Lords
Debate
8 September 2026
Armed Forces Bill
My Lords, I strongly support the purpose of opposing Clause 38 standing part. The PAC’s 43rd report of 2024-25 heavily criticised the MoD for inadequacies in its financial oversight of the RFCAs. The report said:
“The Department’s arrangements for monitoring and reporting on the RFCAs’ financial pe…
Lords
Debate
2 September 2026
Armed Forces Bill
My Lords, I will speak very briefly to support strongly what the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Brixton, just said. He brought to our attention a most significant failure in how Armed Forces pensions have been paid, calculated and mispaid.
It would be extraordinary to be told—but it appears that we wil…
Lords
Proceedings
16 July 2026
Future Capability of the Armed Forces
My Lords, much has been said in recent months about the possibility of a Russian conflict with NATO. Such a war will be deterred if we and our allies react to strengthen our weak arms posture now. NATO’s potential military, economic and technical strength far exceeds that of any potential adversary.…
Lords
Proceedings
1 July 2026
Defence Investment Plan
My Lords, I share widely the view that this belated DIP comes nowhere near funding the strategic defence review, but the DIP does make clear the Government’s commitment, together with Japan and Italy, to the next-generation Global Combat Air Programme. This is welcome news, given the inevitable with…
Lords
Debate
14 April 2026
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, the Minister has made it clear that the treaty, as it was, has not been “binned”. If and when there is agreement with the Americans to proceed, will the Government consider also the Maldive interest that has been expressed? If so, have the Government had any formal approach from the Maldiv…
Lords
Proceedings
4 March 2026
Security Update
My Lords, it must be clear to all that China is not interested solely in this country; it will be interested in many other countries, too. Is the Minister confident that the exchange of information on such material between the appropriate channels is and continues to be sound?
Lords
Proceedings
26 February 2026
Diego Garcia and British Indian Ocean Territory
My Lords, on 5 January, when debating the Diego Garcia Bill, I asked the Minister this question:
“Is there any legally binding agreement between the UK and the United States that it”,
that is, the United States,
“will continue its use of the base or have need of its use for the 99-year duration o…
Lords
Proceedings
4 February 2026
China and Japan
There has been a report of a warm relationship between Mauritius and China. Was there any discussion with the Chinese about the Chagos treaty during the Prime Minister’s visit?
Lords
Oral Questions
22 January 2026
Diego Garcia: Comments by the President of the United States
We are talking through our allies in NATO with the United States, because we agree with them about how vital Arctic security is, and that does involve Greenland. But the right way to do this is collaboratively, through NATO, and that is the position that we are getting to. The same applies, in many …
Lords
Proceedings
15 January 2026
Iran
My Lords, President Trump has made a number of possible suggestions about what he might or might not do in dealing with Iran. Have those been shared with our Government, and have our Government had any opportunity to propose alternatives or agree with what the President presently has in mind?
Lords
Debate
5 January 2026
3 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, happy new year to everyone. I will speak to Amendments 1 and 38. In an earlier debate on the Bill, I raised the concern that the UK is required, under Article 11 of the treaty, to continue to pay Mauritius even were the military base on Diego Garcia to become unusable. There seems to be no…
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness very much for the way in which she has attempted to deal with my and our concerns. She has certainly pointed to an alternative way, but I still feel that this is something which should and could be sorted out before we get into formal ratification, and therefore …
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
18 December 2025
Lithuania: Balloon Incursions
We are looking at all the various options to deter such activity, as the noble and gallant Lord will know from his own experience. Through Eastern Sentry we have tasked Royal Air Force assets to try to deter right across the eastern flank of NATO. More of that will be done. In January 2026, SACEUR w…
Lords
Proceedings
10 December 2025
Ajax Armoured Vehicle
My Lords, has any foreign interest been expressed in purchasing Ajax at any stage? If it is not going to be purchased, will it be a UK-only piece of equipment?
Lords
Proceedings
25 November 2025
Russian Ship “Yantar”
My Lords, with the greatest respect to the Minister, is this not much more than a simple defence matter? If the laser used was a weapons system, not just laser torching by a member of the “Yantar” crew, is this not a serious disregard of the 1980 UN protocol and its convention on certain conventiona…
Lords
Debate
18 November 2025
3 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, I will speak to Amendment 53 in my name and that of the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Houghton of Richmond, who unfortunately cannot be here this evening. It is clearly a probing amendment to give the Committee an opportunity to consider the implications for the UK of another possibility af…
I was stressing the point that the agreement is about the Chagos Archipelago, but we are interested in Diego Garcia. If Diego Garcia is not available, the treaty requires us to continue to pay Mauritius for the 100 years or whatever it is. We would then be paying for something we do not even have, l…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
4 November 2025
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, as I look at the empty Benches opposite, I wonder whether some Labour Peers are just realising how unnecessary and reckless the Bill is.
First, the people of the Chagos Islands were not even consulted about the future of their homeland. Having already suffered the injustices of forced rem…
Lords
Proceedings
31 October 2025
Ukraine
My Lords, as the Minister’s inspiring speech emphasised, and the excellent maiden speech by the noble Lord, Lord Barrow, reiterated, all the indications are that Russia is preparing for a long war. The Kremlin continues to invest in the militarisation and mobilisation of Russian society and its defe…
Lords
Oral Questions
18 September 2025
Rail Fares
The noble and gallant Lord is right: there is a driver shortage. Most train operating companies do not have enough drivers to staff the service. Although one would like to measure the railways in terms of passenger outcomes, I have determined that the number of drivers be one of the input measures o…
Lords
Debate
12 September 2025
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, what a pleasure and privilege to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Nicholson of Winterbourne. In the light of the impassioned contributions in this Chamber already, I wish to speak as a mother, a daughter and someone who has worked professionally in suicide prevention. I speak with a heavy h…
Lords
Proceedings
10 September 2025
Defence Industrial Strategy
My Lords, this is a very welcome strategy; I give it my full support. I will give it even more support when its theory and proposals have been turned into practicalities. The problems and delays that we have experienced in replacing war stocks that have been passed to the Ukrainians are well known a…
Lords
Proceedings
18 July 2025
Strategic Defence Review 2025
My Lords, I, too, congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Robertson, on his review, and welcome back the noble Lord, Lord Hennessy, whose writings over the years have done so much to influence my own thinking on this subject and others.
Given the time available, it is possible to deal with only one or tw…
Lords
Committee Stage
15 July 2025
Armed Forces Act 2006 (Continuation) Order 2025
My Lords, I support this continuation order. I start by declaring my interests as a director of the Army Reserve and the chairman of the Reserve Forces review in 2030. I will ask a couple of questions but, in looking forward to next year’s Armed Forces Act, I also want to make a couple of suggestion…
Lords
Proceedings
26 June 2025
National Security Strategy
My Lords, this is an important and wide-ranging approach and deserves both cross-party and national support. I congratulate the authors. It takes a 10-year-plus view, but success will materialise only if intermediate goals are set. How do the Government perceive that the aims of this strategy will b…
Lords
Oral Questions
16 June 2025
Defence Industrial Base
The noble and gallant Lord asks a good question. We have reinvigorated and put more money into the defence innovation fund. With respect to defence, you cannot move forward without innovation, challenge, new technology and new ideas. One of the lessons from Ukraine is that sometimes, for not an awfu…
Lords
Proceedings
3 June 2025
2 contributions
UK Nuclear Deterrent
My Lords—
My Lords, I was in command of the crew of a nuclear-armed Vulcan on quick-reaction alert over a number of years, and I realise the cost of maintaining the V-Force on alert over many years as well. Will the Minister return to the first question as to whether the cost of maintaining new nuclear capabi…