Lord Cromwell — Hansard — Westminster Brief

Lords Proceedings 24 June 2026

Hares: Close Season

While a close season is certainly a good idea, I have previously recounted in this House the case of a farming family who, sadly, feel obliged to kill all the hares on their land—because, otherwise, gangs running lucrative betting on illegal hare-coursing crash through their gates, destroy their hed…

Lords Proceedings 17 June 2026

Thames Water

I agree with the Minister that debt overburdening of the company was a major cause of its problems. She has heard me call many a time for the new regulator to have the proper understanding of financial engineering, which the current Ofwat team simply did not have. That enabled the companies to get a…

Lords Proceedings 16 June 2026

Russian Shadow Fleet

While the Minister may have handed this off to the Department for Transport, can he comment on the likely fate of the crews of the ships that are being detained and on the future expectation of what will happen to the oil and to the ships themselves, many of which may be poorly maintained? I have a …

Lords Proceedings 9 June 2026

Water Companies

My Lords, yesterday I asked the Minister how long it takes to build a reservoir, but I am not sure I got an answer. I am told by a bit of internet research that it will take roughly 10 years to get through planning and then a further five to 10 years to build a reservoir, by which time I think most …

Lords Proceedings 8 June 2026

South East Water: Disruption of Supply

The Minister knows that she has my full support in shaking up the water industry, as we have discussed on quite a number of occasions. While it is all very well for us to tell her to hurry up and supply more water, can she tell the House how long it takes to build a reservoir?

Lords Oral Questions 22 April 2026

Plastic Pollution Reduction

The noble Lord is right. Of course, another issue is inconsistency across the country as to how that is done, which can confuse people when they are staying in other places. The key to resolving that issue is the work that we are doing with local authorities, because this is a local authority respon…

Lords Debate 13 April 2026 2 contributions

English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill

Forgive me for interrupting. The noble Lord is giving us a lot of very interesting information, but we are on Report and I just wonder how much more he has to give us.

Good morning, my Lords, and indeed it is good morning. I support Amendment 318C, which has just been spoken to by my noble friend Lord Thurlow. I should start by declaring that I have a son who works for a commercial property company. My noble friend Lord Thurlow made a series of powerful points ab…

Lords Debate 18 March 2026

Crime and Policing Bill

My Lords, I support this amendment. Undersea cables are our critical infrastructure. They are the arteries in and out of the heart of the UK’s economy, its defence, our national commerce and even our ability to communicate. They are fundamental to our security, our stability and our very survival as…

Lords Oral Questions 18 March 2026

Trail-hunting

I commend the noble Lord on his earlier fitness—I do not know if he still carries it out. It is important to stress that there are no plans to include other activities, such as drag hunting and clean boot hunting, in the ban on trail-hunting. The noble Lord makes a really important point about enfor…

Lords Oral Questions 17 March 2026

Fujitsu: Post Office Horizon Case

I am afraid I do not know the answer to that, but I will definitely find out and write to the noble Lord.

Lords Oral Questions 11 March 2026 2 contributions

Sustainable Farming Incentive: Small Farms

My Lords—

The noble Lord is absolutely correct that there is a cap of £100,000. The first tranche is open to small farms and those who do not have an agreement, and then there will be another tranche in September, which will be open to all. That is why the cap is important.

Lords Oral Questions 11 March 2026

UK Space Economy

The UK has a great deal of expertise on space, including on regulatory issues. We continue to collaborate internationally— for example, at the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space—to shape and uphold standards, regulations, norms and agreements on best practices to define the in-orbit re…

Lords Debate 25 February 2026 5 contributions

Crime and Policing Bill

My Lords, I declare an interest as a director of a farming company that is regularly the victim of fly-tipping of various scales. I agree absolutely with every word that the noble Viscount shared with us a little while ago. I would add that the waste, often toxic waste, piled up on land is getting …

I am very grateful for the kind things that the noble Lord is saying. To clarify, local authorities will clear up fly-tipping that is on the verge of the highway. Although it is not anywhere in law, if it is beyond 10 metres from there, it is your problem and they will not clear it up.

+3 more contributions in this session

Lords Debate 5 February 2026 7 contributions

Crime and Policing Bill

My Lords, today we have discussed at length some very important issues that are also pretty bleak. It has been lightened for me only by hearing the noble Lord, Lord Jackson, referred to as neutral, which is not an epithet that I would normally attach to him. I am sorry that he is not in his place. I…

First of all, I can certainly promise to hold the Minister accountable for it, so I hope that pleases him. I thank the speakers—the noble Baronesses, Lady Jones and Lady Doocey, and the noble Lord, Lord Davies—who have kindly commented on this amendment. I thank the Minister in particular for engagi…

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Lords Statutory Instrument 4 February 2026

Public Order Act 2023 (Interference With Use or Operation of Key National Infrastructure) Regulations 2025

My Lords, these Benches will support the amendment tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, if she decides to test the opinion of the House. I thank all Peers across the House for their powerful contributions on transparency, proportionality and the right to dissent. The UK’s lif…

Lords Oral Questions 29 January 2026

Water Companies: Fines

The noble Lord makes a helpful suggestion, and I am happy to take that back to the department.

Lords Oral Questions 28 January 2026

UK Start-up Companies

My Lords—

Lords Debate 27 January 2026

Crime and Policing Bill

My Lords, I will be very brief, and I apologise for arriving a little late to the scene. The intermediate amendment before this one seemed to disappear suddenly and caught me sprinting down the corridors, so I crave your Lordships’ indulgence. I will cut most of what I was going to say, mainly becau…

Lords Oral Questions 14 January 2026

Large-scale Waste Crime

As I said, we do not think the status quo is working. We need to look at how tidying up and tackling waste crime, both from the start and at the clearing up end of things, are properly resourced, and at how the criminals carrying out this illegal activity are caught and dealt with. As the noble Lord…

Lords Proceedings 12 January 2026

Ukraine and Wider Operational Update

I want to take the Minister back to the issue of conversation. He and I have discussed in the past that, these days, social media is a weapon of war. I quoted to him a senior military figure who said to me, “We should spend as much on social media as we do on hard kit”. I suspect that comes pretty h…

Lords Oral Questions 12 January 2026

Independent Water Commission

The noble Lord is certainly right to recognise the importance of the recommendation by Sir Jon, in the commission report, of establishing a single powerful regulator for the entire water sector that will stand on the side of customers. He is right that the new regulator needs a wide range of skills,…

Lords Debate 10 December 2025

Employment Rights Bill

My Lords, I will speak on Motions B and B1 and register that I speak on behalf of SMEs and as a small employer of 130 people. I thank the Government for listening to businesses and this Chamber with regard to the change to unfair dismissal. Six months is certainly enough time for businesses to asses…

Lords Debate 24 November 2025 3 contributions

Planning and Infrastructure Bill

My Lords, I thank the Minister for her Amendments 31A and 31B, which is very similar, as she said, to Amendment 31, which I proposed. The noble Lord, Lord Hendy, is a practical transport expert—he knows how to mend a bus—as I hope I am, although his expertise is wider than mine, which is based on t…

My Lords, on Motion K1, I want underline what the noble Baroness, Lady Freeman, said about the need for independence in the monitoring and evaluation. The noble Baroness, Lady Willis, referred to it, but I am not sure that the Minister did so—forgive me if I missed it. Can we please hear from her on…

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Lords Oral Questions 18 November 2025

Space Debris

The noble Lord makes a very interesting and good point there. Space may be the final frontier, but it is beginning to resemble the final landfill; if we are to boldly go where no man has gone before, we must first ensure that we are not tripping over the debris of those who have already been there. …

Lords Oral Questions 18 November 2025

Ministry of Defence Procurement: UK-manufactured Products

We have established and are looking to grow a defence office for small business, which will be important. The noble Lord’s point is an extremely good one. The idea that the solution is always massive business has been shown by Ukraine not to be the case. The development of small business and small i…