hearing aids are telling me that their batteries are flat. I shall move Amendment 142 and particularly speak to Amendment 185E.
Given the …
I wish to intervene as I will not be able to cover this in my summing up at the end. Local councils across the land are listening to this debate, so can the Minister explain in detail why he is saying that this amendment—with the additional parts that would be necessary, in line with the cumulative …
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
4 September 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I apologise, as other parliamentary responsibilities mean that I have not been able to take part so far in this very important Bill. However, in view of my previous involvement in issues around live entertainment and particularly music venues, I was anxious to speak very briefly in support…
Lords
Oral Questions
9 July 2025
European Union Entry/Exit System
The noble Lord is quite correct that there is considerable flexibility, certainly in the early days of the scheme, to suspend it for the benefit of traffic getting through. The juxtaposition of the French and British border controls is very helpful in that respect. With our current, better relations…
Lords
Committee Stage
17 June 2025
3 contributions
Casinos (Gaming Machines and Mandatory Conditions) Regulations 2025
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Foster of Bath, is right: nothing catches the eye in an impact assessment like a redaction, and there are a number of them in this assessment. I know that some of the information will of course be commercially sensitive, but, if we are to have evidence-led policy, it i…
It is a licence rather than the premises that cannot be moved. My understanding is that a licence cannot be moved out of the local authority area.
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Proceedings
2 June 2025
Independent Sentencing Review
It is particularly welcome that the Government have accepted that community sentences are far more effective at reducing reoffending than are short sentences. Will the Minister accept that, if we want to further improve the levels of reoffending and increase public confidence, a community sentence p…
Lords
Oral Questions
15 May 2025
Artificial Intelligence: Creative Content
My Lords, I am listening; I just do not agree with the noble Lords on the points that they have made. We are looking to make sure that we get this regime right. We will look at all the responses to the very wide-ranging consultation that received, as I mentioned previously, over 11,500 responses, ma…
Lords
Oral Questions
14 May 2025
BBC Sounds: Access from Abroad
My Lords, for the BBC to deliver on its obligations, it needs continued sustainable funding. We are keeping an open mind about the future of the licence fee and will consider the best funding model during the charter review. Our priority is that there will be sustainable funding for the BBC.