Lords
Proceedings
26 November 2025
2 contributions
Ministerial Code
My Lords, in the foreword to the latest version of the Ministerial Code, the Prime Minister says:
“Restoring trust in politics is the great test of our era”,
but despite agreeing with his Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards that he would play no role in football matters, he was sent, and …
My Lords, criticism of the Government’s breaches of the Ministerial Code do not just come from His Majesty’s Opposition. Paragraph 9.1 of the Ministerial Code sets out that
“the most important announcements of government policy should be made in the first instance in Parliament”.
This morning, the…
Lords
Oral Questions
26 November 2025
Charities: Advancement of Religion
The noble Lord will be aware that we doubled the employment allowance to £10,500 at the previous Budget so that more than half of businesses, including charities, with NICs liabilities would either gain or see no change. Employers will also continue to benefit from NICs reliefs, including for hiring…
Lords
Debate
24 November 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I am grateful for the informal meeting I had with the Minister last week. I listened carefully to what the Minister said in relation to my Motion E1, and I too will refer in a moment to the letter received. I am compounded by the fact that my train was late. This time a van had collided wi…
Lords
Oral Questions
19 November 2025
Telegraph Media Group
The UK is most certainly open for investment. It is probably premature for me to do a review of a sale that has not yet taken place, but I assure your Lordships’ House that any lessons that can be learned from what has happened over the past year or so will be.
Lords
Committee Stage
19 November 2025
4 contributions
Football Governance Act 2025 (Specified Competitions) Regulations 2025
My Lords, this has been an important and useful debate; I am grateful to all noble Lords who contributed to it. In line with the noble Baroness, Lady Evans of Bowes Park, and other noble Lords, I congratulate Scotland on its impressive win last night. However, while we are congratulating home countr…
I have not taken any part in the appointment process. This matter has been investigated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. We should let this matter rest and let David Kogan get on with the job.
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
18 November 2025
Independent Football Regulator
My Lords, these three breaches of the appointments code are not just about trust in government. UEFA and others have made it clear that English teams’ participation in foreign competitions depends on the new regulator’s independence.
Mr Kogan certainly appears to be very lucky. He did not originall…
Lords
Debate
17 November 2025
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I will be briefer still. I renew my thanks to the noble Lord, Lord Leong, and the Government for listening on this issue and my gratitude to the noble Lord, Lord Faulkner of Worcester, who has campaigned on this issue for many years. This compromise from the Government, which the noble Lor…
Lords
Proceedings
12 November 2025
BBC Leadership
My Lords, we need a trusted, respected and unnewsworthy BBC more than ever. Poll after poll shows that our country feels more divided than it ever has been, not just in terms of party politics but by geography, generation, race and religion. At home, politics seems to reward those who seek to exploi…
Lords
Oral Questions
11 November 2025
Overseas Musicians Touring in the UK
I thank the noble Lord for his question. It is vital that people get that because there can be need at short notice, and potentially the need to put on additional concerts or gigs due to greater demand that might overrun certain times and certain sectors. The point he has made is valid.
In the Euro…
Lords
Debate
28 October 2025
3 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I speak in support of Motion N1 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Barran, and declare that I am still a teacher in a state secondary school in Hackney, east London.
In over 10 years of teaching, I have encountered tens—maybe not hundreds—of TAs, technicians, IT staff, catering staff…
My Lords, I will confirm the policy in the letter sent by my noble friends Lady Smith and Lady Jones, to which the noble Baroness, Lady Barran, referred.
The purpose of the SSSNB is to ensure that school support staff are entitled to at least a statutory minimum level of pay and conditions that has…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
27 October 2025
2 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, for introducing his Amendment 102 in the way he did. I was pleased that Amendment 87D, which he signed with my noble friend Lady Coffey, was passed earlier, giving further protections to assets of community value. As the noble Earl says, spell…
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for her response to my amendment. In it, she pointed out that Parliament had decided to use the affirmative procedure in the scrutiny of national listed building consent orders. I hope that she will accept that, in the grey area in which we find ourselves whil…
Lords
Debate
22 October 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I am very grateful to my noble friend Lady McIntosh of Pickering, the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, the noble Lord, Lord Addington, and others who have expressed their support for this amendment as well as to colleagues in another place who raised similar arguments when the Bill was consider…
Lords
Proceedings
22 October 2025
Maccabi Tel Aviv FC: Away Fans Ban
My Lords, this is a shameful state of affairs, sending a message that groups of fans and indeed groups of people across our country are not safe on the streets of Britain. Can the Minister tell us when the Government were first told by the safety advisory group that it was intending to advise a ban …
Lords
Debate
22 October 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I tabled my Amendment 50 before the Government tabled their own Amendment 49 in this group. Both seek, as the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, said, to leave out Clause 41. It is fair to say that that was the part of the Bill that caused the most concern among heritage groups. We heard in Com…
Lords
Debate
20 October 2025
2 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I have Amendment 7A in this group, which, like my noble friend Lord Lansley’s Amendment 5, is an amendment to government Amendment 4. I welcome many of the changes to the Bill that the Government have brought forward, particularly to Clause 41, which we will touch on later on Report. I am …
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for the further information she set out, and to noble Lords, particularly the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, for their support for my amendment.
I am glad to hear that the Minister will discuss the issue further with heritage groups in the round tables that sh…
Lords
Oral Questions
20 October 2025
Musical Instrument Certificates
The consultation is on CITES, which covers all sorts of areas and not just musical instruments. As I said, we are carrying out a consultation and will take the responses into account. It is important to show that we are supporting music. We support orchestras through the tax system and funding. At t…
Lords
Oral Questions
16 October 2025
Telegraph Media Group: Ownership
I will not go into hypothetical examples. All the instances raised would be examined on a case-by-case basis. The noble Lord will be aware that we are deeply disappointed that the case he referenced has not gone to trial; we really did want to see prosecutions.
Lords
Oral Questions
13 October 2025
Chinese Espionage: Parliament
The noble Lord raises an important point, which I hope will be discussed this afternoon in the other place, so we can have a conversation about it later this week.
Lords
Debate
4 September 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow my noble friend Lady McIntosh of Pickering. Her Amendment 95 may be modest but it is very sensible, and I congratulate her on the way she outlined it. I also congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, on the way she outlined her amendment in this group. As …
Lords
Oral Questions
3 September 2025
Football Governance Act 2025: Implementation
I should not comment on the inquiry being carried out by the Commissioner for Public Appointments—as I said earlier, this is ongoing. The noble Lord will be aware that David Kogan has met a number of Members of this House, and he is fully engaged with the task ahead at the point at which he is able …
Lords
Debate
24 July 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, as my noble friend Lord Lansley says, I signed his Amendment 55, but I am also broadly supportive of Amendment 54, in the names of the noble Baronesses, Lady Pinnock and Lady Pidgeon—I thank the former for the way she opened the debate on this important set of amendments.
My noble friend …
Lords
Debate
23 July 2025
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I support the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, and others who have tabled amendments, and I congratulate them on persevering to Report on this important issue. Like the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, I think it is regrettable that it has come so late, towards the end of term, but this is an im…
Lords
Debate
21 July 2025
2 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, Amendment 126 stands in my name and the names of the noble Lords, Lord Faulkner of Worcester and Lord Palmer of Childs Hill, and the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty. The amendment is identical to one which the noble Lord, Lord Faulkner, and I proposed in Committee, although noble Lords may have…
My Lords, I am very grateful to all noble Lords who spoke in this short but important debate, particularly to the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, who spoke with great clarity and authority about the legal problem that we are trying to fix. No responsible director or trustee wants to b…