Lords
Debate
11 November 2025
2 contributions
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, taken together, Amendments 65, 77 and 84 from the noble Lords, Lord Davies and Lord Cameron, further amended by the noble Baroness, Lady Maclean of Redditch, in Amendments 65A and 77A, can be seen as another attempt to reinstate certain aims and objectives of the Illegal Migration Act 2023…
My Lords, Amendment 74, tabled by my noble friend Lady Chakrabarti, seeks to remove the requirement that asylum seekers must come directly to the UK to benefit from the defence provided by Article 31 of the refugee convention. Furthermore, it seeks to expand the list of specific offences set out in …
Lords
Debate
10 November 2025
Crime and Policing Bill
I thank all noble Lords for this short but focused debate, particularly the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra, for introducing his amendment. As he has explained, it seeks to allow registered social housing providers to issue a closure notice in relation to an individual flat within a housing block that t…
Lords
Proceedings
10 November 2025
Curriculum and Assessment Review
My Lords, I think it is the turn of the Conservative Benches, but we should have enough time for everybody to get in.
Lords
Debate
5 November 2025
5 contributions
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, if the amendments in this group seem familiar, it is because we have seen their intention before. Taken together, Amendments 35A and 35B from the noble Lords, Lord Davies and Lord Cameron, can be seen as an attempt to reinstate certain aims and objectives of the Illegal Migration Act 2023—…
My Lords, before we move on, I remind noble Lords that the guidance in paragraph 8.82 of the Companion says that Members
“pressing or withdrawing an amendment should normally be brief and need not respond to all the points made during the debate, nor revisit points made when moving the amendment”.
…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
5 November 2025
8 contributions
Online Safety Act 2023: Online Hate and Racism
My Lords, I welcome the progress that is being made. However, given the steep rise in online hate directed at footballers, referees and fans—with reports of online abuse to the anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out doubling this season—what additional action are the Government proposing to take to…
My Lords, does my noble friend the Minister agree that if we are to tackle hate we must tackle the causes of hate? That requires a whole-government—indeed, a whole-nation—response. Given the truth of the African proverb, “A goat that belongs to everybody starves to death”, can he reassure me that th…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Statutory Instrument
30 October 2025
2 contributions
Heather and Grass etc. Burning (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2025
Professor Heinemeyer’s research shows that there is actually a higher water table where controlled burning takes place, which is contrary to what the Minister just said.
My Lords, I am extremely grateful to all noble Lords who have taken part in this debate, bringing their experience and knowledge to make it a very useful debate. It was wonderful to hear about Exmoor. It was very interesting to hear from the noble Earl, Lord Lytton, and my noble friend Lord Shrewsbu…
Lords
Oral Questions
29 October 2025
9 contributions
Water Companies: Private Ownership
As the Minister is struggling to provide information about the social cost of leaving water in private hands, I shall help him a little bit. Analysis suggests that, between 2025 and 2050, customers of privatised water companies will pay over £1 trillion, expressed in 2025 prices. It will probably be…
My Lords, does the Minister regret that average household water bills will rise by £123 a year from this April? Given that so many families already spend more than 3% of their income on water, what can be done to reverse years of shareholder and executive bonuses without improved services and genuin…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
28 October 2025
2 contributions
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who have participated in this short but worthwhile debate. I am particularly grateful to the noble Lords, Lord Davies of Gower and Lord Cameron of Lochiel, for tabling Amendments 3 and 6, and to the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, for speaking to them. These seek…
I remind noble Lords that concluding speeches to press or withdraw an amendment should be brief and should not be subject to intervention. That is a normal courtesy of the House, according to the Companion .
Lords
Oral Questions
28 October 2025
8 contributions
Plant-based Diet
I thank the Minister for that Answer, but I am not quite sure what the Government are doing to arrive at that result. Currently around 62% of UK grain goes to feed livestock. Meat products, for instance, are only 32% of the calories consumed in the UK, but livestock feed and land space make up 85%. …
My Lords, I chaired your Lordships’ inquiry into food, diet and obesity. We recommended that the school food standards, which are 10 years old, should be updated in the light of the latest dietary advice. The Department for Education agreed to that, and this is under way. Can the Minister tell us wh…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
13 October 2025
8 contributions
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, this has been an extensive and wide-ranging debate—certainly for the last day in Committee. None the less, I shall try to address the major points raised in the debate while being brief, given the hour.
Amendment 184, tabled by my noble friend Lady Chakrabarti, seeks to require that legis…
I think we know from our experience of asylum seekers and migration that, generally speaking, one cannot take that almost continuous journey through many countries from a place, as indeed my noble friend Lady Chakrabarti set out in greater detail and with a greater grasp of geography than I can must…
+6 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
13 October 2025
2 contributions
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Coussins, supported by the noble Baroness, Lady Ludford, the noble Lord, Lord Hogan-Howe, and, to an extent, the noble Lords, Lord Harper and Lord German, for raising this matter of both practical importance and human dignity: the provision of translation a…
I thank the noble Lord. Indeed, that was what I was getting at. I am not entirely sure how easy or practical it is to make an assessment of the upgrade to professional services and what the additional cost would be. However, as I said, I will go back and talk to officials to see whether an assessmen…
Lords
Debate
18 September 2025
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
I think we have yet to have a full discussion on Amendment 483, as well as Amendment 483A, so perhaps we could proceed to that discussion.
Lords
Debate
16 September 2025
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I apologise to the noble Baroness for interjecting relatively late into her remarks, but I am reminded that, in the Companion , it is fairly clear that Members should not seek to have their speeches read by other Members of the House. Perhaps she could rephrase her remarks in a way that ma…
Lords
Debate
9 September 2025
2 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I thank the Deputy Chairman of Committees. Just to confirm, we will be going to target this evening, so I urge brevity from everybody in making speeches, so that we can make progress and get through the business.
I apologise. I should have added that it was agreed through the usual channels, with the Front Benches, that that would be an appropriate way to arrange business.
Lords
Committee Stage
9 September 2025
3 contributions
Daesh Crimes: Accountability (JCHR Report)
I am sorry to interrupt the Minister, but he heard what I had to say about the independent chief inspector. As I understand his reports—and I have read both of those just referred to—they are limited to the processes applied by the Home Office, and the more recent one deliberately declared out of sc…
I hate to trouble the Minister again, but I asked a question about the Ljubljana-Hague convention, which is absolutely central to what the committee is talking about. The intention of that convention is to facilitate co-operation between states in investigating and prosecuting the most serious inter…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
8 September 2025
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords for a short but legally quite forensic debate. It was probably almost too forensic for gone 10 pm on a Monday night. I shall do my best to address their concerns.
I shall start by talking a bit about Clause 48 and then move on to the amendments. The Government are …
Lords
Debate
23 July 2025
4 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
As it is quite late and we still have a lot of business to do, it is worth respectfully pointing out not just to the noble Baroness but to other noble Lords that the Companion is pretty clear about the rules of debate on Report. At 8.145 it states:
“On report no member may speak more than once to a…
I am pleased to have a contrast in terms of debate length. It is good to hear from the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Wirral. I will speak to this quite large group of amendments and, for the sake of brevity, try to cover as much ground as I can in time.
On Amendments 180 and 186. We recognise the concer…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Proceedings
23 July 2025
Independent Water Commission
My Lords, we have 16 minutes, and I am sure that we can all get in. Let us hear from these Benches and then the Opposition Benches.
Lords
Oral Questions
23 July 2025
9 contributions
Jobs Market
My Lords, we all regret the current upward trend in unemployment. As the evidence shows, when economic growth returns, only a flexible labour market will deliver that much-needed jobs dividend. What assessment have the Government made of the likely impact of the Employment Rights Bill on the flexibl…
My Lords, concerning changes to the jobs market, changes to the skilled worker visa mean that public sector workers, including prison officers, can now face deportation because the salary threshold has jumped over their wages—which ignores why we wanted them here in the first place. Therefore, will …
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
21 July 2025
Employment Rights Bill
I thank all noble Lords for the short but focused debate we have had on this set of amendments, moved and spoken to by the noble Lord, Lord Sharpe of Epsom. I particularly pay tribute to my fellow GMB member, the noble Lord, Lord Goddard of Stockport.
As I set out in Committee, we believe that curr…
Lords
Debate
21 July 2025
3 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
I think I am right in saying the Companion says that the noble Lord is not allowed to speak twice in the debate as he has not moved the amendment.
I apologise for interrupting the noble Baroness in full flow. She said she was not here for the start of the debate on the group, so it would be a courtesy to the House to leave it at that.
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
16 July 2025
11 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, these government amendments are tabled in the name of my noble friend Lady Jones of Whitchurch. They target the application of the clause to a set of restricted variations, to better focus the measures on unscrupulous “fire and rehire” tactics. We have heard many representations from both …
My Lords, I thought for a minute that concord might break out across the House—it did at least partially, but not quite. However, as the short debate we have had today and the debates we had in Committee have shown—the noble Lord, Lord Goddard of Stockport, identified this—there is wide agreement ac…
+9 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
14 July 2025
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Hogan-Howe, for tabling Amendment 42, which seeks to permit a special constable to request reasonable unpaid time off from their employer to perform their public duty. In so doing, I pay tribute to the noble Lord for his service, as well as to many other noble …
Lords
Proceedings
9 July 2025
NHS 10-Year Plan
My Lords, we are not due to return to the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill until 8.42 pm. The time allocated for Statement repeats is very clear in the Companion : 20 minutes for Front-Benchers and 20 minutes for Back-Benchers. We have now exceeded that allotted time so, as we were not due to …