Lords
Debate
7 July 2026
Railways Bill
My Lords, like the noble Baroness, Lady Grey-Thompson, I am going to start with a personal anecdote, but it will not be either as moving or as consequential as the ones we have heard from her today. I pay tribute to her campaigning work on this issue; I am sure that sentiment is shared by other Memb…
Lords
Proceedings
16 June 2026
Social Media Ban for Under-16s
My Lords, I also welcome the Government’s Statement, their commitment to cross-party working on this and their recognition of the importance of enforcement. I have a question about enforcement. The Statement indicates that Ofcom’s chair and CEO have been asked to carry out an urgent review of its en…
Lords
Proceedings
9 June 2026
British Council
My Lords, I declare my interest as deputy chair of the British Council. On current plans, it is likely that this Covid-era loan will be paid down for the next 15 years plus. Can my noble friend the Minister say why the Government have not accepted the British Council’s offer of using its art collect…
Lords
Committee Stage
4 June 2026
AI Regulation Bill
My Lords, I too thank the noble Lord, Lord Holmes, for securing this debate. I will echo some of his themes.
Cross-sectoral regulation will come. The question is simply: when? This week, the Trump Administration issued an executive order compelling new AI frontier models to be submitted for review.…
Lords
Oral Questions
26 March 2026
2 contributions
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan
My Lords, I thank noble Lords for their participation in this debate. It is my first QSD debate so I will be looking to the Deputy Chairman of Committees—I assume that we do not make reference to the Woolsack—to correct me if I make a procedural faux pas. I can promise that there will be no cricketi…
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Alexander, for introducing this debate and the manner in which she did so. The sentiments she has expressed and the calls she has made are things with which everyone participating in this debate will align.
In the words of the Quaid-I-Azam, Muhammed Ali Ji…
Lords
Debate
12 March 2026
Industry and Exports (Financial Assistance) Bill
My Lords, the Minister called for wisdom and expertise. It is a great pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Alexander, who displayed both of those, but I am afraid the Minister now has me.
The Minister set the scene in his admirably concise introduction, but I want to look at some of the numb…
Lords
Oral Questions
25 February 2026
2 contributions
Imran Khan: Imprisonment
My Lords, while Pakistan’s judicial processes are, of course, a matter for Pakistan, we are clear that the Pakistani authorities need to respect fundamental freedoms, including the rights to a fair trial, due process, humane detention and access to appropriate medical treatment. This applies to Imra…
I thank my noble friend for that question. Obviously, there is an important difference between the cases of Jimmy Lai and Imran Khan, because Jimmy Lai is British. We have specific responsibilities and obligations towards our citizens that, whatever else we might think about these cases, do not appl…
Lords
Proceedings
29 January 2026
UK Development Partnership Assistance
My Lords, with the world we live in defined by geopolitical competition, protracted conflicts and crises, and shrinking civic space, the United Kingdom’s development partnership assistance remains one of our most powerful assets. I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Featherstone, for giving us …
Lords
Proceedings
26 January 2026
Chinese Embassy
My Lords, the events of last week and this week demonstrate to us the difficulties of managing superpowers and the challenges they present, as well as the opportunities. So, while the noble Baroness, Lady Finn, is right to suggest that China presents areas where we must oppose, there must also be ar…
Lords
Oral Questions
12 January 2026
2 contributions
Defending Democracy Taskforce
The taskforce is driving forward a whole-of-government response to the threats to our democratic institutions. Recent progress includes developing new legislation to address the abhorrent harassment and intimidation experienced by elected representatives, the provision of personal cyber security adv…
My noble friend makes some valuable points. The Security Minister, the honourable Dan Jarvis, has already announced in November that he is co-ordinating a cross-government, counterpolitical interference and espionage action plan, which will report back to Parliament, in due course, from Ministers ac…
Lords
Oral Questions
26 November 2025
2 contributions
Visas: Highly Skilled People
The Government have published assessments estimating the impact of high-skilled migrants on the UK economy when changes to the Immigration Rules have been made. Skilled workers are estimated to be net contributors to the economy, particularly those in higher-skilled occupations.
I thank my noble friend for that question. She is asking about the partners of highly skilled people being required to earn settlement in their own right, as part of plans announced by the Home Secretary last week. As my noble friend referred to, those plans are currently subject to a public consult…
Lords
Proceedings
24 November 2025
ExxonMobil: Mossmorran
My Lords, I refer noble Lords to my registered interests. I welcome the Minister’s statement, in response to the noble Lord, Lord Fox, about the establishment of a task force, which has happened since the Statement was made in the other place. I declare an interest as a former Industry Minister in S…
Lords
Oral Questions
11 November 2025
British Council
There is no lack of will to get this resolved. We need to see modernisation at the British Council; it is working hard at this and deserves credit for that. As the noble Baroness says, it is incredibly well-networked internationally, but I have to say that its network inside this House is equally im…
Lords
Oral Questions
28 October 2025
Plant-based Diet
I thank my noble friend for that question. The Eatwell Guide , the UK’s dietary guidelines and, indeed, the EAT- Lancet diet have shared principles and a shared understanding of what makes a healthy diet. We have not undertaken a formal assessment of the EAT- Lancet diet compared with the Eatwell Gu…
Lords
Proceedings
22 October 2025
Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy
My Lords, I too welcome the Statement. I want to probe the issue of franchising in the higher education sector. I am delighted to see the Government take action, but, as the Minister will be aware, there is some anxiety that, by requiring only the largest providers to register, we may miss some of t…
Lords
Debate
19 September 2025
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, like the noble Baroness, I welcome the important development since our debate last Friday of the new Motion from the noble Baroness, Lady Berger, and the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer. It is very important that we take every opportunity to scrutinise the Bill and consider the issue…
Lords
Debate
16 September 2025
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I rise to speak on this group of amendments with some trepidation, not just because it is incredibly late but because, as my accent suggests, I come from Scotland. This an England and Wales only Bill, and a Scot speaking on education, given our recent performance, may seem a little unusual…
Lords
Oral Questions
11 September 2025
2 contributions
Global Plastic Pollution Treaty
My Lords, the UK is a founding member of the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution and a strong proponent for an ambitious global treaty. At the negotiations in August, the UK worked closely with our partners to push for strong global measures, effective measures of implementation and the…
On the first part of the question, the INC has been adjourned; it will be resumed at a later date, at a time to be agreed. We remain steadfast in our commitment. We think that it is important to work with all countries if we are to make the kind of progress that we need in order to make a real diffe…
Lords
Proceedings
1 September 2025
Middle East
My Lords, I would like to follow the remark just made by my noble friend about the lessons from southern Africa; I would not presume to be any more expert than he is on that matter. Of course there was a place for promoting reconciliation and dialogue, but there was also a place for sanctions agains…
Lords
Proceedings
21 July 2025
State of Climate and Nature
My Lords, the debate we have had on the Statement illustrates the value of maintaining the cross-party consensus that we have had on this subject to date. I was going to ask my noble friend the question that the Opposition have asked about maintaining public engagement in this debate, so I invite he…
Lords
Oral Questions
15 July 2025
United Kingdom: Soft Power
I reassure my noble friend that we are working with the British Council on a plan to return it to financial sustainability. We are committed to a successful British Council that is financially stable, and our funding is over £160 million in 2025-26. FCDO officials are working closely with the Britis…
Lords
Oral Questions
7 July 2025
2 contributions
Unpaid Tax
My Lords, the tax gap is estimated to be 5.3% of total theoretical tax liabilities. At the Budget last year, the Chancellor announced the most ambitious package ever to close the tax gap. The Government then built on this at the Spring Statement, setting out plans to make it easier for taxpayers to …
I am grateful to my noble friend for her question. As part of the action we are taking to close the tax gap, HMRC is recruiting an additional 5,500 compliance officers by the end of the Parliament; 400 of them will work specifically on wealthy offshore risks. HMRC has also created a new team focused…
Lords
Oral Questions
20 May 2025
2 contributions
Healthy Life Expectancy
My Lords, it is unacceptable that who you are or where you live can impact healthy life expectancy. Reversing the decline in healthy life expectancy is a core part of this Government’s health mission. There is a long way to go but we are making good progress—exceeding our pledge to deliver an extra …
My noble friend raises an extremely important point about inequality. The Health Foundation report focusing on the 2010s shines a light on the need to drive action, which we are doing across government through our missions, with a very ambitious goal and the right approach of halving the gap in heal…
Lords
Debate
15 May 2025
Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness. I hope I match some of her enthusiasm, but she may be disappointed.
I begin by drawing attention to my practice at the Bar, which includes acting for and against the Serious Fraud Office. It additionally involves advising on civil fraud matte…