Lords
Debate
27 October 2025
4 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I will speak briefly to my Amendments 95 and 98. I am very grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Moulsecoomb, for her support for the protection of good agricultural land. Amendment 95 is a broader application of the principle that was debated and rejected by Government and Liberal…
My Lords, I will not make extensive comments on my noble friend Lady Coffey’s Amendment 87, as we will return to EDPs in future groups on Report. However, this amendment does have merit in that EDPs should be a relevant matter for making planning decisions.
My noble friend Lord Banner has expertly …
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
27 October 2025
Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund
My Lords, this Government’s deal with the EU allows Europe to retain around 40% of the fishing rights in our exclusive economic zone and territorial waters for a further 12 years. This undermines the substantial expansion of the private tax-paying fishing sector that should have been possible. The f…
Lords
Debate
22 October 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I am very grateful to my noble friend Lady McIntosh of Pickering for her commitment to this flooding issue, which impacts far too many households in this country and which, as our climate changes, is likely to impact far more.
New housing built on flood plains since 2009 is not able to be…
Lords
Debate
22 October 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I draw the House’s attention to my register of interests as a landowner and a housing developer. Before addressing this group of amendments, I would like to ask the Minister whether her Government have considered the impact of the Supreme Court judgment in the CG Fry case that was released…
Lords
Debate
20 October 2025
2 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for bringing forward the amendments in this group. I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the register of interests as a renewable energy developer and as a forester and forest planter.
First, the removal of the application of Clause 28 to Wales is inter…
My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend Lord Fuller for Amendment 43 and to my noble friend Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts for his loyal and able introduction of Amendment 45 in the name of my noble friend Lady Hodgson of Abinger. I declare my interest as a farmer, although not of as much best an…
Lords
Oral Questions
15 October 2025
Waste Crime
The noble Lord is absolutely right to raise the issue of fly-tipping. A lot of people think it is just a mattress dumped in a hedge, but it can be incredibly serious and expensive and challenging for landowners to clear up. In specific answer to his question, following Royal Assent the intention is …
Lords
Debate
17 September 2025
13 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords these amendments brought forward by the Minister draw attention to a crucial point: environmental delivery plans, if they are to carry weight and deliver real outcomes, must be more than static documents. Amendment 248A rightly calls for contingency measures, back-up conservation actions th…
My Lords, in moving my Amendment 253, I will also speak to my other amendments in this group. It is an embarrassment that in our small, wealthy island nation, there are, according to APHA, over 2,000 non-native species, of which 10% to 15% become invasive and pose a serious threat to our biodiversit…
+11 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
17 September 2025
Deforestation
We absolutely agree that forests in the UK are part of our critical natural infrastructure. To complement the international efforts I have referred to, we are taking significant steps to protect and expand domestic forests. Key achievements include setting a legally binding target to increase tree c…
Lords
Debate
17 September 2025
4 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I will speak briefly to several amendments in this group concerning environmental delivery plans.
I start by thanking my noble friend Lord Lucas, both for introducing this group and for tabling Amendment 242B. This amendment seeks to ensure that the EDP process has time to bed in within u…
My Lords, this group of amendments is aimed at strengthening the natural recovery framework model and addressing the overall improvement test. I do not intend to take up more time than is necessary, so I will not address each amendment in this group individually. However, I will speak to my Amendmen…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
15 September 2025
12 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I shall speak to Amendments 210 and 211 in my name and Amendment 227G in the name of my noble friend Lord Sandhurst. I refer the Committee to my register of interests, as I have previously disclosed on this Bill.
When we say that the Conservative Party is under new management, we mean it.…
In relation to Amendment 211, can the Minister indicate whether a CPO would happen only once a landowner or farmer had been offered a contract to carry out the EDP works themselves—after they had been offered the option of doing the work that Natural England was intending to do on that land under it…
+10 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
15 September 2025
Plastic Pollution
The UK works very much with other authorities, the devolved Administrations and other countries on how we can do exactly that. As I said, it is all very well to recycle, but we need to reduce the amount of plastic in the first place because, even when things are recycled, that plastic is still in th…
Lords
Debate
1 September 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I will speak to Amendment 89 in the name of my noble friend Lady Hodgson of Abinger, Amendment 92 in the name of my noble friend Lord Fuller, Amendment 94A in the name of my noble friend Lord Forsyth of Drumlean and Amendment 94B in the name of my noble friend Lady Coffey. These amendments…
Lords
Debate
1 September 2025
6 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, Amendment 77 in the name of the noble Earl, Lord Russell, seeks to require the Secretary of State to designate certain electricity network upgrade works as permitted developments within 12 months of the passing of this Act. I refer the Committee to my register of interests, including as a …
My Lords, in moving Amendment 80 I will also speak to Amendments 81 and 82, which are in my name, as well as Amendments 85A, 88B and 88C in the name of my noble friend Lord Goodman of Wycombe.
The amendments in my name deal specifically with consent and the exercise of planning powers in Scotland u…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
1 September 2025
Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023
I am determined to look at what makes the biggest difference. The whole essence of my approach to animal welfare is what makes the biggest difference, where are the most animals suffering abuse, and what can we do to try to reduce that. Those are the criteria we are looking at.
Lords
Debate
24 July 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I also support Amendment 50 in the name of my noble friend Lord Lucas, which would recognise livestock markets and abattoirs as critical national infrastructure. I draw the Committee’s attention to my register of interests, in particular as a dairy and livestock farmer. This amendment, if …
Lords
Debate
16 July 2025
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow my noble friend Lord Howard of Lympne and indeed all noble Lords who have made such compelling arguments for the amendments in this group. I rise to support Amendment 107 in the name of my noble friend Lord Sharpe of Epsom, to which I have added my name. I again …
Lords
Committee Stage
15 July 2025
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (Amendment, etc.) Regulations 2025
Looking at the annunciator, I am wondering whether it is worth starting, but let us give it a go; I think we are going to be interrupted.
I thank all noble Lords who have taken part in this debate for their contributions. We are very grateful for the broad support for the regulations and the recogn…
Lords
Oral Questions
1 July 2025
Plastic Pollution
First, I am very pleased that we have announced that we are doing a deposit return scheme. It is something that was discussed for many years by the previous Government, so I am pleased that we have acted quickly to announce that we are bringing that in. However, it needs to be brought in effectively…
Lords
Oral Questions
26 June 2025
Food Allergens
The critical thing is the last thing that the noble Lord said: safe food. It is important that we work with industry, across government and with the different campaign groups. Natasha’s law was a very important piece of legislation. We know that Owen’s law is proposed as well. We have heard about th…
Lords
Debate
25 June 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
I thank all noble Lords for this wide-ranging, very productive and comprehensive debate. With over 60 contributions made, I am obviously not going to be able to reply in detail to every one. I will do my best; I have tried to put first the things that were talked about the most. If I do not get to s…
Lords
Oral Questions
12 June 2025
Wildfires
My Lords, it is a privilege to stand before you today to address the important topic of wildfire risk and the devastating impacts that wildfires can have on our communities. I thank the noble Earl, Lord Caithness, for raising this important debate and for his invaluable insight in this area. I also …
Lords
Proceedings
4 June 2025
Thames Water
My Lords, these Benches attempted to amend the Water (Special Measures) Act to protect consumers from bearing any costs associated with a special administration regime, but this was rejected by this Government. Will the Minister commit today that consumers will not be made to pay any SAR-related cos…
Lords
Debate
3 June 2025
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I support Amendment 133 from my noble friend Lord Sharpe of Epsom. It is a great pleasure to follow my noble friend Lord Deben. In doing so, I draw attention to my registered interests, in particular as a dairy and livestock farmer.
I am most grateful to my noble friends for their support…
Lords
Oral Questions
3 June 2025
Reservoirs: Protection from Contamination
I asked about that earlier today, because it is important that we understand it. My understanding is that there has not been such an incident, but that does not mean that we should be complacent. We know that our water and energy infrastructure are both potentially vulnerable to hostile attacks.