Lords
Oral Questions
9 March 2026
16 contributions
Iran and the Middle East
My Lords, at a time when our Gulf partners are asking for de-escalation and diplomacy, and indeed the United States President has said that he does not require the UK’s intervention, we seem to be intervening and escalating. The Minister delved on the issue of national security, but what is the stat…
My Lords, what assessment has been made of the impact of the conflict on BBC Persian staff based in London? What can His Majesty’s Government do to help their security and safety?
+14 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
26 February 2026
8 contributions
Diego Garcia and British Indian Ocean Territory
My Lords, the people who have found their way to some of the outer islands should not be there. It is not safe for them and they do not have permission. It is not legal for anybody to visit those islands without a permit. They do not have such a permit and they should leave immediately. It is deeply…
It is very important that we lay out clearly the costings and the value for money points are answered. I am happy that the Government have committed to doing that and will continue to do so.
On the participation of Chagossians, we have discussed this at great length in the past, and for very good r…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
25 February 2026
8 contributions
Imran Khan: Imprisonment
I thank my noble friend the Minister for her Answer. As she will be aware, there are a number of parliamentary Questions outstanding on this matter, given the deterioration in Imran Khan’s health recently. I am aware that the FCDO has been particularly responsive to the case of Jimmy Lai and his fam…
I think anyone who is paying attention understands that Imran Khan has been denied access to lawyers and to his family, including his two sons, who are my nephews. He has been denied access even to doctors. We understand that he has spent much of his time in prison in solitary confinement, and his h…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
10 February 2026
10 contributions
Ambassadors: Vetting Process
I thank the Minister for that Answer. The other part of the process is the due diligence process that the Cabinet Office undertook for the ambassador to the US. How many other appointments have the Government made following the same or a substantially similar process as was used for the ambassador t…
My Lords, is it not the case that the overwhelming majority of ambassadors are appointed from within the service and therefore, perhaps over several decades, their competence and loyalty has been tested? The Question therefore refers perhaps to the very few people appointed from outside the service,…
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
9 February 2026
15 contributions
Jimmy Lai: Prison Sentence
I thank my noble friend for that Answer. As she says, Jimmy Lai is 78 years of age, which means either he is going to die in prison or he will be virtually 100 by the time he comes out—not for terrorism, violence or killing people but for defending freedom of speech and indeed the democratic underta…
My Lords, the Chinese courts are totally under the control of the Chinese Communist Party, so I do not believe this timing to be accidental. It comes after the Government have gifted them their shiny new embassy, which then allowed the PM’s visit last week. He quite rightly raised Jimmy’s case durin…
+13 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
5 February 2026
6 contributions
Iran
On the IRGC, we welcome the moves that the EU has taken recently. As noble Lords will know because we have discussed it before, there has been a piece of work done by Jonathan Hall. We accept the recommendations, but there are legislative changes that we need to make because, in our law, there is a …
It is. I thank the noble Lord for his comments about our support for the protesters. It is essential, when we have these discussions, that we are completely grounded in the experience of those brave young people taking to the streets in Tehran and elsewhere across the country. The courage with which…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
2 February 2026
10 contributions
China: Human Rights and UK National Security
I am grateful to the Minister for that reply. However, given that no discussions with the sanctioned parliamentarians have taken place, either before the visit or since, can she give us greater clarity on what was and was not agreed? Thus far, it remains unclear whether the sanctions on my family an…
My Lords, although I trust the Minister both expressly and implicitly, she is tied by the problems of being a Government Minister. I am now in opposition, so I have greater freedom to speak and to complain. I complain because the responses that we get from the Government are little more than vague g…
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
2 February 2026
7 contributions
China: Jimmy Lai
I thank my noble friend the Minister for her Answer. She mentioned the Prime Minister’s visit to China, which followed the granting of planning permission for the Chinese embassy. It led to the lifting of sanctions against two of our Peers, but, alas, not to the far more important release of 78 year…
My Lords, in affirming what the noble Baroness, Lady Hayter, said, has the Minister seen what Sebastien Lai said last week in advance of the Prime Minister’s visit to Beijing? He said:
“Whether my father is freed or not is the ultimate test”.
When Sebastien comes here tomorrow night to speak to th…
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
26 January 2026
8 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, with the leave of the House, I shall now repeat in the form of a Statement the Answer given by my honourable friend the Minister of State for Europe, North America and Overseas Territories to an Urgent Question in another place on the Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Ter…
I am glad that the noble Lord opposite has finally reread my contributions in this place from, I think, November, when I talked about an exchange of notes that would be needed with the United States in relation to the 1966 treaty. I am glad he has internalised what I said then as a fact. There would…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
22 January 2026
10 contributions
Diego Garcia: Comments by the President of the United States
My Lords, I find that a rather strange response. David Lammy said that we would listen to the United States when we made a decision, and I think I am right in saying that Donald Trump has now come out and said that this is an act of gross stupidity. This is being pursued because of Matrix lawyers wh…
My Lords, is it the case that President Trump supported this measure and then changed his mind? Can I suggest not to take too much notice of a man who does not know the difference between Iceland and Greenland?
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
20 January 2026
Atrocity Crimes
My Lords, I begin as everybody else has done, by thanking the noble Lord, Lord Alton of Liverpool. I know he does not need this, but I will just say how much I respect and value his contributions in this House generally; tonight we heard a particularly powerful speech from him. By contributing in th…
Lords
Debate
19 January 2026
3 contributions
Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Bill
My Lords, I am pleased to update the House that both the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly have now granted legislative consent to the Bill. I express my thanks to devolved Ministers and their officials for the constructive and collaborative way in which they have worked with us …
My Lords, our debates on this Bill have been constructive, so I can be brief. I thank the Minister for her positive tone during our scrutiny of this legislation. The origins of the Bill, as has been said, lie in the agreement signed by the previous Government. We are pleased that this Government are…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
19 January 2026
15 contributions
Greenland: Proposed US Tariffs
My Lords, I welcome what the Minister has said and fully align myself with it. I think I speak for most, if not all, in your Lordships’ House in saying that we are at one with the Government’s position on the issue, and I welcome the recent statements by all political leaders in this respect.
I wou…
My Lords, I feel that it is obvious to everyone that the US President is an unserious person whose actions have very serious consequences. The threat from the US to not only a very close ally in the European Union but a NATO partner—and then punishing us for standing with it—is utterly reprehensible…
+13 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
15 January 2026
15 contributions
Iran
My Lords, I begin by echoing the words of both Front Benches about the bravery and courage of those who are taking to the streets at considerable risk to themselves. They are risking their lives and, we know in many cases so far, sacrificing their lives because they wish to live in freedom. They hav…
I have read arguments to that effect. I am not aware that that is the case, but because of the restrictions on communications, let us watch and see. I have heard a very similar analysis, but we do not know what is going to happen. Clearly, we hope for a calm and peaceful way forward that leads to a …
+13 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
13 January 2026
Official Development Assistance
My Lords, I am genuinely grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Bates, for providing us with the opportunity to have this discussion. It is probably rather overdue, and there seems to be some pent-up frustration and anger in the Chamber about decisions that have been made, and I absolutely hear that. He g…
Lords
Oral Questions
13 January 2026
9 contributions
United States: Withdrawal from International Organisations
My Lords, I fully recognise the right of the United States of America to take part in or leave international organisations as the elected Government see fit. It seems very strange that a presidency that chases peace awards has withdrawn funding from and organisational commitment to Education Cannot …
Does the Minister agree that this latest decision by the Americans is not evidence of isolationism but actually an indication of increasing intervention by the United States without any regard to international co-operation or the implications for the climate, poverty or human rights? It is a determi…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
12 January 2026
4 contributions
Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Bill
My Lords, I am pleased to open this debate with the government amendments tabled in my name relating the role of devolved Governments in the implementation of the BBNJ agreement. As noble Lords will be aware, the BBNJ Bill extends to the whole of the United Kingdom, apart from certain clauses which …
I do not want to fall out with the noble Lord today, but the reason these changes have come at this stage is that we have listened to our friends and colleagues in the devolved Administrations who have said that they feel they need these powers, and we respect their view, having had a look at it as …
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
12 January 2026
5 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, this government amendment will change the parliamentary procedure applicable to the delegated power in Clause 6. With this amendment, all instruments made using that power would be subject to the negative procedure. Previously, no parliamentary procedure applied unless the power was used t…
I am grateful to noble Lords for their engagement on this crucial legislation, which secures a vital element of the UK’s national security and the UK’s transatlantic defence partnership. I thank noble Lords across the House for their expertise, which they have used to scrutinise the security of the …
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
12 January 2026
12 contributions
Iran: Protests
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for her Question. I am sure that we are all watching the news reports with interest. Personally, I find it deeply humbling to watch the astonishing bravery of hundreds of thousands of ordinary Iranians in facing the guns and murderous tactics of that brutal regim…
My Lords, the murder of those people in Iran who wish simply to have a say in who governs them is utterly contemptible. There are early signs that these protests will become more widespread, but there are not early signs that there will be mass rebellions in the Iranian military. Is now not the time…
+10 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
8 January 2026
Mining: Pollution
My Lords, I start by saying how grateful I am to the noble Lord, Lord Oates, for his speech. I was moved by what he had to say and the accounts he shared with us. They really brought to life the issues that we are turning our attention to, which too often can seem very distant and abstract. I was af…
Lords
Oral Questions
8 January 2026
11 contributions
Greenland
My Lords, I agree with the Minister’s comments. However, does she agree that an annexation of Greenland by the United States—the President of the United States has given a timetable for this happening by the end of his current term—would be one of the most dangerous pivotal points for UK and Europea…
My Lords—
+9 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
7 January 2026
10 contributions
Middle East and North Africa
I am grateful to both noble Lords for their comments. I particularly thank the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, for reminding us of Sudan, which, as he said, was not part of the Statement, which was specifically about the Middle East and North Africa. He was absolutely right to say that the events in Sudan,…
I can confirm that there is regular contact between UK Ministers and their counterparts in the UAE and KSA specifically about Yemen. They are substantial and meaningful, and they are not, as my noble friend described it, going through the political motions. This is serious. We want to see progress a…
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
7 January 2026
12 contributions
Venezuela
My Lords, in direct violation of Article 2(4) of the UN charter, the US has attacked Venezuela and kidnapped its President and his wife. The Prime Minister has failed to condemn the aggression and violation of international law, which will inevitably embolden Trump to annex other territories. Can th…
My Lords, a few hours ago, the United States carried out an operation in the North Atlantic to seize a Russian-flagged oil tanker which originated in Venezuela, using military assets from UK bases. Were the UK Government consulted in advance on this and are they satisfied that this operation is inde…
+10 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
6 January 2026
13 contributions
Venezuela
I thank the noble Lords for their support for the Foreign Secretary’s remarks on the tragic loss of life that we saw on New Year’s Eve in Switzerland. I am grateful to them for echoing what she said.
The noble Lord, Lord Callanan, asked about discussions with our US counterparts ahead of the action…
The words that the noble and learned Lord, Lord Hermer, said in his speech remain true. Our position on the rule of law has not changed and will not change.
+11 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
5 January 2026
14 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, I apologise to the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Craig of Radley, for not writing to him, but I hope that I can answer his concerns this afternoon.
Amendments 1 and 38, tabled by the noble and gallant Lord, relate to the termination of the treaty based on environmental degradation of Diego…
My Lords, as I have stated throughout the Bill’s progress through the House, I would like to acknowledge at the outset the importance of the islands to Chagossians as well as the different views within the Chagossian community on their future. This Government deeply regret the way the Chagossians we…
+12 more contributions in this session