Lords
Proceedings
18 November 2025
Police Reform
My Lords, I remind the House and declare that, as a former director of Liberty, I was in unusual lockstep with chief constables in opposing what was to become the cross-party mistake of police and crime commissioners. Does my noble friend agree that the design fault that distinguishes the PCC model …
Lords
Proceedings
13 November 2025
2 contributions
Prisoner Releases in Error
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister, but on this occasion also to the noble Lord, Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames, for the bipartisan nature of his question focusing on this lack of digitisation, which I find completely flabbergasting in the context of such a massive prison estate when we live in…
The noble Lord was my boss.
Lords
Debate
12 November 2025
Sentencing Bill
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Chakrabarti. I declare an interest as a trustee of the Prison Reform Trust, but I add that my points here are mostly my own. I wholeheartedly support the Government’s ambition to rehabilitate more prisoners so that we move away from the e…
Lords
Debate
11 November 2025
2 contributions
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, noble Lords will recall that in Committee I proposed replacing Section 31 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 because it is incomplete. That section attempts to comply with Article 31 of the refugee convention by providing statutory defences for refugees who have irregularly entered or …
My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords for even being in the Chamber, let alone participating in this short debate. I am particularly grateful to my noble friend for his courtesy and sincerity once more.
As to the advice that he has been given, I am afraid there is a circularity about saying, “…
Lords
Debate
10 November 2025
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I find myself in agreement with many of the genuine human rights concerns already expressed around the Committee. I find myself in a bit of a time warp because these concerns were evidenced by the use, abuse, disrepute and ultimately disuse that anti-social behaviour orders fell into all t…
In the spirit of Committee, I wonder whether I might challenge the noble Lord a little on this epidemic of child criminality to which he so graphically referred. I think we should park these arguably very rare cases of child homicide outside a debate on anti-social behaviour, but would he agree with…
Lords
Oral Questions
5 November 2025
Prison Services: Insourcing
I thank my noble friend for the question. What is really important is that we make sure that we hold all operators to account between now and 2031. This applies to us, running 115 prison sites, and to the private sector. Hopefully there will be announcements soon on the direction we will be going in…
Lords
Oral Questions
4 November 2025
Artificial Intelligence: Safeguarding
My noble friend is right that this can be used for good or for ill. Of course, there are other comparisons to draw. My noble friend has not said this, but I want to make sure we keep away from the idea that AI services are escaping regulation. Many AI chatbots are certainly in scope of the Act. I al…
Lords
Oral Questions
3 November 2025
Adult Prison Estate: Support for Young People
I thank my noble friend for the question. I am not aware of the detailed numbers of young people in that position, but I do know that the number of children in prison has fallen considerably over the last few years. There are 461 children in prison today: just a few years ago, we had over 1,000. But…
Lords
Debate
16 October 2025
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I am grateful to the clerks, the Whips and the noble Lord, Lord Jackson of Peterborough, for allowing me to change my place in the running order. I declare my interest as the UK chair of Common Sense Media, a US not-for-profit that campaigns for children’s safety on the internet. I had to …
Lords
Oral Questions
16 October 2025
2 contributions
Police: Vetting, Training and Discipline
The scenes in the documentary were simply unacceptable and deeply concerning. The Home Office supports the commissioner’s drive to root out those unfit to serve the public. The Government must improve standards nationally. That is why, earlier this year, the Government made changes to discipline and…
I am grateful to my noble friend for drawing attention to the conviction last week. Quite simply, it is unacceptable that individuals are involved in that type of behaviour while serving as police officers, undercover or not. She will be aware that there is a long-standing undercover policing inquir…
Lords
Debate
13 October 2025
3 contributions
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
As a point of information, does the noble Lord realise that the title,
“Primacy of the Refugee Convention”
is directly adopted from the Conservative’s Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act 1993, as brought forward by the noble Lord, Lord Clarke of Nottingham, and implemented by the noble Lord, Lord H…
I thank the noble Lord for giving way a second time. My point is on not the big stuff around public opinion but the specific question of the danger of courts striking down the Immigration Rules. Does the noble Lord realise that the 1993 Act, which he said a moment ago does not really matter, is stil…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
13 October 2025
2 contributions
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, I will introduce Amendments 184 and 185 in my name. I am grateful for the support of the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chelmsford and the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Moulsecoomb. Both amendments are inspired by the Government’s commitment in last year’s election manifesto that we …
Can I interrupt my noble friend for a moment to say that I understand the reasons for breaking mid-group but that the period of the break will give me a little longer to reflect on the many positive contributions that precede my other noble friend’s return to the Chamber?
Lords
Oral Questions
13 October 2025
Asylum Claims: Religious Conversion
I am very happy to give my noble friend that assurance. As I said, the Government want to meet their international obligations and will do so under refugee conventions and according to their responsibilities under human rights legislation. But I hope she will accept that we also need to test people’…
Lords
Debate
8 September 2025
3 contributions
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, I too wish a swift and full recovery to the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Moulsecoomb. Her colleague has ably set out the thinking behind this amendment. I suspect I am more sympathetic to it than some members of the Committee, but I suggest the following additional observation on a point …
My Lords, I also support the amendment from my noble friend Lord Bach and pay tribute to him not just for the amendment but for decades of service to access to justice, not least through successive Labour Governments and leaderships. I also congratulate him on his rather impressive list of supporter…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
2 September 2025
2 contributions
Public Order Legislation
My Lords, post-legislative scrutiny of the Public Order Act 2023 began in May 2025. It will assess how the Act operates in practice. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 will undergo similar post-legislative scrutiny between April 2025 and April 2027.
I am grateful to my noble friend. As I have just said, legislation is kept under review at all times. We have legislation coming before this House very shortly in the Crime and Policing Bill that will add other measures to the policing of protests. The policing of protests is most definitely a matte…
Lords
Oral Questions
24 July 2025
“Hillsborough Law”
I am sorry to hear that from my noble friend. I am aware of very recent interaction with the families in Liverpool. My understanding is that those talks have been going positively, and it is very much hoped that we will be able to reach some form of agreement in the coming weeks and months.
Lords
Oral Questions
23 July 2025
Palestine Action Protests: Arrests
I am grateful to my noble friend. I can only repeat to this House that I believe the proscription order is clear in relation to the offences that potentially could be committed under that order. It is for the police to make judgment. I am not even going to second-guess the arrests that have been mad…
Lords
Proceedings
16 July 2025
Afghanistan
My Lords, the logic behind the basic injunction to protect these vulnerable people in the wake of a catastrophic data breach is understandable and the application is laudable; the super-injunction is less so. Is my noble friend the Minister able to open up a little more? Has he been briefed on the r…
Lords
Proceedings
14 July 2025
Trial by Jury: Proposed Restrictions
My Lords, I pay tribute to my noble friend the Minister for his long public service as a lay magistrate, as I do to Sir Brian for his long public service as a judge and, post-judiciary, on various inquiries for Governments of both persuasions. I know the Government are considering how to respond to …
Lords
Debate
10 July 2025
3 contributions
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, I support the amendments from the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, which have been so ably supported across the Committee—pretty much every voice so far has been in support of them. They are a very useful humanitarian mirror to arguments that have been made on the previous group about the impo…
As a supplement to that, I add that the balance is already there in the international standards, in things such as making sure there is an appropriate adult present. That does not harm any of the ambitions of the noble Lord. It is just what we would normally expect for minors.
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
8 July 2025
5 contributions
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, I apologise for not being here for the first day in Committee. I was with colleagues as part of the UK delegation to the Council of Europe. Of course, I spoke at Second Reading.
Sadly, after the debate on the previous group, it seems that I have to declare an interest as the former direct…
I am grateful to the noble Lord for giving way. First, I pointed out the Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act 1993, which is Conservative legislation. I could have gone on. I know that the noble Lord thinks my peroration has been too long already, but we can compare the minutes afterwards in Hansard o…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
2 July 2025
2 contributions
Police: Facial Recognition Technology
My Lords, facial recognition is a valuable tool that helps the police identify offenders and protect the public. While its use is governed by existing laws, the Government are considering whether further legal clarity is needed in order to maintain public trust and confidence.
There is a range of legislation that provides protections for the public at large, including data protection legislation and equality and human rights law, along with the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice , the College of Policing’s Authorised Professional Practice Live Facial Recognition , the I…
Lords
Oral Questions
19 June 2025
Israel and Iran
Let us not speculate. I repeat the reassurance that I gave to the noble Lord. We are committed to keeping Parliament informed of this very difficult and delicate situation. It is important that we all focus on ensuring that we speak with one voice: that we want de-escalation and peace, and we will b…
Lords
Debate
18 June 2025
4 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I hope that the principle that sits behind my probing amendment, like the principle of equal pay for equal or equivalent work, is uncontroversial and therefore that I need not detain the Committee for too long—I am a sort of guest of this Committee, when some noble Lords have been really p…
I am grateful to the noble Lord for taking the argument so seriously. Of course, I disagree with him. When you go to eat in a restaurant, go to school or buy a can of baked beans, you may well have a private, contractual relationship with the supplier of that good or service. None the less, the stat…
+2 more contributions in this session