Lords
Proceedings
14 July 2026
National Crime Agency: Reform Party Funding
My Lords, further to the question from the noble Earl on the Representation of the People Bill, pages 104 to 193 of that Bill are there only because the legislation has not been consolidated. The people who have spent their time preparing all those pages could have spent their time preparing consoli…
Lords
Proceedings
9 July 2026
Foreign Interference in UK Politics
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Lemos, referred to me. In opening, I echo what the noble Lord, Lord Pack, said. I am pleased to see the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, in his seat, since I notified him that I intended to quote him. On 15 July 2022, he said:
“I hope that, when we get a new Prime Minister—
…
Lords
Proceedings
9 July 2026
Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
My Lords, does the Minister not find it slightly embarrassing that she should give the answer that she did to the noble Lord that she knows nothing about a committee formed in the House of Commons in relation to such an important matter?
Lords
Debate
1 July 2026
Draft Conversion Practices Bill
My Lords, I will take the opportunity to repeat what has been said, so that some of my noble friends can recognise that this is a piece of legislation that was to be introduced by a Conservative Government, but they failed to do so. They were repeatedly committed to introducing that legislation. The…
Lords
Debate
24 June 2026
Sporting Events Bill [HL]
My Lords, I welcome the observations made by the noble Lords, Lord Addington and Lord Foster. This follows the line of the issues I raised on Monday concerning the impact assessment and the various impacts on small businesses. This amendment is clearly a probing amendment, but it is intended to esta…
Lords
Proceedings
17 June 2026
Foreign Interference in UK Democratic Processes
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Pack, referred to the Rycroft report, and a series of amendments to the pending legislation on elections were placed very soon after that report was published. May I ask that the Government go somewhat more slowly in relation to the proposed amendments and look at them…
Lords
Statutory Instrument
16 June 2026
Combined Authorities (Mayoral Elections) (Amendment) Order 2026
My Lords, I thank the Minister for her introductory comments, and I shall return to one or two of the points that she made in a moment. It is worth being honest in relation to election changes. In every party, when they make election law changes, they may hide it in one form or another, but, over th…
Lords
Proceedings
8 June 2026
Health-related Benefits Assessments
My Lords, I was interested by the answer the Minister gave to my noble friend in relation to the signed contracts for work being undertaken virtually. Could she clarify whether there is an expiration date, or a time limit in some form or another, for these contracts in order that you can bring peopl…
Lords
Statutory Instrument
21 April 2026
3 contributions
Local Authorities (Changes to Years of Ordinary Elections) (England) (Revocation) Order 2026
Did I? Sorry—2021, serving all the way through to 2027, maybe even to 2028 in practice, and overlapping with unitary councils that are to be established with elections taking place in May 2027.
As I think I have demonstrated through my difficulty in trying to follow all this, these are unnecessaril…
My Lords, I declare my interest as a vice-president of the Local Government Association, and I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Scott of Bybrook, for laying the regret Motion. It is a privilege to stand in for my noble friend Lord Pack, who I know is deeply disappointed that he is not able to be in hi…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
20 April 2026
Business Improvement District Ballots: Digital Voting
I agree with the noble Lord that BIDs bring very significant investment in the areas they operate in. There are now more than 340 BIDs in the UK; cumulatively, they invest more than £169 million each year in local areas. We need to ensure that we are doing our very best to ensure that those BIDs ope…
Lords
Oral Questions
15 April 2026
Zimbabwe: Constitution
Indeed it is. I often find myself agreeing with the noble Lord on this and other matters. The most important thing that will help to transform the lives of the people of Zimbabwe is progress on debt distress, and that is what we are working on through the arrears clearance dialogue in which we are t…
Lords
Oral Questions
16 March 2026
Humanist Weddings
The answer to that is that there is not agreement on all sides as to what this should look like. I mentioned earlier the Law Commission’s report; its conclusions were greeted with some reservation by the humanists and the Church of England, while being widely welcomed by other groups. We absolutely …
Lords
Oral Questions
10 March 2026
Equality Act 2010: Section 106
I think the noble Lord knows full well that we should not judge our ability for representation on one person. He referred to my noble friend the Leader of this House, and I am a protected characteristic as a gay Deputy Leader of this House. It is important to see Section 106 not in terms of the head…
Lords
Oral Questions
4 March 2026
Ballot Secrecy Act: Breaches
I thank the noble Lord for the work he did on the Bill in 2023. Of course, it is completely right that it should receive cross-party support; none of us wants to see corruption or any kind of illegal activity around our democratic processes. He makes a very valid point about the local elections taki…
Lords
Oral Questions
2 March 2026
NHS: Violence Against NHS Staff
That is a terrible thing that the noble Lord reports, and I appreciate him drawing your Lordships’ House’s attention to it. I can only reiterate the unacceptability of growing violence, bullying and harassment towards staff. Our work is to retain, recruit and get the best out of staff—I know this is…
Lords
Oral Questions
23 February 2026
LGBT Veterans Independent Review
The noble Lord makes an important point. The fundamental principle of the scheme that is operating is to ensure that everybody who was affected by the ban between 1967 and 2001 receives the recognition that they deserve. For some, that will be under the financial recognition scheme, whichever part o…
Lords
Oral Questions
12 February 2026
Security of Candidates, MPs and Elections
The secure delivery of local elections in May 2025, with all the support that the noble Lord refers to, was supported by the Defending Democracy Taskforce, which highlighted many strengths of our democracy. However, I understand and take the point that the noble Lord is making about the situation in…
Lords
Oral Questions
12 February 2026
Donations to Political Parties
My Lords, likewise, I should acknowledge the exceptionally impressive timing of this debate, coming just after the Government have published the Representation of the People Bill. It is fair to say, from all we know of the Bill so far—I have not had time to read it yet by any means in full—there is …
Lords
Committee Stage
11 February 2026
3 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, I apologise for not participating at Second Reading and speaking on this occasion, but the circumstances between Second Reading and now have changed very substantially. I intend to concentrate on the amendments relating to delayed elections.
Before I do so, may I make an observation? I sh…
The noble Lord is correct.
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
29 January 2026
Water Companies: Fines
I suggest that the noble Lord has asked an incredibly wide-ranging and sweeping question. I am afraid I simply do not have those figures at my fingertips.
Lords
Debate
23 January 2026
Licensing Hours Extensions Bill
The noble Lord is an expert on election law. There are certain circumstances where that might be illegal, but I fear that he is correct on this one and will gladly take him up on that offer. For those reasons, I commend this Bill to the House.
Lords
Proceedings
21 January 2026
Local Elections: Cancellation
My Lords, on Monday at 5.38 pm, the Minister gave details of letters that had been sent to four councils—Norfolk, Essex, Southampton and Oxford—and said that they were expected to reply by 10 am the next day, indicating their views. The Minister was asked just now about the timetable that is being f…
Lords
Proceedings
20 January 2026
Business Rates: Retail, Hospitality and Leisure
My Lords, as the former chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association, I am only too conscious of the problems that the hospitality industry has faced over a large number of years. I listened to the Minister’s answers from the Peers’ Gallery in the Commons yesterday, and the unwillingnes…
Lords
Oral Questions
5 January 2026
Government Communications: X
And there I was, going to wish the noble Lord a happy new year and thank him for taking me on my first tour of this building. This Government prioritise Statements in your Lordships’ House. The noble Lord will be aware that that is not a government department I actively engage with, but I shall ensu…
Lords
Oral Questions
18 December 2025
Girls: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
I think it is fair to say that I was not expecting that question, but I absolutely acknowledge and accept everything the noble Lord has said. The most important thing, of course, is that we all send our huge congratulations and recognise the contribution these young women are making, but we also hav…