Lords
Proceedings
16 December 2025
US National Security Strategy
My Lords, the new US strategy makes it even more vital that the UK remains a key part of European and global defence. As the new head of MI6 reminded us yesterday, threats to us and our allies are increasing, and it is surely abundantly clear that we need to step up against the threat posed by both …
Lords
Committee Stage
16 December 2025
3 contributions
Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Bill
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, for leading this group. I will start by speaking to my own Amendments 2 and 17, before addressing Amendments 4 and 5 in the name of my noble friend Lord Fuller, who sadly cannot be in the House today.
Amendment 2 is a straightforward probing amendmen…
I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Miller of Chilthorne Domer, for leading this group, and the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, for making me feel guilty for drinking from my plastic water bottle. I hope my cardboard cup is okay—but probably not, because it has plastic on its inside.
I have a number of am…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
10 December 2025
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference 2026
I first thank the noble Lord for the comments that he made and his association with my remarks about the tragic death. It is appreciated by everyone in this House and beyond. The noble Lord will know that there is no difference between us all. We support the work of the IAEA in ensuring that Iran’s …
Lords
Debate
25 November 2025
13 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, as the noble Lord, Lord Hannan, reminds us, this amendment gets to the core of the criticisms that have been levelled against the Government’s approach to this Bill so far. As my noble friend Lord Lilley pointed out numerous times during the debates on the first day in Committee, it is ver…
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Morrow, and the noble Baroness, Lady Hoey, for their contributions on the noble Lord’s Amendment 20K, which, much like his Amendment 20J in the previous group, asks a specific question of the Government, which I think gets to the heart of the process that was a…
+11 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
25 November 2025
6 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, the trust fund set up for the Chagossians is absolutely central to this treaty. Under Article 11, the Mauritians have been given the responsibility for administering the fund, which will be paid for, of course, by the UK. However, we still do not have any clarity on how Mauritius will mana…
My Lords, I agree with the Minister that this has been a fascinating debate. It was a real pleasure to hear so many noble Lords focusing, as we rightly should, on the rights and futures of the Chagossian people.
The trust fund is an essential part of the treaty. Essentially, it is the only part of …
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
25 November 2025
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Democratic Resilience
Well, I think anyone who is a close ally of the former leader in Srpska probably would say something like that, and they would not be someone we would look to for guidance on this issue. We feel that we need to stay very close to what was agreed at Dayton, working closely with our allies and partner…
Lords
Proceedings
24 November 2025
Ukraine: Forcible Removal of Children
My Lords, there have been many reports over the weekend that progress is being made towards a peace deal for Ukraine, and I am sure the whole House will welcome that. However, does the Minister agree that this cannot be based on the leaked plan, which read more like a list of Russian talking points …
Lords
Oral Questions
19 November 2025
Ukraine: UK-USA Discussions
We are fully committed to maintaining our support to Ukraine militarily but also in all the other forms it takes.
Lords
Debate
18 November 2025
19 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, I was going to say that this has been an excellent debate, but it has not really been much of a debate seeing as nobody from the Labour side has bothered to get up and try to defend the Government’s actions on this matter. Not even the Foreign Office trade union crowd on the Cross Benches …
Will the Minister tell us how much? There is a difference between the money that is spent from her aid budget in the FCDO and the money spent from the MoD. If it is such a simple, straightforward issue that she keeps brushing the question aside then why not just give us the figures? How much of it i…
+17 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
18 November 2025
12 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, as my noble friend Lady Noakes said at Second Reading, this Bill is right up there in contention for the title of “worst Bill of this Session”. It is a surrender Bill and the Government should be ashamed of having brought it before your Lordships’ House. The sparsely populated Labour Bench…
Well, the Government have said on a number of occasions that ratification does not come into effect until this legislation comes into effect.
+10 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
13 November 2025
Palestinian Refugees
I will make the Government’s view on Hamas absolutely clear and that will inform my answer to the noble Lord’s question about the possibility of people arriving here. The UK assesses Hamas in its entirety to be concerned in terrorism and proscribes the organisation in full under the Terrorism Act. I…
Lords
Oral Questions
12 November 2025
Caribbean: US Military Action
The Government of the United Kingdom do prioritise the security of this country. We are acting in accordance with international law and the fundamental principles of the UN charter. That is the guiding principle for the Government. As I have said time and time again from this Dispatch Box, the secur…
Lords
Debate
11 November 2025
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
I thank noble Lords who have taken part in this debate.
On the point from the noble Baroness, Lady Goldie, about being asked to judge the weight of the baby before the baby is born, I am in a similar position on her amendments. Without knowing what she intends to attempt to table, it is very diffic…
Lords
Proceedings
11 November 2025
Conflict in Sudan
My Lords, the Sunday Times reported at the weekend that British military equipment sold to the United Arab Emirates was discovered in Sudan being used by the RSF, which of course was responsible for the horrific massacres that we saw all over social media and other places last week. Can the Minister…
Lords
Oral Questions
11 November 2025
British Council
As the noble Lord says, the British Council is part of the Soft Power Council, which is a joint initiative between the FCDO and DCMS. It brings together the arts, heritage, Kew Gardens and the Premier League—many of the different soft power assets that the UK has—and the aim is to co-ordinate them a…
Lords
Debate
4 November 2025
8 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
If the noble Lord was so concerned to do this, first, why did he not consult earlier? Secondly, he can achieve his aims—which would not be wrecking but would be perfectly legitimate —by amendment to the Bill, delaying implementation, perhaps. Those things are standard. He could make his case, or per…
All of our ODA spending is published. It is probably one of the most transparent bits of government funding. I will send the noble Lord the website address so he can have a look and satisfy himself on this point.
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
4 November 2025
Sudan: Protection of Civilians
My Lords, the massacre at the El Fasher hospital and the surrounding city was deeply shocking. I know that the British embassy in Khartoum is temporarily closed, but can the Minister confirm what consular support, if any, the department can provide in Sudan? Can she confirm whether any British natio…
Lords
Proceedings
3 November 2025
Gaza and Hamas
My Lords, when even Qatar, which plays host to the Hamas leadership, has acknowledged breaches of the ceasefire by Hamas, we know that the situation is getting serious. Taken alongside horrific videos of summary executions of fellow Palestinians, armed fighters patrolling the streets, the killing of…
Lords
Proceedings
31 October 2025
Ukraine
My Lords, I thank both Opposition Front Benches for their continued support for our approach to Ukraine. It is, perhaps uniquely, something that brings us all together—perhaps, as noble Lords suggested earlier, that is one of the reasons it does not excite the media and the public in a way that some…
Lords
Oral Questions
30 October 2025
El Fasher
I thank the noble Lord for that question. We are very concerned about religious violence in Sudan, and indeed anywhere else in the world, and we certainly have sought to engage with the RSF on this. As the noble Lord knows, this conflict has a long history. I visited Sudan myself many years ago.
Lords
Oral Questions
27 October 2025
Western Sahara Conflict
It is important to have dialogue with parties to these conflicts in a way that is transparent, pragmatic and helpful, which is what has been done. The noble Lord says that he has evidence. We have not seen evidence. If the Conservative Front Bench in the House of Lords is in possession of such evide…
Lords
Oral Questions
16 October 2025
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
Apparently, I have nine minutes to deal with the whole of the global security situation.
I thank all noble Lords and Ladies who participated in this debate, particularly the noble Baroness, Lady Stuart, for what has turned out to be a very timely debate—I am sure she knew that when she called for i…
Lords
Oral Questions
16 October 2025
Starvation as a Weapon of War
My Lords, I start by expressing my gratitude to my noble friend for securing this debate. I am also grateful to all noble Lords for their contributions. The simple fact is that millions of people today are dangerously malnourished because of conflict, and too often this malnourishment has devastatin…
Lords
Oral Questions
14 October 2025
West Papua: Deforestation
I thank the noble Lord for his question. I am very happy to confirm, as I have said, that the UK continues to build on the work of the previous Government at the forefront of international efforts to champion forests and tackle deforestation. I stress that mobilising finance and business for the pro…