Lords
Debate
19 January 2026
3 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the right reverend Prelate. Having signed his amendment in Committee, I did not manage to catch up on Report, and I encourage him to think about putting it to a vote if necessary when it gets to that stage.
I support all the amendments in this group, but w…
My Lords, as the noble Lord, Lord Young, said, I supported and spoke to a similar amendment in Committee. Again, I will not be very long.
I want to celebrate this great example of when campaigning works. I pay tribute to Justlife, which worked alongside the Shared Health Foundation for the All-Part…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
19 January 2026
Greenland: Proposed US Tariffs
I watched the Prime Minister’s statement this morning and I would not at all describe it as softly-softly. It was made very clear what the United Kingdom stands for and what we think of this proposal. The Prime Minister stood there publicly and laid it out for people to make their own assessment of …
Lords
Proceedings
15 January 2026
Chinese Embassy
Mine is also a material planning question. Given the human rights abuses in China against the Uyghurs, the Tibetan people, the Hong Kongers and many others, large protests can be expected outside the embassy, and we surely want to facilitate those protests—the right for peaceful protest here in the …
Lords
Oral Questions
15 January 2026
In-game Purchases: Protections for Children
The noble Baroness correctly identifies that sometimes our debate does not necessarily keep up with developments. One of the major protections we have in place is the Online Safety Act, which applies to online services that allow users to share content and interact with each other. As I have said in…
Lords
Proceedings
14 January 2026
Social Media: Non-consensual Sexual Deepfakes
The US Under-Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, Sarah B Rogers, an appointee of President Trump, said in an interview that was broadcast on GB News in the early hours of this morning that if the UK Government were to ban X, nothing was off the table, in what were clearly threatening remarks. S…
Lords
Oral Questions
14 January 2026
Boarding of Sanctioned Vessels
I do not know about the Bill, but if the noble Baroness is referring to Greenland, the Government have been very clear that that is a matter for the Kingdom of Denmark and Greenland. There is no change in government policy on that. However, Arctic security is becoming an increasingly important chall…
Lords
Oral Questions
13 January 2026
Official Development Assistance
My Lords, I draw attention to my interests in the register. I noticed tonight on the news that there is a suggestion that the Government might be announcing another so-called U-turn—that would be the 13th, for those who appear to be counting in the media. I think 13 is a very unlucky number, if I ca…
Lords
Proceedings
12 January 2026
Ukraine and Wider Operational Update
My Lords, my question is also about the national conversation. To put it on the record, the Green Party supports the principle of UK troops serving in a peacekeeping role in Ukraine, following a negotiated settlement with a robust international mandate and standards. We are very pleased that the Sta…
Lords
Oral Questions
8 January 2026
Mining: Pollution
My Lords, I join others in congratulating my noble friend Lord Oates on securing this debate, the powerful way he introduced it and exposing the shame and the scandal of Kabwe. I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Hain, for his continued campaign in that area, and the Church of England pensions board’s…
Lords
Oral Questions
8 January 2026
AI Systems: Risks
My Lords, I think we are all grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Fairfax, for giving us this valuable opportunity today. When, within our lifetimes, we experienced the introduction of the world wide web and the internet, we could see the opportunities that that technology brought—but it also brought ha…
Lords
Proceedings
7 January 2026
Middle East and North Africa
My Lords, on Gaza, I very much associate myself with the comments made by the noble Lord, Lord Purvis of Tweed, about the lack of progress on the peace process. The Statement talks about NGOs being banned, aid being stuck at the borders and the huge continuing humanitarian crisis that is contributin…
Lords
Oral Questions
7 January 2026
Venezuela
No, clearly not. Our position on Greenland has been expressed very forcefully by the Prime Minister and our allies. It is for the people of Greenland and the kingdom of Denmark to determine the future of Greenland.
Lords
Proceedings
6 January 2026
Venezuela
My Lords, the “Bella 1” oil tanker, now labelled the “Marinera”, for which US officials have obtained a seizure warrant for allegedly breaking sanctions, and which they tried to intercept off Venezuela, is now reported to be in the north Atlantic, within striking distance of the US bases in the Unit…
Lords
Committee Stage
6 January 2026
2 contributions
Nitrogen Reduction, Recycling and Reuse (Environment and Climate Change Committee Report)
I just make the point that the whole point of regenerative agriculture is to regenerate those mycorrhizal fungi and the soil. If the noble Baroness is saying that we cannot and should not use artificial nitrogen—I am advocating for using less of it—half the world will starve.
My Lords, it is a pleasure to serve as a member of the Environment and Climate Change Committee and to speak in this debate. I place on record my thanks to the excellent staff who supported us throughout the nitrogen inquiry.
Nitrogen pollution is a vast subject and it is impossible to cover it ful…
Lords
Oral Questions
5 January 2026
Toilet-training: Support for Parents
The whole basis of the policy is that local is best and that these programmes are run through the local communities. I do not have the specific answers that the noble Baroness asks for, but all these considerations need to be taken into account. We need a holistic approach. People will be motivated …
Lords
Debate
18 December 2025
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle. But, not for the first time, she will find that I disagree with practically everything she has just said.
I have a few problems with the Bill, which has a number of sensible things in it. I will focus on aspects …
Lords
Proceedings
18 December 2025
UK-EU Common Understanding Negotiations
My Lords, I join the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, and others in roundly celebrating this announcement, although we should take a second to reflect on the tragedy of those who missed out in the desert years. Those affected were not only those who might have travelled, but students staying here who did n…
Lords
Proceedings
16 December 2025
NHS: Winter Preparedness
My Lords, when it comes to influenza, the focus is often on droplet transmission, but there is also evidence of aerosol transmission, with the deeper lung deposition resulting in greater potency in initiating infections. That means that ventilation and air filtration are hugely important. How would …
Lords
Committee Stage
15 December 2025
2 contributions
Heat Networks (Market Framework) (Great Britain) (Amendment) Regulations 2025
My Lords, we support the Government’s fundamental ambition grow UK heat networks from the current 3% to 20% of the UK’s heat network demand by 2050. We share this ambition; we recognise that heat networks will play a pivotal role in helping to achieve our drive towards net zero and driving low-carbo…
The noble Baroness makes a good point in relation to what are, as I have said, a huge number of systems of very different quality and status. Making regulations in respect of those sorts of bodies is very difficult, because they are all mini electricity or gas networks in their own right; indeed, th…
Lords
Committee Stage
26 November 2025
4 contributions
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
My Lords, I rise briefly to address a couple of these amendments in a broad sense. Amendments 182 and 187 would ensure that all schools and colleges were vape-free and would require them to proactively implement policies as such. I draw here on my own experience from the Learn with the Lords scheme.…
My Lords, I will speak very briefly against all the amendments in this group. I respectfully disagree with the noble Lord, Lord Howard of Rising, about our understanding of heated tobacco products. I am drawing here, as I have been throughout Committee, on the excellent briefings from Action on Smok…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
25 November 2025
Migration: Settlement Pathway
My Lords, the Statement says:
“Fairness is the most fundamental of British values”.
Is it fair that people who have uprooted their lives, moved their children here and made their lives here should suddenly find the rug pulled out from underneath their life plans? In responding to the noble Lords, …
Lords
Oral Questions
20 November 2025
2 contributions
Plastic Recycling Targets
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle. I congratulate my noble friend Lady Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville for securing this debate and for highlighting in her very powerful speech the incredibly detrimental effects of plastic in the environment. As …
I was going to give some examples of schemes for reusables, although I might have to write on the details of the metrics. A good example of a reusable plastic cups scheme already operating in a closed environment setting is the one launched in 2023 at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, operated by Re-u…
Lords
Oral Questions
20 November 2025
Private Equity
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, and I also thank my noble friend Lord Monks for securing this debate. Private equity’s trail of destruction includes Debenhams, Homebase, LloydsPharmacy, Maplin, Poundworld, Silentnight, Toys R Us, The Body Shop, Southern Cross H…
Lords
Oral Questions
18 November 2025
Space Debris
That is a very interesting position to take, but whether we like it or not, we are in the digital age. We cannot go back to the analogue age. Because we are in the digital age, we rely on satellites, and it is very important that we ensure that it is safe up there.