Lords
Oral Questions
23 March 2026
Companies: Online AGMs
All noble Lords and the noble Baroness have raised the importance of AGMs. They are incredibly important. They are important for engaging shareholders, large and small, but particularly, as has been mentioned, those who perhaps do not have an institutional voice. We are engaging with investors and t…
Lords
Oral Questions
18 March 2026
EU Directive: Adequate Minimum Wages
My Lords, I fully acknowledge that businesses face challenges and that micro-businesses operate with narrow margins and encounter real pressures, and these businesses are the ones that employ young people. However, the evidence consistently shows that paying staff fairly strengthens businesses in th…
Lords
Oral Questions
17 March 2026
Fujitsu: Post Office Horizon Case
The noble Lord touches on several points; let me go through each of them. First, the suggestion that we should simply walk away from existing Fujitsu contracts does not take account of the impact on public services.
Lords
Oral Questions
16 March 2026
UK Domestic Visitor Levy
The power will be devolved to mayoral strategic authorities, because they cover the functional economic areas and mayors have strategic roles in driving growth. The power is principally linked to the growth remit that we have given our mayors and to the powers of mayors, and any revenue is expected …
Lords
Committee Stage
16 March 2026
Treaty Scrutiny in Westminster (International Agreements Committee Report)
My Lords, like others, I am grateful to the noble and learned Lord, Lord Goldsmith, for so ably introducing this debate and setting out the findings of his committee. It is indeed a thought-provoking and timely report, and the committee is right that Parliament should be given a full opportunity to …
Lords
Debate
12 March 2026
Industry and Exports (Financial Assistance) Bill
I thank noble Lords for their contributions and feedback. I am also thankful for the general support for the provisions in this small but important Bill.
As aforementioned, the Bill will ensure that the financial assistance the Government have provided through UK Export Finance and the means availa…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 March 2026
Foreign Direct Investment
Hold that thought.
In the seven months I have been doing this job, the UK has clearly been redefining its position in the world, post Brexit and Covid. I am proud to be part of a Government who are out there doing trade deals, whether with India, the Gulf states or the US—ours is its first deal glo…
Lords
Oral Questions
9 March 2026
Iran and the Middle East
The noble Lord is right in that all these conflicts are interconnected in many subtle ways that often are not immediately obvious to those seeking to make political points in this country. It is obviously a matter for His Majesty’s Opposition to answer for their own conduct.
Lords
Oral Questions
9 March 2026
British Business Bank
The British Business Bank’s new strategic mandate explicitly talks about supporting businesses in the industrial strategy priority sectors, which, as noble Lords will know, includes defence. One of the things that we will be doing is looking at where the financing gap is, whether that is for R&D…
Lords
Oral Questions
5 March 2026
Small Businesses: VAT Threshold
I am very happy to open my mind in response to the noble Lord’s question. The existence of bunching around the VAT threshold is well established and has been analysed by the Office for Budget Responsibility. The OBR has explained that, where a registration threshold exists, some firms will cluster j…
Lords
Committee Stage
4 March 2026
2 contributions
UK-India: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement
My Lords, I pay special tribute to the noble and learned Lord, Lord Goldsmith, for his pioneering work in chairing the International Agreements Committee. Several speakers have paid tribute to that work, but it goes far beyond this debate, although we are very grateful to him for moving the Motion t…
I thank the noble Lord; I was going to come on to that, but we can agree to that.
My noble and learned friend Lord Goldsmith, my noble friend Lord Anderson and the noble Lords, Lord Hunt and Lord Frost, all made reference to the EU-India deal. As champions of free trade, we welcome this agreement. …
Lords
Oral Questions
3 March 2026
British Farming: Competitiveness
On the India deal, we maintained tariffs on several products, including pork, chicken and eggs. That was because we had concerns about animal welfare standards and the potential impact on British farmers. That is what we will do and the position we will take when looking at trade deals with any coun…
Lords
Proceedings
2 March 2026
Middle East
My Lords, in late 2024, the UK announced that it was joining, as a third party, the US-Bahrain Comprehensive Security Integration and Prosperity Agreement, happily shortened to C-SIPA. This treaty is aimed at contributing to a fully integrated regional security architecture, and we duly signed and r…
Lords
Oral Questions
26 February 2026
Duty Relief Exemption: Small Parcels
The noble Lord knows that I absolutely agree with his analysis of the problem, and I greatly admire the consistency with which he has pursued his policy for a customs union. The points he makes are obviously factually correct. This Government are pursuing an EU reset. The UK and the EU have agreed t…
Lords
Oral Questions
25 February 2026
British Military Equipment: Chinese Components
The first thing I should say is that we focus on all vehicles coming to MoD sites, not just Chinese vehicles. All modern electric vehicles have surveillance components which we should be careful about, so I want to be completely clear with the noble Lord and the House that that is our approach. With…
Lords
Committee Stage
25 February 2026
3 contributions
Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (Alternative Dispute Resolution) (Conferral of Functions) Regulations 2026
My Lords, I was not involved in the 2024 Act, so—to no doubt universal relief—I shall be very brief. As the Minister explained, the statutory instruments implement Chapter 4 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, by replacing the voluntary accreditation system for alternative di…
Paper is not that durable in fire or water, so are we talking stone tablets, or vellum, perhaps? I am very curious to know the answer to the question from the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson.
Obviously, alternative dispute resolution plays an important role in enabling consumers to resolve disputes quic…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
24 February 2026
Quantum Technology
I can assure the noble Lord that I look at that every day. I am looking at ways to make sure we unlock more private sector capital to get this acceleration. This is at a stage where these companies need to grow as private sector companies. We need to help that. We need to unlock the masses more capi…
Lords
Oral Questions
23 February 2026
US Tariffs
The question of certainty, raised by the noble Lords, Lord Lamont and Lord Fox, is critical to business. We live in a world that is changing rapidly and evolving minute by minute—I just checked my BBC feed on my way into the Chamber this afternoon. What I can say is that this Government have a plan:…
Lords
Proceedings
11 February 2026
Ministry of Defence: Palantir Contracts
My Lords, leaving aside the nature of the ownership of Palantir and the questionable involvement of Peter Mandelson, we have another key concern. On the Government’s own admission, this is a strategic contract. It seems that only Palantir is in a position to deliver this, otherwise it would have bee…
Lords
Oral Questions
9 February 2026
Jimmy Lai: Prison Sentence
How we use our trade relationship to exert this kind of pressure needs really careful consideration. It would be very easy to take measures that harm us but have no impact at all. We need to deploy those levers that we think will be most effective. This is a devastating day, with Jimmy Lai having be…
Lords
Oral Questions
4 February 2026
Land Covenants: Supermarket Chains
The CMA has a broad primary and competition regulatory framework. It is equipped with the powers to investigate and to act against anti-competitive conduct. On the specific question about the digital Bill, I will have to consult with colleagues and come back to the noble Lord; I am not familiar with…
Lords
Proceedings
29 January 2026
UK-EU Customs Union
My Lords, I begin by congratulating the noble Baroness, Lady Gill, and the noble Lords, Lord Docherty of Milngavie, Lord Pitt-Watson and Lord Doyle, on their maiden speeches today. Their thoughtful, witty and heartfelt contributions demonstrate that they will be a huge asset to your Lordships’ House…
Lords
Proceedings
29 January 2026
2 contributions
Business Rates
My Lords, I am sure the Minister will agree that one of the things that will drive growth is consumer confidence. It is very hard for consumers to be confident when they see their high streets putting up shutters and “closed” signs. The Minister also talked about changed behaviour and the driving of…
My Lords, following the moderately good reception to my last question, I am going to push my luck. Following on from the from the noble Lord, Lord Forbes, when this review is under way, can the Treasury review a commercial landowner levy rather than a straight business rate? That does not penalise i…
Lords
Oral Questions
28 January 2026
UK Start-up Companies
As noble Lords may know, we are supporting our public finance institutions. We are increasing the capitalisation of the British Business Bank, which can play a role in this area, complemented by the National Wealth Fund’s new mandate, which includes a focus on other sectors such as digital and techn…