Lords
Oral Questions
9 February 2026
Jimmy Lai: Prison Sentence
Our position is that Jimmy Lai should be released, and I would not want to make any comments on an issue as sensitive as that without knowing his family’s position. I understand why the noble Baroness makes that suggestion, but it really is up to his family to determine whether they think that is so…
Lords
Debate
5 February 2026
6 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, Amendment 469 is in my name and the names of the noble and learned Baronesses, Lady Butler-Sloss and Lady Hale of Richmond, and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Manchester.
I ask Members of the Committee to think back to when they were 10—if that is not too difficult. Perhaps they…
I am grateful to all noble Lords who participated in what I felt was a very thoughtful debate. Though it is invidious to do so, I would like to single out two contributions in particular.
The first is the contribution of the noble Lord, Lord Bailey of Paddington. It is quite a big thing to come to …
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
3 February 2026
Shamima Begum
I come back to the point, which my noble friend will be aware of, that this is not a decision taken lightly or very often. The previous Government issued 10 citizenship deprivations in 2020, eight in 2021, three in 2022, two in 2023 and only one in 2024. When the decision is taken, it is on the basi…
Lords
Oral Questions
3 February 2026
Two-child Benefit Cap: Foreign-born Children
I am grateful to my noble friend. We have another question in a moment about the child poverty strategy, so I get to spend 20 minutes talking about child poverty. Tackling child poverty has to be done on so many fronts and our strategy looks at people’s incomes, the costs they are facing and how we …
Lords
Oral Questions
2 February 2026
China: Human Rights and UK National Security
The short answer to that is no, we are not satisfied, and we have not been able to get the consular access that we would like and which Mr Lai needs. We are concerned about the access to medical care that he needs, and we will continue to raise the issue—not just that he should be released, because …
Lords
Debate
27 January 2026
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I declare an interest as a member of your Lordships’ Delegated Powers Committee. Of course, I speak for myself only but very much with those concerns in mind.
As noble Lords have heard from my friend who is also noble—but I cannot call him a noble friend—the noble Viscount, Lord Hailsham,…
I am grateful to my noble friend the Minister as always for his patience, fortitude and engagement but, with respect, the historical precedent does not answer the constitutional question: would it not be better for Parliament to have an up-and-down vote? Given that Parliament has already decided tha…
Lords
Debate
27 January 2026
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, as the noble Baroness, Lady Fox, said, this amendment focuses on the recording of ethnicity in police data—not the sensitive, balanced issue of when to publish. I rather agree with what I understood her remarks to be about that: it is probably best left in operational police hands, because…
I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Cash. At the police level—at the level of arrest—it has to be some version of self-identification. The police need to ask—and, if necessary, have the conversation—but it cannot be that the police observe, decide and adjudicate. That is not viable. The noble …
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
27 January 2026
6 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I just looked about my person at my identification documents and found my House of Lords pass, which at least at this point does not record my birth sex. I suppose “Baroness” might arguably do the trick—or not, I do not know. I suspect it would not be enough for the supporters of these two…
I am grateful to the noble Lord for his intervention, but that is a separate issue—it is about who is allocated to which duty at the police station, and it is perfectly reasonable for the police themselves to organise who conducts a strip search and who conducts a strip search on whom. That is not w…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
22 January 2026
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I will rise slowly to allow for the appropriate exodus.
I have Amendments 425 and 426 in this group. They are probing amendments only, and therefore I do not propose to detain the Committee for too long, not least as these follow the excellent previous debate, for which I commend the nobl…
I am grateful to all noble Lords who have taken part in this short debate. I said these were probing amendments because I thought it was important that we discussed in Committee on this Bill the issues of police standards, discipline and public confidence, as well as all the other measures that we a…
Lords
Oral Questions
21 January 2026
2 contributions
Age of Criminal Responsibility
My Lords, the Government want to prevent children who have committed crime from re-offending and to help them lead happy, useful and productive lives. Setting the age of criminal responsibility at 10 allows the justice system to intervene early with some children, which can help to prevent future cr…
With the greatest respect to my noble friend, that is quite a lot of questions in one. I can confirm that the UK complies with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Making international comparisons in this area can be imprecise, and some of our international partners are lowering their age o…
Lords
Debate
20 January 2026
5 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I am pleased to follow the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Sentamu, and share some of his concerns about this amendment. Before I share those concerns, I ask the noble Lords opposite to explain the relationship and potential contradictions between this amendment and their amendment in …
I hear the noble Lord, but with respect, this provision relates to suspicionless stop and search. That is a term we use to describe a stop and search power that does not require reasonable suspicion that the person who is about to be stopped and searched is a criminal, is equipped or whatever it is.…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
19 January 2026
Equality and Human Rights Commission: Code of Practice
My noble friend is right that it is important, and it is the basis of the Equality Act, to recognise the rights of all those with protected characteristics within it. What was helpful in the Supreme Court’s judgment was the absolute clarification that trans people’s rights remain protected within th…
Lords
Debate
13 January 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
I am so grateful for the thoughtful way that the noble Lord is attempting to grapple with these difficult issues. Does he remember the spy cops scandal, for example? Does he understand the difficulty when we constantly try to find ways to treat people who are not terrorists, but who we disagree with…
Lords
Debate
13 January 2026
8 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Pannick. The noble Baroness, Lady Jones, made her point so ably that I was not tempted to speak, until I heard the counter-speech from the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra. It is simply ahistoric to suggest that the suffragettes—those protesters who everybody l…
Indeed, they went on hunger strike. It is simply ahistoric to suggest there was not a significant clandestine element to their operations. I am sure that, if one were to examine other examples the noble Lord gave, one would find greater complexity than he offered us in his very glib comments about p…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
12 January 2026
Sexual Harassment in Educational Settings
My noble friend is right that the type of misogyny we are seeing, particularly impacting young people, needs a wide policy response. But it also needs cultural and political leadership, and it needs everybody to work together to condemn it and ensure that the positive behaviour which most young men …
Lords
Debate
6 January 2026
3 contributions
Sentencing Bill
My Lords—
It is time for this side. Forgive me, but I think it is time that we heard—
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
6 January 2026
Sentencing Bill
My Lords, I thought I had better stand up quickly, while I could still take the pleasure of agreeing with everything that has been said so far on this group—if the noble Lord, Lord Moylan, will forgive me.
I have Amendment 98 in this group, which concerns remand, but I support every sentiment that …
Lords
Debate
17 December 2025
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I of course wish the Committee a very happy Christmas when that moment comes, but it was not just in seasonal spirit that I signed the amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Jackson of Peterborough. As he indicated, free expression is a two-way street, and I suggest that it is a two-way stree…
Lords
Debate
17 December 2025
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords—
Briefly, the noble Lord, Lord Jackson of Peterborough, is quite right that I have long shared some concerns about the rubric and precise drafting of concepts of alarm and distress—we are coming to them later—so of course I have concerns about them being adopted into the precise drafting of the offen…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
16 December 2025
3 contributions
Victims and Courts Bill
My Lords, it is always a bit daunting to speak after one of the lawyers in this place. I am not a lawyer. I, as always, will speak to the Bill from the perspective of poor communities. My first plea to the Minister is to remember that in this country there is a great myth that poor people are the pe…
It would be my pleasure to hear from both my noble friend and the noble and learned Lord.
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
9 December 2025
5 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I support the amendment from the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton. I need not take very long, because she has explained her very straightforward amendment impeccably. After the brilliant previous group led by the noble Baroness, Lady Bertin, and her team, perhaps there is no need to go into al…
Briefly, has the noble Lord opposite considered Section 127 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act, which has a six-month time limit on prosecutions brought in the magistrates’ court? Has he considered that Section 9 is neither a way of—my noble friend the Minister is shaking her head at me, so maybe it is …
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
9 December 2025
Facial Recognition Technology: Safeguards
My noble friend raised the issue, but I maintain that it is a valuable use of resources to help with crime prevention. We have organised a consultation, which opened on 4 December. My noble friend and anybody else can submit evidence or comments to that consultation over the next 10 weeks. When it i…
Lords
Debate
26 November 2025
2 contributions
Sentencing Bill
My Lords, I agree with much of what the noble Lord, Lord Foster of Bath, said, save that I think that the Bill already deals with the problem identified by the noble Lord, Lord Hogan- Howe. It is important to look at the text of the Bill: this is a “presumption” against short sentences; it is not a …
I find myself back in the comfortable spot where I agree with the noble Viscount, Lord Hailsham. Of course, that is something that we will come to later, no doubt, when we discuss the independence and the constitutional role of the Sentencing Council. If noble Lords are worried that I am being too g…
Lords
Proceedings
25 November 2025
Separation Centres: Terrorist Offenders
Does my noble friend agree that there is no inconsistency between having adequate separation of terrorism offenders and complying with our most basic and fundamental human rights obligations? In the light of the question from the noble Lord, Lord Marks, and, crucially, the decision of Mr Justice She…
Lords
Proceedings
20 November 2025
Asylum Policy
My Lords, I welcome the Minister’s commitment to human rights, and I know it is a sincere one, but the Statement itself appears to express some irritation with both Article 8, respect for private and family life, and even Article 3, the prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment and torture. In …