Lords
Proceedings
1 July 2026
Defence Investment Plan
First, I welcome this Statement, which this House has been waiting on for some time, and share my concerns about the funding, which I hope will be sorted out under new leadership. However, I welcome the fact that there is an emphasis on innovation and supporting small businesses, and I hope to see t…
Lords
Proceedings
30 June 2026
Women’s Representation in Peace Processes
The Minister has made reference to sustainable peace agreements. I am very pleased to come from an area where we have a sustainable peace agreement, but one which has to be worked on continuously. Have the Minister or the Government given any thought to using the example of Northern Ireland and the …
Lords
Proceedings
29 June 2026
Food Security
My Lords, as a former Economy Minister in Northern Ireland, I know too well the importance of the agri-food sector to Northern Ireland. It is a key economic driver. We have a population of just 1.9 million, but we provide almost £10 billion-worth of food across the UK. Given that, do His Majesty’s G…
Lords
Proceedings
18 June 2026
Face-to-face Banking Services
I thank the Minister for indicating that there may be further banking hubs in Northern Ireland. Rurality is a big issue in Northern Ireland. When we tried to attain a banking hub in my local town, the answer that came back was that there were not enough customers, but that is because we live in such…
Lords
Proceedings
1 June 2026
Donations to Political Parties
My Lords, my friends in the Liberal Democrats talk about money from America. Unfortunately, we in Northern Ireland have been dealing with money from America for quite some time, which is coming to Sinn Féin through the Irish Republic. Will that be dealt with in the legislation? It gives an unfair ad…
Lords
Proceedings
20 May 2026
Supermarkets: Voluntary Price Caps
My Lords, I very much welcome that the Minister has ruled out supermarket price fixing, because the people who would be pressurised by such fixing are the farmers and the producers. They are already under incredible pressure from the power of the supermarkets. I am concerned that this will gain some…
Lords
Proceedings
18 May 2026
Miscarriage Care
I am sure the Minister is aware that Northern Ireland now provides up to two weeks of statutory leave for those who endure miscarriage before 24 weeks. Are she and her colleagues in government looking at across the UK?
Lords
Proceedings
18 May 2026
King’s Speech
My Lords, it is an honour to follow the noble Lord, Lord Waldegrave, and his sweeping look at history and the constitution.
The gracious Speech has a lot of legislation contained therein, but there are two omissions which I want to mention in passing. The first is a very welcome omission: the decis…
Lords
Proceedings
18 May 2026
King’s Speech
My Lords, it is an honour to follow the noble Lord, Lord Waldegrave, and his sweeping look at history and the constitution.
The gracious Speech has a lot of legislation contained therein, but there are two omissions which I want to mention in passing. The first is a very welcome omission: the decis…
Lords
Oral Questions
23 April 2026
Office for National Statistics Labour Market Data
I am pleased to welcome the noble Baroness’s welcome for the defence deal. It is vital. We talk about repairing and improving the country’s infrastructure, and here we are talking about the defence infrastructure. It is a source of many high-skilled, high-paid, good-quality jobs across the whole cou…
Lords
Oral Questions
14 April 2026
Atlantic Undersea Cables: Russian Subsurface Operations
I thank the noble Baroness, who always raises these issues, quite rightly, with respect to another part of the threat to us, which we need to deal with. She asked for the details of the memorandum of understanding signed a few weeks ago, in March. It focused on enhancing maritime co-operation, cyber…
Lords
Oral Questions
26 March 2026
2 contributions
Golders Green Ambulance Attack
My Lords—
We should never glorify terrorism. I know that we have had debate on this in the Crime and Policing Bill, and we are still reflecting on points that the noble Baroness has mentioned. It is important that the Government and every individual citizen make a stand against antisemitism and extremism. We …
Lords
Committee Stage
25 March 2026
3 contributions
Northern Ireland After Brexit (Northern Ireland Scrutiny Committee Report)
I support what the noble Baroness has been saying. There is a problem with democratic deficit but it is perhaps worth reminding ourselves that the leading thrust of the Windsor Framework is not the democratic deficit. It is about the move away from the British Government’s commitment to supporting a…
My Lords, as we just heard, the noble Baroness speaks with great expertise and eloquence, as she has consistently in meetings of our committee, of which she is a valuable member. It is a delight to have madam chair presiding over this meeting, and the fact that it is so well behaved must be a conseq…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
18 March 2026
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I rise to speak to Amendment 418 and to try to explain the rationale for the changes I have made since Committee. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Polak, and the noble Baroness, Lady Ludford, for adding their names in support of the amendment. I declare that I am an officeholder in the APPG fo…
I thank the Minister for the way in which he has communicated with me throughout on this issue of the glorification of terrorism. I also thank, as I said before, the Bill office for the way in which it has engaged with me.
I thank all noble Lords for their engagement on this issue. This has been a …
Lords
Proceedings
3 March 2026
Gibraltar Treaty
It is wonderful to hear the phrase “nothing about Gibraltar without Gibraltar”. How much Northern Ireland would have wished that was the case when we were having negotiations with the European Union; however, that is a matter not for the Minister but for the previous Government, who would have done …
Lords
Oral Questions
3 March 2026
Defence Industrial Strategy 2025: Economic Growth and Job Creation
I do agree. The noble Baroness will know how many jobs in Northern Ireland are dependent on the defence industry—not least Thales, which has seen a £1.6 billion investment. I would have thought that everyone would have welcomed that for the jobs and prosperity it brings.
Lords
Proceedings
26 February 2026
Transnational Repression in the UK (JCHR Report)
My Lords, I want to start by congratulating my noble friend Lord Isaac on his excellent maiden speech, and particularly on what he had to say about education, creative industries and the arts.
I also want to congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Alton, and his committee members for their excellent repo…
Lords
Proceedings
26 February 2026
2 contributions
Diego Garcia and British Indian Ocean Territory
My Lords—
My Lords, I did say the last time we debated this issue, as the Minister probably remembers, that there were consequences to ignoring the voices and the rights of self-determination of the Chagossian people. We now find ourselves in a situation where they have taken matters into their own hands and …
Lords
Oral Questions
25 February 2026
British Military Equipment: Chinese Components
I entirely agree with the noble Baroness on that point. As she knows from previous answers that I have given from this Dispatch Box, the defence industry in the UK generally, and in Northern Ireland specifically, is enjoying a great renaissance; that has a great deal to do with government investment…
Lords
Oral Questions
4 February 2026
Think Tanks: Funding
I knew I was going to get that question. I would like to thank the noble Baroness for the question—I think. She is absolutely right, and I have had several meetings, including with the Election Commissioner for Northern Ireland, about some of the things operating in this space. I will talk to the no…
Lords
Debate
2 February 2026
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords—
I thank the noble Baroness for giving way. Is she aware that, despite the extreme abortion regime that was imposed on Northern Ireland by the other place, there is no telemedicine in Northern Ireland? That is one thing we do not have.
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
29 January 2026
Superintelligent AI
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, for this debate, and I wish we had more time for it. It helps sometimes if someone takes a slightly different view, so I ask noble Lords to forgive me if I deliberately do so, although I line up with what the noble Lord said about moratoriu…
Lords
Debate
27 January 2026
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, as one of the vice-chairs of the APPG on Counter Extremism, I support the noble Lord, Lord Goodman, in these amendments. He has already referenced the Time to Act publication, which was published late last year and deals with a number of statistics that are quite startling and deserve to g…
My Lords, Amendment 450 seeks to amend the current Section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2006. I declare that I am an officeholder in the APPG on Counter Extremism, a member of the APPG on Terrorism and Security and, probably most importantly, a victim of terrorism.
For 20 years this year we have had a cr…
+1 more contribution in this session