Lords
Debate
4 September 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, it is always a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Cromwell. I agree that enforcement of legislation is almost as important as legislation itself.
I support the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, in her quest for lower fees for SMEs, even if that means that other fees must be a trifle hi…
Lords
Committee Stage
3 September 2025
3 contributions
Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 (Capital Buffers and Macro-prudential Measures) (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2025
I thank the noble Baronesses for their questions and remarks on what are really technical issues. There is no real policy change, but the issues are none the less important. As the noble Baronesses said, one of the key issues is that we want to ensure that the economy grows. As far as our financial …
I do not know exactly where we are with working our way through the EU regulations et cetera and decoupling where we think it is necessary to decouple. I am sure that we can write in some respects. I am sure that we will be doing it diligently in the best interests of the UK and our international st…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
2 September 2025
2 contributions
Gilt Yields
My Lords, as is long-standing convention, the Government do not comment on specific financial market movements. Gilt yields are determined by a wide range of international and domestic factors. The Government are committed to economic stability and sound public finances. The fiscal rules are non-neg…
I am grateful to the noble Baroness for her question. As she will know, recent gilt yield movements have risen in line with global peers, mainly driven by global factors. The recent gilt market moves have also been orderly. As she knows, our commitment to the fiscal rules is non-negotiable and we ha…
Lords
Debate
1 September 2025
2 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I simply want to agree with Amendment 89 in the name of my noble friend Lady Hodgson of Abinger. I prefer it to the amendments from my noble friends Lord Fuller, Lord Forsyth and Lady Coffey, although they all have merit. We have heard from my noble friend Lady Coffey that we may already h…
Can the Minister not deal with the problem of patches of best-quality land on a site with a classic de minimis rule of, say, 5%? That would still allow us to protect the best land without needless delay and Defra—or the new framework that the Minister mentioned—could easily provide the data for that…
Lords
Debate
1 September 2025
3 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, connections reform is very important if we are to give the grid capacity. The noble Earl, Lord Russell, is right in wanting to speed things up and to ensure that these connections are not too costly. That matters whether you want more renewable energy in the mix or would prefer—as I would—…
My Lords, to pick up the point of the noble Lord, I remember my uncle getting pylons next to his house and how the compensation saved the day for his small business.
My own view is that it is good to have permitted development rights for minor changes, particularly if energy providers are calling f…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
23 July 2025
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I will speak to the amendment in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Carter of Haslemere. He has spoken with great eloquence and killer arguments. I agree with him, so none of us needs to speak for very long.
As he has said, this clause was added late in the day in the other place and there …
Lords
Proceedings
23 July 2025
Financial Services Reform
My Lords, the proposed changes outlined by the Government in what they are calling their Leeds reforms are broadly to be welcomed. It is essential to get the balance right between protection and risk. Like the Government, we accept the analysis that while financial prudence is important, we have mov…
Lords
Debate
17 July 2025
2 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
Before the Minister sits down, can I press her on the issue of delays? Saying that the whole package is going to be better and improve things, and therefore growth will come—which we all want—is an ambitious statement, but has any work been done on what the changes will be and what differences they …
My Lords, as it is Committee stage, I have some simple questions about pre-application with a view to trying to move this important conversation forward. First, are the pre-application arrangements different if a use is already in the local plan? On the coal mine example and water extraction, those …
Lords
Debate
17 July 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I will speak to Amendment 1 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, and I thank her for explaining the basis of her approach so clearly. I was not able to speak at Second Reading but I have an interest in planning, going back to the 1980s, both in government and in business, and o…
Lords
Oral Questions
17 July 2025
Tackling Unsustainable Debt
The noble Baroness is correct in saying that debt sustainability is the primary responsibility of borrowing countries, but I think lending countries such as the UK also have an important role to play in supporting these efforts through providing capacity-building support, following best practice in …
Lords
Debate
16 July 2025
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I support Amendments 49 and 50 and Amendment 51, to which I have added my name. I agree with the case that my noble friend Lord Sharpe of Epsom has made, and with the arguments put forward by the noble Lord, Lord Vaux of Harrowden.
I point out that the detail of the arrangements for impro…
Lords
Oral Questions
15 July 2025
Taxes
The noble Baroness has a rather selective memory: she seems to have forgotten about the last 14 years. But she is quite right that the most sustainable way to repair the public finances is through growing the economy. At the last fiscal event, the OBR scored our planning reforms as the biggest incre…
Lords
Oral Questions
14 July 2025
Tourism Levy
The noble Baroness rightly talks about the importance of the visitor economy. The Tourism Minister has set a goal to grow inbound tourism to 50 million visitors annually by 2030. To help achieve this, DCMS has established a new visitor economy advisory council, which is currently helping to co-creat…
Lords
Oral Questions
14 July 2025
Tax on Imports under £135
I agree with almost everything that the noble Baroness said, but she failed to point out that it was her Government that established the existing system and it is this Government who are reviewing it with the intention of changing it. I agree with all the criticisms that she puts forward, but they a…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 July 2025
2 contributions
Primary Stock Exchange Listings
My Lords, the Government want to see high-growth companies start, scale, list and stay in the UK. Current market sentiment is challenging, but the UK remains the top destination for equity capital raising in Europe. The Government are focused on further boosting the competitiveness of UK capital mar…
I am grateful to the noble Baroness for her question. The Government recognise, as she did, that the UK’s equity markets have faced challenges in recent years, but that is not a new phenomenon; there has been a net decline in investment in UK funds for nine consecutive years. That is a matter for co…
Lords
Proceedings
9 July 2025
NHS 10-Year Plan
My Lords, if so many people want to speak, we should have a full debate on this plan, which is generally welcome. On digital, the plan summarises various digital improvements. There is also a red book for a child’s health, and feedback from Fitbits and data, which is all very good. However, there is…
Lords
Proceedings
8 July 2025
Government Performance against Fiscal Rules
My Lords, we on these Benches accept that fiscal rules are important, and we have noted the Government’s attachment to the current version and the widespread concern as to where they will turn for spending cuts or tax rises, as it is apparent that the rules are not going to be met. Today’s OBR Fisca…
Lords
Oral Questions
7 July 2025
Unpaid Tax
We have committed an average of £660 million each year on measures to do so. By the end of the Parliament, that will raise an additional £5.7 billion per year. That is quite a good cost-benefit ratio. Each Budget will report progress against that.
Lords
Committee Stage
7 July 2025
2 contributions
Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities etc.) (Amendment) Order 2025
My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Baroness for her comments and questions and for her support for these measures which, as she says, build on what the previous Government began. She rightly set out the importance of buy now, pay later products and pointed out the potential downsides, which w…
I completely take what the noble Baroness says; my apologies for not covering that in my initial response. The intention with these specific measures is to be proportionate. That is why we responded in the way that we did to the scrutiny committee, for example. These measures should boost growth and…
Lords
Debate
1 July 2025
Renters’ Rights Bill
My Lords, I also support Amendment 21 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord de Clifford, and the noble Baroness, Lady Bowles, to which I have added my name. I am particularly grateful for the warm words of my noble friend Lord Jamieson and for the support of the various carers organisations which do s…
Lords
Proceedings
30 June 2025
UK Modern Industrial Strategy
My Lords, I want to ask the Minister about the apparently “Cinderella” areas of retail, hospitality and tourism, which have all been hit terribly hard by the Chancellor’s NICs hikes, especially the reduction in the NICs threshold to £5,000, which has led to shop and cafe closures in my home area of …
Lords
Debate
24 June 2025
2 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
It is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Hendy, and the thoughtful contributions from the noble Lords, Lord Berkeley and Lord Russell of Liverpool.
I think I was responsible for some of the curveballs on illegal e-bikes and e-scooters that have peppered this Chamber in recent years. I regard…
My Lord, I have added my name to Amendment 326A in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Penn. I agree with all that has been said by the noble Lord, Lord Vaux of Harrowden, in introducing it, and, indeed, with the convincing analysis by my noble friend Lord Sharpe.
Noble Lords may recall that I com…
Lords
Proceedings
24 June 2025
UK Infrastructure: 10-year Strategy
My Lords, it is widely accepted that one of the problems that besets the UK economy is the low rate of capital investment in both the public and private sectors. It must be a good thing if the Government assess what will be needed in the way of capital investment and attract resources accordingly. I…
Lords
Oral Questions
23 June 2025
Business Rates Reform
Yes, absolutely, although I do not quite see why their future would be in doubt; as I said, we have set out our intention to strengthen them. We will bring forward proposals to do exactly that. I do not see that the wider business rates reform agenda we have set out would in any way impact the impor…
Lords
Proceedings
12 June 2025
Spending Review 2025
My Lords, the spending review Statement, delivered by the Chancellor in the other place yesterday, made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that the Treasury has lost authority in determining how the Government spend taxpayers’ money. How else can the Treasury explain a spending review in which the Gov…