Lords
Proceedings
8 July 2026
Police Leadership Commission Report
My Lords, I thank my noble friend for his generous response. With the House’s indulgence, I want to say what a great pleasure it has been, and how much I appreciate the tremendous collaboration with the noble Lord, Lord Herbert of South Downs, the 10 other commissioners who generously gave their tim…
Lords
Proceedings
6 July 2026
Imprisonment for Public Protection Prisoners
My Lords, I commend my noble friend on the time and commitment he has given to talking to organisations on behalf of prisoners and their families. Does he agree, however, that there appears to be an increasing logjam of those on recall who are held in prison often when the original allegation that g…
Lords
Proceedings
2 July 2026
Political Party Finance and the Electoral Commission
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Earl, Lord Kinnoull, and to thank him for initiating this short debate. I agree entirely with his opening remarks in relation to what has happened in Scotland. Even my guide dog would have been able to see the motor home, never mind the multiple very cl…
Lords
Proceedings
24 June 2026
Hares: Close Season
My Lords, it may be a little obscure to look at legislation from 1892, but from my experience all those years ago in government, there were possibilities of getting the Civil Service to be really creative in looking at how subsidiary legislation could be drawn from such laws. Quite often, I was told…
Lords
Proceedings
17 June 2026
Integrated Care Boards: Budgets
My Lords, I hope my noble friend will forgive me for concentrating on the South Yorkshire ICB because of the considerable difficulties that have been experienced locally. I know that she cannot give me a clear answer this afternoon, but given that the previous Health Secretary is no longer in post, …
Lords
Proceedings
4 June 2026
Young People and Work
My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that excellent response. As she knows, I have been obsessed with this issue for many years, and I strongly welcome the fact that the Secretary of State asked Alan Milburn to undertake this review. Does she agree that this gives the opportunity, through the final…
Lords
Proceedings
21 May 2026
Youth Offending
I know my noble friend will want to do the right thing, but is it not a fact that the only part of the criminal justice system that has worked really effectively over the last quarter of a century is youth justice, and that the ability to retain and promote staff who gain experience—rather than the …
Lords
Committee Stage
5 March 2026
2 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
I think it was near the end.
My Lords, I shall be very brief for the reasons that we all know about—the number of votes that have taken place in the House this afternoon.
I offer my support to the movers of the amendments that have just been spoken to, first on accessibility. It is fairly close to my heart. Even with a high na…
Lords
Proceedings
27 February 2026
Arrangement of Business
My Lords, I am sure the Chief Whip and my noble and learned friend Lord Falcolner would agree that it is impossible to improve a Bill if you do not get to a point where you can pass it.
Lords
Committee Stage
11 February 2026
2 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
I am putting the proposition that Clause 59 and Schedule 27 should not stand part of the Bill. I was very grateful to my noble friend and her colleagues last September for the modest amendments they moved to what was then Clause 57 in the Commons —Amendments 152 and 153. They at least gave some cred…
I thank my noble friend for that response. I shall of course not press my amendment at this stage. I cannot promise the Liberal Democrats what I shall do when we reach Report, not least since—as I said in a meeting a couple of days ago—I am a critical friend working very hard on the friend bit rathe…
Lords
Debate
3 February 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I apologise to the House and to the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries, for not being here at the beginning of this group. I have a member of staff who lives a normal life, and I quite rightly agreed that she should go home. As a consequence and because there is no Braille on the …
Lords
Proceedings
30 January 2026
Arrangement of Business
Before my noble friend responds, I just want to say that when I have not been able to sit in the House in Committee, I have followed the debate. Does my noble friend agree that it would be really helpful if people debated the Bill that is before us and not one that is being made up from outside this…
Lords
Oral Questions
27 January 2026
Asylum and Immigration: Children
I think that even the Opposition would agree that another party is welcome to Suella Braverman, in the current context. I have never shared the analysis or the objectives of the previous Government, or the previous Home Secretaries, on how we deal with illegal migration and the serious issues of man…
Lords
Debate
16 January 2026
3 contributions
Rare Cancers Bill
I remind my noble friend that his name is not on the list to speak.
My Lords, I am sure that, not only in this House but across the country, people are grateful to Scott Arthur MP and the noble Baroness, Lady Elliott of Whitburn Bay, for introducing this incredibly important Bill.
I declare that my working life has been in palliative care. I have looked after many …
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
15 January 2026
Exercise Pegasus 2025
My noble friend is right that my statistics may not be someone else’s statistics. We should always interrogate the data that is being put in front of us.
Lords
Oral Questions
25 November 2025
Forthcoming Fiscal Changes
I 100% agree with my noble friend. Defence spending and growth go hand in hand. We will see far higher levels of growth in our economy as a result of the investment we are putting into our defence industry and increasing the security of our country.
Lords
Debate
21 November 2025
Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill
My Lords, I am very pleased to be able to speak at the Third Reading of this Private Member’s Bill. Ending puppy smuggling was a government manifesto commitment, and we have been really delighted to support this animal welfare Bill through both Houses of Parliament.
I thank the noble Lord, Lord Tre…
Lords
Oral Questions
13 November 2025
2 contributions
Learning Disabilities Mortality Review Reports
Bishop!
I agree with the points that my noble friend raises. Indeed, local provision is the responsibility of local trusts. I assure him that a huge part of our work is about improving care pathways and seeing people as a whole person. Part of the failing previously, I think, has been not to see those with …
Lords
Oral Questions
11 September 2025
Youth Unemployment
I thank my noble friend and pay tribute to him. He was a reforming Minister in the last Labour Government and did lots of work in this area. I am conscious that I learned a lot from him in those days. He is absolutely right that this is both a scandal and a challenge for the economy.
One of the dif…
Lords
Debate
10 September 2025
2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
In moving Amendment 435, I am grateful for the support of my noble friends and of the noble Baroness, Lady Morgan of Cotes, who quite rightly drew attention in the last debate to anomalies that have arisen over the years that I hope we will be able to put right. Mine is a simple amendment that says …
I am very grateful for the final intervention by the noble Baroness opposite. Collective memory has always been a problem in government. It is nice to know that there is something on a shelf somewhere, although we have had rather an experience over the last 14 months of sometimes pulling the wrong o…
Lords
Oral Questions
3 September 2025
Football Governance Act 2025: Implementation
My noble friend might observe that I did not use the term “working at pace”, which as it happens was in the original draft of my initial response. In all seriousness, though, we understand and share my noble friend’s concerns. We are keen for the current ownership to bring the issues facing Sheffiel…
Lords
Oral Questions
17 July 2025
Tackling Unsustainable Debt
I absolutely agree with my noble friend and thank him for what he says. He and I were part of the last Labour Government who saw such historic action on debt relief, and I agree that we should celebrate that and remind the world of it. Of course, the world is a different place now; the creditor land…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 July 2025
Primary Stock Exchange Listings
My noble friend is absolutely right on the importance of capital for start-ups and how we can enable them to scale up. It is why in the industrial strategy and the spending review we significantly increased the funding available to the British Business Bank to help innovative small companies to do e…
Lords
Debate
2 June 2025
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, it is my great privilege to follow the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, who is a person on those Benches I have the most respect for when he speaks about these subjects, which he does without cant and with a great deal of knowledge and credibility.
It is important to remember that although ille…
Lords
Debate
20 May 2025
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, we have heard some highly respected voices this afternoon, and I want to put two or three things on the record.
The noble Lord, Lord Young of Cookham, rightly draws attention to the fact that this kind of clause is now becoming commonplace at the beginning of Committees on Bills. I unders…