Lords
Debate
11 March 2026
4 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I too support the amendment. I suggest that if, as I hope, the Minister agrees that regulations are needed, they should not just deal with consistency but impose a substantive limit on the fees to be charged. It seems that in this context, as in many others, the maximum that should be char…
I am very grateful to the Minister. Will the letter that the Minister mentioned make the point that it is unacceptable in principle for police forces to seek to make a profit via the imposition of these fees?
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
9 March 2026
5 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
This is another context where there has to be a fair balance between competing interests. One can easily see that the use of live facial recognition is a vital policing tool. However, as has been explained, it has an adverse impact on privacy. What concerns me is that the European Convention on Huma…
Before the Minister replies, I suggest to the noble Lord, Lord Davies, that the rule-breakers are not those who want to return within three months; they are the local authorities that have statutory obligations to provide proper sites for Travellers but are failing to do so.
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
9 March 2026
8 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
The noble Lord has already accepted that the right to protest has to be balanced against the rights of others. Surely the virtue of the cumulative disruption provision, Clause 140, is that it is totally unacceptable that the rights of others who wish to pray in their synagogue, who wish to get to th…
Before she sits down, I put to the noble Baroness that her amendments would not achieve the purpose that I understand the Government to have with Clause 139. If you confer the power in relation only to a protest that takes place within 50 metres then you are not going to achieve the purpose, which i…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
5 March 2026
Class Inequality in the Arts
When you look at that, it all sounds great in practice, but there is a massive regional difference. For example, it might work in London, but it is not going to work in some parts of the north of England. It does not work in every single part. The best thing the Government can do is to make sure tha…
Lords
Debate
4 March 2026
4 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
I am very grateful to the noble Lord. Can he give a practical example of when there has ever been a relevant criminal offence committed against a person because they are not deaf?
I am very grateful to the noble Lord. Will he accept that there is no question of a court looking into someone’s soul? The aggravation has to be proved. It has to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt, and it is proved beyond a reasonable doubt by what the person has said, or what they have done, and …
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
4 March 2026
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I support the Government’s amendments. As I understand them, they do not create any new criminal offences; they are concerned only with sentencing for criminal offences that are proved and on the statute book. It is elementary that the sentence the court imposes for any criminal offence mu…
I am grateful to the noble Lord, but he is running two inconsistent arguments. He is saying first that the law already allows this, and secondly that this amendment to make the position clear is fundamentally objectionable on grounds of principle. He cannot run both arguments, nor say that it is obj…
Lords
Debate
2 March 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, this is another X-rated group of amendments. I added my name to government Amendment 301, on sexual activity with an animal, and I spoke on this subject in Committee. The prohibition of sex with animals has a long history—it was proscribed in Leviticus, chapter 18, verse 23—and it is high …
Lords
Proceedings
2 March 2026
Middle East
My Lords, the noble Baroness the Leader of the House mentioned international law. I suggest to her—and to the noble and learned Lord the Attorney-General, who I am pleased to see in his place—that no rational international law could prohibit the United States and Israel from taking pre-emptive actio…
Lords
Debate
2 March 2026
4 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, this is a grim subject, like, I am afraid, many of those that we are going to discuss in our proceedings today. An overwhelming case has been made by those who have spoken, particularly the noble Baroness, Lady Kidron. I very much hope that the Front Benches—Government and Opposition—are l…
My Lords, this group covers a range of human conduct, from the objectionable to the disgusting. I thank the Minister for tabling a series of amendments which will benefit women and society at large. I particularly thank the noble Baroness, Lady Owen, for all the work that she has done, which has led…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
25 February 2026
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I agree with everything said by the noble Baroness, Lady Doocey. As I understand the Government’s position, they accept that it would not be appropriate to impose such an order unless it is necessary and proportionate, and indeed that is the test applied by the European Convention on Human…
Would the Minister accept that it is very difficult ever to think of circumstances in which it would be appropriate for a court to impose a respect order, with all the implications that has for an individual, unless the court is satisfied that it is necessary and proportionate?
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
24 February 2026
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
My Lords, I have listened very carefully to the speeches from the noble Lords, Lord Murray and Lord Naseby. However, what they cannot avoid is that their amendment, by maintaining the legal sale of tobacco products to persons over the age of 21, will continue the enormous damage to public health and…
Lords
Proceedings
24 February 2026
Lord Mandelson: Government Response to Humble Address
My Lords, the House is grateful to the noble Baroness the Lord Privy Seal for the clarity of her answers. Will she confirm that, once the ISC has decided that a document should be disclosed, notwithstanding any concern that the Government may have had about its implications for national security or …
Lords
Oral Questions
23 February 2026
LGBT Veterans Independent Review
Congratulations on that further string to the noble Lord’s bow. The important point is that he is to be congratulated on the work that he did to bring that change forward and right that wrong. He should be proud of that, in the way I pointed out to other noble Lords. Frankly, we can make points abou…
Lords
Debate
11 February 2026
2 contributions
Victims and Courts Bill
My Lords, I am very doubtful about Amendment 58. It would expand the role of the Victims’ Commissioner very substantially indeed if the Victims’ Commissioner is going to take action to support or protect individuals who act in good faith to assist victims of crime. That would involve a great deal mo…
My Lords, I entirely agree with what the noble and learned Lord, Lord Thomas has said. I shall add some observations. It is self-evident, as the noble Lord, Lord Sandhurst, says, that only those who are qualified and competent should be responsible for prosecutions, and no one would dispute that. Ho…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 February 2026
Government Website: Registering a Death
I feel as if I am answering for three departments today: the Department of Health, the Home Office, and now the Ministry of Justice has been thrown in. I will reflect on and share with my noble friend Lord Timpson the points that the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, has made. I cannot answer him today but …
Lords
Debate
6 February 2026
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
I suggest to the Minister that the answer to the noble Lord, Lord Harper, is very simple. An unfortunate person may have more than one inevitably progressive illness or disease, each of which will lead to their death within six months. It is a standard principle of statutory interpretation that the …
Lords
Oral Questions
3 February 2026
2 contributions
Shamima Begum
My Lords—
With due respect to the noble Lord, I am not hiding behind that. We have taken a judgment that we are in discussion on that matter in the European court with legal teams. I am not able to give a running commentary on those matters in this House. The noble Lord may not like that, but that is the posi…
Lords
Debate
2 February 2026
9 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, this is an exceptionally difficult issue because of the conflicting interests, which cannot, in my view, be balanced.
The first is that under existing law, many women who have recently suffered miscarriages are subject to distressing and intrusive investigations when they have not acted u…
Of course Parliament should place a value on human life, but it should also, should it not, place a value on the interests of the unfortunate women who have, in the most distressing of circumstances, lost the child they are carrying. Therefore, to talk about the value of human life does not answer t…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
30 January 2026
4 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
It is a great pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Campbell of Surbiton, and to say how pleased I am, as I am sure all noble Lords are, that she is very much still with us. I hope she will be for many years to come.
This is an important group because, as has been emphasised, scientific preci…
The noble Baroness makes an important point, because this Bill is concerned with providing choice. Of course there is no mandatory obligation, but, if you are given this information, you should have the right—it is your life—to decide whether you wish to take advantage of these provisions. In many c…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
30 January 2026
Arrangement of Business
I have two questions. Will the Chief Whip confirm that whether the Parliament Act is invoked is entirely a matter for the House of Commons? Does he agree that the reason that the Parliament Act is being discussed at the moment is because this is day 8 of Committee and we are still on Clause 1?
Lords
Oral Questions
29 January 2026
Water Companies: Fines
It is important that the water companies pay the fines in such a way that it does not impact on consumers and consumer bills, and the Government are certainly keen to enforce that.
Lords
Debate
27 January 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I share the concerns expressed by the noble Lord, Lord Goodman, and indeed by the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, but I am very doubtful that further legislation is required. There is, as previous speakers have said, a very worrying degree of antisemitic extremist speech, pa…
Lords
Oral Questions
19 January 2026
Greenland: Proposed US Tariffs
There are many ways that the current situation and the concerns that the United States has could be resolved. What matters is that that is done collegiately, diplomatically and in a way that is respectful of the alliance that we are all part of. We are hopeful that that is what can come about.
Lords
Debate
13 January 2026
6 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, that was a powerful speech, but it really is not the case that all protesters are in the position of Martin Luther King, Emmeline Pankhurst, Mahatma Gandhi and the noble Baroness herself. There are protesters who have good reason for wishing to conceal their identity. If I am a protester a…
The Minister is making a very powerful case but I ask him to focus on the defences which he has recognised. I do not understand why it is a defence for me to show that I wore a face mask because of my religion, but it is not a defence for me to prove, the onus being on me, that I wore a face mask be…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
9 January 2026
5 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, made a very powerful case, if I may say so, for judicial control to provide the independent scrutiny that we all agree is required in some form to ensure that the criteria of the Bill are satisfied in individual cases. However, I offer a contrasting view. Alth…
With great respect, that is not my understanding. The next point I was going to make is that paragraph 5(3) of Schedule 2 answers the very point just made by the noble Baroness. It states:
“The panel is to be treated as having decided to refuse to grant a certificate of eligibility if any member … …
+3 more contributions in this session