Lords
Proceedings
26 February 2026
2 contributions
Resetting the UK-EU Relationship (European Affairs Committee Report)
I evidently did not make myself clear. I did not say that the Government want free movement inwards, but, as I understand it, are asking for British citizens who go under the youth experience scheme to the continent to be able to move freely between different EU member states. That is free movement …
My Lords, I thank the Minister for such a comprehensive speech—delivered at pace, if I may say so—and I am glad that our report has stimulated such a wide-ranging and lively debate. Noble Lords will see that I am trying to be the eternal diplomat again. Many Members raised points that I did not have…
Lords
Proceedings
24 February 2026
6 contributions
Labour Together and APCO Worldwide: Cabinet Office Review
Good afternoon. I thank the noble Baroness for her questions, of which there were several. Let me see whether I can assist her with some of her concerns.
First, I place on record my thanks and the thanks of the Government to the civil servants who have so diligently undertaken their work. The noble…
The noble Lord raises a genuinely important point that we have discussed in recent weeks. He will be aware that the elections Bill has now been published. I should declare that I have, historically, been responsible for a third-party campaign, HOPE not hate, and that, until the general election, I u…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
12 February 2026
8 contributions
Lord Mandelson: Government Response to Humble Address Motion
My Lords, with the leave of the House, I shall now repeat in the form of a Statement the Answer given by my honourable friend the Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office to an Urgent Question in another place on the Government’s response to the humble Address agreed by the House of Commons on…
I thank the noble Baroness. She knows more than I do, outside of media speculation, about the appointment of a new Cabinet Secretary. I will not comment on any speculation regarding the position of the Cabinet Secretary or anyone who may or may not ever hold that role. However, the question from the…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
10 February 2026
Standards in Public Life
I am so sorry. The noble Lord was a few seconds late, so he was within the timetable.
Lords
Oral Questions
5 February 2026
8 contributions
Civil Service Pensions: Capita
I thank my noble friend for her Answer and I am pleased to hear that the Government are seized of the seriousness of the situation. I hope my noble friend has had the opportunity to read the Westminster Hall debate yesterday, when MP after MP, speaking on behalf of their constituents, described the …
My Lords, the transfer of British Army recruiting to Capita was a total shambles. What lessons were drawn from that experience and what precautions were put in place before handing Capita the responsibility for the administration of Civil Service pensions?
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
4 February 2026
9 contributions
Think Tanks: Funding
My Lords, for 25 years, political parties have had to declare their significant sources of income, but so-called think tanks that promote the causes of some political parties, and undertake research and produce reports helpful to them, do not have to declare any such funding. The right-wing think ta…
My Lords, I am the director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation—one of those institutions that occupies an address in Tufton Street. I can declare most absolutely that the foundation has never and will never take money from the fossil fuel industry. But if changes are afoot in this whole field—t…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
2 February 2026
4 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
Order. My Lords, I am ever so sorry, but an intervention, according to the Companion , should be short, brief and specific to the point. So, if the noble Lord could actually make his point, I would be grateful.
Absolutely, but this is an intervention.
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
2 February 2026
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
If the noble Baroness will bear with me, we cannot have an intervention on an intervention. She must allow the response.
I apologise, but can I remind Members that interventions are short and sweet? But because this is Committee, people can participate in the debate at their chosen point.
Lords
Proceedings
29 January 2026
UK-EU Customs Union
I thank all noble Lords who have spoken in this debate. I say to the noble Lord, Lord Frost, that he will be disappointed if he expects us to stop talking about the issue, but we are going to stop talking about it now.
Motion agreed.
Lords
Oral Questions
29 January 2026
13 contributions
Public Trust in National Politics
My Lords, I and others are grateful for those small steps, but the size of the problem of public distrust of politics is enormous. Fewer than 60% of voters voted in the 2024 election. Multiple surveys show real public disillusionment with Westminster politics—not with democracy but with Westminster …
My Lords—
+11 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
28 January 2026
4 contributions
Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 (Carer’s Assistance) (Consequential Modifications) Order 2026
My Lords, I am grateful for the opportunity to debate this order today. As with all of the Scotland Act orders that we have considered since the start of this Parliament, this is the result of collaborative working between the UK and Scottish Governments.
The order before us will be made under Sect…
My Lords, I thank the Minister for her introduction. I have one or two questions about both the general process of transferring social security to Scotland and its implications, specific to this instrument.
As I understand it, at the moment, the carer’s allowance is £83.30 per week, and that is the…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
26 January 2026
8 contributions
Chinese Embassy
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord and the noble Baroness for their points and questions on this matter, which rightly concerns us all.
To reiterate, this was a quasi-judicial decision taken independently by the Secretary of State for Housing. I also remind noble Lords of the premise of the Statement…
I think I am agreeing to write to him. I genuinely do not recognise, nor have I been aware of, that report regarding the journalists. I cannot comment on specific mitigations or on some of the issues. The noble Lord will have heard, both during my comments and those of the Security Minister, that we…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
19 January 2026
9 contributions
Public Inquiries: Costs
I thank the Minister for the response, but the public will be slightly concerned that the Government do not seem to have an aggregate figure for the cost of inquiries, let alone the costs of their own legal expenses and of Civil Service time. At a time when cash is immensely tight, it would be a ver…
My Lords, I hesitate to go too far back in the past, but the key to the inquiry following the Piper Alpha disaster and the Dunblane inquiry, which I commissioned, was appointing a judge with experience and having terms of reference that were clear and precise. In that way, one can get an inquiry tha…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
15 January 2026
10 contributions
Exercise Pegasus 2025
My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend the Minister for that response. It is important that Exercise Pegasus is seen as being about not simply pandemics but the much wider issues of how every level of government and the nation as a whole are prepared to deal with crises and emergencies. In that …
My Lords, Exercise Pegasus 2025 was clearly extremely useful. However, the Chief of the Defence Staff was recently reported as saying that we do not have a holistic plan for the mobilisation of the NHS in the event of a large-scale conflict. What action is being taken to assess the requirements of s…
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
5 January 2026
9 contributions
Government Communications: X
My Lords, I am sure that the Minister has seen the recent reports of X generating on-request sexualised images of people without their consent, including of children, yet the Government repeatedly prioritise the use of X. To give just one example, the Home Office’s public social media policy encoura…
My Lords, I take the opportunity to wish my former constituent a happy new year. Following up the observation the Minister has just made on reviewing all forms of communication, would it not have been a good idea to send out one day earlier the suggestion that local authorities postpone their electi…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
18 December 2025
12 contributions
UK-EU Common Understanding Negotiations
My Lords, maybe this was not the Statement to bring some Christmas good will, cheer and unanimity across your Lordships’ House. It is a good thing that my language, I hope, will be both positive for the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, and slightly more circumspect for the noble Earl, Lord Courtown. I than…
The noble Baroness raises an important point about how important travel is for our young people. We are negotiating bilateral agreements with countries. We have done the first of these for youth travel with France and I believe ongoing conversations are happening with Germany. I will reflect on her …
+10 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
17 December 2025
8 contributions
Office for the Impact Economy
I thank my noble friend. I am sure noble Lords will join me in welcoming the creation of the Office for the Impact Economy in the Cabinet Office. Given the tendency of Governments sometimes in the past to work independently of social investment and philanthropy, I am interested in which areas and de…
My Lords, the Liberal Democrats are strongly in favour of a larger third sector—mutuals, non-profits and charities—rather than outsourcing, for example, special needs or care homes to the private equity sector instead. The Social Impact Investment Advisory Group’s report, which foresaw the setting u…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
12 December 2025
2 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, can we follow the normal courtesies of the House, please? As the noble Baroness was not here at the beginning of this group of amendments, she cannot participate on this group of amendments. I urge noble Lords to take note of where we were and move forward.
I am sure that my noble and learned friend will respond to that in the debate, but the noble Baroness has just intervened on an intervention. The Chief Whip made clear reference to that earlier.
Lords
Proceedings
11 December 2025
The UK’s Demographic Future
My Lords, this has been a long and very interesting debate, and I am extremely grateful to everybody who has contributed. To the people who have said very nice things about me, thank you very much; it is not deserved but it is very kind.
It was encouraging that there were lots of suggestions about …
Lords
Statutory Instrument
11 December 2025
6 contributions
Infected Blood Compensation Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2025
My Lords, since the publication of the Infected Blood Inquiry’s detailed report in May 2024, the Government have worked to establish a compensation scheme and set up the Infected Blood Compensation Authority, IBCA, to deliver it. Since the compensation service opened last year, IBCA has contacted al…
My Lords, I thank the Minister for bringing this to the House and going through things so comprehensively. I also thank her for being open to having conversations about the whole scheme at other times, without necessarily requiring us to book an appointment with her.
I have a couple of questions on…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
10 December 2025
7 contributions
Northern Ireland Troubles: Operation Kenova
My Lords, I first put on record my sincere thanks to both Jon Boutcher and Sir Iain Livingstone for an extraordinary piece of work. They have set the standard both for gaining the trust of victims and ensuring that we have an Article 2-compliant investigation, which has given us very sobering readin…
There is ongoing litigation regarding the first point, so I cannot comment. However, I remind noble Lords that since the Troubles, there has been a new legislative framework that includes both the Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Act 2021 and RIPA 2000, which means that many of t…
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
26 November 2025
9 contributions
Ministerial Code
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his question. Given the fact that this was discussed previously both in your Lordships’ House and in the other place, he will be very aware that all donations were declared in line with the threshold, and the thresholds are publicly available. Let us be very clea…
I could not agree more with the noble Viscount. Everybody in your Lordships’ House, whether they hold ministerial office or not, has a responsibility to help us rebuild trust in politics. It is incredibly important in a world of misinformation, in a world where we have seen the Horizon scandal and t…
+7 more contributions in this session