Lords
Debate
3 February 2026
2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I declare my interest as a member of the Knowledge Schools Trust. Amendment 207 would create a statutory duty to keep schools open for in-person attendance in future public health and other civil emergencies for all pupils, not just vulnerable children and children of key workers, unless P…
I thank the Minister for her response, and I thank my noble friends Lord Brady and Lady Spielman for cosponsoring this amendment. I also thank the noble Baroness, Lady Fox of Buckley, for her excellent contribution.
I will make just one point in response to some of the points raised. It is importan…
Lords
Debate
28 January 2026
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I declare an interest as a member of the Knowledge Schools Trust, a multi-academy trust that I co-founded, which now has nine schools in it.
When I tabled this amendment in Committee, there was some confusion as to whether the cap on the number of branded items of school uniform proposed …
Lords
Oral Questions
26 January 2026
ILO Convention 190
Well, I congratulate the noble Lord on getting through that question without mentioning the phrase “banter ban”. I am going to be absolutely clear: employers will not be penalised for failing to anticipate the unforeseeable or take other impractical steps. Employers cannot and are not expected to po…
Lords
Proceedings
22 January 2026
Retail and Hospitality Sector
My Lords, it was a delight to hear the four maiden speeches from the noble Baronesses, Lady Dacres and Lady Shah, and the noble Lords, Lord Forbes and Lord John, who bring really meaningful experience to your Lordships’ House. I want to empathise with the noble Lord, Lord Forbes: I was in exactly th…
Lords
Debate
20 January 2026
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I declare my interest as the director of the Free Speech Union, which has been campaigning against non-crime hate incidents for at least five years.
I thought it might be helpful to begin with a definition of what an NCHI is. The amendment itself says that it is
“any incident or alleged …
I thank the Minister for his gracious response. I particularly thank the noble Lord, Lord Hogan-Howe, for co-sponsoring the amendment and for his excellent contributions to this debate. I thank the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, and the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, for their contr…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
15 January 2026
4 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I support the amendment tabled by my noble friend Lord Moynihan of Chelsea and the noble Baroness, Lady Fox of Buckley. I declare my interest as the director of the Free Speech Union.
The strongest argument for repealing the Malicious Communications Act and Section 127 of the Communicatio…
My Lords, I rise to support the amendment of my noble friend and the noble Baroness, Lady Fox of Buckley. I also declare my interest as a director of the Free Speech Union. I will make three arguments against the statutory hate crime regime, and against embedding the concept of hate crime in British…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
13 January 2026
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I rise to speak to Amendment 370A, which seeks to grant the Secretary of State the power to designate and restrict extreme criminal protest groups—and I declare an interest as the director of the Free Speech Union.
Last Monday, the Free Speech Union was the victim of an attack by a group …
I thank the noble Baroness for that intervention.
The group in question advertises the fact that it breaks the law in order to shut down and silence its political opponents, people with whom it disagrees. It advertises the fact that it engages in criminal activity to advance its point of view, its …
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
15 December 2025
2 contributions
UK Research and Innovation: Ethnic Minorities
Last year, UK Research and Innovation funded around 1,800 training grants to support about 27,000 PhD students. Some research organisations ring-fence a small proportion of UKRI-funded studentships for groups they can demonstrate are underrepresented in order to break to down barriers to opportuniti…
I think the noble Lord may be referring to the scheme run by the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, which is one of the world’s greatest research institutions, with 12 Nobel Prizes to its name. It has rightly taken two posts out of 128 specifically to increase black representation among scientists. Th…
Lords
Proceedings
10 December 2025
Restriction of Jury Trials
Will the Minister condemn the remarks of one of her colleagues in the other place, who smeared defenders of the right to trial by jury as men in suits defending a Magna Carta myth? In fact, the right to trial by jury dates to before Magna Carta, to Henry II, who, I point out, for the benefit of the …
Lords
Oral Questions
19 November 2025
Telegraph Media Group
As I have said previously, it would be inappropriate for me to comment on any live merger case. I agree with all noble Lords who have stated their support for the Telegraph , which is a world-renowned title, with a long and proud history that we want to see continue. The public interest intervention…
Lords
Proceedings
18 November 2025
Independent Football Regulator
My Lords, the Hillsborough law that this Government are introducing will make it a criminal offence for an elected official to mislead the public even if he or she did not intend to do so. Does the Minister agree that, had the Public Office (Accountability) Bill been on the statute books, the Prime …
Lords
Oral Questions
27 October 2025
Non-crime Hate Incidents
Again, I genuinely do not wish to pre-empt the review being undertaken now. The review by the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing will come forward shortly and I expect the interim findings to be published in very short order, but the point that the noble Lord made is a valid…
Lords
Debate
16 October 2025
Crime and Policing Bill
Your Lordships’ House has, over the years, taken a very serious role in defending our free speech, freedom of assembly and right to peaceful protest. Just this afternoon, we have heard powerful speeches from the noble Baronesses, Lady Chakrabarti and Lady Jones, the noble Baroness, Lady Fox—probably…
Lords
Debate
18 September 2025
2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, Amendment 502M would create a statutory duty to keep schools open for in-person attendance in future public health and other civil emergencies, unless Parliament expressly approves any closures and continues to approve them every two weeks.
We await the conclusions of the UK Covid-19 inqu…
I thank my noble friend Lord Brady for an excellent speech in support of Amendment 502M, and the noble Baroness, Lady Boycott, the noble Lord, Lord Storey, and my noble friend Lady Barran for their words of support.
All I will say in reply to the Minister’s thoughtful response is that yes, of cours…
Lords
Oral Questions
17 September 2025
Israel: Royal College of Defence Studies
That is a very important point, and it has been considered, of course. To explain how the Equalities Act as it applies here, we award places at RCDS on the basis of its relationship with the Government and the country; it is not to do with the identity of the individuals who are taking part.
Lords
Oral Questions
15 September 2025
2 contributions
Online Safety Act 2023: Virtual Private Networks
It is the turn of the Conservative Benches. Please make up your minds about which noble Lord will ask a question.
My Lords, the UK has a proud and enduring tradition of free speech, and we remain fully committed to protecting it as a fundamental human right. In respect of the noble Lord’s question, I will have to write to him as to when Ofcom will make the classification. The Online Safety Act is not about cens…
Lords
Debate
14 July 2025
2 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I refer noble Lords to my register of interests. I ask noble Lords, when considering my amendments, to spare a thought for the great British pub. A year ago, the Chancellor promised to “turn the page” for British pubs. As she pulled a pint in the Humble Plumb in Southampton in June 2024, R…
I would just like to clarify that, when I referred noble Lords to my entry in the register of interests, I was referring them specifically to my job as the general-secretary of the Free Speech Union, which has been campaigning on this issue. I thank noble Lords for all their excellent contributions …
Lords
Debate
3 July 2025
2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I declare my interest as a member of the Knowledge Schools Trust. Before I speak to my amendment, I offer my support to all the uniform amendments proposed so far by noble Lords. Schools need a bit more flexibility around uniforms than is allowed for by the Bill.
My amendment, much like A…
As I read it, the clause does not just limit the prohibition to items mandated by the school for every pupil. If those are mandatory for an activity facilitated by the school, I believe this prohibition would still apply. That is my reading of the clause, but perhaps the Minister will correct me on …
Lords
Oral Questions
10 June 2025
Public Order Act 1986: Section 5
I am grateful to the noble Lord. Let me put it this way. If a potential offence—which threats to kill are—is made, the police have a duty to investigate and, if the offence proves to have validity, to take action, to prepare a case, to go to the CPS and to take potential conviction action where the …
Lords
Debate
21 May 2025
3 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, in moving Amendment 101B, which seeks to amend the Equality Act 2010, I will also speak to Amendment 141A, which seeks to amend the Employment Rights Act 1996. I declare my interest as the general secretary of the Free Speech Union.
These amendments would protect job applicants and employ…
I have.
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
19 May 2025
6 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, in moving Amendment 83 I will speak to Amendments 84 to 86 and 88 in this group. I declare my interests as the general secretary of the Free Speech Union and as an employer.
As your Lordships know, Clause 20 amends Section 40 of the Equality Act to make employers liable for the harassment…
My Lords, I thank noble Lords on all sides of the Committee who have contributed to an excellent debate. Just on the final point made by the Minister, the Government’s commitment to academic freedom and free speech and upholding them in universities was not particularly clear at the beginning of the…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
7 May 2025
2 contributions
Sport: Supreme Court Ruling on Sex and Gender
My Lords—
As I have said previously, the Supreme Court judgment provides us with some clarity around the definition of sex within the Equality Act on the basis of biological sex. The priority now is for all of us to go forward, through the Equality and Human Right Commission’s code of practice and through the…
Lords
Debate
1 May 2025
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I too congratulate my noble friend Lord Mohammed, and the noble Lord, Lord Biggar, on their maiden speeches. The noble Lord, Lord O’Donnell, is absolutely right about the child well-being problem, which is why I focus my interventions on the well-being aspects of the Bill, including childr…