Lords
Proceedings
15 July 2026
National Shipbuilding Strategy
My Lords, for too long we have had feast and famine within our warship shipbuilding industry. Part of the reason for the dreadful situation we are in today is that orders took too long to make and there was no drum beat. We will very shortly have four frigates—the great Royal Navy will have four fri…
Lords
Proceedings
10 June 2026
Mindanao Earthquake
My Lords, can I ask my noble friend the Minister what the closest Royal Navy ship was to the Philippines when this accident happened—because historically the Navy has been very involved in these things—and was its tasking changed at all as a result of this?
Lords
Proceedings
8 June 2026
UK Defence Capability
My Lords, our Armed Forces and our defence industries are, I believe, teetering on the brink of disaster due to lack of investment over certainly the past 15 years but actually even longer and lack of decisions recently about spending the money that apparently is being released for defence. There is…
Lords
Oral Questions
27 April 2026
Student Visas
We have to make sure that individuals have a proper and right method of applying for student entry into the United Kingdom. That is why we have accepted over 448,000 people, but it also why we have rejected 18,000 applications to date. There is a very strict check on what the reasons are, how people…
Lords
Oral Questions
20 April 2026
Schoolchildren: Swimming
My noble friend is always clever at turning a question to his advantage. I will simply say that I absolutely know, as I think he does, the significance that this Government place on increased investment in our defence capacity, which is why we have seen the largest increase in defence spending pledg…
Lords
Oral Questions
14 April 2026
Atlantic Undersea Cables: Russian Subsurface Operations
I was just thinking about the red tie club, as I stood up. But the serious point that my noble friend makes is clearly an important one about our ability to detect and deter those who would threaten us. The importance of the activity that took place in the north Atlantic was that we were able to use…
Lords
Oral Questions
13 April 2026
2 contributions
Strait of Hormuz: Mine Clearance
My Lords, we continue to convene efforts towards restoring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, which is of vital importance to the UK. The Prime Minister will deliver an Oral Statement this afternoon following his trip to the region and will update on our latest work to reopen the Strait …
I thank my noble friend for his question. He will know that the Government’s approach is to try to ensure that we bring together a co-ordinated, independent and multinational plan to safeguard international shipping when the conflict ends. Of course, considerations will be with all our different all…
Lords
Oral Questions
23 March 2026
UK Homeland Defence
I do not want to get into hypotheticals of what may or may not happen in the future about “If this were to happen, what would be the Government’s reaction?” The Government and the Prime Minister can and should take credit for the way they and he have handled what is happening at the present time wit…
Lords
Debate
17 March 2026
Lord Mandelson: Response to Humble Address Motion
My Lords, I understand that the complexities of employment law mean that you have to pay someone some money when they work for you. Has anyone approached Mandelson, who has done disgraceful things, to ask whether he wants to give this money to a buy-a-warship fund, or some other charity, rather than…
Lords
Oral Questions
17 March 2026
BBC World Service: Sustainability
BBC Monitoring provides an exceptionally important service. If noble Lords have not had the chance to look into what it does, I would highly recommend it, particularly for situations such as that in Ukraine, where it is probably the most reliable source of information on the Russian war dead. Its wo…
Lords
Oral Questions
9 March 2026
Iran and the Middle East
I think we all remember the experience from 2003 and the decisions made around Iraq. Somebody who fought in Iraq—a Member of Parliament, Calvin Bailey, who was a wing commander in the RAF—said to me last week that there were two things that the British Government need to bear in mind before they tak…
Lords
Proceedings
3 March 2026
Gibraltar Treaty
My Lords, many years ago the commander-in-chief of a commando brigade invaded Spain when they were meant to be exercising in Gibraltar. That was quite embarrassing, but my question relates to the military. I have not had a chance to look at the totality of this treaty, but what I have heard about it…
Lords
Oral Questions
23 February 2026
Global Biodiversity Loss and National Security
I am starting to get a bit alarmed about the number of questions referring to World War III, but the noble Lord is right: food security is of critical importance. I am sure that right across every department we will do everything we can to ensure that, should World War III come anytime soon, we will…
Lords
Debate
12 February 2026
Lord Mandelson: Government Response to Humble Address Motion
My Lords, as a member of the ISC, I note that my noble friend the Minister did not say anything about my integrity, which is a bit worrying. I make it absolutely clear that deciding what is in scope to be released is totally for the Cabinet Office. The ISC will have nothing to do with that whatever;…
Lords
Oral Questions
9 February 2026
2 contributions
Royal Navy: Caribbean
My Lords, the Royal Navy’s persistent presence in the Caribbean is not part of the Joint Interagency Task Force South. The ship primarily provides support to the British Overseas Territories, including during Caribbean hurricane season, including in response to Hurricane Beryl and Hurricane Melissa …
The noble Lord is right that our persistent presence in the Caribbean in the Atlantic patrol task force is very important and does a lot of work in supporting the overseas territories and combating the illicit drugs trade. HMS “Trent” has seized £223.4 million-worth of cocaine since 2024, making thi…
Lords
Oral Questions
2 February 2026
China: Jimmy Lai
Our Prime Minister has been very clear on where he stands on the issue of Jimmy Lai. Sometimes, as the noble Lord says, it is appropriate to do things discreetly and quietly, but, equally, sometimes it is important to be clear about what we want and believe. It is an art, as he indicates, but our in…
Lords
Oral Questions
19 January 2026
Greenland: Proposed US Tariffs
The noble Lord is encouraging us to be calm and to respond thoughtfully but clearly. Luckily, that is the approach that our Prime Minister is taking.
Lords
Oral Questions
14 January 2026
Boarding of Sanctioned Vessels
My noble friend heard the careful Answer that I gave to the noble Baroness; I hope that went some way to answering the question that he has posed. It is not as though we have not been doing anything. Let me set out the facts for my noble friend; I asked for them and mentioned them a couple of days a…
Lords
Proceedings
12 January 2026
Iran: Protests
I am grateful to the noble Lord for his question. I make a very clear point of never responding to that kind of hypothetical question; I shall not break that today, but I note what he says, in particular about Iran’s importance in terms of security in that part of the wo0rld.
Lords
Oral Questions
6 January 2026
2 contributions
Defence Spending
My Lords, Defence is collectively working to deliver the strategic defence review as a deliverable and affordable plan, backed by historic funding increases. Further detail will follow in the defence investment plan. All the Chiefs of Staff are fully engaged in that planning, as they are in the rout…
I agree with much of what my noble friend says about the threat that we face and the need for us to respond appropriately. All I would say is that we are increasing defence spending. My noble friend asked about the chiefs, and I will quote directly from the speech the Chief of the Defence Staff gave…
Lords
Oral Questions
5 January 2026
Sudden Cardiac Death: Screening for Young People
I think everyone in this House will support my noble friend’s comments on that appalling tragedy. We are just at the beginning of understanding what happened, but our hearts go out to all the families and friends of the young people who died. Words cannot express just how tragic this event has been.
Lords
Oral Questions
16 December 2025
Asylum Accommodation
I am afraid these are turning into defence questions, but I shall do my best. I simply say to my noble friend that the previous Government did invest in putting people on ships; it was called the “Bibby Stockholm”. As a result of the failures of the “Bibby Stockholm” to provide a decent standard of …
Lords
Oral Questions
15 December 2025
2 contributions
Sydney Terrorist Attack
My Lords, as the Prime Minister and Home Secretary have said, the Government are appalled by this act of terrorism on Bondi Beach targeting the Jewish community. It is particularly horrifying that it happened at a Hanukkah celebration. My thoughts are with the victims, their families and all those a…
I agree wholeheartedly with my noble friend on the bravery of that individual. I watched on television yesterday the pictures of him tackling the armed gunman, and that is bravery for which he should be commended. I believe he was shot in the attempt, and I wish him well and a quick recovery.
The U…
Lords
Oral Questions
9 December 2025
Armed Services: Sexual Violence
I congratulate my noble friend again on the work that he did with respect to encouraging women into the service and in particular into the Navy and indeed the submarine service. A number of noble and gallant Lords are in the Chamber listening to this debate, and I know that they too have been right …