Lords
Proceedings
30 January 2026
Arrangement of Business
My Lords, following the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, we seem to be in the extraordinary position where the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, has now brought forward a series of large new clauses and amendments. On the one hand, he has admitted that the Bill is fundamentally flawe…
Lords
Debate
23 January 2026
9 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I was delighted to hear the noble Baroness, Lady Fox of Buckley, hit every nail on the head of everything that is wrong with the amendment moved by the noble Lord, Lord Birt. I shall speak to the amendments in the names of my noble friends Lord Mackinlay of Richborough and Lord Harper, and…
If I heard the noble Lord correctly, he said that anyone going to A&E gets a navigator. He was challenged by the noble Baroness, Lady O’Loan, but he did not hear her question. She said that she never experienced that in her life and neither have I. If any noble Lord has, I would be grateful to h…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
21 January 2026
Holocaust Memorial Bill
My Lords, while the tributes are flowing, I pay tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Verdirame, who gave one of the best speeches the first time this amendment was discussed, and to the noble Baroness, Lady Deech.
It is truly important to have this discussion and debate, and not just to say that it does…
Lords
Oral Questions
20 January 2026
Atrocity Crimes
My Lords, I welcome this debate, and I too pay tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Alton, and his team for their tireless work that focuses on atrocity prevention and human rights.
The question before us is practical and legal. How do the Government assess the risk of genocide and mass atrocities, and …
Lords
Debate
20 January 2026
6 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I support my noble friend’s Amendment 411, because it brings clarity and accountability to the exceptional power in Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. This is not a call to strengthen police powers; it is a call to describe them accurately, so the public understa…
My Lords, I rise to support my noble friend Lady Neville-Rolfe and her Amendment 416, because it addresses a very real and rapidly accelerating problem on our streets: the use of face coverings by criminals on e-bikes and e-scooters to hide their identity while committing thefts, robberies and drug-…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
16 January 2026
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
I want to speak briefly in firm support of this suite of amendments, because they do not obstruct compassion but restore clarity and protect the vulnerable. As many noble Lords have said, the Bill leaves crucial decisions to discretion and delegated guidance. As my noble friend Lord Deben said, it i…
Lords
Proceedings
16 January 2026
Arrangement of Business
My Lords, I seek clarity from the Chief Whip on when we should adjourn discussion of a group and carry it forward to the next designated day after we have reached the official knocking-off time, shall we say? He will know that on Tuesday last, when we were due to finish at 11 pm, at 10.58 pm the Whi…
Lords
Debate
16 January 2026
Rare Cancers Bill
My Lords, I begin by thanking the honourable Member for Edinburgh South West for first introducing the Bill in the House of Commons, and the noble Baroness, Lady Elliott of Whitburn Bay, for bringing it to the House today.
Although I have campaigned extensively on prostate cancer, which is the most…
Lords
Debate
15 January 2026
4 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I rise to oppose Amendment 379 and support most of Amendment 471, inadequate though it is. My views may not be the same as those of my noble friends on the Front Bench, of course. We all value the right to protest, but rights are not a shield for criminality. The Government and Policing Mi…
My Lords, I had sought to intervene on the noble Lord, Lord Strasburger, before he sat down, but the noble Lord, Lord Hogan-Howe, beat me to it. I want to ask him a simple question but, first, I am sorry that we are on different sides of this—when we served together on the snoopers’ charter Bill, we…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
14 January 2026
Large-scale Waste Crime
We are happy to look at all options for how to move forward, because the situation is unacceptable. On the Environment Agency’s role in waste crime enforcement, the total budget has increased by more than 50%—that is a £5.6 million increase from the previous year—which has allowed the EA to double t…
Lords
Debate
13 January 2026
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I have just one large amendment in this group but I thought I would wait until the end—or what might be close to the end, with a bit of luck—before speaking to it, because it is different from others in the group. I had considered degrouping it, and now wish that I had, to deal with it at …
My Lords, I support Amendments 370B and 370C—
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
13 January 2026
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I stand to oppose the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Moulsecoomb, and to suggest that it is vital that these clauses stand part of the Bill, because protest is strongest when it is open, accountable and proud. A movement that hides its face borrows the language of secrecy; a movement that s…
My Lords, I have a couple of amendments in this group. First, I say to the right reverend Prelate that the peaceful religious processions that he had in mind, such as those at Easter, were not the sort of processions that the chief constable of Greater Manchester Police had in mind when he recently …
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
9 January 2026
4 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, could we please first hear from those noble Lords who have tabled and signed amendments before the rest of us speak? I apologise if the noble Baroness is a signatory, but I did not think she was.
My Lords, this is a self-regulating House, and that does not mean that a Government Whip can regulate who can speak and who cannot. I echo the point made by my noble friend. If the only way one can speak in these debates is to sign amendments, I know what to do in future.
I spoke for five minutes o…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
8 January 2026
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I agree with the noble Lord who has just spoken. I also support the idea of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, that the Bill needs more time for scrutiny than is available through the usual tried and tested Private Member’s Bill process. We have to manage expectations, though, and …
Lords
Oral Questions
8 January 2026
Israel: Trade
My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend Lord Austin both on securing this debate and on his excellent introduction. I must thank from the bottom of my heart my friend, the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra, for his remarks just now, which have almost brought me to tears. I declare my interest as a member…
Lords
Oral Questions
8 January 2026
Environmental Improvement Plan 2025
My Lords, I am quite tight for time. I shall do my best to answer all the many questions, but if there is anything that I do not cover, I will make sure I write to noble Lords with responses. I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Krebs, on securing this debate. I welcome the opportunity to respond and…
Lords
Debate
7 January 2026
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I support the proposed new clause establishing an express statutory right to protest and will speak to my amendments which, I believe, would make that right workable, balanced and fair to all members of the public. I begin by saying that the right to protest is a cornerstone of any free so…
Yes, my Lords, procedurally I have to be the tail-end Charlie here and seek leave to withdraw the amendment. However, I am so pleased that the noble Lord, Lord Marks, was able to get in and do a summing up of his amendment.
As soon as I saw Amendment 369, I thought, “This is too extreme; it is unba…
Lords
Debate
7 January 2026
8 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
In rising to support Amendment 356A in the name of my noble friend, I recognise that the problem will probably be enforcement, and the answer may have to be a lot more British Transport Police routinely patrolling certain trains.
I also want to raise another issue which affects women. The amendment…
Will the Minister take this idea to the British Transport Police? By the time one has done a three-hour journey, one is heartily sick of hearing, for the 20th time, “See it. Say it. Sorted”. Could it possibly intersperse between those announcements something like: “This coach has video recording. We…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
17 December 2025
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I completely agree with all these proposed new clauses, which are long overdue. I congratulate my noble friend Lady Sugg on her excellent exposition and the noble Baroness, Lady Doocey, on her strong support.
I want first to criticise the term “honour-based abuse”, since there is nothing …
Lords
Debate
17 December 2025
9 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, my Amendment 416K supports a targeted, enforceable measure that holds delivery platforms to account where their operational model and oversight failures contribute to dangerous cycling on our streets. This is not about blame for individual riders alone; it is about closing a regulatory gap…
I am sorry, but I am afraid that saying that there is no evidence of causality is just what the Department for Transport wants the Home Office to believe. The evidence is quite clear; there are no better words than from the Mayor of London himself, Sadiq Khan, who said it is a Wild West out there. M…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
15 December 2025
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
Amendments 345 and 398 stand in the name of my noble friend Lord Lucas. As I said earlier, my noble friend is making a good recovery from an operation. Amendment 345 is straightforward. It asks the Secretary of State to give clear national guidance to policing bodies on how to enforce criminal offen…
May I ask for one point of clarification? These alcolocks sound fantastic. Do they have to be fitted by the manufacturers when the car is made, or can they be attached as a gadget afterwards?
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
15 December 2025
4 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I was not going to participate in this debate until I heard about the Scottish case and the Scottish Prison Service admitting that it got it wrong and that it did not carry out what they should have done.
I recall Julia Hartley-Brewer interviewing the SNP Scottish Justice Secretary. The J…
My Lords, my noble friend Lord Lucas is making a good recovery from an operation and has asked me to move or speak to his amendments for him. I suspect that he is watching on parliamentlive.tv to see if I get it right, so I hope the Committee will forgive this awful breach of protocol when I say, “R…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
12 December 2025
2 contributions
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
Before we move to the rest of the debate, could we please give way to those noble Lords who have tabled amendments? I would like to hear what they have to say.
My Lords, I did not speak last Friday, and this is the only group to which I intend to speak today. I could have spoken to the last group, as my former constituency abutted the Scottish border of Dumfries and Galloway and a mere 85 yards across the River Sark was Gretna. I was aware of our glorious …
Lords
Proceedings
11 December 2025
The UK’s Demographic Future
My Lords, I am delighted to take part in this valedictory debate initiated by the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts. He was one of my supporters when I was introduced into your Lordships’ House in 2010, and I have had the privilege of sharing a room with him ever since—although “sharing” ma…