Lords
Debate
22 June 2026
Sporting Events Bill [HL]
My Lords, the premise behind this Bill is that we need to help the organisers of the really big events put on a really good show and ensure that the country itself sweeps away those showstoppers. It recognises that putting on these events requires a national effort. My amendment seeks to ensure that…
Lords
Debate
15 June 2026
Social Housing Bill [HL]
My Lords, I rise to speak in support of my noble friend Lady Coffey and to make the simple point that while the Government seem to be trying to reduce right to buy’s ability to give people an astonishingly important way to invest for their retirements, buy a stake in society, provide security for th…
Lords
Proceedings
11 June 2026
Rural Economy
My Lords, I spent yesterday standing in a field in that new spiritual home of British agriculture, Diddly Squat Farm in Oxfordshire, for the cereals trade show. Nearly 20,000 farmers, growers, advisers, machinery dealers, drone flyers and, yes—by way of declaration of interest—fertiliser suppliers s…
Lords
Proceedings
1 June 2026
Donations to Political Parties
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Sikka, suggested that those seeking to influence policy through donations are guilty of some sort of corruption. Does the Minister agree that that is an incorrect characterisation and that the law should apply equally, not just to private individuals and businesses but…
Lords
Statutory Instrument
27 April 2026
Agriculture (Delinked Payments) (Reductions) (England) Regulations 2026
Sorry, I was so fascinated—I was pondering the thought.
I thank the Minister for setting out with such clarity this statutory instrument and the noble Lord, Lord Roborough, for bringing forward his regret amendment, which has created an opportunity for a much broader-ranging and, I think we can agr…
Lords
Committee Stage
27 April 2026
Warm Home Discount (Scotland) Regulations 2026
As I was just saying to the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, moving the deckchairs depends on the fact that the ship is not sinking. Of course, this ship is not sinking. That is why we have been able to double the eligibility for people to take part in the scheme and are further doubling down on energy pr…
Lords
Committee Stage
27 April 2026
2 contributions
First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) Fees (Amendment) Order 2026
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for introducing this order. It forms part of a wider programme of reform to the Property Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal following the passage of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025. We recognise the Government’s objective: to move towards a more sustainable syste…
My Lords, no full impact assessment was done in relation to this because it does not reach the required threshold for one. However, some assessments have been made, including looking at 250 types of applications to see whereabouts to fix the fees to try to make the greatest contribution while balanc…
Lords
Debate
23 April 2026
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I will speak to my Motion E1. It has been a very helpful debate. Indeed, each time we have debated this issue it has been very helpful.
At the end of it, the issue is a simple one: are local people, who actually pay the bills, going to be trusted to make their own decisions about the gove…
Lords
Oral Questions
23 April 2026
Sustainable Farming Incentive: Flood Prevention and Drought Resilience
The most important things we can do to move forward on farm profitability and to support farms are, first, to listen to them and, secondly, to look at what the noble Baroness, Lady Batters, says in her report. It is an extremely impressive, comprehensive report on how we improve farm profitability. …
Lords
Proceedings
22 April 2026
British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme
My Lords, in a survey of its members, which produce the essential chemicals that drive our manufacturing economy, the Chemical Industries Association reports that those members are suffering from increased energy costs and raw material costs, that output is down and that whole branches of the indust…
Lords
Oral Questions
22 April 2026
2 contributions
Clean Power 2030 Action Plan: Rural Communities
My Lords, it gives me great pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Fuller, in discussing these various means of producing energy and transmitting it and whether it is best to do it in the sea, agriculture or somewhere else. Then, of course, we have this debate about whether we should have pylons or…
The noble Lord says I am selectively quoting. I am sorry to disagree with him, but I am not selectively quoting; I am quoting. That is what the land use framework says on the best estimates for the land that is being taken. In addition to that, he and other noble Lords will be aware that, in the gui…
Lords
Debate
13 April 2026
8 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Is the Minister winding? A number of us wish to get in as part of the debate. I would hate to cut her off, but I think there are some contributions to be made.
My Lords, I rise to speak in the strongest possible support of the amendments tabled by my noble friends on the Front Bench. I would like to make two introductory remarks.
First, I was the leader of a council for 20 years and had a ringside seat for LGR in my own area and as part of my chairmanship…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
26 March 2026
2 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
I will speak briefly to this group, and I am grateful to the Minister for engaging with me on the narrow point. These three amendments, which are mostly the same, are supportive of what the Government are trying to achieve.
In Clause 42, there is a requirement for mayors to co-operate with the LGPS…
My Lords, I think I laid out that relationships should be close but not cosy between the mayor and the funds. I accept the reciprocity between this Bill and the Pension Schemes Bill, which we debated earlier. I accept the Minister’s assurance and, on that basis, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.
Lords
Proceedings
26 March 2026
Middle East: Economic Update
My Lords, I am a 40-year veteran of the fertiliser industry, and two weeks ago I raised for the first time the prospect of shortages of ammonia causing a fertiliser-led food security shock in this country. Last week, I highlighted the effects of the Iran war on our foundational chemical industries b…
Lords
Debate
25 March 2026
National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill
My Lords, I am afraid that I am not satisfied with the Minister’s response, particularly on the question of the behavioural assessments that we have had. They are really not fit for purpose. I give notice that will I seek to test the opinion of the House on Motion A1 and, if successful, on further M…
Lords
Committee Stage
23 March 2026
2 contributions
Non-Domestic Rating (Rates Retention and Levy and Safety Net: Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2026
I was mid-flow. I was making the case that, in the early days of business rates retention and pooling, there was an exceptionally compelling case to co-operate. Even if we gave away a little of our own growth as a local authority—I was the leader—the pot was large enough that we did not lose out. Ho…
My Lords, first, I draw the Committee’s attention to my interest as a councillor in central Bedfordshire. I thank the Minister for introducing these regulations. I agree with the two previous speakers that it is positive that there is a three-year settlement.
This instrument forms part of a wider s…
Lords
Debate
19 March 2026
3 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, once again, we have another policy designed by civil servants sipping lattés in that rather agreeable ground-floor coffee shop at 1 Horse Guards Road, safe in the knowledge that that regular monthly salary, their generous taxpayer-funded pension and their ability to work from home a couple…
My Lords, those people who have done the right thing and saved for retirement have made a bargain with the state: in exchange for a little help on the way in, the state will be relied on a little less on the way out—that is the deal. The responsibility for finding people to look after your money lie…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
19 March 2026
2 contributions
UK Energy Sources and Cost of Energy
My Lords—
The noble Lord will know that we have recently engaged in an extensive conversation in corridors about the question of ammonia in the UK economy. This is related to the energy crisis, in as much as we do not have ammonia manufacturing sites in the UK and the manufacture of ammonia is highly energy d…
Lords
Committee Stage
17 March 2026
2 contributions
Electricity Supplier Payments (Amendment) Regulations 2026
This is not a debate. This is an SI about the mechanism for contracts for difference. It is not a debate on energy policy.
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow my noble friend and to have the opportunity to speak to this statutory instrument. I support and welcome the update levies to fund operational costs of low carbon and nuclear energy schemes. However, it is the wider context that is my concern: the continued high …
Lords
Debate
16 March 2026
3 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, it is a pleasure to open Report on the Pension Schemes Bill. As we start, we should be clear that the Bill’s success will be measured on the extent to which it makes it easier for people to take personal responsibility and save for their future, and make their savings secure, while permitt…
My Lords, it has been an interesting debate. The LGPS is special. It is the closest thing, as a number of noble Lords have said, to having a sovereign wealth fund in our islands, and I am unconvinced by the points made by the noble Lord, Lord Katz. He has misunderstood what local investments are. I …
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
9 March 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, as the leader of the local authority, I had to address a public meeting in Wymondham in Norfolk at least 10 years ago, I cannot quite remember. It was about providing accommodation in the local plan for Gypsies and Travellers. I see here in the Chamber this evening at least four former cou…
Lords
Proceedings
9 March 2026
Energy Markets
My Lords, this is the week in which the well-meaning but naive approach to net zero finally hit the buffers. It is not just oil—I should know, as a 40-year veteran of the fertiliser industry—it is the gas that produces ammonia and the CO 2 that drives our economy forward. There is no domestic produc…
Lords
Debate
5 March 2026
4 contributions
National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill
My Lords, I support Amendments 5 and 21 tabled by my noble friend Lord Leigh of Hurley, which rightly shine a light on the way in which this policy particularly benights graduates who are starting out in their careers. The Government have perpetrated the lie that the restrictions on salary sacrifice…
I think what the noble Baroness has just explained is that for those people with the greatest earnings potential, which our nation needs, there is an arbitrary cap on aspiration. There is a point which is just not worth going past. That is not just damaging for them, their families and their futures…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
4 March 2026
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I will speak against Amendment 367. I have the gravest concerns about it. I am not going to echo everything my noble friend Lady Coffey said, but it amounts to a hackers’ charter. I take security and IT security very seriously. I am responsible for IT security in my business. We are in a s…
My Lords, I will speak briefly to Amendment 368 in support of my noble friend Lord Jackson, because losing your phone is not just inconvenient. When your device is stolen, a crime has been committed, and operators have a responsibility to take a much more leading role in disincentivising the opportu…
Lords
Oral Questions
4 March 2026
Local Government Reorganisation
Proposals have come from all areas, which have put their own proposals forward; they have worked on them locally. In the areas that we are considering, we have a number of different proposals, but they have focused absolutely on making sure that there is proper representation for people in the new c…