Lords
Proceedings
14 July 2026
National Crime Agency: Reform Party Funding
My Lords, as I understand it, the Electoral Commission will be given the power to share information with third parties, which is very welcome and long overdue. But will it also be given the power to require information from third parties, which is normal for any regulator that one can think of, with…
Lords
Proceedings
9 July 2026
Foreign Interference in UK Politics
I welcome the Government’s commitment to give the Electoral Commission more investigatory powers, including the power to require information from third parties, as the Rycroft review recommended. The devil will be in the detail on that. Other regulators have extensive powers to require information f…
Lords
Proceedings
6 July 2026
Imprisonment for Public Protection Prisoners
My Lords, we know that the psychological harm caused by the IPP sentence adversely affects prisoners’ risk assessments. What are the Government doing to improve the mental health of IPP prisoners so as to improve their prospects of release?
Lords
Proceedings
2 July 2026
Imprisonment for Public Protection
My Lords, what are the Government doing to ensure that IPP prisoners are located in prisons close to their families so as to facilitate visits by their families? This must be one of the surest ways of achieving rehabilitation.
Lords
Proceedings
2 July 2026
Political Party Finance and the Electoral Commission
My Lords, I declare an interest as I have been advising the charity Spotlight on Corruption on these issues. I am grateful to the noble Earl, Lord Kinnoull, for initiating this debate, since what is more important than the integrity of our electoral system?
Political party finance goes to the heart…
Lords
Proceedings
18 May 2026
King’s Speech
My Lords, I will focus on the Representation of the People Bill, which seeks to protect our democracy. What is more important than that? I declare an interest, since I have been liaising with and advising the charity Spotlight on Corruption.
There is much to commend in the Representation of the Peo…
Lords
Proceedings
18 May 2026
King’s Speech
My Lords, I will focus on the Representation of the People Bill, which seeks to protect our democracy. What is more important than that? I declare an interest, since I have been liaising with and advising the charity Spotlight on Corruption.
There is much to commend in the Representation of the Peo…
Lords
Debate
25 March 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I too support very strongly the noble Lord, Lord Nash, and the noble Baroness, Lady Kidron. I am not going to say anything about it because it has been very well said already by other Members of this House. I also support what the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, said. I thought he put it, as so …
Lords
Oral Questions
24 March 2026
Renters’ Rights Act: Definition of Court Readiness
I was very grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Wolf, for her contribution on the Bill. To ensure long-term sustainability, we have concluded that there is a case for the use of a non-judicial alternative body or mechanism to make initial rent determinations. We are continuing to work with partners …
Lords
Debate
18 March 2026
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, Amendment 429ZA seeks to leave out Clause 212. I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, and the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Gower, for adding their names to the amendment. Clause 212 addresses situations where a person has been convicted in their absence in a foreign court and the…
My Lords, I am grateful to noble Lords who have spoken today so powerfully. I say to the noble Lord, Lord Hanson, that I do not in the slightest bit resent the fact that the letter arrived so late; I appreciate that there is a lot going on at the moment. It arrived in time enough for me to digest it…
Lords
Debate
13 March 2026
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I have tabled four amendments towards the end of this group, Amendments 317, 346, 457 and 512, which are in identical terms. They are designed to ensure that a person seeking a state-assisted death is not acting out of a temporary feeling of fear, panic or anxiety in relation to their diag…
Lords
Debate
11 March 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, Amendment 403 in this group is in my name.
The group that we are talking about raises the issue whether authorised firearms officers deserve any special protection if they are, or may be, prosecuted for their conduct or if they are convicted. Some would say that they are not so deserving,…
Lords
Debate
11 March 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I very much support this amendment. In Committee, I tabled an amendment, which was debated—the noble Baroness, Lady Levitt, was acting Minister at the time—and would have prevented a criminal record being kept for children who are prosecuted by private rail companies under Section 5 of the…
Lords
Debate
25 February 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I strongly support the intention and spirit of Amendment 13. Fly-tipping shows a shocking disregard for other people, the local community, society and the environment. It is not right that the cost of removing the consequences of it fall on the victims, as has been said, at huge expense.
…
Lords
Oral Questions
11 February 2026
Renters’ Rights Act: Implementation
We are working very closely with the judiciary and the Ministry of Justice. We had lots of discussion about this during the passage of the Bill. We want to ensure that the First-tier Tribunal has the capacity to deal with any increase in cases as a result of the rent increase changes. In the Propert…
Lords
Debate
2 February 2026
4 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, the debate that we have just been having illustrates perfectly why the amendment in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Verdirame, is so apt. His amendment would insert a requirement for the Attorney-General’s consent before criminal proceedings could be instituted in these cases, and that co…
That does not detract from the fact that Amendment 456 would create a robust filter, through which prosecutions would have to go before instituting criminal proceedings. That would need the consent of the Attorney-General and without that consent—
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
30 January 2026
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I added my name to Amendment 84 since I think the noble Lord, Lord Frost, has struck gold with this amendment. Requiring
“unbearable suffering … which cannot be relieved by treatment”,
raises four critical issues at the epicentre of the Bill. First, his amendment exposes the total unreli…
Lords
Debate
23 January 2026
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
I am very grateful to the noble and learned Lord for his explanation of informed consent. There is a little doubt as to whether giving people lots of information, leading to an informed wish, actually encapsulates them fully understanding it. I was wondering: is the answer to this not to put in a de…
Lords
Debate
22 January 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I respectfully disagree with the proposition that these clauses should be removed from the Bill. My views will come as no surprise to the 10 noble Lords who were present in the Chamber on Tuesday night at 11.15 pm to debate my amendment on why police officers who use excessive force on the…
Lords
Debate
20 January 2026
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I am going to speak to Amendment 486D, and I support all the other amendments in this group. I am very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Marks, for his compelling introduction, and for the other powerful speeches. You may wonder why I have tabled this very specific amendment. The best way I…
I am extremely grateful. To some extent mine is a probing amendment—I need more facts and evidence around this—but the Minister referred to the Code for Crown Prosecutors. The cases I spoke about were prosecuted by the train operating company. I am not really convinced that it had even heard of the …
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
9 January 2026
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I speak to the six amendments in my name in this group. I do not need to explain what they say because they are all replicated by other amendments in the group, so I can be very brief. All these amendments are intended to ensure that a person seeking assistance to end their life first be r…
Lords
Debate
6 January 2026
Sentencing Bill
My Lords, I too strongly support the amendment moved by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Thomas. This amendment is the safest, best amendment on IPP prisoners we have seen so far. It would give an IPP prisoner a clear statutory steer as to what they have to do in order to secure release on licence. …
Lords
Debate
6 January 2026
2 contributions
Sentencing Bill
My Lords, I will be brief. I support Amendment 52, and I declare my interest as a trustee of the Prison Reform Trust.
Although Section 57 of the Sentencing Act 2020 sets out the purposes of sentencing—namely, punishment, reduction of crime, reform and rehabilitation, protection of the public, and r…
My Lords, I will speak to Amendment 90 in this group, which would insert a proposed new clause on extended determinate sentence prisoners, who I will refer to as EDS prisoners.
Currently, the majority of people serving an EDS first become eligible for parole after serving two-thirds of their custod…
Lords
Oral Questions
17 December 2025
Fair Work Agency: Small and Micro Businesses
The noble Lord is absolutely right. The Fair Work Agency will be set up as an executive agency independent of the Secretary of State. However, it will have to report to the Secretary of State for its actions and enforcement. It will bring the four current enforcement units together into a single uni…
Lords
Debate
12 December 2025
2 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I want to make a very brief intervention in relation to the prison population. It is only the second time I have spoken on the Bill. I declare an interest as a trustee of the Prison Reform Trust.
The suicide rate among male prisoners is four times as high as that of the general population…
My Lords, the Minister referred to a number of articles of the ECHR, but she has not referred to Article 2, which is the duty on a state to protect life. That is why the courts have imposed a duty of care on the Prison Service and the Government to protect prisoners from committing suicide. My quest…