Lords
Proceedings
25 February 2026
Local Government Reorganisation
My Lords, I do not want to add to the embarrassment that the Government must be feeling about the U-turn on the election cancellations, but I am grateful that the Secretary of State is going to look at some of the amendments, including those in my name, that would extend the cancellation to PCCs and…
Lords
Committee Stage
24 February 2026
5 contributions
National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill
My Lords, the noble Lord said that he cannot see the sense in this. Why do we have this incentive in the tax system? The answer is that it is the role of government to incentivise good behaviours, which include saving for your retirement, trying to climb the ladder and trying to do better for yourse…
My Lords, I rise to speak to my Amendments 4A, 4B, 17A and 17B, and the associated review clause, Clause 29A. I will also speak to support Amendment 33 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Leigh of Hurley.
Taken together, these amendments try to address the practical workability of proposals for emp…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
23 February 2026
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, in the opening remarks in this debate, somebody said that there was uncertainty in the fiduciary duty. I can tell noble Lords that there is no uncertainty in the fiduciary duty except from those trying to muddy the waters and sow confusion.
When it comes to investing money, investment man…
Lords
Committee Stage
11 February 2026
6 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, uncharacteristically, I support the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, and the noble Lord, Lord Bassam.
Clause 57 and Schedule 26 should play no part in the Bill because the claim that larger units of local government are more cost-effective has been thoroughly debunked. We will just end up wi…
My Lords, this has been a really important debate because it has emphasised and demonstrated the muddle that is in the Bill: the vacuum that will be created following the local government reorganisation process. How is it that Clause 60 cannot even bring itself to mention the town and parish council…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
10 February 2026
2 contributions
Local Government Finance Act 1988 (Prescription of Non-Domestic Rating Multipliers) (England) Regulations 2026
My Lords, I add my name in support of all the noble Lords who have spoken in favour of the take-note Motion of the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones. I am grateful to him and to the members of the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee for drawing our particular attention to the regulations before th…
I listened carefully to the noble Lord’s remarks and do not think he asked a specific question, which is why I did not give him a specific answer. Of course, the Treasury and MHCLG talk regularly on all matters and will continue to do so.
Lords
Committee Stage
9 February 2026
2 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, some time ago in the teens, from 2015 until about 2022, I was a member of the fire services pension fund, which exposed me to a world that I had had no real previous experience of. I learned that there were 40 fire and rescue authorities in the UK and it astonished me that, of the 40 fire …
My Lords, I am glad that I am following the noble Lord, Lord Bassam, because I could not disagree more with his Amendment 196C. When I was the leader of a district authority, we had control over the business rates, and we were able to get full reliefs to the last pub, shop or community sporting club…
Lords
Debate
4 February 2026
National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill
My Lords, I do not enjoy the same pension expertise as virtually every other speaker tonight; I also do not think, ideologically, that I fit well with the last two speakers, who take a position that is different from mine. However, even I can see that this Bill is another example of the Treasury’s i…
Lords
Committee Stage
3 February 2026
5 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, I will not repeat the long list of government missteps on a global, international stage from those politicians who have interfered with people’s retirements. Safe to say, it represents moral hazard.
There is a mismatch between the long-term investment needs of people who are saving for re…
My Lords, one of the astonishing things about the Bill is that it not only stops choice but puts under statute a connivance between the regulators and that old boys’ club of large operators that run investment money in London.
The effect of this connivance is to weaken returns, increase costs, dama…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
2 February 2026
Women’s State Pension Age Communication: PHSO Report
My Lords, this is not the opportunity to relitigate the rights and wrongs of equalising the retirement age at 65 or even 66. Unusually, this was signalled well in advance. When I started my career in 1990, 36 years ago, our private scheme equalised pension retirement age at 63 and only five years la…
Lords
Committee Stage
29 January 2026
3 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I am not a London councillor, nor am I a vice-president of the Local Government Association, so I suppose I have a bit of an independent view here. I am just a provincial councillor from Norfolk. However, I associate myself with the remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Harris. It is time to hav…
My Lords, I will speak to my opposition to Clause 16 standing part of the Bill. It in no way conflicts with the series of amendments in the name of my noble friend Lord Gascoigne, so ably presented by my noble friend Lady O’Neill. I agree with the thrust of all she said. There is no doubt that, if C…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
27 January 2026
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I support the principle of Amendment 191 in the names of the noble Lord, Lord Bichard, and the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill. I observe that, for the first time, we are bringing local, parish and community councils substantially into scope, for I believe that the definitions provided in A…
Lords
Committee Stage
26 January 2026
4 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, I will speak to Amendment 99 in particular but I generally associate myself with all the amendments in this group, including Amendments 95 and 98 in the names of my noble friends.
As we have heard, there is no conclusive evidence that bigger is best when it comes to investment management.…
The Minister invites me to stand up. The only reason I mentioned the LGPS is because the LGPS funds have been put into pools of £25 billion to £50 billion. We have a real economy experiment of what might happen if these provisions are enacted on the rest of it. The noble Baroness said that there are…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
21 January 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I rise to support my noble friend Lady Barran and to associate myself with Amendment 104 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, whom it is a pleasure to follow.
The Welfare Food Regulations 1996 lay out in astonishing detail the importance of milk to those who were entitled to …
Lords
Committee Stage
19 January 2026
3 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, I first became a pension fund trustee in 1997. The trustees at the time knew that there was a turning point, and it was probably just as well to get someone who might be alive 30 years later at least tutored in the principles of pensions at that moment—so it was clearly a moment in time. H…
I support my noble friend Lady Noakes in her assertion that members’ interests are already taken into account on many trustee boards. In fact, all but the very smallest schemes have procedures and requirements to appoint member-nominated trustees. It is almost so obvious that it is hardly worth sayi…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
14 January 2026
7 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, Clause 6, as your Lordships have just heard, includes the powers to merge funds. It is a slim clause, so I will be briefer than you might expect, but I want to ask the Minister what the circumstances are in which these powers would be used and to what end the Minister would require the com…
My Lords, I knew my love-in with the noble Lord, Lord Davies, could not last, having got on so well with him on our first day in Committee on Monday. I want to come to the defence of my noble friend Lady Stedman-Scott because I do not think that she was talking about a disaster. It is common ground …
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
12 January 2026
7 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, it is always a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Brixton. He reminds me of that old joke about the dinner of actuaries where they are all complaining that everyone is living longer and it is getting worse.
I agree with this purpose clause, although I am surprised that it d…
My Lords, once again, I follow the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Brixton. I wish, perhaps uncharacteristically, to associate myself with many of his comments. I support the thrust of Amendment 2, and offer wider support for the other amendments in this group.
My qualifications to speak on this Bill as…
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
7 January 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I rise briefly to support strongly the comments of my noble friend Lord Blencathra and the principle of the amendment laid by the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones. This is a timely amendment, possibly timelier than the noble Lord anticipated, because today the Government have announced the p…
Lords
Debate
25 November 2025
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
My Lords, I rise to particularly support Amendment 20 in the name of my noble friend Lord Callanan, and, more generally, Amendment 26 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Lilley, who is not in his place, and Amendments 38B and 78. This is an important group because it seeks to remedy the way in which…
Lords
Debate
3 November 2025
5 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I have heard time and again during the passage of this Bill from the Government Front Bench that this is a Bill to streamline the obstacles for anybody who wants to get anything done in this country. That is what Amendment 208 does, and I support it entirely.
Just under two weeks ago in t…
My Lords, I will speak to my Amendment 238. I welcome the broad thrust of empowering and reinvigorating the development corporations contemplated by the Bill. In fact, I think it is the best part of the Bill.
Clause 96 seeks the achievement of sustainable development and the mitigation of and adapt…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
29 October 2025
4 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I have been sitting for the last eight minutes next to my noble friend Lord Lansley, and I am slightly concerned by what he said. He accurately painted a picture that shows that there will be a drift, an expectation and a move by Natural England towards mandation for an EDP. I have been co…
My Lords, on this group of amendments I feel as if I am on my own. I agree absolutely that SUDS, or sustainable urban drainage systems, can play a wonderful role for smaller-style developments—for ones and twos, miles away from the mains in rural areas, they are obviously the way to go and oftentime…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
29 October 2025
6 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I rise to speak to Amendment 131, but before I do, I would like to address comments to the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, because I am persuaded by the comments made by my noble friend Lord Lansley. We are not the elected House, the Government are entitled to bring their legislation through a…
My Lords, my Amendment 134 seeks to ensure that the conservation measures envisaged by the Bill are actually delivered for the liability period. The premise of the Bill is that, for the EDPs, a sum of money is paid for a government-endorsed plan, which will last for 10 years on the understanding tha…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
22 October 2025
3 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I strongly support Amendment 76 in the name of my noble friends on the Front Bench. As I have reminded noble Lords before, I have sat on a planning committee many times, I have appointed such a committee as a leader of a council and chosen the chairman, and I know it is a very important qu…
My Lords, in the last group your Lordships’ House gave a pretty strong steer when it felt that the role of councillors and councils in determining local planning applications locally, based on a plan—not acting capriciously but on balance, with all the material considerations taken into account—was …
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
22 October 2025
International Maritime Organization: Net-Zero Framework
I recognise that the noble Lord has extensive experience. However, I think he must agree that the subject under discussion—last week’s decision to defer—is far from the only thing that the International Maritime Organization does. Some of the things he has listed are, of course, very important. I ha…