Lords
Proceedings
1 July 2026
Defence Investment Plan
The noble Lord, Lord Liddle, has just alluded to the elephant in the room, which is that there are no cuts to the £333 billion welfare bill, which would go a long way to helping with additional support for the defence industry. My worry is that most of these cuts are unknown, and they are optimistic…
Lords
Proceedings
19 May 2026
Climate Change: Government Action
My Lords, Drax emits more than 13 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, more than the six largest gas power plants combined. Despite this, it has recently been reported that it is ditching its plans for carbon capture and storage technology. Given this fact, and that Drax receives nearly £0.5 b…
Lords
Proceedings
19 May 2026
King’s Speech
My Lords, it is a great pleasure to open this debate on behalf of His Majesty’s loyal Opposition. I am delighted that this debate will include the maiden speeches of several noble Lords. I look forward to hearing from my noble friend Lord Blackwater, whose historical understanding and insight into B…
Lords
Committee Stage
21 April 2026
Cancer Outcomes in the UK
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Patel, for securing this important debate and for his excellent introduction. I declare my interest as the founder and a trustee of Health Equality Foundation, a UK national charity.
I welcome the Government’s National Cancer Plan for England and pay tribute t…
Lords
Committee Stage
13 April 2026
Energy Prices Act 2022 (Extension of Time Limit) Regulations 2026
My Lords, I thank noble Lords for their valuable contributions to this debate. I will try to respond to their concerns—including those of the noble Lord, Lord Ashcombe, who went a bit beyond this particular SI but nevertheless made important points and asked questions that deserve a response.
The n…
Lords
Proceedings
6 March 2026
International Women’s Day
My Lords, I begin by acknowledging this Government’s and the previous Government’s significant commitment to women and girls around the world and, in particular, to their education. That said, programmes to prevent violence against women and to promote women’s rights and freedoms remain in a sorry s…
Lords
Oral Questions
19 January 2026
2 contributions
High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors
The Government will publish very soon the advanced nuclear framework, setting a pathway for privately led advanced nuclear projects. The framework will introduce an assessment process, identifying credible projects that are potentially deliverable within the UK. We would welcome a proposal regarding…
We have two MOCs with Japan. One, as the noble Baroness rightly said, was signed in 2023, and a second, on HTGRs and fuel, was signed in 2024. We have regular meetings with our Japanese counterparts. Japan has long been held as an important collaborator for us in nuclear. The last of those meetings,…
Lords
Oral Questions
8 January 2026
Net Zero: Civil Society and Faith-based Organisations
The noble Baroness will be well aware of the tremendous amount of work that needs to be done on the infrastructure changes to bring about net-zero energy for the future. Of course, that entails bringing forward new infrastructure—which, by the way, the previous Administration completely fell down on…
Lords
Committee Stage
15 December 2025
Heat Networks (Market Framework) (Great Britain) (Amendment) Regulations 2025
I thank noble Lords for their valuable contributions to this debate. A number of them go to the heart of why we are doing what we are doing today: the question of the state of many of the older heat networks that exist in this country. They are very far from the sorts of standards that we would expe…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 December 2025
Drax
No, I do not agree that the various connections relating to Drax could be better used for an SMR programme, because of the particular location of Drax within the cluster in the north-east of the country, which is particularly important for carbon capture and storage, and, indeed, hydrogen. Drax play…
Lords
Oral Questions
9 December 2025
Tropical Forest Forever Facility
I very much welcome the noble Baroness to her new position on the Front Bench opposite, and I hope we will have constructive discussions in the future. She underlines the question of the different priorities that are ahead of us at the moment in terms of where to put money at particular junctures. I…
Lords
Debate
20 November 2025
Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill
My Lords, I congratulate the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chester on his excellent maiden speech and his commitment to sustainability and rail, which is music to many of our ears in this House. I look forward to working with him in the months and years to come.
As we have heard today, the S…
Lords
Oral Questions
20 November 2025
2 contributions
Medical Nuclear Radioisotopes
My Lords, it is always a privilege to be allocated a slot in the ballot for Questions for Short Debate. While I am disappointed with the small number of speakers, I feel sure that had more noble Lords been aware of the challenges facing the supply of these clever little chemical elements, this debat…
My Lords, I am pleased to take part in this short debate. All the important issues were covered by the noble Baroness, Lady Bloomfield, in her brilliant, comprehensive speech—but not by me, as they say, so I will repeat them.
The noble Baroness is right that it is time urgently to address this issu…
Lords
Debate
29 October 2025
2 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, Amendment 202 is in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Offord of Garvel. It addresses the pressing need to streamline and speed up the delivery of new nuclear power stations, currently burdened by heavy-handed regulations. It aims to correct this and ensure that our planning system f…
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for her response. Although I do not entirely agree with her arguments, I have made my case as well as I can and I do not propose to detain the House any longer, given the lateness of the hour. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Lords
Proceedings
23 October 2025
Steel Industry (Special Measures) Act 2025
I join in the general congratulations of the House to the noble Baroness, Lady Lloyd, on her new appointment and what was an excellent maiden speech. I have known Liz for some 30 years. I remember her coming as a bright young thing—she is still a bright young thing, of course—to our house in Kenning…
Lords
Oral Questions
15 October 2025
Modular Nuclear Programme
I welcome the questions from the noble Baroness. To answer both, we still intend on making sure that we have 70% of content as far as the supply chain, for example, is concerned. Nuclear fuel is obviously an issue for the private sector and the developers there. As I said, we are not going to rely o…
Lords
Debate
17 September 2025
4 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, on behalf of my noble friend Lord Offord of Garvel, I shall speak to Amendment 346DG. I should say at the outset that I agree with much of the comments made by the noble Lords, Lord Ravensdale and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, in the previous group. This probing amendment continues in a simila…
I did not say overall; I said in some regions.
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
10 September 2025
Nuclear Regulatory System
Of course, the charge will be led by the Government. The Government believe in nuclear and in international collaboration. The Secretary of State, along with others, will provide a whole-of-government response. We welcome the support of industry, the Opposition and across the House and this Parliame…
Lords
Debate
1 September 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, this group of amendments relates to the development and implementation of local area energy plans. The proposals raise important questions about the role of local authorities in our transition to a decarbonised, secure and efficient energy system. We have heard some thoughtful contribution…
Lords
Debate
1 September 2025
3 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I will speak briefly to this group of amendments, which relate to the connections reform provisions within the Bill. These are largely technical and drafting amendments, but they are none the less important to ensure clarity and alignment across the legislation. I agree with many of the is…
My Lords, Amendment 78 from the noble Earl, Lord Russell, and Amendment 79A from my noble friend Lord Swire deal with the critical issue of grid capacity and connectivity, which sits at the heart of the Government’s ambitions to decarbonise the UK’s energy system and deliver the infrastructure neces…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
9 July 2025
Overarching National Policy Statement for Energy
I thank every noble Lord who has taken part in this debate. It has been really interesting and a lot of points have been touched upon. It just shows how important everybody considers this subject. It is about securing the future of the country, if not the world. I pick up a point that the noble Baro…
Lords
Committee Stage
21 May 2025
2 contributions
National Policy Statement for Nuclear Energy Generation
My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Bloomfield, is very experienced and knows that departmental spring is not entirely consistent with meteorological science. I very much take the point, however, that we all want to see a final investment decision on Sizewell C—except the noble Lord, Lord Howell—and …
I thank the noble Baroness.