Lords
Debate
3 November 2025
4 contributions
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
I understand very well what the noble Lord, Lord Harper, is saying, but one of the problems, it seems to me, is the differing maturity of children in different parts of the world.
Several years ago, I went to the charity Safe Passage, which has a drop-in centre in north London. I met two Afghan boy…
My Lords, I will raise two points. I very much support someone who has an order of deportation being removed, as I suspect the whole House does. However, Amendment 34 is not, as the noble Lord, Lord Jackson, suggested, for somebody who has a prison sentence; it applies to anyone who has been convict…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
28 October 2025
Employment Rights Bill
Maybe the Minister could respond to this. There are more opponents to these parts of the Bill than just the party opposite, as the Minister described them. All the concerns that have been raised—across the House, but also outside this House—have come from a wide range of organisations and interests …
Lords
Oral Questions
21 October 2025
New Homes Target
I remember those days and know how fond some of the inhabitants of those prefabricated homes were. Things are moving on; we are now looking at modern methods of construction homes, which could make an important contribution. They deliver high-quality, energy-efficient homes more quickly while creati…
Lords
Oral Questions
16 October 2025
Telegraph Media Group: Ownership
We have settled on 15% as the cumulative amount, and this House had the opportunity to debate it at some length in July. Whether that is one FSI, one state-owned investor or a number of state-owned investors, it will not exceed 15%. The Competition and Markets Authority has been clear that it does n…
Lords
Debate
13 October 2025
2 contributions
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, I understand what the noble Lord, Lord Jackson, is saying about immigration. It is in the press every day and it is a serious issue that the public care about. However, he spoke a great deal about adults and, on this, we are particularly talking about children.
I hugely admire the noble L…
I did refer to the Conservatives as having carried on the very good practice.
Lords
Debate
19 September 2025
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I could not possibly attempt to compete with the forensic skill of the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, which is so impressive. I simply want to add to this excellent debate one striking comparison which I hope may illuminate it.
Near my home in Sussex stands the beautiful c…
Lords
Debate
18 September 2025
2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I support Amendments 469 and 470, particularly the speech of the noble Baroness, Lady Longfield, who has such experience.
I should like to concentrate briefly on listening to the child. In 1987-88, I chaired the statutory inquiry into the Cleveland child abuse. I heard, with my assessors,…
May I just ask the Minister: does she meet groups of children?
Lords
Proceedings
18 September 2025
Procedure and Privileges
My Lords, I understand both contributions and the feeling of the House that has been made known by the noble and learned Baroness. Clearly, the procedure committee, if referred to, can look at these things, but the business of the House is obviously conducted within usual channels for the planning o…
Lords
Oral Questions
18 September 2025
Rail Fares
I think the noble and learned Baroness is referring to the Salisbury to Exeter line, which has a long history. It was built cheaply to compete with Great Western Railway. The cuttings are steep and the tunnel portals are surrounded by earth, but, sadly, this summer journey times have been extended d…
Lords
Debate
3 September 2025
3 contributions
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, I rise to speak very briefly, before the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, because I am unhappy about these amendments. I was very relieved when the Government put forward a situation that would not support them.
I was invited by the charity Safe Passage to attend a drop-in session at its dro…
I am very interested in what the noble Lord, Lord Jackson of Peterborough, says, because he did talk about common sense and looking at a person. That is what encouraged me to speak. When I met those two young men, I absolutely took the view that they were over 18, but I was disabused, not only by th…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
3 September 2025
2 contributions
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
Taking the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Murray, I entirely understand the situation of somebody who has come over illegally and has no good reason to stay here, but, if that person comes from an unsafe country, where would you send him or her?
I find it rather odd to read these two amendments. I am not party political. I sat through a large amount of legislation by the last Government: the Nationality and Borders Act, the Illegal Migration Act and the Rwanda Act. There was a great deal of legislation but there were remarkably few people a…
Lords
Debate
2 September 2025
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I have not spoken much at this stage of the Bill but, having heard the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Moulsecoomb, and the noble Lord, Lord Hacking, I have to say very respectfully that I am concerned.
It seems to me enormously important that the local authority has the opportunity to unde…
Lords
Debate
21 July 2025
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I have played no part in this Bill, but I have come in especially for this amendment—although I voted on an earlier one. However, my elder brother was a passionate railway supporter, and he would have been horrified if he had realised that any support that he could give would have been ill…
Lords
Debate
21 July 2025
House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill
My Lords, I promise not to give as long a speech as my noble friend Lord Grocott. I am speaking on this Bill for the first time, deliberately, having not voted. I think I am the only person in the House who is a card-carrying geneticist. I have been through this during previous Bills, when I made fu…
Lords
Oral Questions
16 July 2025
Newspapers: Foreign Ownership
The Secretary of State does not have to have all the evidence: it is for the CMA to investigate. The regime has a duty to intervene where she suspects that there may be influence. I am happy to provide further information to the noble and learned Baroness, or to meet her and others who have question…
Lords
Oral Questions
15 July 2025
Housebuilders: Information Sharing
The noble and learned Baroness is quite right. The age profile of some of the skilled workers in the construction sector is higher than we would want it to be. We have put £600 million into improving skills, setting up 10 new technical colleges so that we can encourage young people to take up trades…
Lords
Debate
8 July 2025
2 contributions
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, I have put my name to these two amendments, and I declare that I am co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery and vice-chair of the Human Trafficking Foundation. I agree with every word that the noble Baroness, Lady May, said. We need to remember…
The trouble with the Modern Slavery Act 2015 is that it is 10 years old, and some of it is not as well regarded as it might be. I recently attended an interesting discussion with the Minister in the other place, Jess Phillips, about updating the Modern Slavery Act so that people recognise that it is…
Lords
Oral Questions
24 June 2025
Baby Foods: Nutrition and Marketing
The noble and learned Baroness is right about ensuring that we do not stigmatise women who cannot breastfeed; that is critical. There is criticism of some of the organisations supporting breastfeeding, which have perhaps gone too far. We do take this seriously, looking at the different ages, moving …
Lords
Debate
23 June 2025
4 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I strongly support this amendment. I declare that I am vice-chairman of the Human Trafficking Foundation and co-chair of the all-party group against modern slavery. Ten years ago, the Modern Slavery Act introduced child advocates who are informally called guardians. It is a brilliant schem…
I entirely understand and respect the Minister’s reservations, particularly on not putting regulations in primary legislation that might make more difficulty—that I understand. It is the spirit of the amendment that I am particularly concerned with. I just ask, is it intended that the modern slavery…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
23 June 2025
Planning: Energy Efficiency and Fire Safety
As this is incorporated into the planning process, it will become part of how planning is done so that it will be put in from the outset. We will accelerate the specific types of infrastructure, including making sure that, as people put planning applications in, we look at them to make sure that bui…
Lords
Debate
19 June 2025
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
I find these two amendments extremely interesting, and I very much support the spirit of them. But I am not at all happy, I have to say, about exactly how they are put forward. I think it is important that the Government reflect on Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 and the extent to which it could…
Lords
Proceedings
17 June 2025
Gibraltar
My Lords, I very much support what the noble Lord has just said. I am also a member of the Anglo-Gibraltar group, and I go very regularly to Gibraltar. I have visited Gibraltar ever since I was 18, so I know it extremely well. I also happen to know—as we do as Members—the Chief Minister very well. I…
Lords
Debate
17 June 2025
4 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I apologise for not being present at the beginning of the discussion of these amendments. One issue that I was worried about many years ago, and I would be surprised if it did not happen still, is the fact that once a child moves from its local authority area to a local authority somewhere…
My Lords, I support Amendments 118, 144 and 165 in particular. Dealing with perhaps the least important of the three: as a boarding school girl, I think that boarding school can often be a very sensible place to send children. I would not want to see it required for all children—that would be most u…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
16 June 2025
Adult Social Care
The noble and learned Baroness is absolutely right about status, which assists retention as well as recruitment. Clearly, the first ever fair pay agreements will make that possible. The need to work with various partners across the sector was raised in an earlier question. The way in which those neg…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 June 2025
Public Order Act 1986: Section 5
We are in discussion with the police, the College of Policing and the Chief Constables’ Council on the very issue the noble and learned Baroness raises. That has come out of a number of cases since the general election which have been brought to our attention, where we believe the police should be t…