Lords
Proceedings
4 February 2026
China and Japan
My Lords, I thank my noble friend for addressing this important Statement. I draw you Lordships’ House’s attention to my entries in the register of interests, particularly my role as vice-chair of the Nuclear Threat Initiative. Ministers routinely refuse to answer questions in Parliament about nucle…
Lords
Proceedings
29 January 2026
UK Development Partnership Assistance
My Lords, we shall deeply miss the wisdom of the noble Lord, Lord Browne of Ladyton, who has served both Houses with great distinction. He has knowledge in foreign affairs and defence. We have met on numerous occasions, in airports and all over the world. He speaks with such experience, and he will …
Lords
Oral Questions
26 January 2026
2 contributions
Superintelligent AI
My Lords—
My noble friend makes a very good point: our regulators need to be equipped and to have the capabilities, capacity and expertise to regulate a fast-advancing technology. We have put in place many actions and convening powers as part of the AI action plan, to make sure that our regulators have that c…
Lords
Oral Questions
18 December 2025
Lithuania: Balloon Incursions
We are contributing to a whole range of efforts to deter Belarus’s activity, or Belarus acting as a Russian proxy. Lithuania and a number of other states have requested a NATO counter-hybrid support team from us. In the next couple of weeks it will work with Lithuania to assess what is going on ther…
Lords
Oral Questions
25 November 2025
2 contributions
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Democratic Resilience
My Lords, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s democratic resilience matters for regional stability and European security. We are working with international partners to strengthen the rule of law and democratic processes, promote political pluralism and counter malign influences. We condemn attacks on the count…
We are of course aware that other countries have decided to lift their sanctions, and that is a matter for them. For the time being, we are going to keep our sanctions in place. These were taken after careful consideration and we have no plans to lift them at this stage, although, as my noble friend…
Lords
Oral Questions
20 November 2025
President Trump: Nuclear Weapons Statement
As I have said, the nuclear non-proliferation treaty is an essential part of the Government’s policy. We remain committed under that treaty to the aspiration to a nuclear-free world, which may seem a long way off but is our aspiration. All I can say with respect to this is to reiterate the complete …
Lords
Proceedings
13 November 2025
Prisoner Releases in Error
My Lords, I am conscious that release in error is but one of many complex challenges that managing our prison estate throws up. In that context, does my noble friend the Minister have a plan to tackle the scourge of drones coming into our prisons to deliver drugs, phones and weapons, and in so doing…
Lords
Debate
11 November 2025
2 contributions
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, Amendment 59 is in my name and those of the noble Lord, Lord Cashman, and the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, whom I thank for their support. I also thank the noble and learned Lord, Lord Hope of Craighead, and the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Sentamu, again for their support in Commit…
I thank noble Lords who have participated in this short debate. I am particularly grateful to my noble friend Lord Cashman for his contribution to the debate and his continued support on these matters. I thank the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Sentamu, for repeating the points he made when we …
Lords
Oral Questions
5 November 2025
UK-Norway Defence Agreement: Impact in Scotland
I thank my noble friend. He draws our attention to a very important development in the defence world of drones and their procurement. I am sure that my right honourable friend the Secretary of State will be happy to meet Sir John Parker, as he suggests. As was in that review, though, the key to this…
Lords
Debate
4 November 2025
2 contributions
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill
Oh!
My Lords, to pick up on a theme identified by the noble Lord, Lord Browne of Ladyton, and as identified by my honourable friend Tom Tugendhat on 9 September, when he noted in his speech at Second Reading of this Bill in the other place, yes, negotiations were commenced under the last Government. As …
Lords
Oral Questions
22 October 2025
Drink-Drive Limit
I thank my noble friend for that intervention. Of course, enforcement is absolutely necessary. Noble Lords will know that enforcement is a matter for chief police officers, and it is one that they consider very carefully. It is not difficult to agree with my noble friend that rigorous enforcement is…
Lords
Oral Questions
16 October 2025
Starvation as a Weapon of War
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Brown of Silverton, for this debate and I am grateful for all the powerful speeches that have been made, all from perspectives of people who know, care and are involved in this issue. Each one of them has added a different aspect of the dimension, …
Lords
Oral Questions
15 October 2025
Modular Nuclear Programme
The deal that we made with the US is to ensure that we have a global industry in nuclear energy. We are setting up the foundations in this country to ensure that we have the manufacturing jobs, skills set, supply chain and secure investment into the future so that we can benefit from it over the com…
Lords
Oral Questions
16 September 2025
2 contributions
Ethiopia and Eritrea
My Lords, the UK does not support actions by any party that would bring conflict or instability to the region. Alongside partners, we continue to monitor the situation closely, to warn both countries about the risk of inflammatory action and to urge constructive dialogue.
I thank my noble friend for his question and his congratulations; his vast experience and expertise make me feel considerable humility standing here.
We cannot speculate at this time about what position either Government will take in relation to the tensions within Tigray. However, we have been cle…
Lords
Oral Questions
15 September 2025
Plastic Pollution
My noble friend asks an interesting question. According to Defra’s work, we know that cigarette butts are the most-littered item. People do not tend to notice them, because they are very small, but they cause enormous damage through pollution, particularly because of the chemicals that get into wate…
Lords
Oral Questions
11 September 2025
Nepal: Protests
It is an important point. As I have mentioned to the noble Lord previously, the UK is a long-standing partner, and the British embassy in Kathmandu currently forecasts that the entire spend of £46.5 million bilateral overseas aid for this year will be spent. There is a range of programmes within tha…
Lords
Debate
3 September 2025
2 contributions
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
My Lords, I will speak to Amendment 104 in my name and that of my friend the noble Lord, Lord Cashman. In so doing, I would like to take this opportunity to thank my noble friend Lord Dubs, who, in my absence, moved and spoke to amendments in my name. He did so with characteristic thoughtfulness, el…
My Lords, I offer my final remarks with the traditional thanks to all those who have contributed to the debate on Amendment 104. When I saw that I had the overt support of my friend the noble Lord, Lord Cashman, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Hope of Craighead, the noble and right reverend Lord, L…
Lords
Proceedings
16 July 2025
2 contributions
Afghanistan
My Lords—
My Lords, if the reporting is correct, I understand that the date of the super-injunction was 1 September 2023 and that it was granted at the instigation of the then Defence Secretary, Grant Shapps. Eight months later, in debates on the safety of Rwanda Bill, I repeatedly moved an amendment to exclu…
Lords
Oral Questions
3 July 2025
2 contributions
UK–EU Defence and Security Co-operation
My Lords, on 19 May, the UK and the EU agreed a landmark security and defence partnership, delivering on our manifesto pledge to strengthen European security, support growth and reinforce NATO. This partnership marks a renewed era of co-operation on issues such as Ukraine, military mobility and mari…
I will always agree to meet noble Lords, and I will of course meet my noble friend to discuss the particular point that he raises and how he might take forward his proposal with respect to the European leadership forum. Let me add the important point that the UK Government establishing a new securit…
Lords
Proceedings
30 June 2025
UK-Mauritius Agreement on the Chagos Archipelago
I join the tributes to the noble Lord, Lord Boswell, whose chairing of the European Committee I greatly admired, and the tributes to an excellent maiden speech. Like father, like daughter. I also thank the two committees for their advice, but I am going to risk the wrath of the noble Lord, Lord Hann…
Lords
Proceedings
26 June 2025
2 contributions
National Security Strategy
My Lords—
My Lords, my noble friend the Leader will be aware that the National Risk Register , published in January, classifies a future pandemic as the catastrophic risk with the highest likelihood of happening. The defence review identifies engineering biology and new pathogens as a clear and present risk. …
Lords
Oral Questions
17 June 2025
2 contributions
International Vaccine Programmes: Funding
My Lords, the UK has long been a strong supporter of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. We have committed £1.65 billion to the current strategy covering 2021-25, and we have provided over £5 billion since 2000. This has enabled Gavi to vaccinate over 1 billion children and save 18 million lives. The outcom…
My noble friend put that incredibly well. This is about security. I would not call it philanthropy; I would call it a partnership with countries that benefit from the ability of Gavi to vaccinate at scale and with value for money. I point out that countries do not just stay as a recipient of Gavi va…
Lords
Oral Questions
10 June 2025
Corporate Liquidations
I thank the noble Lord for that. Yes, those figures are quite high. It is right that the full force of the law should come down on company directors who are found to be trading insolvently. Basically, there are different forms of liquidation, from creditors’ voluntary liquidation to compulsory liqui…
Lords
Oral Questions
9 June 2025
Cluster Munitions Convention: Article 21
My Lords, it may be that my noble friend has saved me some time, but I repeat that since the CMM came into operation in 2010, we have done exactly that. We have co-operated with states which are not party to the agreement. My noble friend is right.
Lords
Oral Questions
4 June 2025
Denial of Banking Services: UK Defence Sector
I am grateful to my noble friend for his question, and I agree with everything he said. The Government have been clear that no company should ever be denied access to financial services solely on the basis that they work in the defence sector, and the banking sector should never take a blanket appro…