Lords
Proceedings
21 October 2025
Alleged Spying Case: Home Office Involvement
My Lords, I am one of many Members of the House who is finding it difficult to understand the reasoning of the Director of Public Prosecutions as to why the evidence was insufficient to take this matter to a jury. The DPP is, of course, supervised by the Attorney-General. The noble and learned Lord …
Lords
Proceedings
15 October 2025
Manchester Terrorism Attack
My Lords, I thank the Minister, the Front Benches and the right reverend Prelate for the sympathetic remarks they have made, which will be much appreciated by the Jewish community. I also associate myself with the Minister’s remarks about the performance of the noble Lord, Lord Khan of Burnley, whic…
Lords
Proceedings
14 October 2025
Security Update: Official Secrets Act Case
May I ask the noble Baroness to clarify the answer she gave to the noble Lord, Lord Fox, on the important subject of transparency? He asked whether the Government will publish correspondence between officials, politicians and advisers involved with the CPS. The noble Baroness’s answer was exactly th…
Lords
Debate
14 October 2025
Renters’ Rights Bill
My Lords, I will speak to Motion D1 in my name, which the Minister referred to sympathetically at the beginning of our debate.
As we have heard, the Bill currently precludes a landlord who gives notice to a tenant because he wants to sell from re-letting that property for 12 months if that sale fal…
Lords
Oral Questions
13 October 2025
Chinese Espionage: Parliament
As I have previously said, the Deputy National Security Adviser, on behalf of the Government, gave three different witness statements, as requested by the CPS and the DPP. We gave, and will continue to give, for all prosecutions, full evidence as available. It was a matter for the DPP to determine w…
Lords
Oral Questions
13 October 2025
Asylum Claims: Religious Conversion
The noble Lord is absolutely right: it is integral to the success of the immigration and asylum system that those who have no right to remain in the United Kingdom are removed speedily. Since July 2024, this Government have improved the performance on those removals. We need to engage with our partn…
Lords
Oral Questions
18 September 2025
Gaza: UN Commission of Inquiry Report
The legal test must be heard by a court. I understand that this report can be considered by the ICJ as part of its deliberations, and to that extent I think it is helpful. Whether or not you agree with every word of the report and with its findings, or however you view the wording of that report, it…
Lords
Debate
15 September 2025
2 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I too have added my name to the amendment. As the noble Lord, Lord Grabiner, has just mentioned, the Supreme Court concluded its judgment by recognising that it would leave a “rather messy situation”. This amendment gives Parliament the opportunity to clear up that mess. The mischief that …
In answer to the excellent speech by the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra, it was not my noble friend Lord Grabiner and I who described the situation as a mess. Those were the words of Lady Rose herself in the Supreme Court. I would not presume to suggest that the Supreme Court judgment was a mess.
Whil…
Lords
Proceedings
11 September 2025
Qatar: Israeli Strike
My Lords, this is day 706 of the detention of the hostages who were abducted on 7 October. The need for settlement negotiations is even more urgent than it was last week. Will the Government do all they can to urge the Government of Qatar to continue their most valuable efforts to secure some sort o…
Lords
Debate
8 September 2025
5 contributions
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
I too send my best wishes to the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Moulsecoomb. We shall miss, for a temporary period, her distinctive contribution to this House.
I am puzzled by this amendment, essentially for the reasons my noble friend Lady Chakrabarti mentions. Article 8 of the European Convention …
My Lords, I declare my interest as a practising barrister including in immigration cases—sometimes for claimants, sometimes for the Home Office. I support this amendment for the reasons so eloquently presented by the noble Lord, Lord Bach, and those who have followed him.
I want to add one point, a…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
4 September 2025
UK Defence and Aerospace Facilities: Protests
The noble Lord provides my answer in the point he makes in the question. Of course, that is the right thing to do. Through the appropriate legal processes established in this country, in a democracy, the police investigate according to the priorities they set, and we see this as a very real priority…
Lords
Oral Questions
1 September 2025
Palestinian Territories: Development Support
I cannot see a situation where there is any kind of peace, lasting or otherwise, that comes about without the release of those hostages. What their families have been forced to endure for far too long is unimaginable for many of us. Many of us here have met the families of those hostages. Thank good…
Lords
Oral Questions
24 July 2025
“Hillsborough Law”
My Lords, as I said before, it is a manifesto commitment to provide legal aid at inquests for victims of disasters or state-related deaths.
Lords
Debate
23 July 2025
4 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I cannot match the Churchillian tones of the noble Lord, Lord Murray, but I do agree with the thrust of his remarks. Noble Lords often oppose clauses in government Bills; sometimes noble Lords are alarmed by such clauses, but, very occasionally, it is appropriate to say that a clause in a …
Is it really appropriate for a Secretary of State to insist that the circumstances relating to an individual are publicly exposed—subject to cross-examination, subject to a public judgment—when the individual whose private rights are the subject of those proceedings wishes, no doubt for good reason,…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
21 July 2025
House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill
My Lords, I added my name to Amendment 1 because it provides the best solution to a sensitive problem. There is, at present, uncertainty as to whether noble Lords who lack capacity can resign from the House. A legislative provision is required to remove this uncertainty, but the risk with legislatio…
Lords
Debate
15 July 2025
2 contributions
Football Governance Bill [HL]
My Lords, I will say a few words in support of what the Minister said this evening. It is right that we talk a little about the new arrangements for mediation and the backstop. The original amendment was overcomplex, but many of us were concerned about the binary nature of the choice that was to be …
The noble Lord, Lord Pannick, is absolutely correct—and what happened? Within a few days, all that went away. They had a look and it went away. As I mentioned, I wrote an article on the very day the idea came out, as did many other people, saying that it would not work. The clubs involved looked at …
Lords
Proceedings
14 July 2025
Trial by Jury: Proposed Restrictions
My Lords, does the Minister agree that, in addressing the very serious problems faced by the criminal justice system, it is important not to romanticise the jury, given that 90% of all criminal trials in this country are heard without a jury and relatively speedily—not as speedily as perhaps they co…
Lords
Debate
9 July 2025
4 contributions
House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, made a very eloquent speech, but I am puzzled by it. He did not dispute the merits of what is proposed in this amendment or the mischief that it is addressing; his point appeared to be that nothing will be done by government until there is fundamental reform of t…
My Lords, I have added my name to this amendment. I suggest, in addition to the point made by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Garnier, that the position is even worse. We are not relying on the Clerk of the Parliaments; the Government are relying on legal advice which has been received that none of…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
7 July 2025
3 contributions
Renters’ Rights Bill
My Lords, I declare an interest. My wife is the landlord of a number of rented properties. My reason for rising is to invite the noble Baroness, Lady Miller, when she comes to reply, to clarify something that puzzles me about her Amendment 47. It says:
“The circumstances in which it is unreasonable…
My Lords, I support Amendment 53A. However, I ask the noble Lord, Lord de Clifford, to deal with one point when he replies. There appears to be no requirement in the amendment that the landlord must be acting reasonably in demanding a deposit. It is easy to understand and entirely reasonable that th…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Statutory Instrument
3 July 2025
2 contributions
Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order 2025
I simply want to make what I hope is a helpful point to the House. In case noble Lords have not seen it, four individuals have now been charged with the alleged offences at Brize Norton. As a new Member of your Lordships’ House, I have to confess that I am not entirely certain what the sub judice ru…
Bobby Sands.
Lords
Debate
2 July 2025
House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill
My Lords, the issue before the House is not the merits of the hereditary Peers or the contribution they make, about which there can be no doubt. The issue is very simple: is it really acceptable in 2025 that, for decades to come, a House of the legislature should continue to consist of a large numbe…
Lords
Proceedings
16 June 2025
Conflict in the Middle East
My Lords, I thank the Minister for repeating a very sensitive Statement. I was in Jerusalem last week, speaking at a legal seminar at the Hebrew University, and I was very fortunate to fly out on Thursday night, hours before airspace was closed, otherwise I would be one of the terrified British citi…
Lords
Debate
4 June 2025
2 contributions
Data (Use and Access) Bill [HL]
I am delighted to be associated with the noble Lord on this, as on many other topics.
My Lords, I do not want to detain the House for long. I have sat through every stage of the Bill and not uttered a word. I have been absorbing the debate, and I am still puzzled as to why the Government are not willing to reach agreement with some of the wonderful statements being made.
I have two …