Lords
Oral Questions
8 January 2026
Greenland
Any question that starts with “if” is, by definition, a hypothetical—to which I am not in a position to give a concrete response. All I would say is that, clearly, anything that causes dispute between NATO allies would be very pleasing for Vladimir Putin to see, and that is not something that we wan…
Lords
Oral Questions
7 January 2026
Venezuela
The United Kingdom’s support for international law and for human rights is unwavering and has not changed. The actions of the United States are for the United States to explain, and that includes how it sits in relation to international law.
Lords
Oral Questions
6 January 2026
Defence Spending
The noble Lord often raises capability and defence investment in our industry. One of the challenges we faced was the fact that our industries have declined. Much of the ability of defence infrastructure to produce the things that we need has gone, and the Government are trying to do something about…
Lords
Oral Questions
18 December 2025
2 contributions
Lithuania: Balloon Incursions
My Lords—
I agree with the threat that they represent, and the destabilisation and disruption that they cause. We are doing exactly what Lithuania has asked us to do. It has asked us, with NATO, to send a counter-hybrid team to Lithuania to work with it and establish what it needs to do to deal with the threa…
Lords
Oral Questions
11 December 2025
United States: Intelligence Sharing
It is important that the UK independently gathers intelligence. The Five Eyes partners of the UK—Australia, Canada and New Zealand—are critical intelligence-gathering partners. The UK is better and more secure because of that arrangement.
Lords
Oral Questions
10 December 2025
2 contributions
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference 2026
My Lords, what reassurance can the Government give us—
The establishment and existence of the NPT, which involves 191 countries, including all the countries—Russia, China and the United States—that the noble Lord has mentioned, provides a conference and a venue in which much of this can be discussed. All I am saying is that the NPT has been a successful…
Lords
Oral Questions
20 November 2025
President Trump: Nuclear Weapons Statement
We encourage all states to join the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. It has been a huge vehicle by which we have worked together to keep the world safe. This Government accept, as previous Governments have done and as do many Governments across the world, that the nuclear deterrent is part of the s…
Lords
Oral Questions
19 November 2025
Ukraine: UK-USA Discussions
There is no peace without the agreement of the Ukrainians; that is absolutely clear. We support President Trump’s efforts towards peace. It is important that we support all those who are trying to bring this dreadful war to a conclusion. On the issue of Russian assets, we are doing everything we can…
Lords
Oral Questions
13 November 2025
Palestinian Refugees
I thank the noble Lord for that question. In the West Bank, settlement expansion and settler violence has increased; we must not lose sight of the West Bank, where stability is crucial. Israel must exercise restraint, stop settlement expansion, crack down on settler violence and end its financial st…
Lords
Oral Questions
12 November 2025
Caribbean: US Military Action
What I am saying to the noble Lord is a really important point. The lawfulness of the actions of the US is a matter for them. As far as the UK Government are concerned, we act in that region in accordance with international law and the fundamental principles of the UN charter. By doing that, we prot…
Lords
Oral Questions
11 November 2025
2 contributions
British Council
My Lords, the British Council plays an important role in supporting the UK’s soft power and interests around the world through its work in the arts, culture, education and the promotion of the English language. We are providing over £160 million grant in aid to the British Council this year alone, w…
We are helping a lot. We provide about 16% or 17% of the British Council’s funding each year. There is an issue with an outstanding loan which was given as part of a Covid package by the previous Government. Terms for that loan were never agreed, and terms need to be agreed. We have organised an ext…
Lords
Oral Questions
5 November 2025
UK-Norway Defence Agreement: Impact in Scotland
I entirely agree with the noble Lord’s point. This deal is really important, not just economically but for enhancing our strategic and security priorities in the northern flank of NATO—and noble Lords do not need the most junior member of the Front Bench in the House of Lords to tell them how import…
Lords
Proceedings
4 November 2025
Sudan: Protection of Civilians
My Lords, following my noble friend’s question, after the massacre in Rwanda the United Nations adopted the responsibility to protect resolution. It does not seem to have had any meaningful impact. I understand the Minister’s position, but the question is this: what on earth is the practical measure…
Lords
Oral Questions
4 November 2025
Official Development Assistance
The private sector has an enormous role to play, and we have a responsibility to enable that to happen in a far larger way than it has in the past. I am leading an emerging markets and developing economies task force with the City of London; we have big players around the table, including the rating…
Lords
Proceedings
31 October 2025
Ukraine
My Lords, I also congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Barrow, on his insightful and authoritative maiden speech.
As missiles slam into a kindergarten and little children are heard asking their rescuers, “Am I going to die?”, it is almost impossible to fathom the depths of depravity to which the mass m…
Lords
Oral Questions
30 October 2025
El Fasher
I thank the noble Lord for that question. As I said, we too have been urging action for the duration of this conflict, and we are very pleased with the efforts of the Quad. The most important priority, as set out in the Quad statement, is that we must have humanitarian access. The problem is not fun…
Lords
Oral Questions
29 October 2025
Corruption: Low and Middle-income Countries
We are working through the unit, but, importantly, we are also working on prevention. We have a great deal of work taking place, alongside the African Development Bank, to strengthen systems in-country so that countries are able to take measures themselves to deal with this and prevent these kinds o…
Lords
Oral Questions
27 October 2025
Western Sahara Conflict
I could not agree more with what the noble Lord has just said—he is absolutely right. The way that the UK is conducting itself as we move on is with pragmatism and in accordance with the things we have signed up to and the commitments we have made, alongside Morocco. Importantly, we do this with ful…
Lords
Oral Questions
16 October 2025
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
My Lords, I also pay tribute to the noble Baroness, Lady Stuart of Edgbaston, for securing this debate and to all the other fascinating contributions. There seems to have been a concentration, in this corner, from the noble Lord, Lord Bruce, and my noble friends Lord Moynihan and Lord Hannan, of tal…
Lords
Oral Questions
16 October 2025
Starvation as a Weapon of War
My Lords, this has been an excellent, albeit brief, debate. I, too, thank the noble Baroness, Lady Brown of Silvertown, for securing the debate and for her extremely powerful opening remarks. It is worth putting on record my party’s deep-felt relief that a ceasefire has now, hopefully, been reached …
Lords
Oral Questions
11 September 2025
Nepal: Protests
I am grateful to the noble Lord. I did not know of the link between Aberdeen and Nepal, but one of the great things about this job is that I learn something every day. The Westminster Foundation provides great support on a parliament-to-parliament basis to help with resilience, to look at good gover…
Lords
Proceedings
15 May 2025
Sanctions Implementation and Enforcement
My Lords, I very much welcome what the Minister said and I am glad that we have cross-party support for this. I wonder whether I could inject a question relating to some of the comments that have been made by the American Administration about the possibility of easing sanctions against Russia, which…