Lords
Proceedings
15 July 2026
Sudan: Operational Restrictions on Humanitarian Actors
My Lords, in the skies above El Obeid as we speak are reconnaissance drones identifying women civilians as potential targets. There is the technology to ensure that there are no-drone zones to prevent humanitarian atrocities. This is authorised under a United Nations Security Council resolution. The…
Lords
Proceedings
30 June 2026
Women’s Representation in Peace Processes
My Lords, in March, the Commons International Development Committee reported on its inquiry into women, peace and security. It said that
“our report finds that the Government has failed to deliver on policy commitments relating to the inclusion of women, girls and marginalised groups in meaningful …
Lords
Proceedings
15 June 2026
Middle East: Iran Conflict
My Lords, it is a long way before we will know whether this will be a sustainable end to the conflict, as the Question asks, but if there is a welcome opening of the strait, will the Government work with other Governments to ensure that a priority for shipping will be those that have humanitarian ca…
Lords
Proceedings
11 June 2026
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps: Proscription
My Lords, these Benches support this legislation and, when it comes to us in the next few weeks, we will ensure that there is a very constructive process. The IRGC and similar groups operate under proxies, as we have heard, but there is also enormous state capture of commercial organisations both wi…
Lords
Proceedings
10 June 2026
Middle East
My Lords, given that we had the opportunity yesterday to discuss Lebanon, I will focus today on Iran, Palestine and Sudan. I agree with the noble Lord that we are feeling the impact of the US-Iranian war here in the UK. Some 102 days ago, we were called on by the Conservative Opposition to be “all i…
Lords
Proceedings
9 June 2026
Lord Mandelson Humble Address
Does the Minister know how many Ministers were communicating with Peter Mandelson using disappearing messages on official government devices?
Lords
Proceedings
8 June 2026
Russian Attacks on Civilian Infrastructure
My Lords, we have seen in the conflicts in the Middle East we have just been discussing in the House, in Sudan and now in Ukraine, that there has been a systematic targeting of civilian infrastructure, which is a clear breach of Article 8 of the Rome statute and Article 52 of the Geneva convention. …
Lords
Proceedings
8 June 2026
Lebanon: Israel Defense Forces Operations
My Lords, I remind the House of my frequent visits to Lebanon over the last number of years, delivering a project supporting women to stand for municipal and parliamentary elections in the very areas where they have been under threat from Hezbollah over many years, so I have no sympathy with Hezboll…
Lords
Proceedings
2 June 2026
Bosnia and Herzegovina
My Lords, in recent years, a key part of UK support for the type of capacity building of civil and community organisations referenced by the noble and gallant Lord and my noble friend has been through the Western Balkans Democracy Initiative, which has been funded by development assistance. Can the …
Lords
Proceedings
21 May 2026
3 contributions
Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda: Ebola Outbreak
My Lords, further to my noble friend’s question, we know what positive impact UK official development assistance has in crises such as these. Will the Minister rule out any further cuts to UK ODA in this Parliament?
My Lords, there is no plan because it is not in force as a result of the extremely broad and open-ended exemption that has been announced. I have debated, and this House has scrutinised, every single Russian sanction since the start of this war. I have called repeatedly for stronger efforts to preve…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Proceedings
21 May 2026
2 contributions
Processed Russian Oil Products: Sanctions
My Lords, there is no plan because it is not in force as a result of the extremely broad and open-ended exemption that has been announced. I have debated, and this House has scrutinised, every single Russian sanction since the start of this war. I have called repeatedly for stronger efforts to preve…
They are not.
Lords
Proceedings
20 May 2026
2 contributions
Supermarkets: Voluntary Price Caps
My Lords, if the House allows me, I will quote a headline from the Daily Telegraph :
“Rishi Sunak scraps plan for supermarket price cap after backlash … Downing Street had been considering a voluntary cap scheme for major supermarkets, modelled on similar plan in France”.
In the Government coming …
It was the previous Government.
Lords
Proceedings
13 May 2026
Senior Deputy Speaker
My Lords, on behalf of these Benches, I add to the unanimity of the House in offering our appreciation of the work of the noble Lord. Much was said in the previous debate about our House operating efficiently and professionally, and we have been helped enormously in that endeavour by the work of the…
Lords
Oral Questions
23 April 2026
Office for National Statistics Labour Market Data
The noble Lord tempts me to cross a red line which is a little above my pay grade in talking about our trading arrangements and any future trading agreements with the European Union. However, it is clear already from what we have done with the Erasmus schemes that we take this seriously. The Europea…
Lords
Oral Questions
21 April 2026
Sudan
I could not agree more. I have met with the local responders too, and they are an incredibly impressive group of people. They are very well organised and are using technology and developing apps to make sure that their limited resources are allocated in a way that is most efficient and responsive to…
Lords
Proceedings
20 April 2026
Security Vetting
My Lords, one thing I agree with in this Statement is the recognition of the victims of the crime of Jeffrey Epstein. We are able to know what we know about an appointment which should never have been made only because of the patience and the persistence of the victims, and they should be at the for…
Lords
Debate
14 April 2026
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, this has turned into a very sorry affair. I continue to be sorry for the Chagossian community, which sees that the political turmoil and injustice that it has endured over many years has the potential to continue, because the same international legal position remains, not only in relation …
Lords
Proceedings
14 April 2026
Middle East
My Lords, this is an unlawful war and has an unclear justification, with contradictory messages already from the Trump White House, State Department and Defense Department. That is how I started my response to the Statement on 2 March. I went on to say that
“the civilian death toll is likely to gro…
Lords
Oral Questions
14 April 2026
HMT “Empire Windrush”: 80th Anniversary
I think what we all want to see is that the claimants’ claims are processed quickly and in the most straightforward way possible. I am very happy to meet the group that the noble Lord met yesterday. It is clear that compensation cannot undo the harm that was caused, but the Government remain committ…
Lords
Oral Questions
13 April 2026
Strait of Hormuz: Mine Clearance
As I said to the noble Lord’s noble friend, we continue to discuss these matters with the United States. Of course, diplomacy is an important part of any problem or conflict that occurs anywhere in the world. There have to be talks and discussions. We know how important that is. We will continue to …
Lords
Proceedings
13 April 2026
Clerk of the Parliaments
My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, and indeed to hear the wonderful remarks from the Leader and from the noble Lord, Lord True, earlier on. I am in the rare and happy position of agreeing with every word that has been said so far in support of the Motion paying t…
Lords
Oral Questions
23 March 2026
UK Homeland Defence
Let me deal with two separate issues on that. First, should the UK develop its own sovereign capability and do as much as we can to have the industry and intelligence that we need ourselves? Of course we should. The Government are taking action to rebuild and develop our own capabilities and industr…
Lords
Oral Questions
23 March 2026
Ukraine: Reparation
I think that is pretty much impossible to conceive of. I know the noble Lord and my noble friend are aware of the current sanctions regime, under which we can freeze assets but not seize them. However, we need to make sure that, however it is done, Russia will pay the price for its illegal aggressio…