Lords
Oral Questions
8 January 2026
Buses: Safety and Security
I would take issue with the noble Lord in saying that nothing has been done. There has been a lot of individual work. In particular, Transport for London, post his and my time there, has spent a lot of effort and activity in interior bus design and specification of vehicles themselves. But he, too, …
Lords
Debate
6 January 2026
Sentencing Bill
My Lords, there are amendments in this group in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett. He has asked me to say that he is mortified that he cannot be here today and that he sends his apologies to the House that he is not able to be here to move them.
I have my own amendment in this group, Amendm…
Lords
Debate
6 January 2026
2 contributions
Sentencing Bill
My Lords—
My Lords, I am sorry that the noble Baroness, Lady Chakrabarti, was so quick to assume that I was going to say something with which she would disagree. I hope, in fact, to disappoint her: she might be able to agree with what I am about to say. I added my name to the right reverend Prelate’s Amendmen…
Lords
Oral Questions
6 January 2026
Channel Tunnel Infrastructure: Reliability
We are quite a long way from the New Year’s Eve disruption in the Channel Tunnel, but never mind.
The noble Lord knows perfectly well that the principal means by which the Government hold arm’s-length bodies to account is by control of the appointment of the chair and the board. That is a pretty re…
Lords
Debate
12 December 2025
Space Industry (Indemnities) Bill
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords for their contributions to and support for the Bill. I offer particular thanks to the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, for steering the Bill through this House and to John Grady for bringing forward this short but important Bill in the other place.
The Government recog…
Lords
Debate
10 December 2025
13 contributions
Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill
My Lords, I have listened with great interest to this short debate. It is almost certainly my fault, and I will probably need to be mildly humiliated as I am corrected on the topic, but we have discussed the length of contracts by reference to Clause 1(7) and it seems to me that it says nothing at a…
We are all agreed that we should be talking about contract length, but my amendment is the only one that refers to it. That is the point that I am trying to make.
The noble Lord, Lord Ravensdale, in respect of competition, says that there must be at least an opening in the future for these revenue …
+11 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
25 November 2025
5 contributions
Road Vehicles (Type-Approval) (Amendment) Regulations 2025
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Dodds, for bringing forward these Motions and all who have contributed to the debate on these statutory instruments, which are very technical and cover a range of subjects that make up a small part of the type approval requirements for road vehicles. The instru…
The answer is that the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders represents all manufacturers. Most vehicles are produced in various countries around the world. My understanding, at least, is that they represent all of the manufacturers, wherever they are based. As the noble Lord knows already, I a…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
20 November 2025
Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have engaged in today’s lively debate on the Bill. I have listened with much interest to the excellent points raised across your Lordships’ House, and I will now attempt to answer some of the questions. Of course, we can explore many of the issues in greater det…
Lords
Oral Questions
20 November 2025
South Western Railway
The noble Lord should read the draft Bill more carefully. If he does, he will find that the rather antiseptically named passengers’ council—it will have a better name than that in practice—will have the right to ask for regulatory action to be taken against Great British Railways if it fails to deal…
Lords
Committee Stage
19 November 2025
Merchant Shipping (Marine Equipment) Regulations 2025
I am not going to say I am stunned, because the noble Lord is wholly reasonable. It is a pleasure to hear his words.
I should just say in response to the noble Baroness that the consultation took place in the first half of 2025. They are not together, because self-evidently they are not together, b…
Lords
Oral Questions
19 November 2025
Road Injuries and Deaths
The Government will look at the use of all modern technology. There has not been a recent road safety strategy and, as the noble Lord sets out, technology has moved on a long way. So we will look at that, because, when an accident occurs, getting help to victims of the accident as soon as possible i…
Lords
Committee Stage
17 November 2025
6 contributions
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
My Lords, I have my name to one of the amendments in the name of my noble friend Lord Udny-Lister, but I will start with the comment by my noble friend Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth that vaping is not risk-free. Well, what is risk-free? I shall go home in the car tonight, as it happens, since the noble…
I beg the noble Baroness’s pardon, but I will still make my point about what she said about flavours. She was not describing the flavours; she does not know what the flavours are. She never bought them or consumed them as far as I imagine. She is talking about the descriptors—the rather lurid descri…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
13 November 2025
7 contributions
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
My Lords, I shall speak to my Amendment 144 in this group. Before I do so, I express my support for the argument made so eloquently by my noble friend Lord Udny-Lister on behalf of my noble friend Lord Mott. The amendments in this group should be relatively uncontroversial because we are all, I thin…
The Minister refers to “characterising flavours” in Finland. That sounds to me like a descriptor, rather than anything about the composition. I know that these appear to be subtle distinctions but they are not—how something tastes and how it is described are two very different things. The question o…
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
12 November 2025
Sentencing Bill
My Lords, I am delighted to follow the noble Lord, Lord Moylan, who makes some very important points.
I begin by joining the tributes that have been made to the noble Baroness, Lady Newlove, who was a doughty supporter for the victims of crime and will be much missed. I pay tribute also to David Ga…
Lords
Oral Questions
11 November 2025
Airport Expansion
The noble Lord will of course recognise that things should have moved on from 2018 but have not. This Government are determined for the first time to move forward with the expansion of the UK’s only hub airport. The statements made in the Airports National Policy Statement in 2018 will be reviewed i…
Lords
Committee Stage
11 November 2025
2 contributions
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
I put my name to some of these amendments, but so much has been said, and so eloquently, that I will speak only briefly in their support. I have no personal interest in this. I used to smoke, but I stopped three years ago. I have never smoked cigars or pipes, and I never took snuff. I probably exper…
May I just say to the Minister that the tobacco industry, as normally understood and which is suspected of such nefarious innovation, is not involved in the business of hand-rolled cigars at all? The industry consists, on one end, of artisans working with their hands in Caribbean countries, and, on …
Lords
Committee Stage
10 November 2025
Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (Definition of Relevant Land) (Amendment) Order 2025
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords for their consideration of this draft order. I am grateful for the scrutiny and interest shown in ensuring that our railway and car parking legislation remains coherent and fit for purpose.
I will first respond to the points made by the noble Baroness, Lady Pidgeon…
Lords
Oral Questions
30 October 2025
2 contributions
Heathrow Airport: Third Runway
My Lords, Heathrow expansion will support UK competitiveness and economic growth. In June, the Secretary of State invited proposals; several were received, and two remain under active consideration. My department will decide on a single scheme by the end of November to inform the Airports National P…
The launch of the Airports National Policy Statement review on 22 October is one of the significant steps that the Government are taking to support the expansion of Heathrow. The review has begun before final scheme selection to allow early policy and analytical work. Public consultation will, of co…
Lords
Committee Stage
30 October 2025
3 contributions
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
My Lords, I will speak to my Amendment 18 in this group.
There is merit in thinking about the amendment tabled by my noble friend Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay, which was so effectively moved by the noble Baroness, Lady Fox of Buckley. We send very confusing messages generally to young people in so…
May I ask for some clarification? There seems to be a contradiction between the idea, on the one hand, that these products save you money in the long run and, on the other, that they price young people out of the market. I cannot see how something that saves you money in the long run prices you out …
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
29 October 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I support my noble friend Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park. It is a difficult thing to do in the wake of the very learned speech by the noble Lord, Lord Krebs, but there are sometimes occasions when things do not work in theory but work in practice. In Gibraltar, where a similar measure has…
Lords
Proceedings
27 October 2025
Heathrow: National Airports Review
My Lords, the Statement does two things: it announces a review of the Airports National Policy Statement , but gives us little idea in detail as to how it is to be revised, and it tells us that the only two credible proposals for Heathrow’s expansion are still being considered and that the more fanc…
Lords
Committee Stage
27 October 2025
3 contributions
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
My Lords, I shall speak to my Amendments 5 and 205 in this group, which, although there has been no prior discussion between myself and my noble friend Lord Murray of Blidworth, point in a very similar direction. I propose in Amendment 5 that the permitted age of sale be raised in the interim to 21—…
My Lords, I shall speak to my Amendments 3 and 17. The bulk of the amendments in this group are to do with age verification, but mine are not, and I do not intend to speak about age verification. However, the process of numerical determinism that governs our actions and procedures means that I have …
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
22 October 2025
International Maritime Organization: Net-Zero Framework
I think the noble Lord needs to recognise that a worldwide organisation such as the IMO can do more things than one at the same time. What he says about the dark fleet, and what the noble Lord previously said about it, is right, and the IMO should challenge it and do what it can about it. As the nob…
Lords
Oral Questions
22 October 2025
Open Access Rail Services
The noble Lord has drunk his own Kool-Aid on this. I made it quite clear that there are benefits to be provided. He also needs to do a bit of careful research, because there are very few commuters on open access services. Commuting is one of the things that has a high fixed cost and generally does n…
Lords
Oral Questions
22 October 2025
Drink-Drive Limit
There are, of course, a variety of drugs, which need to be tested in different ways. The department is very concerned about drug-driving and will look at it again in the revised road safety strategy. The noble Lord is right that detection is more difficult because of the variety of drugs, but the de…