Lords
Proceedings
13 July 2026
Civil Service Pensions
My Lords, this is plainly an extremely unhappy matter, above all for the civil servants affected, and I do not claim to be an expert on it. Is the fault all Capita’s? Was there not a very troubling two-year handover from the previous administrator and does the Cabinet Office not have to bear some re…
Lords
Proceedings
29 June 2026
Media Green Paper
My Lords, I too welcome the Green Paper because, frankly, Rome is burning. Two of the UK’s greatest, most respected and historic achievements are threatened by the globalisation of media—a lively, challenging and diverse press, which we have had for centuries, and an unmatched tradition of public se…
Lords
Proceedings
17 June 2026
Thames Water
My Lords, the dire position of Thames Water is, above all, a regulatory failure. Does the Minister accept that Ofwat’s record as a regulator has been absolutely woeful? Above all, it failed to require water companies to invest over a long period of time in appropriate infrastructure of all kinds.
Lords
Proceedings
15 June 2026
Defence Investment Plan
My Lords, I was very sad indeed to see such a capable and committed group of Defence Ministers depleted by resignation, but very pleased—as was the noble Baroness, Lady Goldie—to see that the Minister remains with us in his place today. At the 2025 NATO summit, all allies agreed a core defence targe…
Lords
Oral Questions
20 April 2026
Trains: Punctuality
Virtually the whole of the world, in countries that run railways, is incredulous that this country managed to separate the infrastructure from the operations for more than 30 years. That is the primary reason why people have spent so much time in the railways discussing not how you fix delays but wh…
Lords
Oral Questions
16 April 2026
Local Resilience Forums
My noble friend Lord Hanson, who has the next Question, may be better placed to answer that question. I agree that there was a real error made in decriminalising shoplifting. We are addressing that now and work is being done on it. As the noble Lord, Lord Hogan-Howe, carries on his review of police …
Lords
Oral Questions
18 March 2026
Trail-hunting
We will hear from the Conservatives next.
Lords
Oral Questions
17 March 2026
BBC World Service: Sustainability
As the noble Lord will know, this is not a situation of our making but one that we inherited, and we are where we are. Our task, together with the BBC, is to make sure that the World Service is funded in a way that means it can continue to do the incredible work that it leads around the world, becau…
Lords
Oral Questions
16 March 2026
Humanist Weddings
This was one of the reasons why I thought I should probably not use the expression “at pace” a second time. The Government are going to run two consultations on three closely related issues, all to do with how families are formed and what happens when they break down. There will be a consultation on…
Lords
Oral Questions
24 February 2026
Quantum Technology
The noble Lord is right. About 11% of all companies in the world in quantum are in the UK. We are second in investment, but this is a race, others are spending huge amounts of money here and many of our companies look pretty attractive. That is why we have a series of programmes, not just funding at…
Lords
Oral Questions
11 February 2026
Electric Vehicles: Transition
The noble Lord hits on a very important point, but I emphasise to the House just how seriously the Government are taking this point. We have 88,000 public charge points in the UK and 920,000 domestic charge points, and all motorway service stations have them—I take the noble Lord’s point about rapid…
Lords
Oral Questions
11 February 2026
New Homes Target
The Government are committed to the biggest increase in social and affordable housing in a generation. That £39 billion social and affordable housing programme I spoke about will combine the best elements of previous programmes with new design elements to make sure that we maximise the delivery that…
Lords
Debate
30 January 2026
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, we are discussing one of the most important decisions that any individual might make in their lives. It is important for the individual and for the state. I think that it is appropriate to ask that the critical meetings with the medical practitioners should be face-to-face, because that al…
Lords
Debate
23 January 2026
8 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I shall speak also to all the other amendments listed in my name and that of the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, who, having assiduously attended our sessions on the Bill thus far, as all will have noticed, deeply regrets that he cannot be present with us today.
Our discussions to date have foc…
No, I am sorry—I have an argument to put; I am not going to take any interruptions.
Furthermore, one of Australia’s most senior and experienced practitioners tells me that, although in theory it must be a risk, she herself has never experienced a single example of coercion. On the contrary, she say…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
19 January 2026
2 contributions
Northern Powerhouse Rail
My Lords, I worked at No. 10 as Tony Blair’s strategy adviser in 2005 when an in principle go-ahead was given to an ambitious high-speed rail network for the whole country. Twenty-odd years later, we do not even have one small part of that plan in place. In the same period, since 2008 China has buil…
It has been a difficult weekend. I regularly visit the north-west of England, as I did at the weekend. I am involved in an east of Pennines business, so I am very familiar with the 19th-century infrastructure of the whole of the north of England. Are we remotely ambitious enough with our rail infras…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 December 2025
Drax
If Drax is non-compliant, the subsidy goes. There is no subsidy in the case of a non-compliant organisation of any kind. If that happens, it will be the end of Drax.
Lords
Proceedings
18 November 2025
Independent Football Regulator
My Lords, whatever the imperfections —and there manifestly were some—identified by the commission in the selection process, Mr Kogan did not apply but was invited to apply for the regulator post when it was first advertised, as the noble Lord, Lord Parkinson, just reminded us, under the previous Con…
Lords
Proceedings
12 November 2025
2 contributions
BBC Leadership
My Lords—
My Lords, I welcome the extremely constructive tone from all three Front Benches about the BBC and will make three points. First, the BBC, as some have said already, has been in the making for well over a century—an achievement unmatched in any other country in the world. It is a crucible for our be…
Lords
Debate
16 October 2025
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I draw attention to my interest declared in the register as chair of the College of Policing.
For our police service, founded on the principle of consent, to be effective, the trust and confidence of the communities they serve is essential. But the proportion of the public who believe the…
Lords
Oral Questions
18 September 2025
Road Pricing
I am grateful to the noble Lord for his question. I absolutely recognise the considerable expertise and experience that he has in this matter—experience and expertise that is probably found right across this House. I do not have specific thoughts on the specific points he raises because, as I say, w…
Lords
Debate
12 September 2025
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, the measure before us represents the possibility of the greatest alleviation of pain and suffering in this country since Sir Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin 97 years ago. It is no criticism of our excellent hospice movement to point out that no amount of resources given to palliati…
Lords
Oral Questions
3 September 2025
Football Governance Act 2025: Implementation
I was delighted to see David Kogan endorsed as the Government’s preferred candidate for chair of the regulator. David was subject to a pre-appointment hearing with the CMS Select Committee on 7 May, giving Members of Parliament an opportunity to scrutinise this important appointment before it is mad…
Lords
Oral Questions
30 June 2025
Humanist Weddings
I can certainly give an assurance to the noble Lord, Lord Birt, that we are making haste, and we will make an announcement soon. I know I have said that on previous occasions, but I mean it and a statement will come soon.
I have made this point before, but I will make it in a different way. There a…
Lords
Proceedings
24 June 2025
UK Infrastructure: 10-year Strategy
My Lords, the Minister may recall that I spent six years at No. 10 as Tony Blair’s strategy adviser. I spent a year of my time there, with the team of officials, looking at national transport infrastructure—road and rail. We quickly identified that we have by far the worst road and rail infrastructu…
Lords
Statutory Instrument
23 June 2025
2 contributions
Contracts for Difference (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 2) Regulations 2025
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for setting out the provisions of the instrument for us, and to the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, for bringing forward this amendment. I thank all noble Lords who have contributed to the debate. As the noble Lord, Lord Birt, said, we are a remarkably united Ho…
My Lords, I rise in a warm glow of unusual universal support from all corners of your Lordships’ House. Adding to the consensus from the Public Accounts Committee, the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee and—as the noble Earl, Lord Russell, mentioned—the Climate Change Committee, we have heard …