Baroness Smith of Newnham — Hansard

Lords Proceedings 29 June 2026

My Lords, on these Benches we understand the importance of the Armed Forces modernising, including with AI. My understanding is that Palantir received a £240 million contract without the MoD going out to tender. While there are clearly national security exemptions for genuinely exceptional cases, is…

Lords Proceedings 4 June 2026

Military in the Gulf

My Lords, from these Benches, I express our condolences to the families of those who tragically lost their lives this week. As always, we owe a huge debt to service personnel and their families. The Minister has already said he has had much engagement with the ambassadors and defence attachés from …

Lords Debate 24 April 2026 3 contributions

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

My Lords—

I am sorry, but I am not giving way. I do not think it is appropriate for me to do so, and many others have not. I am happy to discuss it with the noble Baroness afterwards. The largest survey of medical opinion in the UK by the BMA found doctors more likely to support than to oppose assisted dying…

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Lords Oral Questions 13 April 2026

Strait of Hormuz: Mine Clearance

We always talk to the United States and continue to do so. The noble Baroness will know from the answers that have been given that we do not support the blockade, as proposed by the United States, and we are seeking other ways to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. This is why I have talked about the summi…

Lords Debate 27 March 2026

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

My Lords, I will very briefly speak to Amendment 657 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Fox, to which I have added my name, to support the amendments in the name of my noble friend Lady Finlay— Amendments 268, 359, 617—and the amendment in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Cass. In particula…

Lords Debate 18 March 2026 2 contributions

Crime and Policing Bill

My Lords, if we have to balance the needs and rights of all concerned, does that mean that an unborn child that is viable beyond 24 weeks has no rights and should not be considered here? Does it mean that it is only the rights of the mother that matter?

My Lords—

Lords Proceedings 11 March 2026

Middle East: Defence

My Lords, as is so frequently the case on defence matters, I stand as the second opposition spokesperson to raise questions for the Minister, but I find myself very much in agreement with the Opposition Front Bench. Having heard statements from the other place, I had thought that today might be some…

Lords Debate 6 February 2026 2 contributions

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

My Lords, like the noble Baroness, Lady Hayter, I have recent experience of visiting care homes. My late father was in a care home from November 2024 until December 2025. Unlike in the noble Baroness’s case, although he was well cared for, there were a range of issues that I was aware of while he wa…

I can see a point to that, but the message I was given by the mental health practitioner who rang me from the mental health team—I think he was a psychiatrist—was basically that once somebody is in a home, these tests become much more difficult because of the nature of the environment. That may diff…

Lords Debate 30 January 2026

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Jay, just asked us to consider the circumstances of those who are seeking an assisted death, but I would like to give a salutary lesson—I am sorry to disagree with the noble Baroness, Lady Gerada. My father was taken ill during the Covid pandemic. He did not have …

Lords Debate 16 January 2026

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

My Lords, I will briefly speak to these amendments, in particular to Amendment 30. I know from listening to previous groups that the Minister will feel the need to explain that Amendment 30, as drafted, is not fit for purpose and will not help the Bill. However, in Committee, the important thing is …

Lords Proceedings 14 January 2026

New Medium Helicopter Contract

My Lords, is it not precisely that this contract is not being let? As my noble friend said, the conversations need to start now. If Leonardo is the only company in the running, why are the Government not having those conversations right now?

Lords Oral Questions 14 January 2026

Boarding of Sanctioned Vessels

What we are doing is trying to make sure that we get it right. Even if you increase the budget by £3 billion, £4 billion or £5 billion, there will be debate about the correct way to spend that money. What is the war-fighting readiness that we need? What is the capability that we need to tackle the t…

Lords Proceedings 12 January 2026

Ukraine and Wider Operational Update

My Lords, during the previous Government, there was a bit of a triumvirate when the noble Baroness, Lady Goldie, was the Minister. Many times, the noble Lord, Lord Coaker, and I would stand up and ask questions, and I would associate myself immediately with his comments. Today, I find myself in a si…

Lords Debate 9 January 2026

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

My Lords, I speak as a member of the Select Committee that your Lordships’ House decided to convene at the end of Second Reading, partly because, although I am sure that noble Lords participating in this debate and this legislation will be fully aware of the evidence we took, this debate is broadcas…

Lords Proceedings 8 January 2026

Schools and Universities: Language Learning

My Lords, like other noble Lords, I thank my noble friend Lady Coussins not only for securing this debate but for the very constructive way in which she introduced the subject. I was very struck by the comment of the noble Baroness, Lady Lane-Fox, about the limitations of mere mechanical translatio…

Lords Debate 6 January 2026

Northern Ireland Troubles Bill: Armed Forces Recruitment and Retention

My Lords, as the chair of the House of Commons Defence Committee pointed out, the current legislation, the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023, managed to do one thing, which was to unite the parties of Northern Ireland against it. The Minister is right that the current le…

Lords Oral Questions 6 January 2026

Defence Spending

We certainly will. I will not have our country categorised as a middle-ranking power or a diminishing power. I just do not believe that, and I do not think that the noble Baroness does either. She is quite right to challenge us on investment; we need the investment that I have outlined in the answer…

Lords Proceedings 25 November 2025

Russian Ship “Yantar”

My Lords, as the noble Baroness, Lady Goldie, said, the “Yantar” has form. Do His Majesty’s Government feel that sufficient action is being taken? I note that one question asked in the other place was whether the Russian ambassador had been called into the Foreign Office, and the answer appeared to …

Lords Debate 14 November 2025 4 contributions

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

With due respect, I must say, as one of the committee members, that that point was put forward on a number of occasions. Unfortunately, there was a majority of people in the committee of seven to five against, by the way the nomination process worked, so it was the feeling of those members not to in…

The Mental Capacity Act is used in life and death issues in healthcare. If someone decides not to have care, the doctor has to ensure that that person has capacity to make that decision, so it is already used in that way.

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Lords Proceedings 5 November 2025

“Soldier F” Trial Verdict

My Lords, in the other place, my colleague Al Pinkerton pointed out that prosecution should not be persecution. Clearly, there is a whole set of issues that we still need to resolve in the context of Northern Ireland, having gone through a long period agreeing the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy a…

Lords Oral Questions 21 October 2025

Erasmus+

The noble Baroness raises a very important point about our ongoing relationship with the European Union as part of these negotiations. Having committed to undertake negotiations to join Erasmus+ in 2027-28, we therefore hope to be part of the full MFF going forward.

Lords Debate 12 September 2025

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

My Lords, I can beat the noble Baroness, Lady Morris of Bolton, by two years: in 2004, I was appointed a member of the Select Committee of this House investigating the Bill brought forward by the much-missed Lord Joffe. After that Bill, that committee had an extensive programme of work. It travelled…

Lords Oral Questions 4 September 2025

UK Defence and Aerospace Facilities: Protests

The noble Baroness makes a good point and, by asking the question, she starts to raise the conversation that we need to have as politicians about having more confidence to speak to the British public about why, as a country, we do the things that we do—and why it is extremely important that we do th…

Lords Oral Questions 3 September 2025

Republic of Ireland: Defence Co-operation

Keir Starmer and the Taoiseach agreed, just a few months ago in Liverpool, that there should be a new memorandum of understanding, one pillar of which should be defence and security. That is a major step forward. It is important not only for the security of Ireland—and those are choices that it make…

Lords Proceedings 18 July 2025

Strategic Defence Review 2025

My Lords, as other noble Lords have said, this has been a highly informative and fascinating debate, wide-ranging in many ways, from the forensic speech of the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Stirrup, to the comments made by my noble friend Lord Harlech on the reservist infrastructure. I echo the spiri…