Lords
Proceedings
29 January 2026
Business Rates
My Lords, it would be churlish not to welcome the measures—so far as they go—that the Chancellor has introduced. However, does the Minister accept that it is small family businesses—the hair salons, cafés and restaurants, among others, to which my noble friend on the Front Bench referred—that will b…
Lords
Oral Questions
29 January 2026
Water Companies: Fines
We have announced that we are reopening the sustainable farming incentive, and we hope for a good response to it. The important thing to note about the fines is that currently, if they are from Ofwat, they go to Ofwat and then to the Treasury, and if they are EA fines they go straight into the Treas…
Lords
Committee Stage
29 January 2026
2 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I would like to give an alternative view from that of the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, on Amendment 241C. First, though, I say this to the noble Lord, Lord Bassam: I spent 10 and a half years representing Great Bentley in the European Parliament—not all of its residents, but the greater group…
My Lords, I lend my support to Amendment 100. I pay tribute to the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, and the noble Lord, Lord Freyberg, for their knowledge in this sphere. I am grateful to the noble Earl for referencing West and South Yorkshire in this regard. I place on record how impressive Screen Yorks…
Lords
Committee Stage
28 January 2026
3 contributions
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme (Amendment) Order 2026
My Lords, we welcome this order but I have some important questions to ask the Minister. My party has long argued that a robust, transparent, high-standard carbon market is a cornerstone of any credible pathway to net zero by 2050. When done well, emissions trading cuts carbon at least cost, drives …
The issue is fairly complex because of the benefits and disbenefits that apply from having a really ambitious carbon pricing target. On the one hand, it drives the decarbonisation of home heating, domestic electricity delivery and all sorts of things like that in a low-carbon way, and, arguably, tha…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
28 January 2026
2 contributions
Yorkshire: Sustainable Water Management Solutions
We have plenty of time. We will have the Lib Dems first, then the Conservatives.
Obviously, I cannot comment on the specific issue to which the noble Baroness refers, but we are absolutely committed to improving the implementation of sustainable drainage systems. The noble Baroness is aware that we have updated the national planning policy framework to do so, and we introduced n…
Lords
Oral Questions
26 January 2026
2 contributions
Grass-roots Music Venues
My Lords—
I will absolutely do what the noble Baroness asks. The Government have heard exactly what she said: that the existing policy to mitigate the impact of development on existing activities, including live music, is not always applied effectively. The creative industries sector plan committed to improvi…
Lords
Committee Stage
26 January 2026
3 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, this is the first time I have been able to speak on the Bill. I am delighted to follow my noble friend, who I still consider the pension tsar and who is so knowledgeable in this field. I apologise for being absent when Amendments 132 and 133 were reached; unfortunately, with all the busine…
My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend Lord Younger of Leckie for introducing this group and setting the scene so eloquently, and to my noble friend Lady Penn for speaking to her amendment. I shall speak to the amendments in my name and I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Altmann, for lending her s…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
22 January 2026
Number Plates Intended to Defeat Enforcement Cameras
I absolutely guarantee that this Government will show more urgency than the last one, who started an experiment a very long time ago but concluded nothing from it, and we have had to virtually start again.
Lords
Committee Stage
20 January 2026
3 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I am in favour of all the amendments in this group, particularly Amendment 6, which I have co-signed. I thank the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, for introducing the amendment today and so eloquently expressing why it is so important to every strand of British life. Sitting next to a Lancastri…
My Lords, I am delighted to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Royall, and thank her for introducing this group of amendments. I will speak to Amendments 52, 56, 60 and 260 in my name. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, for his support for all of them and the noble Baroness, Lady Prashar, and the no…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Proceedings
19 January 2026
Northern Powerhouse Rail
My Lords, can I press the Minister on the timetable? Obviously, I have a vested interest as a resident of the north. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced that the benefits will be felt by the early 2030s, but I understand that the final project will not be finished until the 2040s, and ther…
Lords
Oral Questions
19 January 2026
Greenland: Proposed US Tariffs
I appreciate that the noble Baroness takes a strong personal interest, for reasons that I understand, in what happens in Denmark and Greenland. I do not think it helps anybody to speculate about what we would do if certain things were to happen. I must also thank, as I should have done in my initial…
Lords
Oral Questions
13 January 2026
Meat Labelling
All trade deals, whether for import or export, are expected to meet the relevant animal welfare trade standards that we set in this country—that is what we expect as our standards. When we move forward with the proposals in the animal welfare strategy, labelling will clearly be part of it.
Lords
Oral Questions
12 January 2026
2 contributions
Independent Water Commission
My Lords, the Government have carefully considered the Independent Water Commission’s final recommendations and will respond in a forthcoming White Paper. A new water reform Bill will then follow, during this Parliament, to bring forward root-and-branch reform that secures better outcomes for custom…
I know that the noble Baroness has taken a long interest in SUDS, and I want to reassure her and the House that the Government are strongly committed to improving the implementation of sustainable drainage systems. In December 2024, we made changes to the National Planning Policy Framework to suppor…
Lords
Oral Questions
8 January 2026
2 contributions
Greenland
We will hear from the Cross Benches.
I should imagine that, as in this Parliament, there will be a range of views on any issue on any given day. The key principle and guiding point that will shape the UK’s position on that question, and on any others concerning the territory of Greenland, is that those decisions should be taken by Gree…
Lords
Oral Questions
8 January 2026
Environmental Improvement Plan 2025
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Krebs, and all other noble Lords for this timely debate on precisely how the Environmental Improvement Plan 2025 intends to deliver the legally binding targets set out in the Environment Act 2021. Given the alarming trajectory of nature decline in this…
Lords
Debate
7 January 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I speak particularly in support of Amendment 356A in the name of my noble friend Lady Morgan of Cotes. I hope that the Minister might see fit to include this in the Bill, as the noble Lord opposite argued for his amendment. It is difficult to find the right Bill. The Railways Bill is one p…
Lords
Oral Questions
6 January 2026
Flooding Interventions
The noble Baroness is right that sustainable drainage is an important factor in managing flood risk. I am sure she is aware that I am personally supportive of this measure. The department is looking at it and is working with MHCLG, which, as the planning department, also has a particular interest in…
Lords
Debate
17 December 2025
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I congratulate my noble friends Lord Shinkwin, Lord Blencathra and Lord McColl on speaking to their amendments so eloquently. They take the debate one step further than the general debate that we had about dangerous and careless cycling, particularly on pavements—the main perpetrators of w…
Lords
Proceedings
17 December 2025
Violence against Women and Girls Strategy
My Lords, Claudia Lawrence was murdered over 15 years ago, and her body has never been found. What comfort can the strategy bring to her mother, who has to spend yet another Christmas not knowing where her daughter lies?
Lords
Oral Questions
16 December 2025
Asylum Accommodation
I think the noble Baroness will know that the UK Government, with this Labour Party now as the prime mover, have invested a considerable amount of resource in improving accommodation for troops across the country, including the biggest-ever engagement in improving accommodation for service men and w…
Lords
Debate
15 December 2025
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
I am grateful to have a short debate—not so much on Clause 106, which I welcome and congratulate the Government on bringing forward, but rather more on what is not in Clause 106. I am delighted to have my Private Member’s Bill still before the House, so it may yet be adopted before the end of the pa…
I am not sure whether the noble Lord replied on the definition.
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Proceedings
15 December 2025
Resident Doctors: Industrial Action
My Lords, will the Minister respond to the question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Scriven: are these genuinely new training places? I put this question last week and did not really get an answer. I understand that resident doctors are concerned about the inability to plan ahead for training places, …
Lords
Debate
15 December 2025
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I take this opportunity to wish my noble friend Lord Lucas a very speedy recovery from his operation. I also thank the Minister and the Home Office for in part adopting my Private Member’s Bill, with which the Minister is very familiar, but they do not go far enough. That is why I have tak…
The Minister referred in a debate last week to a Bill currently before the House with micromobility provisions. It would be interesting to know whether the consultation has already taken place before that aspect of the Bill. I am sure that it is in his notes, but I cannot for the life of me remember…
Lords
Proceedings
11 December 2025
Grooming Gangs: Independent Inquiry
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for taking questions on the Statement today. I have looked at the provisions in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill and welcome the provisions that deal with the out-of-area taxi provisions, as do many taxi operators themselves. However, those provi…
Lords
Debate
10 December 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who contributed to this short debate. The question from the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, is possibly out of scope of the Motion before us, but I am always happy to meet with her and discuss this further. She has a detailed letter from me today explaining the Gover…