Lords
Committee Stage
5 March 2026
3 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Borwick, my noble friend Lord Blunkett and the noble Baroness, Lady Pidgeon, for their amendments on taxi and private hire vehicle national standards, licensing authorities and enforcement powers, and all other noble Lords who have spoken in this debate.
For m…
I can absolutely confirm to the noble Baroness that I will do exactly that. It is a very important subject.
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
25 February 2026
9 contributions
Cyclists: Safety
I thank the Minister for his Answer. The Government have said that they want cycling to be a safe, healthy, green and accessible option for everyone. However, 4,000 cyclists were killed or seriously injured on our roads in 2024. Cycling is nearly 10 times as dangerous as driving. Potholes and poor r…
My Lords, I am a regular cyclist. I suggest that the wearing of helmets and high-vis jackets and, in urban areas, the provision of cycle-only tracks is the most effective way of reducing injuries.
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
24 February 2026
3 contributions
Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill
My Lords, I am grateful for the scrutiny, due diligence and expertise of noble Lords during the debates on this legislation. This Bill is a huge step forward. By unlocking the potential of sustainable aviation fuel production in the UK, we can significantly reduce aviation’s greenhouse gas emissions…
My Lords, before I say a few words, I would like to declare my interest, as listed in the register, as non-executive chair of RVL Aviation. I thank the Minister and the Government for continuing the sustainable aviation fuel regime that we set out, the revenue certainty mechanism and the investment …
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
10 February 2026
9 contributions
Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords for their extensive engagement between Committee and Report. Amendments 1, 2 and 4 in my name will ensure that the Secretary of State can enter into revenue certainty contracts only where the supported SAF is produced at a facility in the United Kingdom. This will p…
I thank the noble Lord, Lord Grayling, for Amendment 5, which we debated in Committee, and for his contribution. I am very grateful to hear from all noble Lords that the amendments that the Government have tabled deal with the issue that was raised in Committee.
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
9 February 2026
9 contributions
Public Transport: Remote Communities
I am grateful to my noble friend for that Answer. Coincidentally, I received a letter last Friday from his colleague, Keir Mather, the Minister for shipping, who gave me much the same answer, but he prayed in aid the £3 bus fare cap which goes around the whole country. He regretted that there was no…
My Lords, there are higher per-passenger costs and of course structural challenges to serve low-density remote areas. Will the Government therefore revise their bus service funding formula to introduce a rural weighting to help authorities provide the public transport that is essential for these com…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
2 February 2026
11 contributions
Nationalised Passenger Rail Services
My Lords, when the figures were published a month ago, cancellations were reported to have risen by around 50% on South Western services in the months following nationalisation in May last year, alongside a marked increase in delay minutes and late arrivals. Clause 18 of the Railways Bill places a d…
My Lords, what progress has been made to address the poor Sunday levels of service and high levels of Sunday cancellations as part of train operator nationalisation? Can the Minister say when passengers can hope to see any improvements in Sunday services?
+9 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
2 February 2026
9 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Moylan, and the noble Baronesses, Lady Jones of Moulsecoomb and Lady Pidgeon, for their amendments on micromobility.
I will begin with Amendments 104A and 105A. The noble Baroness is right that delivery devices such as pavement robots are used—and in the futur…
To answer the noble Baroness’s question, the original pilot e-scooter experiments were started in the days of the previous Government and there were no results. This Government have extended both the number and the length of the pilots, so there will be some results in due course that relate to curr…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
22 January 2026
12 contributions
Number Plates Intended to Defeat Enforcement Cameras
My Lords, will the Minister join me in congratulating Sarah Coombes, the Member of Parliament for West Bromwich, on pursuing this matter in the way that she has? Does he agree that the fact that anyone can apply to be a number plate issuer on a payment of £40 to his department, and that 36,000 peopl…
My Lords, what discussions are the Government having with major online retailers about preventing the sale of illegal number plates, and what is the Government’s assessment of the scale of this problem?
+10 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
21 January 2026
10 contributions
Motorway Speed Cameras
I am grateful to the Minister for that reply. National Highways is clearly doing all it can to remedy the injustice done by the erroneous recording of speeding offences. Is the Minister satisfied that all those involved have now been contacted, with fines repaid and points restored? What about those…
My Lords, will the independent review look at how long the highways agency has known about this defect in its speed cameras? What confidence do the Government have that speed cameras on other roads are not affected?
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
21 January 2026
10 contributions
Great Western Railway: Infrastructure
My Lords, recent months have seen the western region suffer delays and cancellations through infrastructure issues. Signalling failure is partly to blame, but inclement weather frequently causes severe flooding. In particular, Chipping Sodbury tunnel, built in 1902, has been plagued by flooding issu…
My Lords, I declare an interest as chair of the Adaptation Sub-Committee of the Committee on Climate Change. My sub-committee’s recent advice to the Government was that we need to prepare for 2 degrees of warming by 2050. That implies that, in many areas, typical weather will be rather like the extr…
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
19 January 2026
11 contributions
Northern Powerhouse Rail
My Lords, the Statement by my honourable friend the Secretary of State in the other place last Wednesday set out a practical and deliverable set of railway improvements in northern England related to an economic plan for the northern growth corridor across either side of the Pennines. The noble Lord…
The noble Baroness is right that railway improvements, sadly, take a very long time. They take a long time to be delivered safely, unlike in the Victorian era when hundreds of people were killed during their construction, and many of them have to be done on the operating railway, which can tolerate …
+9 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
8 January 2026
9 contributions
Buses: Safety and Security
My Lords, given that there are around 700 Yutong electric buses in operation across our country and that concerns have been raised internationally that these buses can be stopped or made inoperable through remote interference from China, will the Government issue clear guidance for procurement of su…
My Lords, can my noble friend the Minister explain how the roads can be made safer for buses? In the press today, there are reports of two accidents involving school buses and quite a few children injured. Is it not time that we had a system to make the roads safe for buses and for everyone, in the …
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
6 January 2026
7 contributions
Channel Tunnel Infrastructure: Reliability
I am grateful to the Minister for that response. Am I correct in thinking that, when these occurrences happen in and around the Channel Tunnel, it seems to take twice as long to restore services on that part of the line which is the responsibility of HS1 or Getlink as it does on the other side of th…
My Lords, while I welcome the review the Minister has mentioned, given that there is widespread support for increasing competition and international rail travel from the UK to other European destinations, what assurance can the Minister provide to passengers that the infrastructure is capable of run…
+5 more contributions in this session
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 recogn…
Lords
Debate
10 December 2025
10 contributions
Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill
My Lords, I thank noble Lords for this group of amendments. Amendments 1 and 6 would require the Secretary of State to enter into at least one revenue certainty contract with a SAF producer that is using power-to-liquid technology. The Government recognise the potential that power-to-liquid fuel may…
I thank the noble Lord for his intervention. If he is willing, I will take that point away and contemplate it further.
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
25 November 2025
8 contributions
Road Vehicles (Type-Approval) (Amendment) Regulations 2025
I apologise for interrupting the Minister. I am looking at the Explanatory Memorandum for these regulations. Let me just read out paragraph 5.12, which says:
“Type approval authorities of Governments (‘contracting parties’) that sign up to an internationally agreed specification”—
here, it is refe…
My apologies.
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
20 November 2025
3 contributions
Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill
My Lords, I am pleased to present the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill for Second Reading today. I welcome the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chester and congratulate him on his forthcoming maiden speech in your Lordships’ House today. I look forward to hearing his contribution to this important…
My Lords, it is a pleasure to contribute to this debate on the Second Reading of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill. I declare an interest as vice-chair of the Aviation All-Party Parliamentary Group.
I do not intend to make a lengthy speech, but I shall touch on the essential ingredient of the Bill…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
20 November 2025
10 contributions
South Western Railway
I thank the Minister for his reply, and I agree that this has been a disaster for years. However, passenger groups report that since nationalisation, South Western has suffered a 50% increase in cancellations—it is even worse on Monday mornings and Friday afternoons—and delay minutes per hundred mil…
My Lords, I acknowledge that there have been serious infrastructure issues, some natural and some legacy, but that does not take away from the poor service provided on the longer-distance services. When will passengers on South Western services be able to buy a cup of tea on board, and to reserve se…
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
19 November 2025
3 contributions
Merchant Shipping (Marine Equipment) Regulations 2025
My Lords, the purpose of these regulations is to simplify marine equipment legislation by consolidating and combining regulatory changes into one piece of legislation, providing greater clarity for industry. The regulations also bring the standards and requirements for ballast water management syste…
My Lords, as has been set out, this instrument aims to simplify marine equipment regulations and provide clarity for industry. I am grateful for the briefing from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency earlier this week. Conventions require ships to carry safety equipment and counter-pollution equipment…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
19 November 2025
10 contributions
Road Injuries and Deaths
I thank my noble friend the Minister for that helpful Answer. This week sees the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. For me, this is a deeply personal issue. My brother Magnus died exactly a year ago today, having spent four months in Addenbrooke’s Hospital following a crash between a…
My Lords, clearly our thoughts are with the noble Lord, Lord Lennie, and his family, for the sad loss he outlined in his question. As we heard, over 1,600 people die and around 30,000 more are seriously injured on UK roads every year, but this is not inevitable and we should not accept it as inevita…
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
11 November 2025
9 contributions
Airport Expansion
My Lords, the aviation industry will never be environmentally sustainable, and this Government really ought to understand that. At the moment, the 15% of people who take 70% of the flights are protected from paying fuel duty, whereas train travellers are not, and potentially EV drivers as well. Ther…
My Lords, rather than discouraging air travel, surely the aim of the Government should be to encourage sustainable aviation. Can my noble friend the Minister say a little more about what progress we are currently making on the sustainable aviation fuel targets?
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
10 November 2025
3 contributions
Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (Definition of Relevant Land) (Amendment) Order 2025
My Lords, the purpose of this draft order is to extend Schedule 4 to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, which I shall refer to as the POFA to save time. This will ensure that the recovery of unpaid parking charges on railway land is enforced consistently with other private car parks and has the re…
I am pleased to speak in the debate about this amendment order. As the Minister has set out, the order amends the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 to bring land subject to the Railway Byelaws within the definition of relevant land to facilitate the recovery of unpaid car parking charges from the keep…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
30 October 2025
9 contributions
Heathrow Airport: Third Runway
My Lords, Heathrow expansion is an absolutely enormous project, and there has been remarkably little public engagement. Before deciding between the two remaining bidders, will the Government agree that they should engage in public consultation, particularly on the costs that will flow through to pas…
My Lords, given the significant congestion already around Heathrow Airport and the impact on local communities, will the Government be making improved public transport access a condition of any plans for Heathrow expansion, in particular for southern and western rail links?
+7 more contributions in this session