Lords
Proceedings
3 September 2026
Summer Drought: Future Supply Disruption
My Lords, it is obvious that we need more investment in reservoirs but the easier, cheaper and quicker improvement is to restore natural water storage through rewetting, riparian tree planting, de-canalising rivers and, as my noble friend mentioned, creating on-farm water storage. What are the Gover…
Lords
Statutory Instrument
3 September 2026
2 contributions
Nature Restoration Levy Regulations 2026
My Lords, I thank the Minister for introducing these regulations. Although I am pleased to see her in her place, I wonder why they are being introduced by the Minister of State for MHCLG, when we were assured during debate that the responsible department and Secretary of State for administering EDPs…
My Lords, I am very grateful to all noble Lords who have spoken in this short debate. I will clarify one point made by my noble friend Lord Randall. I hope no one thinks I am speaking on behalf of developers; I am speaking on behalf of nature. My concern is that if we give nature too much power in t…
Lords
Proceedings
2 September 2026
Data Centres: Water Resources
My Lords, our uniquely high electricity prices, created by ideological energy policies, already make the UK an uncompetitive location for data centres. Developers need to navigate a tangle of many of Defra’s 34 arm’s-length bodies—of which the Minister has mentioned two—planning authorities and wate…
Lords
Statutory Instrument
2 September 2026
Windsor Framework (Retail Movement Scheme: Plant Health) (Amendment) Regulations 2026
My Lords, I thank the Minister for being in her place to listen to the concerns of noble Lords. These regulations relate to the Northern Ireland retail movement scheme, which was established under the Windsor Framework to allow goods to move from Great Britain to Northern Ireland more easily.
It is…
Lords
Proceedings
21 July 2026
Farming and Food Production: Land Use Framework
My Lords, the land use framework identified the need for greater intensity and yields from our best farmland to compensate for the loss of production elsewhere. Market prices for agricultural commodities do not currently support an incentive to intensify this production and underpin our food securit…
Lords
Proceedings
21 July 2026
Bycatch Risk Prioritisation Framework
My Lords, the English Atlantic salmon is also a victim of bycatch, yet it is on the IUCN red list of endangered species. The salmon is an easy to monitor species that is a key contributor to and indicator of the health of our native ecosystems. What progress has been made on rolling out the bycatch …
Lords
Proceedings
21 July 2026
Natural England: Gamebird Release Licensing
My Lords, the highly critical judgment against Natural England in this court case is the latest in a long list of failures: Ebbsfleet jumping spiders, fish discos, bat tunnels, pony culls and, even as we sit in this Chamber today, dangerous wildfires in upland areas following Natural England policy.…
Lords
Committee Stage
7 July 2026
Justification Decision (Generation of Power by the RR SMR) Regulations 2026
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for this statutory instrument following the Government’s consultation on the application for the Rolls-Royce small modular reactor. The decision obviously confirms that the small modular reactor is justified in principle, and we support that. This is an encour…
Lords
Proceedings
1 July 2026
Farming Road Map and Profitability Review
My Lords, I thank the Minister for the Statement, the noble Baroness, Lady Batters, for her excellent review on farming profitability, and my noble friend Lady Rock, who is in her place, for the Rock report, which also seems to have been carefully read by the Government. I draw the House’s attention…
Lords
Proceedings
29 June 2026
Food Security
My Lords, I refer the House to my registered interests as a farmer and landowner. Farming in England is struggling, with globally high employment and environmental costs, while selling at prices set in international commodity markets by lower-cost regions of the world. Despite the dedication of our …
Lords
Proceedings
25 June 2026
Waste Management Carriers: Regulation
My Lords, these new powers for the EA have been described by the Government as “police-style powers”. Given that this is about enforcing the law and the EA has failed to do so, has the Minister considered that the police themselves would be more effective in enforcement if they were given that respo…
Lords
Proceedings
24 June 2026
Hares: Close Season
My Lords, hare populations vary dramatically around our country, and the breeding season can be for most of the year. Can the Minister clarify that she will ensure that hares can still be controlled where appropriate? I declare an interest as the owner of land where hare populations need encourageme…
Lords
Proceedings
23 June 2026
Legal Protections for Ancient Trees
My Lords, there is a greater problem in incentivising land managers to plant enough of the right trees to protect our watercourses, promote nature recovery, sequester carbon and increase our timber self-sufficiency from the current 27%. Properly planned planting that complies with UK forestry standa…
Lords
Statutory Instrument
23 June 2026
Carbon Budget Order 2026
My Lords, I will address carbon pricing in the UK, its unfortunate consequences for policy-making, and its devastating results for the public purse and the future of our economy. This confusion is embedded in these instruments, so I speak in support of my noble friend’s amendment. I refer the House …
Lords
Proceedings
18 June 2026
2 contributions
Livestock Grazing on Dartmoor National Park
I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper, and declare my interests as a commons owner and non-grazing grazier on Dartmoor.
My Lords, the latest ELMS agreements require a 50% reduction in grazing effort on the moor to be compliant, and that follows a historic 50% reduction. So I believe that the 75% figure is correct if farmers want to access the funds available. Natural England may not have been targeting the ponies on …
Lords
Proceedings
17 June 2026
Thames Water
My Lords, I thank the Minister for answering on this Statement in your Lordships’ House. Thames Water has scandalised our country while asking its customers to pay more for less. For the sake of customers and taxpayers, we now need stability, not uncertainty. This Statement has not announced any cha…
Lords
Proceedings
16 June 2026
Environment Act 2021 Targets
My Lords, I refer the House to my registered interests as a farmer and landowner. When in government, we passed the Environment Act, but Governments alone cannot fund all nature restoration. What steps are being taken within Natural England, the Environment Agency and the Minister’s department to en…
Lords
Committee Stage
15 June 2026
Digital Waste Tracking (England) Regulations 2026
My Lords, I thank the Minister for bringing forward these regulations. I refer the Grand Committee to my interest as a landowner. To confirm my noble friend Lady McIntosh’s comments, I am a victim of illegal waste disposal on a daily basis. I have also experienced a licenced waste haulier illegally …
Lords
Proceedings
15 June 2026
World Ocean Day
My Lords, it is all very well that the Government are celebrating World Ocean Day and have passed the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Act, but this Government have surrendered 40% of our national fishing rights for the next 12 years to the EU. French vessels are the largest bottom trawlers…
Lords
Statutory Instrument
27 April 2026
3 contributions
Agriculture (Delinked Payments) (Reductions) (England) Regulations 2026
My Lords, I would like to support my noble friend and challenge the Government on how they are going to spend the money they are going to allocate. While I can understand the wish to have a transition, it is right that it has to be done at a sensible pace. The really big disappointment of the farmin…
My Lords, my maiden speech in 2019 was on the impact of Brexit on food and agricultural produce, with a focus consistent with my interests as a Devon farmer on the Devon cream tea. It is fitting that my final words are on matters agricultural and the delinked payments regulations—the final decouplin…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
27 April 2026
Control of Trade in Endangered Species (Amendment and Revocation) Regulations 2026
My Lords, I thank noble Lords both for making some important points about the legislation before us and for contributing to the debate.
As I set out earlier, these regulations are designed to modernise an important regulatory framework so that it works effectively for the UK, supports legitimate tr…
Lords
Oral Questions
22 April 2026
Plastic Pollution Reduction
I am sure the noble Lord is aware that plastic waste exports are subject to pretty strict rules that are set out in existing legislation, but it is important that we continue to review this because we need to make sure that we improve the way we manage our waste and our recycling. Our focus is on en…
Lords
Oral Questions
16 April 2026
Farming Road Map
One of the things we are actively working on at the moment is how to implement many of the recommendations that the farming profitability review by the noble Baroness, Lady Batters, suggested. We have brought some things in, and it is really important that we look at her clear, independent advice. I…
Lords
Oral Questions
15 April 2026
Marine Protected Areas: Bottom Trawling
I am sure the noble Lord will not be surprised to hear that I am not able to divulge any of the detail of the current negotiations on the EU reset. Those of us who are involved in that reset process are extremely aware of the sensitivities around fishing, the type of fishing and the fishing gear bei…