Lords
Debate
1 July 2026
6 contributions
Draft Conversion Practices Bill
I thank the noble Lords for their questions. I am acutely aware that there is a consensus across this House. There are no bipartisan divides here. The previous Government were committed to the principle of this legislation, and I welcomed it at the time. So, irrespective of what the noble Baroness s…
I had hoped that the noble Baroness would have listened to my response to the Front Benches. To be clear, we have identified gaps in existing law where we cannot prosecute offences properly. The legislation on domestic abuse and coercive control, for example, is designed for someone who has a relati…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
9 June 2026
6 contributions
Cuba: Humanitarian Situation
I thank the noble Lord for his series of questions but, as he is well aware, successive United Kingdom Governments have opposed the United States’ embargo on Cuba and have done so consistently over many occasions for almost 30 years, certainly at the United Nations. We will continue that. Our positi…
I hear what the noble Lord says, but what the United Kingdom Government have been doing is engaging with both the United States and Cuba. We welcome the dialogue taking place between those countries. Certainly, we are incredibly concerned about the current humanitarian situation. Our first concern i…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
3 June 2026
Equality Act 2010: Code of Practice
I thank both the noble Lord and the noble Baroness for their questions and contributions.
I start by picking up the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Scriven, and addressing the noble Baroness, Lady Stedman-Scott, about the general principle. We forget what the Supreme Court itself said in its jud…
Lords
Oral Questions
27 April 2026
7 contributions
For Women Scotland Case
My Lords, I thank the Minister for his reply. A quarter of all women have experienced male violence at least once in their lives. That is one reason why biological males are excluded from women’s safe spaces—except, that is, in government. For more than a year, the Government have failed women by no…
Oh!
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
14 April 2026
9 contributions
Single-sex Spaces: Equality and Human Rights Commission Guidance
My Lords, at the third time of asking—I am grateful to my noble friend for his forbearance—I have just two brief questions. Why have Ministers never met any of the leaders of For Women Scotland, whose case ended up in the Supreme Court? One of those, Marion Calder, is sitting in the Gallery today wa…
My Lords, on 2 February and again on 26 February, the Minister was asked whether government departments are compliant with the Supreme Court ruling on sex. Given that the EHRC code does not cover employment and that the Supreme Court ruling will have existed for a year on Thursday, will the Governme…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
25 March 2026
3 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I thank everyone for their contributions. I start by addressing the point raised by the noble Lord, Lord Mohammed. To be clear, and as I said in my opening speech, we will of course monitor the effectiveness of the limit as we implement it. One of the concerns I and the Government have is …
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords for their contributions to this debate, and particularly the noble Baroness, Lady Barran, for her support. I am still not convinced; the Government need to have another option at the end of it. I would therefore like to test the opinion of the House.
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Proceedings
19 March 2026
8 contributions
Middle East
I thank both noble Lords for their questions and contributions. I join both of them in acknowledging the service of our people in the region, covering a range of services. It is not just military people; the diplomatic and consular staff are doing an amazing job.
On the last point made by the noble…
As I said in my initial response, the Prime Minister has been absolutely correct in ensuring that we focus on international law and on our interests. We should not underestimate the threat of Iran—it is a serious threat to us. That is why the previous Government and this Government have put so much …
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
18 March 2026
9 contributions
Digital ID: Public Consultation
I thank the noble Earl and the noble Lord for their contributions. The noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, is asking me questions to which, as he very well knows, I am not going to give the answer. That is the whole point of the consultation, and across the Chamber, everyone knows this in reality. We wa…
We will consult the devolved authorities on this; they will be a major part of the consultation. There is no definite cost for the programme because the design of what we are building has not been decided yet. Noble Lords should not just look at one line item on the shopping bill but rather the whol…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
16 March 2026
9 contributions
Antisemitism on University Campuses
I am grateful to my noble friend for the Answer, but this PNQ arises from Time for Change , a report produced by the Union of Jewish Students. It is crammed with disturbing figures, including the fact that one in four students has witnessed antisemitic behaviour. However, the report’s central findin…
My Lords, many noble Lords had the opportunity in the last few weeks to hear directly from students. This report confirms all the things that they said. Does the Minister regard it as significant that the report found that both the college authorities and the police were slow and reluctant to take t…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
10 March 2026
9 contributions
Equality Act 2010: Section 106
I thank my noble friend the Minister for his reply. It is encouraging to know that some action is now being taken, but does he agree with me that the reason why the House of Commons now has the largest number of women MPs is that political parties took positive action to ensure that they fielded wom…
My Lords, women make up only 30% of this Chamber. If the Government are serious about having women represented at all levels of decision-making, what actions will they take to enable more women to sit in this Chamber?
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
3 March 2026
15 contributions
Gibraltar Treaty
I thank the noble Lords for their questions and contributions and I welcome their support for the agreement. There is no doubt that this is good for Gibraltar. I declare an interest: I was a union official representing members in Gibraltar for 30-odd years, so I visited it on numerous occasions. I a…
There have been a number of occasions when the noble Lord and I have been in Gibraltar together, so I certainly understand and fully appreciate his commitment. However, I want to be clear that we were not willing to enter into an agreement that the Government of Gibraltar were not content with. They…
+13 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
26 February 2026
8 contributions
Equality and Human Rights Commission
I thank the Minister for his reply. By law, the Secretary of State has only two choices: to either lay the code before Parliament or send it back to the EHRC. She has dithered for five months over this binary decision about 11 pages that are at issue. If kicking the can down the road were an Olympic…
My Lords—
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
2 February 2026
9 contributions
Single-Sex Spaces: EHRC Guidance
I say to the Government that the inexcusable delay in operating this makes it look like political party management is being elevated above the national interest. That is not good enough.
My Lords—
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
21 January 2026
3 contributions
Holocaust Memorial Bill
My Lords, in moving Motion A I will also speak to Motion A1. It is a pleasure to bring back this important Bill to your Lordships’ House. The ambition to create a new national memorial to the Holocaust has been pursued by successive Governments, with support across all parties, for a number of years…
My Lords, my purpose in speaking is to try to rescue the central plank of what remains of this memorial. The Lords amendment stated that the sole purpose of the learning centre must be the Holocaust and antisemitism. I have retained pretty much the same wording. No alternative was put forward in the…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Proceedings
19 January 2026
5 contributions
Digital ID
I thank the noble Baroness for those questions. On costs, the Government do not recognise what the OBR reported as an accurate cost for the programme, because the scope of the scheme, and therefore its cost, has not yet been decided. The design and delivery will be subject to a public consultation, …
I do not want to repeat what I said to the noble Baroness, but I assure the noble Lord that we are absolutely focused on those standards and on better understanding new threats, which is why legislation is being considered by the other place. After all, we are talking about how people can access gov…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
17 November 2025
4 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I want to speak to Motion B1. Like, I think, many noble Lords, I start to become a bit uncomfortable when we have multiple rounds of ping-pong; and I generally hesitate to vote against the Government in more than one round, but I am expecting to make an exception in this case, for four mai…
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay, and my noble friend Lord Faulkner of Worcester for their engagement on this issue.
The Government’s amendments, which were tabled in the other place, build on the previous amendment tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Parkinson, placing a …
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
28 October 2025
26 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I beg to move Motion A, and shall also speak to Motions B, E, E1, H and H1.
I start by thanking your Lordships’ House for the constructive contributions, debate and scrutiny that this Bill has received throughout its passage. The Bill has been strengthened in many places in this House, re…
My Lords, I think I am right in welcoming the Minister, noble Lord, Lord Collins, to the Bill. I too missed all of Report and so I thank my noble friends Lord Goddard, Lord Palmer and Lady Kramer for picking up the pieces. The Minister and I find ourselves at an interesting point in the Bill’s progr…
+24 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
16 October 2025
Starvation as a Weapon of War
My Lords, I start by expressing my gratitude to my noble friend for securing this debate. I am also grateful to all noble Lords for their contributions. The simple fact is that millions of people today are dangerously malnourished because of conflict, and too often this malnourishment has devastatin…
Lords
Oral Questions
15 October 2025
9 contributions
Equality Act 2010: Meaning of “Sex”
I thank the Minister for that Answer, but the Equality and Human Rights Commission has today had to write to the Minister for Women and Equalities, reminding her that it is six months since the Supreme Court judgment, which confirmed that “sex” in the Equality Act means biological sex, and six weeks…
My Lords, can my noble friend the Minister confirm that six weeks, which included the summer, is actually not a very long time? Does he agree that the crucial matter here is to ensure that the guidance is right, respects the dignity and rights of individuals and groups, places an equality duty on pu…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
15 July 2025
8 contributions
United Kingdom: Soft Power
My Lords, I welcome my noble friend’s commitment to the importance of soft power. As a humanist, perhaps I may quote something from the 1940s, when a question was asked of Stalin about the power of the church. Stalin’s answer was, “How many divisions has the Pope?” We are in a fantastically privileg…
I declare my interest as being in receipt of a British Council grant to enable me to study at a Danish university. Does the Minister share my concern at the poor ability of British people to speak a foreign language? Is that something his department will look at, to ensure that there is more foreign…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
8 July 2025
6 contributions
Actions of Iranian Regime: UK Response
As the Prime Minister has said alongside our allies and partners, Iran must never develop a nuclear weapon. Iran must urgently resume co-operation with the IAEA to enable it to verify its nuclear material. As I have repeatedly said to this House, ultimately only a diplomatic solution—that President …
I am not going to speculate on what we may or may not know about the outcome of those strikes, but what I do know and have repeatedly said—and the noble Lord is right on this point—is that ultimately only a diplomatic solution will deliver a sustainable, long-term solution. The Foreign Secretary has…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
30 June 2025
4 contributions
UK-Mauritius Agreement on the Chagos Archipelago
My Lords, I thank the Minister very much. The House will be pleased to know that I will not try its patience by going through the many points that have been made. There was much that I could disagree with—many points of error that I could pick up on and some factual statements that I think were wron…
That legislation would have to be passed by Parliament before ratification.
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
30 June 2025
9 contributions
Deep Sea Mining in International Waters
I thank my noble friend for that Answer. As the House knows, the demand for critical minerals is growing fast. They are needed because of their place in modern technology, on which our current and future lives depend. The International Seabed Authority has been trying to develop governance for the u…
My Lords, I welcome the Government’s continuing commitment to the moratorium on deep seabed mining. On the wider protection of oceans, when might we ratify the high seas treaty? Will that be done by the end of this year?
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
24 June 2025
13 contributions
Middle East
I thank both noble Lords for their contributions, comments and questions. I say to the noble Lord opposite that I am rather disappointed with his tone because I thought that, in the other place, the shadow Secretary of State made it clear that she was with the Government on putting forward peace and…
I thank my noble friend for her comments. To be absolutely clear, we are leaving no stone unturned in getting aid into Gaza. We are working with a range of NGOs—everyone possible—but we remain committed to the solution of ensuring that aid is properly distributed through the main agency, UNRWA. We h…
+11 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
19 June 2025
9 contributions
Israel and Iran
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that update. To use “escalation” to describe the situation in the last 24 to 48 hours would be an understatement. We are now facing a very great challenge in the region which will have an impact not just on the two countries involved, Israel and Iran, but the wider…
My Lords, the danger that the Minister referred to is exacerbated by the unpredictability of our most significant ally, the United States. I am glad that the Foreign Secretary is in Washington. However, can the Minister assure these Benches that while the UK is so integrated with the United States— …
+7 more contributions in this session