Lords
Debate
11 March 2026
7 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Doocey, for her amendment. I say at the outset that she has a point: the process by which police and crime commissioners may suspend a chief constable should be looked at.
The noble Baroness has suggested that His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and …
I hope she can recover from that shock. I ask her to look at paragraph 134 of the White Paper, From Local t o National: A New Model f or Policing , which we published on 26 January. It says:
“We will reform the process for the appointment, suspension and dismissal of Chief Constables to introduce g…
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
11 March 2026
4 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
I am grateful to noble Lords for tabling these amendments. I will speak to each in turn.
The noble Lord, Lord Jackson of Peterborough, moved Amendment 385 on behalf of the noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Rolfe. I remind noble Lords about the Government’s winter of action that took place over the Chris…
My Lords, I am especially grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady D’Souza, for moving this amendment on behalf of the noble Lord, Lord Banner. I am also grateful to my noble friend Lady Goudie for speaking in support of the noble Baroness.
As the noble Baroness and my noble friend know, I arranged a m…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
9 March 2026
9 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Doocey, for tabling these amendments and to the noble Lord, Lord Davies, for supporting some of the arguments that I will make in response to them. The noble Lords, Lord Clement-Jones, Lord Strasburger and Lord Pannick, and the noble Baroness, Lady Lawlor, h…
As I have tried to indicate to the noble Lord, we have had a consultation that finished on 12 February, and we intend to respond to it by the summer. Currently, what that response will be is to be formulated, so I will not give him chapter and verse on when and how. However, if legislation is requir…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
9 March 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
A lot has been discussed this evening, and I will try to respond to the amendments as best I can. I welcome the fact that the noble Lord, Lord Walney, has moved his amendment. I had a chance to talk to him earlier online; he has arrived on time, and I am pleased he is here to move it. He has had sup…
Lords
Debate
4 March 2026
16 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I am grateful for the comments of noble Lords and noble Baronesses. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Cash, for her kind comments at the beginning—if I blush, that is the reason why. I appreciate them.
I hope that this debate will be undertaken in a way that respects different views, but t…
We are going to have a whole debate at some point in the next couple of weeks on non-crime hate incidents involving the type of issues that we are debating. I am putting the case for the Government. That is my view, it is what we are saying, and I have had support from people who have been political…
+14 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
4 March 2026
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I am very proud to introduce Amendment 334, as it delivers on a Labour government manifesto commitment by extending the existing statutory framework for aggravated offences under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.
As noble Lords will know, under the existing provision, specified offences ar…
I do not wish to disturb the noble Baroness’s train of thought, but how we frame this debate is important. It is an aggravated offence if the individual has committed an offence that I outlined earlier, such as grievous or actual bodily harm, public order offences, harassment, stalking or criminal d…
Lords
Statutory Instrument
4 March 2026
Immigration and Nationality (Fees) (Amendment) Order 2026
That the draft Regulations laid before the House on 19 January be approved. Considered in Grand Committee on 3 March. Relevant document: 50th Report from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee .
Lords
Committee Stage
3 March 2026
3 contributions
Immigration and Nationality (Fees) (Amendment) Order 2026
My Lords, this fee order sets out the immigration and nationality functions for which a fee is to be charged, and the maxima amounts that can be charged in relation to each of those functions. In the order, we propose a number of changes that will facilitate government policy. Fees charged by the Ho…
My Lords, I thank the Minister for introducing the order. The principle behind the changes that he has just outlined is well-established. Since 2003, under the then Labour Government, successive Administrations have accepted that immigration and nationality fees may be set above administrative costs…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
2 March 2026
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Maclean, for setting out Amendment 307. As she knows, we have discussed this in Committee, we have corresponded and I am grateful for her acknowledgement of that. Amendment 307 seeks to prevent anyone with a conviction for an offence under the Sexu…
I again draw the noble Baroness’s attention to Clause 98, which says:
“A relevant offender must notify a new name to the police … no less than 7 days before using it”.
Again, criminal or not, if people wish to identify in the way in which they identify, I think they are entitled to be allowed to d…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
2 March 2026
9 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, the government amendments in this group are what I will term minor drafting changes designed to clarify the operation of the new offences in Clauses 65 to 67 and 69.
Amendments 199 to 208 and 210 to 229 make minor changes to ensure that the operation of the child sexual abuse image-genera…
I am grateful to the noble Baroness Kidron, for tabling Amendment 209 and for her commitment to doing all we can to prevent online harms. I was struck strongly by the contributions from the noble Baronesses, Lady Benjamin and Lady Bertin, the noble Lords, Lord Pannick and Lord Russell of Liverpool, …
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
26 February 2026
4 contributions
Transnational Repression in the UK (JCHR Report)
I do not seek to delay matters at this time on a Thursday night, but the Minister did say that China was our third-largest trading partner. I wanted to be sure, for the record, so I have just looked it up. We had a £60 billion deficit with China in 2025. Chinese exports to the UK were £77 billion, f…
I do not want to detain the House and I thank the Minister for giving way. He has just said, I think, that he will keep us informed about the proscription issue. This has been said for months and months. Can he please give us some idea of when there might be some actual news?
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
26 February 2026
6 contributions
Electronic Travel Authorisation: Dual Nationals
I am grateful to the noble Lord for his support. As he knows, this position was introduced by the previous Government, and I am very pleased that we have been able to see it through. He asked how we will use this information for important border control. The whole purpose of the system is to have bo…
As the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Gower, rightly said, this scheme has been in planning for three years; it was introduced by the previous Government and we have seen it through. There is always going to be a deadline at some point in any scheme, and the deadline for the introduction of this one was…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
25 February 2026
5 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, the amendments in this group in my name are substantially the same as those that I tabled in Committee. As the House may recall, I withdrew those amendments following concerns expressed by the noble Lord, Lord Davies, but today I am reintroducing them for the House’s consideration. The ame…
I am grateful for the comments from the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Gower. If I may, I will address the points from the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, and thank him for returning to the issue of fixed-penalty notices with his Amendment 177.
We are clear that, in order for the reports on bulk sales …
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
25 February 2026
13 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
It is good to be back, is it not? It feels like we have been away for ages and now here we are again, back for another session of interesting amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill. I am grateful to all noble Lords for tabling them.
As the noble Lord, Lord Cameron of Lochiel, recognised, respect…
The noble Lord has made his point. I am trying to give the defence from the Government’s perspective. That is our view. He has made a reasonable point, but that is our view and I hope he accepts our comments on those issues in good faith.
On Amendment 2, I hope the noble Lord, Lord Cameron of Lochi…
+11 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
12 February 2026
3 contributions
Counter-Extremism Strategy
I am grateful to the Minister. He described it as a “statutory definition of extremism”. I am not encouraging him, but is there an intention to put it into statute?
I hate to stand up again, but I want to put on the record that I made 10 recommendations. Sir William Shawcross had already made 34, and I felt that that was about as much as the system could stand.
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
11 February 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
That the amendments for the Report stage be marshalled and considered in the following order: Clauses 1 and 2, Schedule 1, Clauses 3 to 5, Schedule 2, Clause 6, Schedule 3, Clauses 7 to 18, Schedule 4, Clauses 19 to 56, Schedule 5, Clause 57, Schedules 6 and 7, Clause 58, Schedule 8, Clauses 59 to 7…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 February 2026
10 contributions
Government Website: Registering a Death
My Lords, recently, it took nine days to register my sister’s death, instead of the five stated on the website. The medical examiner’s office and the registrar both told me that, every day, bereaved families are confused and distressed, as they believe that they are breaking the law because they thi…
My Lords, has the Minister seen the article in last week’s Times :
“Death certificates take twice as long after reforms choke system”,
with only one in six being delivered within a fortnight, adding to the costs for the funeral director and to the distress of relatives? What action are the Governm…
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
9 February 2026
10 contributions
Life Sciences: Beagles
My Lords, concern for the welfare of beagles prompted at least some of the opposition to the recent Public Order Act amendment proposals on life sciences establishments. I am not against all animal testing, but I support other methods, particularly in relation to medical research. A human-specific t…
My Lords, I support a reduction in the use of dogs in medical research. However, we have to understand that sometimes dogs are used because they have the same diseases as humans have; for instance, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which is caused by a gene mutation called dystrophin which occurs in both…
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
5 February 2026
12 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I begin by saying how sorry I am that it is the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, moving her proposition and not Lord Wallace of Tankerness, who we will greatly miss. As we all know, he was a staunch advocate for the people of Orkney and Shetland. I served nine years with him in Parliament, as…
My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend Lady Chakrabarti for her amendment. The discussion today has taken me back to my time in Northern Ireland, when I had to see the product of covert intelligence. As Counter-Terrorism Minister in 2009, I had to see the product of that intelligence, so I under…
+10 more contributions in this session
Lords
Statutory Instrument
4 February 2026
3 contributions
Public Order Act 2023 (Interference With Use or Operation of Key National Infrastructure) Regulations 2025
My Lords, I will come on to the SI in detail in a moment, but I begin by reminding the House of a Labour manifesto commitment that is central to this area of work.
The Labour Government have planned to champion robust and world-leading animal welfare standards. On Tuesday 11 November, the Governmen…
My Lords, I thank the Minister for both outlining the statutory instrument and explaining my amendment to decline to approve it. I am going to structure my speech in an unconventional manner, starting with the points that I know the fewest people in this Chamber will agree with, moving backwards thr…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Proceedings
3 February 2026
9 contributions
Police Reform White Paper
My Lords, to go to the heart of the questions from the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, and the noble Baroness, Lady Doocey, this is being done for a purpose. Crime is changing: fraud and online crime are widespread, and sexual abuse, terrorism and a range of national crimes impact policing and the communi…
The noble Baroness has great experience in this area. We have discussed this for many years, in shadow and government form. The Government are cognisant of the fact that the police service must be independent of government, have its own responsibilities, and make its own decisions around issues of a…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
3 February 2026
10 contributions
Shamima Begum
Does my noble friend agree that the situation in northern Syria has become more dangerous recently, especially for those being held in detention camps? Notwithstanding the sub judice position referred to by my noble friend, would it not be right for Shamima Begum, a British-born person educated and …
My Lords—
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
28 January 2026
10 contributions
National Police Service
I thank my noble friend the Minister for his Answer and wish him well with the venture. We know that this is not exactly a new idea. There have been a few versions over the years. What further assurance can he offer that now is the right time to commence this project and see it through to a successf…
My Lords—
+8 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
27 January 2026
5 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
I thank the noble Viscount, Lord Hailsham, for tabling Amendment 449 and my noble friend Lady Chakrabarti for tabling Amendment 454. I will try to answer the points raised on both those amendments.
The amendment from the noble Viscount would require engagement with the Intelligence and Security Com…
The time gap between informing and debate would be for the Security Minister to determine. In most cases, I would expect—without wanting to put a burden on my noble friend Lord Beamish as the chair of the committee—that the chair would probably want to contribute to that debate and would be able to …
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
27 January 2026
7 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
I am grateful for the opportunity to support the public sector equality duty in legislation and to say to the noble Lords, Lord Davies of Gower and Lord Jackson of Peterborough, that there are times when you know before anybody has even spoken that you are not going to agree with the premise of the …
From my high position on my horse, I say to the noble Lord that we will take a different view on that. From the position of a very high horse, I think that the amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Davies, would be damaging to community relations, to community cohesion, and to the police’s ability to …
+5 more contributions in this session