Lords
Proceedings
14 July 2026
National Crime Agency: Reform Party Funding
My Lords, the National Crime Agency gave evidence to Parliament earlier this year in which it said:
“There are quite a lot of our covert powers … that we can only use if the sentence is three years or over”.
However, many political finance offences do not have a tariff of three years or over. Ther…
Lords
Proceedings
13 July 2026
Civil Service Pensions
My Lords, Capita’s failure to meet its end-of-June deadline following the previous end-of-April missed deadline is obviously extremely disappointing, but this is a story not just of corporate failure, missed KPIs or missed calendar dates but of so many individual cases of heartbreaking distress, esp…
Lords
Proceedings
9 July 2026
Foreign Interference in UK Politics
My Lords, I will resist the temptation to ask the Minister to remind us what consultation the previous Conservative Government carried out with either his party or mine over, for example, changing the electoral system for elections of mayors or expense limits for general elections.
Instead, to go t…
Lords
Proceedings
7 July 2026
British Industry and Services: Public Procurement
My Lords, what progress are the Government making in ensuring that procurement processes for key public services do not result in them being dependent upon digital services which could simply be terminated at the decision or whim of a foreign billionaire or Head of State, who may of course not feel …
Lords
Proceedings
30 June 2026
Civil Service Pension Scheme
When I previously asked the Minister in what circumstances a failure by a supplier could result in its being banned from future contracts, she said
“authorities can now also exclude suppliers who failed to rectify poor performance under a contract with a public authority despite an opportunity to d…
Lords
Proceedings
23 June 2026
Social Media: Use of X by Government Departments
Given the many issues with X, such as its frequent lethargy in reacting to extreme racial abuse or even violent threats, why do the Government continue to repeatedly single out X specifically for promotion above and beyond other social networks in so much of their activity, such as in the official s…
Lords
Proceedings
23 June 2026
DVLA: Staffing Levels
My Lords, it was recently stated in the House of Commons that 34,000 suppliers of number plates are registered with the DVLA. Given the widespread problems with illegal number plates helping people dodge the law, can the Minister tell us how many DVLA staff are allocated to policing compliance by th…
Lords
Proceedings
17 June 2026
Foreign Interference in UK Democratic Processes
Since my Question was submitted, we have had the disturbing news of the convictions of two people apparently with Russian links for arson attacks related to the Prime Minister. The very welcome recent Rycroft review’s remit, however, looked only at financial influence from overseas, so is now not th…
Lords
Proceedings
10 June 2026
Concealed Surveillance Equipment in Government Offices and Vehicles
My Lords, the Minister and the Government have emphasised, understandably, that the camera was not in a location used by Ministers. However, with due respect to Ministers, civil servants can be pretty important as well. Is the Minister able to give us any information about exactly where the camera w…
Lords
Proceedings
9 June 2026
Lord Mandelson Humble Address
In recent days, we have seen various WhatsApp messages passed to the media that were not handed to the Government for publication as part of the humble Address. Obviously, we do not know who passed those messages to the media, but does it not highlight the importance of ensuring that current and for…
Lords
Proceedings
8 June 2026
Royal Mail
My Lords, one of the significant problems faced by Royal Mail staff in trying to reach those targets is the very large number of physical attacks by dogs on postal staff—over 2,000 incidents every year. This problem is, unfortunately, made worse by the very poor design of many letterboxes, which mea…
Lords
Proceedings
3 June 2026
2 contributions
Cabinet Manual: Guidelines for Government Formation
My Lords—
The Rycroft review warned that our fragmented statute book—with redundant provisions left unrepealed, measures passed by Parliament never commenced and consolidation deferred again and again over many decades—poses a genuine practical risk to our democracy and our national security, yet the Cabinet …
Lords
Proceedings
2 June 2026
Lord Mandelson Humble Address: Government Response
My Lords, when discussing such matters we should always start with remembering and honouring the bravery of the women and girls who came forward to tell the truth, revealing the grim reality of the behaviour they and others had been subject to. Their commitment to truth stands in stark contrast, sad…
Lords
Proceedings
1 June 2026
Donations to Political Parties
My Lords, under the Government’s current plans, Donald Trump could split ownership of a UK company between himself and his family members, keeping each individual share below the threshold that would trigger the significant control test in the Representation of the People Bill that is coming our way…
Lords
Proceedings
19 May 2026
Lord Mandelson: Government Response to Humble Address
My Lords, in his comments on the controversy over the release of the documents, the noble Lord, Lord Beamish, also rightly raised concerns about the heavy reliance on WhatsApp for conversations between senior officials and Ministers, and the resultant risks to the audit trail as it is not always cle…
Lords
Proceedings
28 April 2026
Pension Schemes
The Minister may be glad to know that I have a slightly smaller number of questions to ask. Running basic services reliably is at the heart of the Government’s responsibility to us all. Grand promises, fancy manifestos, clever policies or visionary plans about AI mean very little if the basic plumbi…
Lords
Proceedings
28 April 2026
Lord Mandelson Humble Address: Government Response Update
My Lords, at the heart of this issue is the bravery of the women and girls who spoke up to reveal the truth about Jeffrey Epstein. Following his evil and criminal behaviour, there have been multiple failures of our political systems—failures that are now rightly seeing the end of various political c…
Lords
Oral Questions
28 April 2026
2 contributions
Rail Safety Recommendations: Backlog
My Lords, it is for the Rail Accident Investigation Branch and the Office of Rail and Road to monitor recommendations. We are aware of 117 outstanding recommendations of the more than 1,800 made since RAIB was formed. The vast majority of RAIB recommendations are closed within five years. However, s…
We can certainly look into the response that the noble Lord has received. Obviously, we all know, sadly, that accidents happen on the railways, despite Great Britain having one of the safest railways in Europe. It is down to RAIB to identify what happened and issue recommendations that aim to avoid …
Lords
Debate
13 April 2026
4 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, the Bill proposes to replace first past the post for some of our elections with the supplementary vote, which is a step forward, but it is not a great step forward, which is why I propose Amendment 217, along with the consequential Amendments 226 to 241, to replace the supplementary vote w…
I thank noble Lords for this short but succinct and apposite debate. As several have said, this is a long-running topic of discussion that I am sure we will return to on occasions in the future. I will not rehearse all the arguments, but given that reference was made to whether the supplementary vot…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
16 March 2026
UK Public Servants: International Secondments
The noble Lord raises an interesting point. Every member of the Civil Service is subject to the Civil Service Code, regardless of seniority, and we expect them to be held accountable and to treat all staff with appropriate levels of respect. Obviously, Ministers are subject to the Ministerial Code. …
Lords
Debate
11 March 2026
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I wish to speak on a slightly different topic: my Amendment 409FA. I have tabled it because we face a three-pronged crisis. First, there is the growing evidence of foreign interference from Governments and individuals seeking to subvert our democracy. The case of the former Reform UK leade…
Lords
Committee Stage
5 March 2026
3 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I have one amendment on its own in splendid isolation in this group. It is, as I hope noble Lords will agree, on an important topic: the use of social media in local government. This is an important topic for several reasons. One is that social media is so central to how local government a…
I thank both noble Baronesses for their comments on my amendment. Although I do not agree fully with them all, I welcome the recognition of the importance of social media for local government and the importance of getting it right. Reflecting the views that I have heard in this debate, I beg leave t…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Proceedings
25 February 2026
Local Government Reorganisation
My Lords, here we are again with a topic we have discussed and debated in different forms several times. I will do my best not to simply repeat the points made previously, particularly as it seems like each time we return to this topic, it is messier and more expensive. Although the outcome in the e…
Lords
Oral Questions
12 February 2026
Donations to Political Parties
My Lords, I welcome this debate on donations to political parties. It is right that we examine how our political system is funded and that we do so with seriousness and transparency. I welcome the Government’s announcement today on the Representation of the People Bill and, in particular, measures t…