Lords
Oral Questions
8 January 2026
2 contributions
Israel: Trade
My Lords, compared with some of the big debates facing us around phase 2 of the Middle East peace process, the urgent need to get reconstruction going in Gaza, and the Iranian people’s uprising against their theocracy, debates on trade can sometimes seem rather esoteric, although they are clearly im…
We are waiting to see phase 2 of the ceasefire put in place. At that point, the dialogue can continue.
Lords
Oral Questions
7 January 2026
2 contributions
Public Sector Productivity
My Lords, this Question caused me to take a look at how the Government measure productivity. It strikes me as extraordinarily quantitative, taking into consideration almost no issue of quality. I am concerned that if AI is trained on these existing models, we are going to dig ourselves into a worse …
No. As the noble Lord says, public sector productivity has dropped significantly since 2019. This Government inherited a situation in which public sector productivity was 5.6% below pre-pandemic levels. That is clearly unacceptable and there are far greater issues going on than those that the noble …
Lords
Oral Questions
17 December 2025
Fair Work Agency: Small and Micro Businesses
As I mentioned earlier, the intention is to have the secondary legislation in place and for this to be set up in April 2026. As for engagement with SMEs, we have stressed that there will be an advisory board within the Fair Work Agency made up of representatives from business organisations, big and …
Lords
Oral Questions
11 December 2025
United States: Intelligence Sharing
We have common interests with the Israeli Government, and we should try to maintain that data-sharing arrangement. What they do and how they operate is a matter for them. It is important that we have as wide data sharing as possible and information sharing with important strategic partners. The Five…
Lords
Oral Questions
20 November 2025
Private Equity
My Lords, in following the noble Lord, Lord Leigh, I have to note that capitalism focused on shareholder returns is dependent entirely on the natural world and a functioning society. There are no shareholder returns on a dead planet or in a collapsed society.
I thank the noble Lord, Lord Monks, for…
Lords
Debate
17 November 2025
2 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I thank noble Lords who have contributed to the debate today. Let me start by recapping the reason for this measure.
There is a moral case to press ahead with ending exploitative zero-hour contracts. We aim to rebalance the scales so that all the risk associated with insecure work is not …
My Lords, I thank the Minister for her response. I very much welcome the objective that she set out of reducing red tape. I remind her that the Bill contains 170 statutory instruments. In my experience, every statutory instrument leads to at least one regulation, so perhaps when next she stands up, …
Lords
Proceedings
13 November 2025
Economic and Taxation Policies: Jobs, Growth and Prosperity
My Lords, the forthcoming Budget due on 26 November is perhaps the most anticipated that I can remember. We have had a summer of speculation, an autumn of uncertainty, and now, as winter approaches, we know what is coming—tax rises—and we know this is not an inevitability; it is a political choice. …
Lords
Oral Questions
10 November 2025
National Insurance: Partnerships
If the noble Lord wants to talk about the amount of money that is left, I am very happy to point him to the £22 billion black hole in the public finances that we inherited and that his Government sought to hide from the Office for Budget Responsibility. The same OBR has certified that the non-dom re…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 November 2025
Office for National Statistics
The noble Lord raises a genuinely important point about the quality and calibre of our data and how we collect it. As the world moves on, so has our need for data, and how we use and collect it. We expect the ONS to be using all available resources to it. We also need to make sure of the value—espec…
Lords
Oral Questions
30 October 2025
Public and Private Sector Productivity Trends
On the noble Lord’s first point, I am very aware of some issues around the data, and I believe the ONS has been reviewing it along the lines he suggests. On the Employment Rights Bill, he will know that labour supply is also a fundamental component of driving productivity, and that a more motivated …
Lords
Oral Questions
29 October 2025
2 contributions
Antisemitism: Universities
My Lords, the targeted antisemitic campaign against Professor Ben-Gad is deeply troubling and has no place in our lecture halls, on campus or anywhere else. It is not free speech; it is harassment and it is abhorrent. Where a student is found to have been responsible for racially motivated harassmen…
Yes. My right honourable friend the Secretary of State met the Union of Jewish Students just last week and wrote directly to vice-chancellors to outline the seriousness of this issue and the responsibility and action that she expected them to take. This was further pursued in a call with vice-chance…
Lords
Debate
28 October 2025
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I support the amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Burns, and of course I welcome the new team to the Front Bench. The noble Lord, Lord Collins of Highbury, will recall that we had pretty much the same debate in 2016, albeit that we were facing in different directions. The noble Lord, Lord …
Lords
Oral Questions
20 October 2025
2 contributions
GDP Per Capita
My Lords, the latest data from the ONS shows that GDP per capita has risen by 0.9% over the past year, in line with the OBR’s forecast, and this is the second fastest in the G7. This compares with a fall of 0.1% during the previous Parliament. The increase in GDP per capita in the past year is due m…
The answer to all the noble Lord’s questions is no. He points out that GDP per capita grew by 0.2% in the second quarter of this year; that compares with 0.1% over the entirety of the previous Parliament. If he wants to make comparisons, I am more than happy to do that. I do not accept the points he…
Lords
Oral Questions
13 October 2025
School Fees: VAT
Without Brexit, GDP would be 4% higher, so we would not need to.
Lords
Oral Questions
16 September 2025
2 contributions
Economic Growth
My Lords, UK GDP grew by 0.2% in the three months to July 2025, following an increase of 0.3% in the three months to June. Overall, the economy grew by 1% in the first half of this year, well above the OBR forecast of 0.6%. This means the UK was the fastest-growing economy in the G7 over this period…
I am very grateful to the noble Lord for his question and for his thoughts on growing the economy. After his success in advocating for a Brexit deal that reduced GDP by 4%, it is always very helpful to get his advice on economic growth.
The noble Lord mentioned the monthly growth figures. I do not …
Lords
Debate
10 September 2025
4 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I support the amendments tabled by my noble friend Lady Barran. I have not spoken in Committee and apologise for not being available to speak at Second Reading. Although I supported many of the arguments earlier today in respect of teachers’ qualifications, curriculums and so on, I chose t…
I am only repeating what was in print; I do not know why. Clearly, when one looks at the academies, one can see the tremendous success and improvement to education to the benefit of children in this country. Control of schools by central government clearly and empirically is not the answer, so I hop…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
9 September 2025
Pension Funds: Use of UK-listed Investment Companies
Our entire agenda is built around encouraging exactly what the noble Lord states. He mentioned inheritance tax. I want to clarify that pensions, and the considerable tax reliefs on them, are designed to provide income for retirement, rather than acting as a tax-planning vehicle for transferring weal…
Lords
Debate
23 July 2025
7 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lord, I will speak to the amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Burns, and to my own Amendments 152A and 152B. In so doing, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Burns, on this amendment. I remember the debate we had at that time. There is no question about it: every side of the debate compromised. I…
With great respect, every shareholder gets a mailed piece of paper with a box to tick—every single shareholder every single year. If that is not a ballot, what is?
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
21 July 2025
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I rise briefly to mark that this is the moment—21 July, at 8.59 pm—when the Labour Government are going to put such unreasonable demands on small businesses that they will all come together and say, “This Government are not our friend. This Government are distracting us from growth, from e…
Lords
Debate
16 July 2025
5 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Londesborough, and, of course, my noble friend Lady Noakes. I shall speak to my Amendments 106, 153, 155 and 184. The main thrust of the first amendments is to force the Government to listen to real concerns of the SME community who, frankly,…
With the greatest respect, I do not know if the noble Lord has read my amendment, but that is exactly the point. The point is that before the Bill is passed there should be consultation on these proposals, but there is no opportunity for consultation because they are implemented at Royal Assent. The…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
14 July 2025
2 contributions
Tax on Imports under £135
My Lords, VAT is already due on all imports into the UK. The Government are reviewing the customs arrangements for imports under £135 and are exploring the merits of reform to the online marketplace rules.
I am grateful to the noble Lord for his question. Just to be clear, again, VAT is already due on all imports of goods into the UK, regardless of their value. Since 2021, VAT on imports below £135 is collected at the point of sale. There is some evidence of non-compliance, so the Government announced…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 July 2025
Primary Stock Exchange Listings
I commend the noble Lord for knowing more about government policy than I do. He talks about those companies listing abroad. It is interesting, just to look at some evidence, that IPOs on US exchanges show that non-US companies tend to perform much less well than US ones, suggesting that from a valua…
Lords
Oral Questions
7 July 2025
Unpaid Tax
I am grateful to the noble Lord for his question. I know that he has been in touch with my colleague the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury and has discussed having a meeting. I am sure that he will be in touch in due course.
Lords
Debate
24 June 2025
2 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I shall speak to the amendments in my name and in so doing support the other amendments in the group, all of which have been most eloquently described by my noble friends, Lord Sharpe of Epsom and Lady Neville-Rolfe, and the noble Lord, Lord Vaux. My noble friend Lord Sharpe of Epsom is ri…
Before the noble Baroness sits down, I thank her for her answer. Clearly, the feedback from the organisations she has met is not in parallel with the feedback I have had from similar organisations. I appreciate that the meetings she has had may have been in confidence. But if not, would it be possib…