Lords
Debate
12 March 2026
Universal Credit (Removal of Two Child Limit) Bill
My Lords, as an old-timer in this place, I congratulate my noble friends Lady Antrobus and Lord Walker, and the noble Baroness, Lady Teather, on their brilliant, inspiring and moving maiden speeches.
A Labour Government are about nothing if they are not about reducing poverty and inequality in our …
Lords
Oral Questions
12 March 2026
2 contributions
Children in Care: Illegal Accommodation
Sikka!
I am not sure if my noble friend sat in on any of the sessions of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, but future regulations will enable a cap on the profits of non-local authority, Ofsted-registered providers of children’s homes. We have to do this carefully and sensibly. I urge all noble Lo…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 March 2026
2 contributions
Student Loan System
My Lords, as the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Education have outlined in the other place, this is indeed a complex system. We are looking for ways to make it fairer, but to be fiscally responsible we must consider how any change would be funded. The Government aim to be supportive o…
I am tempted to say, “Who needs an Opposition?” I emphasise that this system is obviously getting a lot of attention at the moment. There is a lot of disquiet about what is happening to our young people. Of course, the Opposition have experience in this and, indeed, probably have a lot to contribute…
Lords
Oral Questions
9 March 2026
Independent Commission on Adult Social Care
Various sectors have their role to play, and that includes the private sector, the voluntary sector and the public sector. As I have mentioned, we are building a national care service. It will focus on a high quality of care, greater choice and control for individuals and joined-up neighbourhood ser…
Lords
Committee Stage
4 March 2026
UK-India: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement
My Lords, it is a pleasure to participate in this debate and to follow some excellent contributions. This report was the last one I worked on before rotating off the International Agreements Committee; I am missing it already. I congratulate the chair, my fellow committee members and the excellent s…
Lords
Oral Questions
25 February 2026
2 contributions
Imran Khan: Imprisonment
My Lords, we have plenty of time. We will hear first from the noble Lord, Lord Ahmad, and then we will come to the Labour Benches.
I do not think it would be the right thing to do to end all aid to Pakistan. That is not the Government’s position, and that is my view. I say that because the need is there, because British interests are there, because the climate impact is there, and because of the counterterrorism issues that we …
Lords
Oral Questions
23 February 2026
US Tariffs
At the moment, these are bilateral conversations. We are acting in good faith and hope that they will come to a successful resolution.
Lords
Oral Questions
12 February 2026
2 contributions
Donations to Political Parties
My Lords, this week Transparency International published its global index on corruption. The UK has dropped to its lowest ever score and now is more corrupt than Estonia, Hong Kong, Uruguay, Japan, Ireland and Australia. The main reason is that political parties and too many legislators are availabl…
My Lords, Members may have noticed that the clock is not working at the moment. I ask noble Lords to stick to their time limit of three minutes—I will wave when their time is up—because we need to make sure that we have time for the Minister’s response.
Lords
Oral Questions
10 February 2026
Ambassadors: Vetting Process
I am very much in favour of parliamentary oversight, but I think the scale of that undertaking needs to be properly understood by any parliamentary body that may wish to undertake such a thing. I have not heard anybody say that all our ambassadorial appointments should be subject to such a process; …
Lords
Oral Questions
29 January 2026
2 contributions
Water Companies: Fines
My Lords, Ofwat has imposed fines to the value of £122.7 million on Thames Water. There is a payment plan in place, with the first 20%—that is, £24.5 million—paid last year. The remaining 80% is due by 31 March 2030 at the latest. Fines following EA enforcement action total £4.6 million, and we are …
I politely suggest to my noble friend that we do not indulge criminal organisations. We put in payment plans because it would not help a water company if we forced it to pay fines so that it went bust. I do not think that would help consumers at all. So we need to bring in sensible payment plans whi…
Lords
Committee Stage
19 January 2026
3 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, this amendment deals with a gap in the Bill. The transfer of surplus to employers could leave employees in jeopardy, especially when an employer enters bankruptcy. I will lay out a scenario. Suppose a pension scheme surplus is distributed to an employer but, soon afterwards, the pension sc…
Just to recap quickly, I was looking at a scenario where an employer had received a surplus from a pension scheme but soon afterwards became bankrupt. Normally, the PPF will rescue, but that is limited to 90%, which means that employees will face a haircut in their pension rights. So the only possib…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
14 January 2026
2 contributions
Large-scale Waste Crime
We will hear from the Lib Dems next, then from my noble friend.
My noble friend knows that water companies are private companies. He also knows that we have a criminal justice system that the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice work in. The law is there to be used when appropriate, and I would hope that it will happen.
Lords
Oral Questions
13 January 2026
United States: Withdrawal from International Organisations
We are completely committed to the framework on climate change and to the Paris Agreement; that is not going to change. The best thing we can do is to be clear about our position and clear about what we see as the economic benefits of transition away from the use of fossil fuels. I think many countr…
Lords
Oral Questions
12 January 2026
Independent Water Commission
At the risk of repeating myself, we were very clear as a Government that we had no intention of nationalising the water sector. The £100 billion figure is not bogus, because it is based on the regulated capital value of the water sector. My noble friend has to remember that it is not just the capita…
Lords
Oral Questions
7 January 2026
2 contributions
Venezuela
My Lords, the US is the UK’s principal defence and security partner. We do not have plans to impose sanctions on the US. We will continue to discuss evolving situations with our US counterparts as we seek a safe and peaceful transition to a legitimate Government that reflects the will of the Venezue…
The United Kingdom Government work for the benefit of the United Kingdom’s people and it would not be in the British interest to impose sanctions on our closest intelligence and security partner. This relationship goes back decades; it is deep and it is serious. My noble friend’s Question, I am afra…
Lords
Oral Questions
5 January 2026
Government Communications: X
My Lords, I was dared to see whether we could get in “Ruth social” as opposed to Truth Social for any new platforms, and my noble friend has given me that opportunity. There are numerous existing platforms with huge reach, and it is about how we use them in the UK and how we make sure they are effec…
Lords
Oral Questions
9 December 2025
2 contributions
Mobile Phone and Broadband Prices
It is important that customers feel empowered in engaging in the telecoms market, and confident that they are getting a fair deal. We support Ofcom in taking action to protect fairness and transparency, and welcome its recent steps to remind consumers of their rights. The Chancellor and Secretary of…
My noble friend is right to highlight the importance of the ability to have the right contract and of giving consumers the information they need. We have no plans to ban in-contract price rises, but consumers have the right to leave, penalty-free, for 30 days from when unexpected price rises are ann…
Lords
Oral Questions
20 November 2025
Private Equity
My Lords, I declare my interest as a director of South Molton Street Capital. I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Monks, on securing this important debate about private equity and on his membership of the important French Légion d’honneur alongside Stephen Schwarzman, who is the founder of the large…
Lords
Oral Questions
19 November 2025
Telegraph Media Group
My noble friend is allowing me to explain why we want a pluralistic free press. It is fundamental to our democracy. I think that there is a difference between foreign investment in other parts of the UK economy, including utilities, and the free press that is a fundamental cornerstone of our democra…
Lords
Oral Questions
18 November 2025
Election Law
Actually, there are a very significant number of young people who have expressed their wish to take part in the political system. From my point of view, engaging more people in our system with the education steps that I spoke about earlier, to make sure that we introduce civic education and educatio…
Lords
Proceedings
13 November 2025
Economic and Taxation Policies: Jobs, Growth and Prosperity
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell, on securing this debate. The number of noble Lords who are here to contribute is testament to his keen insight into what is interesting in politics right now. Sadly, it is also testament to how much worry there is out there about …
Lords
Oral Questions
10 November 2025
National Insurance: Partnerships
My reason is very simple: I am not going to speculate on the next Budget now. I am, of course, grateful for my noble friend’s expertise in these matters.
Lords
Oral Questions
4 November 2025
Energy Market Reforms
My noble friend asks about marginal pricing and refers to gas, because gas and electricity prices have been coupled together for many years. The market currently operates on the principle of marginal pricing, and the cost of electricity often tracks the cost of gas because gas generation frequently …
Lords
Oral Questions
3 November 2025
London Boroughs: Financial Support
I hope my noble friend has been in the Chamber when I have spoken before about the £39 billion investment that our Government have made into social and affordable housing. We look forward to working with our partners in local authorities to deliver that housing. I hope that that, along with other ad…