Lords
Debate
20 January 2026
3 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords—
My Lords—
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
20 January 2026
7 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Gower, for setting out the case for Amendment 415. He says a week is a long time in politics, but I am going to take him all the way back to the announcement on 26 September from the Prime Minister that the Government were intending to introd…
I am going to try to stay roughly on the topic of the amendment, rather than turn this into a wider debate on the introduction of digital ID, because I am not entirely sure that my briefing will cover all the points that the noble Baroness, Lady Fox, has addressed.
To be absolutely clear, we are no…
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
15 January 2026
7 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I am grateful to all who have contributed to this short but focused and important debate on the amendments tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Leigh of Hurley, which seek to extend the power for police to restrict protests near places of worship to cover faith schools and faith community centre…
I remind the noble Baroness that while she is able to ask questions for clarification, interventions are meant to be brief and I urge some brevity, given the progress we have made in Committee so far this afternoon.
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
14 January 2026
8 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, it is a pleasure to be opening for the Government on the second day of Committee on the Pensions Schemes Bill. Once again, for the sake of the record, I am not sure whether it is otiose but I repeat that I am a former councillor in Camden and, as such, a member of its councillors’ pension …
I am seeking help from my noble friend Lady Sherlock in a helpful conference on the side. The investment assets are in pools, so that is not necessary. The backstop powers are very clear: if there is a need for a merger or we are worried about a failing scheme, there is that backstop power and this …
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
13 January 2026
5 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, this has been a long and wide-ranging debate, and rightly so. The issues that we are discussing in this rather large group of amendments go to the heart of who we are as a nation. I will try to do justice to the sincerely held, if somewhat, at times, diametrically opposed views expressed a…
That is a helpful clarification. Ultimately, there are still the basic safeguard backstops of the CPS decisions to prosecute and police decisions to make arrests. There will always be discretion and flexibility, and one might posit that the CPS would not risk a prosecution where it was clear that th…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
13 January 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
This is a slightly delayed response, but I have just realised that the noble Lord was speaking to Amendment 371AA. I realise that there are a lot of amendments in this group, and there have been some changes in the groupings since the previous day in Committee. Amendment 371AA is in group 6. I apolo…
Lords
Oral Questions
12 January 2026
8 contributions
Independent Water Commission
My Lords, among the recommendations made by Sir Jon Cunliffe were proposals to have mandatory statutory provisions for sustainable drains and the end to the automatic right to connect to main sewers. Given the outage and the water leaks in Kent and Sussex, whereby tens of thousands of homes have bee…
My Lords, given the commitment from the Minister, the noble Baroness, Lady Taylor, on 20 November to publish a White Paper by the end of last year, does the Minister now regret the assurances given to those of us who pressed for urgent legislation to protect chalk streams—protections abandoned at th…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Committee Stage
12 January 2026
13 contributions
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, I am grateful to noble Lords for these amendments in the names of the noble Viscount, Lord Younger, and the noble Baronesses, Lady Stedman-Scott, Lady Bowles of Berkhamsted and Lady Altmann. Before I proceed, as we have had a bout of putting things on the record and making declarations, I …
My Lords, the Government share the noble Viscount’s aim of ensuring that administering authorities can continue to comply with their fiduciary duty to act in LGPS members’ best interests. I assure the Committee that the Government are not seeking to undermine the fiduciary duty of local pension fund…
+11 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
7 January 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, this Government are deeply concerned by the devastating impact online fraud can have on individual victims, both financially and emotionally. I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Vaux of Harrowden, for tabling this amendment, to the noble Lord, Lord Young, and to the noble Baroness, Lady …
Lords
Debate
7 January 2026
4 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Davies, for explaining the purpose of this amendment. He is right to highlight the importance of the issue that it raises. The Met estimates that electronic devices are used in approximately 60% of vehicle theft, so I am glad that we have the opportuni…
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords for speaking in this debate and raising these important issues. Turning first to Amendment 357, moved by the noble Baroness, Lady Doocey, I can confirm that the Government remain committed to the implementation of the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023 and fully …
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
18 December 2025
Pension Schemes Bill
My Lords, I beg to move that the House do now adjourn and, in doing so, wish everyone in the House, and all those working in the House, chag sameach, a very happy Christmas, a restful break and a happy new year.
Lords
Debate
17 December 2025
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I am going to call a halt at this point. This is remembrance of things past. We have an important amendment to discuss today, and we should focus on the amendments.
Lords
Debate
17 December 2025
8 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, these amendments, in their different ways, seek to extend liability for the unlawful actions of cyclists to their employers or contractors. Amendment 346C, moved by the noble Lord, Lord Shinkwin, proposes a review of the new cycling offences provided for in Clause 106 one year after the cl…
To be clear, I was talking about evidence of causality rather than necessarily data on incidents. Let me make some progress, and maybe the noble Lord will be a little mollified by the time I get to the end of my contribution—or maybe not.
The fundamental purpose of the new offence is to—
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
15 December 2025
13 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, Amendment 337 replicates for Northern Ireland the provisions of Clause 105, which apply to England and Wales. Amendments 520, 550, 559 and 561 are consequential to Amendment 337.
Currently, the definition of regulated activity—that is, roles that are subject to the highest level of enhanc…
I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Hampton, for setting out the case for his Amendment 337A. I pay tribute to his advocacy on this issue and on many other related issues as a teacher and—I did not realise this until tonight—as a cricket coach as well. I hope he is doing good work churning out a b…
+11 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
15 December 2025
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, the Minister has gone over time, but in any case the noble Lord needed to be here at the start of the group to be able to intervene during the debate.
Lords
Committee Stage
15 December 2025
4 contributions
Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) (Amendment) Regulations 2025
My Lords, these draft regulations were laid before this House on 3 November. They amend extended producer responsibility for packaging, or PEPR, across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. They represent a major step towards a circular, resource-resilient economy—one where producers take g…
My Lords, I thank the Minister for his introduction to these regulations and also declare that I am a vice-president of the LGA and a past leader of a local authority. I welcome and note this statutory instrument creating an obligation on businesses that supply household packaging and managing the p…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
20 November 2025
2 contributions
Litter on Canal Towpaths
I have forgotten what terms I used on Monday or Wednesday this week. I did not call it fly-tipping. I honestly cannot remember; I could not find it when I was searching for it. It was “criminal waste disposal”, or something like that.
I am happy to join him in that sort of terminology or to call it environmental vandalism, which is a phrase I certainly used when responding to the noble Lord in that debate in the Chamber. We are modernising the code of practice on litter and refuse in England, and refreshing best practice guidance…
Lords
Oral Questions
20 November 2025
3 contributions
Plastic Recycling Targets
Before the noble Lord moves on, I would understand if he wanted to write to me on this, but can he indicate what progress is being made at scale on reusables?
I neglected to say that I should congratulate the Defra officials—that is, the British team, under both the previous Government and this Government—on the superb job they have been doing on the UN treaty. We are regarded as one of the finest advocates for reducing plastic use, and that needs to be p…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
19 November 2025
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
Like the noble Lord, I am not a lawyer and I do not have his fantastic experience in the retail sector as an alternative. But to be clear, as I understand it, we have to draw a line somewhere, so there would be a differentiation in what protection was available under which bits of the Modern Slavery…
Like the noble Lord, I am not a lawyer and I do not have his fantastic experience in the retail sector as an alternative. But to be clear, as I understand it, we have to draw a line somewhere, so there would be a differentiation in what protection was available under which bits of the Modern Slavery…
Lords
Debate
19 November 2025
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
Maybe this should be called the “afternoon of the long knives”.
I am grateful to all noble Lords who have spoken in the debate and thank the noble Lord, Lord Hogan-Howe, and, in his absence, the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, for bringing these amendments. I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Hogan-Howe,…
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Brady of Altrincham, for setting out the case for his Amendments 214A and 438. I am also grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Hoey, and the noble Viscount, Lord Hailsham, who attached their names to Amendment 214A. As the noble Lord, Lord Brady, has ex…
Lords
Debate
17 November 2025
8 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, we are debating again the Crime and Policing Bill—the second day in Committee—which has as its core purpose making our communities safer, protecting victims from harm and ensuring that they secure the justice they deserve, so it is fitting that I echo the words of my noble friend Lord Hans…
I am afraid I will have to write to the noble Viscount, Lord Goschen, with that detail. But I stress that there is no statutory limit on the amount of compensation that may be imposed for an offence committed by an offender aged 18 or over. However, in determining whether to make a compensation orde…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
11 November 2025
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, the asylum interview is an important part of the asylum process for many asylum seekers, because it is one of the main opportunities to provide relevant evidence about why they need international protection. Similarly, for the asylum decision-maker, and indeed for the whole of the Governme…