Lords
Oral Questions
23 February 2026
US Tariffs
The confidence that I am trying to relay is not unfounded. As we saw from last week’s announcements, part of the macroeconomic situation that we are trying to turn around has seen inflation fall and the largest recorded government surplus since the 1990s. That is the overall message that we are tryi…
Lords
Oral Questions
12 February 2026
Post Office Capture and Horizon Scandals
The noble Lord reminds us all that, behind each of these numbers, there is an individual family that has suffered, as my noble friend so rightly highlighted today. The process that has been set out is careful to ensure that we are not retraumatising people going through the redress system. A new sch…
Lords
Oral Questions
5 February 2026
2 contributions
Jobs Market
My Lords, there is positive information in the labour market. The claimant count is falling—43,000 on the year—more than half a million people have moved into work over the past year, and real wages have risen more since July 2024 than they did in the first 10 years of the previous Government. Howev…
My Lords, I share the noble Lord’s sentiment about the importance of the dignity of work, but unemployment is a long-term trend, both here and across the G7, and it has been rising since 2023. The good news is, however, that the number of people who are economically inactive has fallen by nearly hal…
Lords
Oral Questions
4 February 2026
Land Covenants: Supermarket Chains
In preparation for this Question, I spent a bit more time than I should have done learning about the CMA’s role. I agree that, as we look to create a regulatory framework that is both agile and appropriate, it is only right that we ask the same questions of the CMA. There is a strong strategic steer…
Lords
Proceedings
29 January 2026
Business Rates
Although my experience of government is now over 30 years old, the one message I remember from being in Cabinet is that on matters of taxation and investment, the Government have to get it right first time. That is the only way to establish a pro-growth, pro-business strategy. So, what I would love …
Lords
Oral Questions
28 January 2026
UK Start-up Companies
Our approach to the AI opportunity is comprehensive. It includes the AI growth zones which are being announced and include full access to energy as part of the package as well as local skills packages of £5 million per area to ensure that local areas benefit from these AI growth zones.
Lords
Oral Questions
26 January 2026
ILO Convention 190
When it comes to talking about backlogs and underfunding in our criminal justice system, in fact our whole justice system, it takes a certain amount of chutzpah from those on the Benches opposite, who spent 14 years underfunding all aspects of our justice system, to then say, “Isn’t this going to be…
Lords
Oral Questions
20 January 2026
Parental Leave and Pay Review
My Lords, I have no idea. I will find out what is happening and, if there is anything out there, I am happy to write to the noble Lord with it. However, I tell him this: we had lots of long battles in this House over the Employment Rights Bill but it is now an Act, and it is surely now time for all …
Lords
Oral Questions
18 December 2025
2 contributions
Jobs Market: Wider Economic Implications
My Lords, there is positive information in the labour market. The claimant count is falling. Over 350,000 more people have moved into work this year. Real wages have risen more since July last year than they did in the first 10 years of the previous Government, and UK growth is forecast to be the se…
I will tell the House what we are going to do about it: something the last Government never did, which is to take seriously the challenge of so many young people in our country who are not in employment, education or training. What did the last Government do about that? They did nothing. What are th…
Lords
Oral Questions
17 December 2025
Fair Work Agency: Small and Micro Businesses
I thank the noble Lord for giving me an opportunity to set out the Government’s position. As I say, we recognise the pressures on small firms. That is precisely why the Fair Work Agency consolidates the current four enforcement agencies into one, thus setting up a simpler and clearer regime. It redu…
Lords
Debate
17 November 2025
Employment Rights Bill
Before the Minister sits down, she said that she had consulted representative bodies of industry and commerce, by which I assume she means the FSB, the IoD and the CBI. Can she give us a flavour of those conversations, and identify any organisation that has given wholehearted support to the Bill?
Lords
Oral Questions
13 November 2025
2 contributions
Jobs Market
My Lords, despite Tuesday’s unemployment figures, there is positive information on the labour market. However, the latest figures show why we are right to focus on supporting people into work with our Get Britain Working plan, which includes modernisation of jobcentres, tackling economic inactivity …
My Lords, I regret that I was not here to hear the noble Lord’s maiden speech 50 years ago, but it is interesting that his message has not changed in the intervening years. Let me give him a few thoughts. First, he should look at what is happening underneath the employment figures and around the wor…
Lords
Debate
28 October 2025
2 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
I am sorry to intervene again on the Minister, but I asked this question specifically of the noble Baronesses, Lady Jones and Lady Smith, because that is what employers are worried about: that their existing staff will suffer as a result of this. I think the noble Baroness’s letter is absolutely cle…
My Lords, I am going to advance a different argument from that which we have just heard from the noble Lord, Lord Leigh. It is rather more philosophical and was touched on by the noble Lord, Lord Burns. He mentioned “inertia”, and inertia sells.
Right across this House, your Lordships have worked o…
Lords
Proceedings
23 October 2025
Steel Industry (Special Measures) Act 2025
My Lords, I join the noble Baroness, Lady Hunter, and the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Wirral, in welcoming the noble Baroness, Lady Lloyd of Effra, to her place in your Lordships’ House. We look forward to her continued public service. I also look forward to the maiden speech of the noble Lord, Lord St…
Lords
Oral Questions
13 October 2025
2 contributions
Jobs Market
My Lords, economic growth remains this Government’s No. 1 mission and boosting labour market participation is central to achieving this. The UK jobs market continues to show resilience, with high employment and falling inactivity. However, there is more to do, which is why we are continuing with our…
My Lords, I am very fond of our traditions in the House of Lords, but we now have a new one: on a monthly basis, we relitigate the Employment Rights Bill in the form of an Oral Question. One reason why I do not like having this Question every month is that we end up having the kind of ding-dong that…
Lords
Debate
23 July 2025
4 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, we now move to consider the employment tribunal system. I shall speak first to Amendments 158A and 158B. The Government are extending the time limit for individuals to bring claims to an employment tribunal, but if that is the case, and if, as the Government have repeatedly said, they valu…
My Lords, I am very grateful to the Minister for his response. I believe that he accepts that there is grave concern across the board about the state of our employment tribunal system today. That concern is among workers, employers and, especially, employment lawyers.
I welcome the fact that the Mi…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
23 July 2025
3 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
Not again!
Hear, hear!
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
23 July 2025
2 contributions
Jobs Market
My Lords, this Government’s No. 1 mission is to grow our economy. We want a thriving, inclusive labour market with more people in good jobs, high living standards and productivity growth in every part of the country. The employment level has risen by 600,000 since the election, and we mean to go on …
My Lords, I have enjoyed debating with the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Wirral, over too many days to recall, the merits of the Government’s Employment Rights Bill. To be clear, the plan to make work pay is a once-in-a-generation transformation of our labour market to make it fairer and more inclusive, …
Lords
Debate
21 July 2025
2 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, in moving this amendment, I will also speak to Amendments 129, 131 to 134 and 145 in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Sharpe of Epsom. What we are talking about here is the extent to which the Government’s sweeping changes to trade union access rights, including the unprecedented e…
My Lords, I say with great regret that the response we have received today is totally unconvincing. At no point throughout the progress of the Bill have Ministers offered a satisfactory explanation as to why sweeping changes to trade union access rights, including digital access, were introduced on …
Lords
Debate
21 July 2025
2 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I too congratulate my fellow solicitor, the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, and my noble friend Lord Holmes of Richmond on their amendments.
We are following up on the exchanges that took place at Question Time earlier today, when the Minister—the noble Lord, Lord Vallance—offered to give…
My Lords, I rise briefly to support my noble friend Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay’s amendment, supported as it has been by very effective speeches from the noble Lords, Lord Faulkner of Worcester, Lord Berkeley and Lord Palmer of Childs Hill, the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, and the noble and learned…
Lords
Oral Questions
17 July 2025
Syria: Druze Community
In order to achieve the last two things that the noble Lord advocated, we need that ceasefire to hold. It is very early in the ceasefire; it is only a matter of hours. We will do whatever we need to do to encourage that to happen, but it is vital that that ceasefire continues. As many noble Lords ha…
Lords
Debate
16 July 2025
5 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Goddard of Stockport, that, as we warned when we discussed it in Committee, Clause 26 was, as originally drafted, quite simply unworkable.
As we reminded noble Lords throughout Committee, the clause was far too broad. It would have captured entirely routi…
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords for their thoughtful contributions to this important debate. We are very grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Grey-Thompson, for having raised what is a profoundly important issue, one that deserves very careful consideration by your Lordships’ House.
As my noble f…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
14 July 2025
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, this has been a very important debate and I thank the Minister, the noble Baronesses, Lady O’Grady of Upper Holloway, Lady Goudie and Lady Ramsey of Wall Heath, the noble Lord, Lord Cromwell, and my noble friend Lord Lucas for their contributions. In particular, I congratulate and thank th…