Lords
Debate
11 September 2026
Creative Education Access Bill [HL]
My Lords, I too welcome the noble Baroness, Lady Mackenzie. I am really looking forward to the teach-ins that she can give us on these subjects. My starting point is that education should form the basis for a fulfilled life, not just passing exams. This is not something on which I expect any disagre…
Lords
Proceedings
8 September 2026
Criminal Justice Reform
My Lords, also on IPPs, we have failed so many people. So many of those prisoners were not able to access the courses that they were supposed to undertake to qualify them to apply for parole and so on. They must have been damaged by what has happened and the length of time they have had to spend in …
Lords
Proceedings
4 September 2026
Forced Labour in UK Supply Chains (JCHR Report)
My Lords, we started the week by giving a Second Reading to the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, and we end it with a debate on the JCHR report. So ethics have permeated the week, as they should, but there is quite a crossover between specific issues as well.
I was not a member of the committee…
Lords
Debate
1 September 2026
Public Office (Accountability) Bill
My Lords, I am a stand-in for my noble friend Lord Marks, who is sorry he cannot be here today. These Benches support the Bill. My noble friends, including a Liverpool voice, and other noble Lords will speak from involvement with various issues or scandals. However, we have concerns. The Bill should…
Lords
Proceedings
23 July 2026
Prisoner Early Release Scheme
My Lords, the early release scheme came from earned progression, the concept behind David Gauke’s proposals. Progression, of course, includes rehabilitation. The Minister has already mentioned the Probation Service. The noble Lord, Lord Timpson, was clear that there had to be time taken to expand th…
Lords
Debate
17 July 2026
Conduct of Undercover Policing and Surveillance Operatives Bill [HL]
My Lords, our reaction to rape, to violence against women and girls, to coercive control and to grooming has intensified over recent years, along with greater understanding of what it means to be a target, and the protection of human rights is always topical. This includes the prohibition of inhuman…
Lords
Debate
17 July 2026
Cohabitation Rights Bill [HL]
My Lords, this may have been one of those occasions when noble Lords felt that they should have started their speeches with, “As I was saying”. I do not think I have spoken on this subject before, although I have listened to a number of debates. My noble friend has taken every opportunity over quite…
Lords
Proceedings
2 June 2026
Bosnia and Herzegovina
My Lords, the Minister has acknowledged rightly that we do not just close the door on history; it has a very long tail. Civilians affected by the wars in the Balkans still suffer and still need support, and that support often comes from very small aid organisations that have suffered from the reduct…
Lords
Proceedings
18 May 2026
King’s Speech
My Lords, I wish we had extra time today in order to hear more from the noble Lord, Lord Hennessy. It is so fitting that it is he who speaks of civility, tolerance and duty of care. We will miss him.
Following the tradition of bemoaning what is not in the legislative programme, I would have mention…
Lords
Proceedings
18 May 2026
King’s Speech
My Lords, I wish we had extra time today in order to hear more from the noble Lord, Lord Hennessy. It is so fitting that it is he who speaks of civility, tolerance and duty of care. We will miss him.
Following the tradition of bemoaning what is not in the legislative programme, I would have mention…
Lords
Oral Questions
27 April 2026
Student Visas
As the noble Baroness will know, it is important that we get the first decision right, because it is important for the person who is applying and for the process and the cost, as she mentioned. Student visa decisions are made by trained caseworkers, who apply the Immigration Rules and are supported …
Lords
Proceedings
14 April 2026
Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules
My Lords, I thank the noble Lords, Lord German and Lord Dubs, for bringing forward these regret Motions. Both Motions relate to issues that concern the effectiveness and fairness of our immigration system. I reiterate at the outset that the Conservatives broadly support the direction of travel refle…
Lords
Debate
10 March 2026
2 contributions
Victims and Courts Bill
My Lords, I will focus on the amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Hacking, and the noble Baroness, Lady Jones. We seem to have done a bit of mini-regrouping within the group, but I checked with my noble friend Lady Brinton and I think she will wind up the group while introducing her own amendments a…
My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Chakrabarti, and I were members of the Justice and Home Affairs Committee of this House, which was formed only in 2020. Our first inquiry and report were on the advent of new technologies in the justice system. During that work, I often asked myself—sometimes aloud…
Lords
Debate
11 February 2026
4 contributions
Victims and Courts Bill
The noble Lord seems to be suggesting that the Victims’ Commissioner does not now engage with individual cases. My understanding is that she very much does, but to feed towards her statutory role. That is quite different from getting involved in the minutiae of an individual case, supporting a victi…
The noble and learned Lord has said what I wanted to say much more sensitively and tactfully, but I will say what I was going to say.
There is a danger that lawyers of my generation— I shall just apply it to my generation and not suggest which generation other Members of the House belong to—are pre…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
9 February 2026
2 contributions
Victims and Courts Bill
My Lords, I have signed all three of my noble friend Baroness Brinton’s amendments. I will not speak to them at any length. Amendment 38 prompts me to declare an interest, having been chair of the organisation Refuge for very many years. In connection with Amendments 43 and 44, it strikes me that th…
My Lords, my noble friend quoted from a briefing from the Victims’ Commissioner, I think from when she was the London victims’ commissioner, about the costs that have been charged and the costs of transcripts for a whole case—which have perhaps been requested rather than actually charged, for obviou…
Lords
Debate
9 February 2026
2 contributions
Victims and Courts Bill
My Lords, I appreciate that the noble and learned Lord is probing at this stage and I am with him in wanting to see procedures from the point of view of victims, but I simply do not know whether magistrates have the same powers as Crown Court judges. When we debated this issue before, we were told a…
My Lords, the noble Lord has just used the phrase “common sense”, and I think that that is what is expected by people who are affected, who know that they could look to consular services for help if they have lost a passport, but not in such a difficult situation as this. I simply say—and this is no…
Lords
Oral Questions
27 January 2026
Asylum and Immigration: Children
One of the reasons that the Government are looking at the issues of illegal migration and managed migration is to ensure that the United Kingdom is in a position to deal with both those issues in an effective way. The issues of illegal migration and unaccompanied children and managed migration are s…
Lords
Debate
21 January 2026
Sentencing Bill
My Lords, we will also support the Government on their amendments in lieu. I say at the outset how grateful I am, and we on these Benches are generally, to the Minister and the Government for tabling the amendments in lieu, which mean that victims will have full transcripts of sentencing remarks fre…
Lords
Debate
16 December 2025
Victims and Courts Bill
My Lords, as always, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee. Today, it is an enormous pleasure to congratulate my noble friend the Minister on bringing the Bill forward and introducing it with the style and clarity that we are fast becoming used to—no pressure.
In particul…
Lords
Debate
26 November 2025
2 contributions
Sentencing Bill
My Lords, my noble friend Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames has added his name to this amendment, which would ensure that sentencing guidelines
“provide that domestic abuse is an aggravating factor”.
Clause 6 puts into statute a provision that if the court is passing a sentence and
“is of the view t…
I am grateful to the Minister for that. As I have said earlier today, I have struggled with the guidelines, which are long and dense. Without seeing the individual offences which domestic abuse aggravates—if I have the words in the right order there—it is hard to respond, although I retain a wish to…
Lords
Debate
26 November 2025
10 contributions
Sentencing Bill
My Lords, my noble friend Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames is unavoidably unable to be here. I apologise for taking his place from the second Bench; I am sure noble Lords will understand that I need propping up.
I thank the noble and learned Lord for explaining the Conservative amendments in such cle…
My Lords, I made some remarks in the previous group about my concern that magistrates in particular would be constrained by being proscribed as to the detail of what they can do. In listing the offences of the offender, if some offences are not on the list, is that list conclusive? I am not sure tha…
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
24 November 2025
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Jackson, for tabling his amendment, but I hope that I can persuade the House that no Division is required. We will see. I hope to persuade the House of that in due course.
The Bill returns to this House having been considered in the other place on Wednesday 19 …
Lords
Debate
3 November 2025
5 contributions
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, I was too late to put my name down to the amendment from the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton. I am sure she will understand that the points that have been made on the second amendment in this group largely apply to hers as well.
The noble Lord, Lord Harper, tells us that adults game the syst…
My Lords, we should of course be aware of public feeling, but we should also not inflame it. We need to be careful with that. The noble Baroness’s Amendment 32 seeks to leave out Clause 41(17), which states that the amendments made by most of the subsections in that clause
“are to be treated as alw…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
28 October 2025
6 contributions
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, I start from the position of being very unhappy with Clause 13 in any event. The term “intent” in Amendment 3 is certainly familiar, but it is really quite hard to prove. We should not be in the business of creating offences where it would not generally be realistic to prosecute.
On gover…
My Lords, before we get going on Amendment 7, I want to comment on government Amendments 10 and 11. I thank the Minister for responding not only to the amendments in Committee but to my request for a meeting, and holding that meeting during a week when he had so many—I think he can barely have had t…
+4 more contributions in this session