Lords
Proceedings
7 January 2026
Middle East and North Africa
I am also grateful for the Statement, but I am also slightly disappointed that, given the linkages between the Middle East and North Africa and the crisis in Sudan, there was no mention of that emergency. I will return to that in a moment and I hope the Minister might be able to give an update and r…
Lords
Oral Questions
7 January 2026
Venezuela
Our team in Caracas is now out of crisis mode. They are back working; I have received updates from them today and I will continue to do so. They are safe and well and doing their jobs ably, as they have been able to do for the last few years.
Lords
Proceedings
6 January 2026
Venezuela
My Lords, I also associate these Benches with the condolences on the terrible incident in Switzerland.
I start by simply quoting from my right honourable friend Ed Davey, speaking in the House of Commons last evening, when he referred to President Reagan and the United States Administration’s invas…
Lords
Debate
5 January 2026
9 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, I gave very careful consideration to the points raised in these amendments by both noble and gallant Lords. They raise significant issues, which I am very sympathetic to. I am also very keen to hear the Minister’s response, given her commitment in Committee, especially in relation to the c…
My Lords, it is always informative to follow the noble Lord, apart from when he is having his witty barbs against my party, which is often the case. He made a very strong case today, and I hope that he may feel that his points are reflected in part of the text in my Amendment 33.
This has been an i…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
15 December 2025
Sydney Terrorist Attack
The Prime Minister had already tasked Government Ministers to look at what else we can do, prior to yesterday’s events. The Prime Minister has also tasked the police forces, via the Home Secretary, to look at how we can step up security patrols to give reassurance in neighbourhoods where there are s…
Lords
Proceedings
26 November 2025
G20 and Ukraine
I too welcome the Statement. On Ukraine, the Leader knows of our continuing support of the Government’s efforts. I know that our Ukrainian colleagues value greatly the cross-party support in both Houses—other than some weakness from one party, so perfectly displayed in the courts in recent days. How…
Lords
Debate
25 November 2025
5 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, I want to say a few words. I have been rather sparing in the Committee debate today, but the noble Lord, Lord Hannan, has prompted me to speak.
I have been a passionate supporter of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, I have served on this Parliament’s executive committee of the C…
My Lords, I shall speak also to Amendment 82, which is consequential upon Amendment 80. As the Minister referred to before, Amendment 80 had attracted some flattering imitation yesterday, but nevertheless I hope that we might be able to see progress on what I would consider to be a serious proposal …
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
25 November 2025
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
In light of the reaffirmation that there will be both ongoing citizenship as well as dual nationality, and, perhaps uniquely, that community will be impacted directly by the terms of this treaty, does the Minister accept the principle that formal mechanisms of representation for the duration of this…
Lords
Proceedings
19 November 2025
2 contributions
Gaza and Sudan
I agree with the noble Earl: we thank the Government for bringing the Statement to Parliament and for this opportunity to ask questions of the Minister. Having asked for a Statement at every single opportunity since I became leader of the Liberal Democrats in the Lords, I note that this is the first…
My Lords, I know that it is unusual to contribute a second time, but I have raised El Obeid and Tawila, as has my noble friend. I would be grateful for some specific reference to actions on what may be imminent atrocities carried out there. We know that the RSF has declared a truce and is using that…
Lords
Debate
18 November 2025
6 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
I am grateful to the noble Lord for giving way. He absolutely put his amendment down. At first, I thought I would do him the courtesy of listening to how effective he was going to be in making his argument. So far, I am finding out that, the more briefly he speaks, the more persuasive he is.
Will the noble Lord give way?
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
18 November 2025
16 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
I am grateful to the noble Lord for giving way. Given that the Bill is to give effect to the treaty, I wonder whether the noble Lord could say a little more, because in introducing his amendment he did not, about how his amendment interacts with Article 1 of the treaty that Parliament has ratified?
It has been ratified; Parliament has ratified the treaty. It has not been brought into effect, but the treaty, which states that Mauritius is sovereign, has been ratified by Parliament. That is the treaty that the United Kingdom has entered into, and which Parliament has ratified. What is the intera…
+14 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
11 November 2025
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, I thank the Government and the Chief Whip in particular for the constructive discussions we have had since Second Reading. As the House will be aware, we took the unusual step of tabling an amendment to the committal Motion last week which would have required a government consultation of t…
Lords
Proceedings
11 November 2025
Conflict in Sudan
My Lords, I note the very recent ICAI report on the Sudan policy of this Government and the previous Administration, and I declare that I was an implementer of the governance strand over recent years, which was positively recognised in that ICAI report.
I am sure the Minister will agree with me tha…
Lords
Debate
4 November 2025
11 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
We will set out our reasons in detail, if the Bill ever returns to your Lordships’ House. I give way to the noble Lord.
I am always suspicious when the Liberal Democrats say that they want to be helpful. We have debated all these points at length.
+9 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
4 November 2025
Sudan: Protection of Civilians
My Lords, Tom Fletcher, the head of UN OCHA, told the United Nations Security Council that there was indifference and resignation among the UN Security Council members. As the UK is the penholder for this crisis, we must take our share of the responsibility. Some 90% of children in Sudan are out of …
Lords
Proceedings
3 November 2025
Gaza and Hamas
My Lords, with continuing Hamas terrorist violence and the regrettable civilian deaths of Palestinians, it seems that phase 2 of the agreement might now be some way off. Given the terrible devastation in Gaza—which, as I have said in the Chamber before, is 20 times that of the scale of the Blitz in …
Lords
Proceedings
31 October 2025
Ukraine
My Lords, I too thank the Government for bringing forward this important debate. Yet again, we have seen some fantastic contributions on this topic. As always, I was encouraged to see virtual unanimity, across those of all parties and none in the House, in support of the valiant Ukrainian people and…
Lords
Oral Questions
30 October 2025
El Fasher
I thank the noble Lord for that question. I have already said that there is a meeting of the UN Security Council today to discuss this further. I understand the frustration that he expresses. The biggest problem now is humanitarian access. Until we make progress on that, with the help of the warring…
Lords
Oral Questions
29 October 2025
Jamaica: Hurricane Melissa
I do not want this to sound at all patronising, but the assistance that we can give now is very different from that which we could give 10 or so years ago. Yes, there is the immediate response, which will take the form of ODA, and we have a crisis reserve, which is where it needs to be for this stag…
Lords
Proceedings
16 October 2025
Middle East
My Lords, on behalf of the Liberal Democrat Benches, I too thank the Lord Speaker for his work in this House, his decades of public service and the very personal nature of his statement, which highlighted the sacrifice that many of our loved ones and family members make when we carry out our public …
Lords
Oral Questions
16 October 2025
Telegraph Media Group: Ownership
There are no specific rules relating to the media merger regime on hostile states, but the bar for intervention within the regime is low. I would like to reassure the noble Lord that any sale of the Telegraph will be subject to the regime. As I stated earlier, it could be considered under the Nation…
Lords
Oral Questions
13 October 2025
Chinese Espionage: Parliament
The noble Lord has consistently made these arguments. I confirm what has previously been said in your Lordships’ House: no decision has yet been made on specifying China on the enhanced tier of the scheme. As noble Lords would expect, my officials continue to consider whether and how the enhanced ti…
Lords
Oral Questions
18 September 2025
2 contributions
Gaza: UN Commission of Inquiry Report
My Lords—
There are processes under way at the ICJ and the ICC. Although we do not take it upon ourselves to attribute genocide, that does not mean that we do not consider other breaches of international humanitarian law. We have taken a number of steps that we have discussed frequently in this Chamber in res…
Lords
Oral Questions
17 September 2025
Israel: Royal College of Defence Studies
We are taking all the measures that we have discussed on many occasions in this place, including sanctions on members of the Israeli Cabinet. Noble Lords will know that the United Nations General Assembly meets next week, and it has been the announced intention of the United Kingdom Government to co…
Lords
Debate
12 September 2025
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, this is a difficult and controversial Bill, not only because of the substantial amount of delegated legislation, the problem of skeleton legislation and the lack of adequate pre-legislative scrutiny, as committees of this House have pointed out and as the evidence presented by lawyers and …