Lords
Proceedings
30 June 2025
UK Modern Industrial Strategy
My Lords, in its introduction, the industrial strategy says that
“we live in a world dominated by the rise of superstar firms, whose success spills over to the wider economy”.
It seems that the Government are adopting a trickle-down theory of business, but is this not assuming a future that looks …
Lords
Proceedings
30 June 2025
2 contributions
UK-Mauritius Agreement on the Chagos Archipelago
No it has not.
I thank the Minister for listening so carefully and attentively to this wide-ranging debate, and the noble and learned Lord, Lord Goldsmith, for his report. Both reports are carefully written and carefully judged, even if many of us disagree with the conclusions the Government have reached; but they…
Lords
Debate
25 June 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, this is a Bill I strongly support, I want it to work, but I think it will be a waste of time. That sounds harsh, but it need not be. As I said in the King’s Speech debate last year, on 18 July, I have been involved in planning reform before as a Minister, more than once. My radical suggest…
Lords
Committee Stage
25 June 2025
3 contributions
Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill
My Lords, I rise extremely briefly and apologise to the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, that I could not be in the previous group as I was in the Chamber. I will take seconds to intervene in the interesting debate between the noble Baroness and the noble Viscount to say that, of course, if you have a u…
My Lords, I will put this amendment in the context of the discussion on the previous group. The noble Lord, Lord Palmer, and the Minister have been telling us regularly that this is all about people who do not engage. As the noble Lord said, he has seen people with a stack of envelopes behind the ch…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
24 June 2025
4 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, my Amendment 320 sits in glorious lone splendour in this group. I am not responsible for degrouping it; that was the way it was arranged. Noble Lords will see that this is a proposed new clause to introduce a maximum pay ratio. I thank the Public Bill Office for assisting me with the draft…
My Lords, this has been a short but very clarifying debate on the political divisions in our society. I will be fairly brief in responding, but there are some points that I must pick up.
The response of the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, really sounded like something from a debate out of the 20th century. …
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
24 June 2025
UK Infrastructure: 10-year Strategy
My Lords, there have been a number of references to NISTA, the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority. The Statement says:
“Based in the Treasury, NISTA brings oversight of infrastructure strategy and delivery together, and integrates assurance, design and delivery assessments…
Lords
Proceedings
24 June 2025
Middle East
My Lords, the noble Lord has spoken about short-term tactical victories versus long-term strategic outcomes. Iran is known to have had 400 kilograms of 60% purity enriched uranium. If it went to 90%, which is relatively easy, it could produce about 10 warheads. The International Atomic Energy Agency…
Lords
Statutory Instrument
23 June 2025
3 contributions
Contracts for Difference (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 2) Regulations 2025
I am grateful to the noble Baroness for speaking in the way she did. I am a member of the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, which produced the report she referred to. I ought also to declare a former interest in that I was a director of a company that briefly, while I was a director, owned L…
My Lords, I am really concerned about the legislation in front of us, because it seeks to extend subsidies to highly profitable corporations, at least until 2031. Inevitably, the major beneficiary is Drax, which is the UK’s single largest emitter of CO 2 . In 2023, its electricity-generating operati…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
23 June 2025
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, Amendments 191 and 192 are in my name and are closely related to that already introduced by the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, for offering her support to my amendments.
Amendment 191 is essentially a different way of getting to the same intention …
Lords
Debate
19 June 2025
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley. I attached my name to Amendment 161 on automatic enrolment for the Healthy Start scheme, as indeed did the noble Lord, Bethell—so if we are looking for broad, cross-party-political spectrums, this is one of those.
The noble Bar…
Lords
Proceedings
18 June 2025
Child Sexual Exploitation: Casey Report
My Lords, in responding the right reverend Prelate, the Minister said victims need to find a place they can trust. Among the promises of action in the Statement is a promise of further action to support child victims. For many of these children and young people to be able to speak out, they will nee…
Lords
Committee Stage
18 June 2025
3 contributions
Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill
My Lords, I rise briefly to support the amendments so powerfully, and with considerable detail, explained by the noble Baroness, Lady Fox of Buckley. I want to cross-reference a couple of things. I was unable to be here for the whole discussion on the last group in this Committee but I came in and h…
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Palmer of Childs Hill, who has clearly and eloquently outlined the reasons for this amendment, which the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer, tabled, and to which I attached my name. The noble Lord talked about the risk of loss of trust in public aut…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
17 June 2025
2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Tyler—whether I agree with her or not. I note the phrase that she used, “toxic mix”.
I think there has been broad agreement around the Chamber, including on the Government Benches, that we have a huge problem. The Minister said on one of…
The noble Lord has just essentially agreed with what I said, that some of these entities are financially unstable and uncertain. Would the noble Lord understand, at least, the argument that it is better to bring these back? These facilities are going to have to stay open: we need them. It is better …
Lords
Debate
17 June 2025
4 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
Since we are forming a set for Amendment 117, I will stand up now, having attached my name to it, and will focus chiefly on that amendment.
The noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, has stolen my starting line with her final line: nothing about us without us. I first used that phrase in a debate on rather…
My Lords, I have attached my name to Amendment 165, but as three noble Lords have already spoken to it, I will be brief. I declare my involvement with the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Households in Temporary Accommodation.
Here is one stat to feed into our debate. In the year to September 2024…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
16 June 2025
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Caine. She made some terribly important points; they are literally about matters of life and death.
I have added my name to Amendment 259, alongside the noble Lord, Lord Freyberg, and the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty. I apologise to …
Lords
Committee Stage
16 June 2025
4 contributions
Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill
My Lords, it is a pleasure briefly to follow the noble Lord, Lord Vaux, who made a typically powerful case. I echo his comments, particularly on the need for safeguards on the face of the Bill. We need only look across the Atlantic to see how badly things can go wrong and how important it is that th…
I thank the Minister for giving way. It is important that we identify something here. I mentioned that case study because there are, of course, many carers in this situation. As I understand it, the DWP is considering prosecuting carers where it regards the outstanding sum to be more than £5,000. In…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
12 June 2025
4 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Watson, having attached my name to all the amendments in this group that include extending Staying Put support for young people up to the age of 25. The noble Lord has already made the case very well, so I will not repeat all the stats and th…
Those are in the next group.
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
12 June 2025
Spending Review 2025
My Lords, I can only welcome the 3% increase in NHS funding in real terms, although it is below the long-term average over decades of 3.6% increases. The chief executive of the NHS Confederation has said that this
“won’t be enough to cover the increasing cost of new treatments”.
With that in mind,…
Lords
Committee Stage
11 June 2025
5 contributions
Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill
My Lords, I am slightly torn. Yes, we have the Covid inquiry but we also have a country that faces ongoing risk. I was, entirely coincidentally, speaking this morning to someone who was expressing concern about stocks of medical supplies that the Government were holding or not holding. They are bein…
I will stay sat down.
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
10 June 2025
Corporate Liquidations
My Lords, private equity plays an important role in business support in this country. We have seen private equity companies that have acquired businesses and actually grown them as well. Yes, their track record is not great, but there is definitely a role for private equity in business in this count…
Lords
Debate
9 June 2025
3 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, the case for Amendment 67 and the associated Amendment 505 has very powerfully been made. I add a couple of additional points that might perhaps inform the House and be useful. I note that more than 30 MPs in the other place supported a similar amendment and that there it was driven by the…
My Lords, I rise to move Amendment 68 and to speak to Amendment 171 in my name and to Amendment 169, to which I have attached my name. In the interests of time, I am going to constrain myself to those three amendments.
Amendment 68 introduces a new clause to require local authorities to provide fam…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
6 June 2025
3 contributions
Crown Estate (Wales) Bill [HL]
My Lords, I rise briefly to speak on behalf of the Wales Green Party against all the amendments in this group. The noble Lord, Lord Harlech, perhaps misinterpreted my reaction: I was astonished that he is not taking seriously the statistics showing that 20 mile per hour speed limits stopped about 10…
In response to the noble Lord, Lord Harlech, I note that Wales has a democratic electoral and political system, unlike Westminster, where we have a Government who won the support of 34% of voters and are now in control. If he is looking for a democratic distribution of resources, he is a lot better …
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
6 June 2025
Complications from Abortions (Annual Report) Bill [HL]
My Lords, I offer Green group support for the proposition from the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton. I almost feel that I do not need to, given that the noble Baroness, Lady Freeman of Steventon, very powerfully made the argument that the Bill unnecessarily exceptionalises abortion when there are very …
Lords
Proceedings
6 June 2025
Preterm Birth Committee Report
My Lords, this has been an excellent debate so far, based on an excellent report. That is unsurprising, since it has taken place under the expert chairmanship of the noble Lord, Lord Patel. I will focus my remarks on the support that we give to parents who have had preterm babies, but first I want t…
Lords
Debate
5 June 2025
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow two of the House’s acknowledged experts in this area of the impact of AI. I will speak to my own Amendment 323B and also note that I attach my name to Amendments 294 and 298 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Holmes.
My Amendment 323B is quite a modest step. It…