Lords
Proceedings
9 July 2026
Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
My Lords, commitment is not enough. There is a mood going around the capitals of the world that Ukraine would be in much better shape today if it had kept its nuclear weapons. This has led a number of other countries to say that they want to be in on the NPT existing nuclear power list as well. This…
Lords
Proceedings
6 July 2026
International Marine Protected Area: Sargasso Sea
My Lords, I know that we have signed the global ocean treaty, but have we ratified it yet? Does the Minister think that the Commonwealth, which is increasingly involved in maritime affairs, with 33 island states, has an important role to play and could it make it work still better?
Lords
Proceedings
1 July 2026
Defence Investment Plan
My Lords, I welcome part of this plan—it obviously has some holes in it, as we have already heard. I also welcome, as I do every time I hear the Minister speak, a great deal of his comments and his profound thinking. However, I wonder today whether the brief he has been given really tells the whole …
Lords
Proceedings
25 June 2026
Democratic Institutions: Threats
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Wallace of Saltaire, on initiating this debate and bringing out into the open so many issues that we ought to discuss much more than we do. I will fill my seven minutes or less with one observation and one question to the Minister.
My observation is thi…
Lords
Proceedings
16 June 2026
Defence Investment Plan
My Lords, might not the Government find it a bit easier to deal with their problems explaining defence spending if they distinguished much more clearly between the overall defence of the nation—where the budget spreads across many departments and takes a variety of new forms that change all the time…
Lords
Proceedings
8 June 2026
Russian Attacks on Civilian Infrastructure
My Lords, given the completely new structure and formation of the modern battlefield and the way war is being conducted, which is changing very quickly indeed, does the Minister or her colleague, the noble Lord, Lord Coaker, who was answering questions earlier—excellently—on defence and warfare, thi…
Lords
Proceedings
8 June 2026
Lebanon: Israel Defense Forces Operations
My Lords, is it not an idea to offer some rather candid advice to our Israeli friends about the inner nature of Lebanon and the vast distinction between the Hezbollah structure—which is like a poisonous spider, poisoning every aspect of Lebanese affairs, including its politics—and the good people of…
Lords
Proceedings
4 June 2026
Military in the Gulf
My Lords, does the Minister agree that the real need in this area is for a far more effective maritime tracking system than we have today, for legal and illegal shipping, and for underwater and surface shipping? Armed in this way, something such as the Commonwealth, with a fantastic network of 34 is…
Lords
Proceedings
1 June 2026
Middle East: Economic Response
My Lords, the Minister will remember—at least I think he will remember—that, after 1945, the best brains of Britain, America and some other countries got together to rebuild the entire financial stability and structure of international institutions on the rubble of the Second World War. Today, nearl…
Lords
Proceedings
19 May 2026
Defence, Security and Resilience Bank
My Lords, is the idea behind this plan to meet vital public expenditure needs without upsetting the bond markets too much? Can the Minister just explain a little more how it will work?
Lords
Proceedings
28 April 2026
Middle East: Economic Update
My Lords, as the Minister says, no one quite knows yet the impact, particularly on the oil and gas sector. I declare an interest as a co-author of the original 1979 plan for sharing oil reserves in the event of a crisis. The crisis then was, of course, far bigger—not smaller, as the IEA says—than an…
Lords
Oral Questions
22 April 2026
Clean Power 2030 Action Plan: Rural Communities
My Lords, as I see that I now have an extra minute, I might take it to welcome the noble Lord, Lord Nagaraju, to his place. I welcome him to this House, from one technology geek and computer enthusiast to another, and congratulate him on a wonderful maiden speech.
Last month, the Government publish…
Lords
Oral Questions
15 April 2026
Zimbabwe: Constitution
The noble Lord regularly raises the Commonwealth, and I appreciate its importance. There was a Commonwealth assessment mission in 2023, and we would welcome another assessment mission. In the end, it will be a matter for the Secretary-General to make a recommendation, and for all members of the Comm…
Lords
Oral Questions
13 April 2026
Strait of Hormuz: Mine Clearance
The noble Lord has huge experience in this area, and he is right to point out that it is interesting to watch the way in which the pipeline that goes across Saudi Arabia into the Red Sea and comes out through the BAM is being used. That is another way of getting oil out; certainly, that is one of th…
Lords
Oral Questions
25 March 2026
Fuel Supplies: War in Iran
I hope the noble Lord does not consider that the figures and other facts that I have presented this afternoon are all erroneous, because I assure him that they are not, but he is right to say that this is not a question just of whether stuff goes through the Strait of Hormuz or nothing. There are a …
Lords
Oral Questions
11 March 2026
Iranian State-sponsored Cyber Attacks: Mitigation and Preparation
The noble Lord is right that we need to make sure that we are protecting British industry and working with key allies. Last year, cyber attacks cost the economy £15 billion, and it is a growing threat. We need to work with business, but also to be led by it because it knows what infrastructure is th…
Lords
Proceedings
9 March 2026
Energy Markets
My Lords, having been a Minister through six energy crises rather similar to this one, I cannot resist a bit of sympathy with Ministers having to go through it all again and explain the difficulties over which we have very little control.
Is not the simple truth behind all this that Governments, an…
Lords
Oral Questions
5 March 2026
Small Businesses: VAT Threshold
I fully understand that, and I am grateful to the noble Lord for reminding me of it. Last year, the Government published their plan for small and medium-sized businesses, setting out support for smaller firms. We are partnering with industry to unlock productivity growth through the adoption of digi…
Lords
Committee Stage
4 March 2026
UK-India: Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow and applaud the excellent introductory speech of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Goldsmith, the former chair of the International Agreements Committee, on which I have the honour to serve. As we see him rotate off the chairmanship, I wish to say—I hope I am not …
Lords
Proceedings
26 February 2026
Resetting the UK-EU Relationship (European Affairs Committee Report)
My Lords, I pay tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Ricketts, who has chaired the European Affairs Committee for the past three years. He skilfully led us to a consensus on most occasions, and all members of the committee are grateful to him.
The Government were elected on a manifesto to reset this cou…
Lords
Oral Questions
23 February 2026
US Tariffs
Yes, I thank the noble Lord for that.
Lords
Oral Questions
9 February 2026
Royal Navy: Caribbean
The noble Lord is correct. The UK has a strong and historical defence relationship with the Caribbean Commonwealth, and this is underpinned by an annual UK-Caribbean chiefs of defence conference led by the UK chief of defence. Continued UK support was demonstrated last year in Jamaica in response to…
Lords
Oral Questions
2 February 2026
China: Human Rights and UK National Security
The noble Lord raises a fascinating question about the changing world order and geopolitics and geoeconomics. I think he makes a very strong point, as Mr Carney did when he visited China very recently, about the importance of us engaging fully and extensively with middle powers. That is an approach …
Lords
Oral Questions
22 January 2026
Artificial Intelligence: UK Preparedness
My Lords, artificial intelligence is the primary driver of productivity across the economy, from life sciences to the creative industries. We are accelerating adoption by providing businesses of all sizes with access to essential skills, data and compute. I understand the noble Lord’s point about th…