Lords
Proceedings
29 June 2026
Palantir: Public Service Contracts
My Lords, I am perennially grateful to my noble friend. If we are to avoid a future Fujitsu-style scandal of even greater proportions, how can our public money, personal data, national security and reputation be safe in the hands of a company credibly implicated in gross human rights violations, bot…
Lords
Proceedings
29 June 2026
Immigration and Asylum: Appeals
My Lords, I remind the House that there are lawyers on all sides of the House who have spoken on all kinds of immigration measures. Nobody impugns their ability to continue to give legal advice or, indeed, sometimes to sit in judicial office. I agree with my noble friend that there is a crucial need…
Lords
Proceedings
25 June 2026
Puberty Blockers Trial: Consent
My Lords, am I right that these drugs are also sometimes necessarily available to quite young people who might otherwise go into premature puberty, with serious health results? With gender dysphoria, is it not better that we look into the possible use of these drugs rather than have children and you…
Lords
Proceedings
16 June 2026
Children: Physical Punishment
My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend the Minister on her lifelong professional commitment to children and young people. Might doubters in England be persuaded if we explored replacing the common-law defence of reasonable chastisement with a statutory defence of reasonable restraint of a child?
Lords
Proceedings
15 June 2026
Immigration: Eurodac and SIS II
My Lords, to return to sensible questions about Eurodac rather than the festering sore that is Brexit—or “real Brexit” and leaving the ECHR—given everybody’s interest in multilateral co-operation around these global issues, is it not worth remembering that Norway, Liechtenstein and other non-EU coun…
Lords
Proceedings
10 June 2026
2 contributions
Concealed Surveillance Equipment in Government Offices and Vehicles
My Lords—
My Lords, with apologies for jumping the gun in my enthusiasm, perhaps the Government could comment on this. It is bad enough, although perhaps all too predictable, that there is illicit surveillance by way of, for example, hidden cameras. But what about when public money is actively used to procure…
Lords
Proceedings
1 June 2026
Donations to Political Parties
My Lords, if we are concerned about preventing foreign interference and plugging loopholes, as I think we all are, will my noble friend the Minister consider personal donations—small change such as £5 million to a particular Member of Parliament, for example—and foreign money to UK think tanks that …
Lords
Proceedings
1 June 2026
For Women Scotland Ltd v Scottish Ministers
My Lords, I remember Meta Ramsay as an outstanding public servant who was as kind as she was courageous.
After numerous Lords Questions and a year-long review, we are left with the controversial code essentially unchanged. I ask, in sympathy with those who feel adversely affected and those who must…
Lords
Proceedings
18 May 2026
King’s Speech
I add my tribute to today’s maiden speech, and to the predictably exquisite valedictory speech of the noble Lord, Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield.
There is much to commend in the gracious Speech. However, I urge noble friends in government and all who aspire to lead it to strive towards an overarching …
Lords
Proceedings
18 May 2026
King’s Speech
I add my tribute to today’s maiden speech, and to the predictably exquisite valedictory speeches of the noble Lord, Lord Hennessy of Nympsfield.
There is much to commend in the gracious Speech. However, I urge noble friends in government and all who aspire to lead it to strive towards an overarchin…
Lords
Oral Questions
16 April 2026
Southport Inquiry: Prevent Programme
One of the recommendations from Sir Adrian was on assessing the parents of the individual who is, I remind the House, now serving 52 years as a minimum sentence in prison for the assault. The failure of the parents to understand, establish and report the behaviour of the individual was a critical fa…
Lords
Debate
14 April 2026
Grenfell Tower Memorial (Expenditure) Bill
My Lords, first, I declare an interest and draw noble Lords’ attention to my role as a non-executive director at MHCLG, the lead department for this Bill. The Bill, as presented very ably by my noble friend the Minister, is short, tightly drawn and constitutionally straightforward. It is a money Bil…
Lords
Oral Questions
23 March 2026
Ukraine: Reparation
That is an interesting point. Any interest must be dealt with fairly and the principle that the aggressor pays must be maintained. On consideration of what is done with the interest, this is being dealt with differently and has been used to support loans to Ukraine. The fundamental point that really…
Lords
Debate
18 March 2026
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, at this hour I should be sleeping or dancing; I am at least barely standing.
At 10 years, the age of criminal responsibility in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is the lowest in Europe. It is two years below Scotland and four years below the age advocated by the UN Committee on the Rig…
I am grateful to all noble Lords, particularly at this witching hour—or beyond.
We are in the wrong place at the moment. I am not going to rehearse the arguments, but I am grateful to my noble friend the Minister for not slamming the door or locking it, and for engaging with the Bar Council’s revie…
Lords
Debate
18 March 2026
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, more on terrorism, and proscription in particular. Amendment 420 is in my name, and I support Amendment 422B in the name of the noble Viscount, Lord Hailsham, which would beef up parliamentary involvement, and the role of the ISC in particular, in the proscription process. I oppose later a…
My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords for their approach to such an important debate, in particular those who made a special effort to be succinct with the long night ahead. I remind noble Lords that my amendment on one organisation per order is not about Palestine Action; it is about procedure…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
12 March 2026
Anti-Muslim Hostility: Non-statutory Definition
I thank my noble friend for making the point about thanking the working group. This has been a very sensitive and very detailed piece of work for it to do, and I am very grateful to the working group, my honourable friend the Minister for Faith in the other place and, of course, my noble friend Lord…
Lords
Debate
11 March 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, given what the noble Lord, Lord Strasburger, said about the lateness of the hour, which I think we are all aware of, I want to be very short on my concerns about Amendments 406 and 407. I am sorry not to see the noble Baroness, Lady Cash, in her place.
My concerns about both amendments ar…
Lords
Debate
10 March 2026
2 contributions
Victims and Courts Bill
My Lords, I can be short on this important group, because of the detailed scrutiny and cross-party support that I enjoyed in Committee, because of my eminent co-signatories and because Report stage discipline is a courtesy to all noble Lords hoping to do their voting duty and get home at a reasonabl…
My noble friend will forgive me, because this has nothing to do with the rules of the Supreme Court and the county courts. He will forgive me.
I am grateful to all noble Lords for their contributions, not least for being an exemplar of how Report should be dealt with—notwithstanding the broken cloc…
Lords
Debate
9 March 2026
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
I agree with much of the discussion about this important group, but I remember that this is Report. While I share particularly the concerns about cumulative disruption, because it is Report, not Committee, I will confine my remarks to one speech in this group, with no interventions, and focus on Ame…
I was trying to be brief—this is Report—but, with the leave of the House, I will answer, again as briefly as I can. I know that not everyone agrees and not every jurist agrees, but as far I am concerned, the margin of appreciation was always intended to be an international concept for an internation…
Lords
Proceedings
6 March 2026
International Women’s Day
My Lords, it is an honour to speak in this debate, in which we have had so many excellent and inspiring speeches, including four maiden speeches so far; there is one more to come immediately after me, so I will get on with it. The premise of my speech is simple and profound: women and girls benefit …
Lords
Debate
4 March 2026
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
No.
It is Report.
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
2 March 2026
2 contributions
Child Poverty Strategy
My Lords, the Government are progressing urgent legislation to remove the two-child limit from April, which is expected to lift 450,000 children out of poverty by the final year of this Parliament. Our monitoring and evaluations framework sets out our plans to track progress as part of our 10-year s…
I am grateful to my noble friend and commend her on her great taste in Ministers, if I may say so. It is also a really great question. The Prime Minister made it clear very early on what a high priority it was for him, and for this Government, to tackle the horrors of child poverty. Some 900,000 mor…
Lords
Debate
11 February 2026
2 contributions
Victims and Courts Bill
My Lords, this group contains two amendments that seek to address dangerous practices relating to criminal evidence. While the Bill does much to protect victims of crime, our justice system must also protect people from becoming victims of miscarriages of justice. Both of the problems we identify ha…
I am grateful to all noble Lords who have spoken in what was a very important debate that did credit to the whole Committee. I am most grateful to my noble friend the Minister, who is a distinguished criminal lawyer and a distinguished former member of the CPS, but, with all due respect, no one shou…
Lords
Proceedings
11 February 2026
Court Reporting Data
My Lords, while I commend the MoJ for doing what departments do not always do—policing these contracts properly—is there an argument, given the importance of this information and of making it accessible to journalists, but also of protecting sensitive data, for the department developing an in-house …