Lords
Proceedings
2 July 2026
2 contributions
Imprisonment for Public Protection
My Lords—
My Lords, I refer to the figure that my noble friend Lord Moylan mentioned—namely, the nearly 1,000 prisoners on IPP sentences who are still incarcerated and are well beyond their tariff. The Minister will know that not everything that is in her brief is necessarily worth reading out. The resort to …
Lords
Proceedings
1 July 2026
Prisoner Early Release
My Lords, there are 3,650 women in prison in England and Wales. There are 12 women’s prisons and, as it happens, all 12 of them are in England. Of that 3,650, 2,500—that is about 70% of the women’s prison population—are in custody for non-violent offences. Why do the Government not release them, or …
Lords
Proceedings
22 June 2026
2 contributions
Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office
My Lords—
My Lords, will the Minister agree that the Question asked by the noble Baroness, Lady Hayter, reveals the other side of the coin in relation to a resident of Hong Kong who is a United Kingdom citizen, who has been “convicted” under the Chinese national security legislation—namely, Jimmy Lai? When wa…
Lords
Proceedings
18 May 2026
King’s Speech
My Lords, my noble friend Lord Wolfson has done the House a service, not only through what he said and the way that he said it but by saving me from saying it all over again. I agree with every word that he said.
I could also spend the entirety of the time allotted to me in this debate, and a lot m…
Lords
Proceedings
18 May 2026
King’s Speech
My Lords, my noble friend Lord Wolfson has done the House a service, not only through what he said and the way that he said it but by saving me from saying it all over again. I agree with every word that he said.
I could also spend the entirety of the time allotted to me in this debate, and a lot m…
Lords
Proceedings
20 April 2026
Security Vetting
My Lords, I am grateful to the Leader of the House for her repetition of the Statement made by the Prime Minister earlier. I went to the other place to listen to the Prime Minister, and I have listened again to what the noble Baroness has had to say this afternoon. I find it impossible to work out, …
Lords
Debate
14 April 2026
Grenfell Tower Memorial (Expenditure) Bill
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble and learned Lord, Lord Garnier.
The late great Martin Amis described the sensation of ageing as feeling like breakfast comes around every 15 minutes. Dare I say it but, for some of us in your Lordships’ House, 2017 feels like yesterday. For the survivo…
Lords
Debate
18 March 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
The Minister is very kind—and has a long memory. Does he remember, as I do, the debates we had in the run-up to the US-UK bilateral extradition treaty, which formed part of the Extradition Act of the same year? Does he remember that that was the subject of a great deal of reassurance from the then L…
Lords
Debate
27 February 2026
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I am grateful that the noble Lord was able to introduce his remarks before he has to go and perform his functions as chairman of the Committee. I have only a few things to say, and my amendment is discrete, in the sense that it does not really affect much of the rest of the Bill. It can be…
Lords
Debate
11 February 2026
3 contributions
Victims and Courts Bill
My Lords, I rise with a degree of caution. I entirely understand the motives behind the amendments moved by my noble friend Lord Sandhurst, and that moved by the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton. Shall we begin by trying to remember what an unduly lenient sentence is? It is one that falls outside the ra…
I can see what the printed words say, but if the Crown Prosecution Service was to write to the victim saying, “Do you realise that you can apply to the law officers to have this sentence reviewed by the Court of Appeal?”, it would give an imprimatur and an indication. That is the implication, and we…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
9 February 2026
3 contributions
Victims and Courts Bill
My Lords, this is not the first time I have argued that this jurisdiction does not do enough to ensure that domestic—but more importantly, overseas—victims of economic crime committed by people or organisations based here are adequately compensated for their losses.
If the last Government and the p…
My Lords, I begin by apologising to noble Lords who had other amendments in the group for not addressing their arguments, but I do not think they needed my assistance. I am grateful to my noble friend Lord Sandhurst and to the noble Lord, Lord Marks, for their support for my Amendment 40. As has bee…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
9 February 2026
Jimmy Lai: Prison Sentence
I have good news for the noble and learned Lord. Since he asked that question—and he is right that I did not answer him at the time, because I was not at that meeting—a read-out has since been published, and he can read it at his leisure.
Lords
Debate
5 February 2026
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
Can my noble friend comment on the remarks of the noble Lords, Lord Verdirame and Lord Macdonald of River Glaven? Did he find nothing in what they had to say the least bit attractive?
My Lords, my Amendment 486, co-signed by the noble Lords, Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede and Lord Berkeley of Knighton, and the noble Baroness, Lady Fox of Buckley, is a probing amendment designed to enable the Committee to consider the criminal law on joint enterprise and the Government to tell us how …
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Proceedings
4 February 2026
2 contributions
China and Japan
My Lords, the whole House respects both the Leader of the House and her noble friend the Foreign Office Minister, who is sitting alongside her. As I said the other day to the noble Baroness, Lady Chapman, the problem that we face in this House —those of us who are not Foreign Office Ministers—is tha…
Millions.
Lords
Oral Questions
2 February 2026
China: Human Rights and UK National Security
I appreciate the way in which the noble and learned Lord put that question, although I assure him that I do not find this in any way awkward. It is important that I am here and fully accountable to this House, above all. The Prime Minister is, I believe, on his feet right now, so the noble and learn…
Lords
Oral Questions
2 February 2026
China: Jimmy Lai
The noble and learned Lord is right that the Chinese ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Office, which, in diplomatic terms, is a serious thing. I do not know the contents of the conversation or indeed who was in the room, but I can confirm that this act took place in response to what happened wi…
Lords
Debate
22 January 2026
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Carter, for reminding us of his late-night work the other night, and I look forward to discussing that subject when we come back to it on Report. I am also grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Hogan-Howe, for bringing a practical police view to this very d…
The matter that the noble Lord is bringing up is the very sort of discussion that ought to be had in front of the judge. Presumably, no prosecutor, and no one acting on behalf of a police officer who wished to maintain his anonymity, would advance an argument unless there were some basis for it. If …
Lords
Debate
20 January 2026
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Banner for introducing this series of amendments and congratulate those who supported him. This is an important public policy question that can, from time to time, raise its ugly head—although it is then ignored. I hope that, as my noble friend has so attractiv…
My Lords, I am very glad that I waited for the noble Lord, Lord Spellar, to contribute to the debate, as I agree with just about everything that he has said. Noble Lords may say that that is not terribly difficult, given that I have co-signed the amendments that he has signed. I share his view that …
Lords
Debate
15 January 2026
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I intervene briefly because the noble Lords, Lord Anderson and Lord Clement-Jones, have set out with great clarity the thinking behind their two amendments, and I am very convinced by them. I am convinced by them particularly because this applies to without-suspicion seizure, which is, fro…
My Lords, I want to speak briefly to the amendment that my noble friend Lord Attlee spent about 15 seconds talking about; that is, his Amendment 414. At the outset of his remarks, I was worried that he might be positively going to support his own amendment, but he very quickly said that he hoped tha…
Lords
Debate
9 January 2026
2 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I am diffidently following the noble and learned Baroness, with her experience both as a legislator and as a very senior judge. I am very pleased she intervened when she did, because her contribution has been most helpful, There is always a difficulty for someone like me, who is not a fami…
I am very grateful to the noble and learned Baroness for her approbation of what I just said.
My final point concerns what happens if there is a lack of High Court judges in the Family Division. We are told there are 20, and there are 40 circuit judges who specialise in family work. It may well be …
Lords
Debate
8 January 2026
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I will speak very briefly in support of the points made by the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, and my noble friend Lord Blencathra on the process. Time in Committee is obviously linked to the progress of meetings, and I am grateful to the noble and learned Lord for offering a one-on-one meeting …
Lords
Debate
6 January 2026
Sentencing Bill
My Lords, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Thomas, set out with great clarity the cogency of his proposed new clause. I entirely support it and, if he wishes to test the opinion of the House, I shall join him.
Many of the amendments in the group we are dealing with are concerned with providing a me…
Lords
Debate
6 January 2026
3 contributions
Sentencing Bill
My Lords, my noble friend Lord Hailsham’s second point illustrates his first point: if there is no purposeful activity available, how can one enforce the denial of an early release by virtue of a person’s failure to comply with a purposeful activity?
I want, briefly, to go back to the late and much…
My Lords, in the spirit of friendship, I acknowledge the charming but highly persuasive way in which my noble friend advanced her amendment, which I am only too pleased to support, and recognise the support of the noble Lord, Lord Ponsonby, who is also my friend. I will embarrass him further by sayi…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Proceedings
17 December 2025
Jimmy Lai Conviction
My Lords, I appreciate that we are no longer the superpower that we used to be, but none the less if we were to speak firmly to the Government of China, it would be internationally noticed.
The Chinese Government have no respect for the rule of law, as we can see from the recent trial of Jimmy Lai.…