Contributions
49 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDAlleged Spying Case: Role of Attorney-General’s OfficeI thank the noble and learned Lord for his question. May I just correct a few facts? I was not informed by the DPP on 1 September; I was informed on 3 September. Secondly, and…27 Oct 2025HANSARDAlleged Spying Case: Role of Attorney-General’s OfficeConsent was given by a law officer under the previous Government to this prosecution. I hope the noble Lord will forgive me if I do not go into the evidential details in this…27 Oct 2025HANSARDAlleged Spying Case: Role of Attorney-General’s OfficeI will deal first with the Roussev case and the difficulties the Crime Prosecution Service faced in bringing this prosecution. The noble Lord is quite right that in Roussev, which…27 Oct 2025HANSARDAlleged Spying Case: Role of Attorney-General’s OfficeThere can be no doubt that for the purposes of an offence said to have been committed between 2021 and 2023, where the test is whether that was provision to an enemy, the question…27 Oct 2025HANSARDAlleged Spying Case: Role of Attorney-General’s OfficeI entirely agree with my noble and learned friend. The test remained the statutory test: was China, beyond reasonable doubt on the criminal standard, an enemy between 2021 and…27 Oct 2025HANSARDFemale Genital MutilationI thank the noble Lord for his Question, and I know that this is not the first time he has raised this very important issue before your Lordships’ House. The Home Office began…16 Jul 2025HANSARDFemale Genital MutilationI can reassure the noble Lord that I am determined to work with the Crown Prosecution Service, which I superintend, to increase the rate of prosecutions. I am determined we do…16 Jul 2025HANSARDFemale Genital MutilationOn the increased protection, there is provision already on the statute book, in Section 3A of the Female Genital Mutilation Act, which is about a failure to protect girls under…16 Jul 2025HANSARDFemale Genital MutilationIt is going to be fatal to the young girls that we all want to protect if we turn this into a political issue—I am not suggesting that the noble Lord was doing that. He has given…16 Jul 2025HANSARDFemale Genital MutilationI agree entirely with the spirit of what the noble Lord has said. He will appreciate that I cannot, from this Dispatch Box on an ad hoc basis, determine what goes into the…16 Jul 2025HANSARDFemale Genital MutilationMy Lords, I am grateful for the noble Lord’s question and agree with the points that he has made.16 Jul 2025HANSARDFemale Genital MutilationI thank the noble Baroness for her question. This is, of course, another aspect of honour-based abuse, and I am sure the whole House agrees that there is no honour in honour-based…16 Jul 2025HANSARDHouse of Lords (Hereditary Peers) BillMy Lords, I thank the noble Lords, Lord Wolfson and Lord Northbrook, for their amendments, and all noble Lords for their contributions. These amendments seek to provide how…01 Apr 2025HANSARDHouse of Lords (Hereditary Peers) BillMy Lords, I thank all noble Lords for their contributions to this debate. Amendments 55, 62 and 97, tabled by the noble Lords, Lord Inglewood and Lord Lucas, and the noble Earl,…25 Mar 2025HANSARDHouse of Lords (Hereditary Peers) BillI am very grateful for that, and I shall turn to that point now, but the actual wording of the noble Earl’s amendment would have the effect that all disputes, not just complicated…25 Mar 2025HANSARDHouse of Lords (Hereditary Peers) BillThe noble Lord’s intervention exemplifies the important conversations that lie ahead as we try to unpick those tensions. As I have just alluded to, there are wider questions…25 Mar 2025HANSARDHouse of Lords (Hereditary Peers) BillI am grateful to all noble Lords for their contributions, which in this group concern the appointment of specific public servants to your Lordships’ House. I will start, if I may,…25 Mar 2025HANSARDHouse of Lords (Hereditary Peers) BillI am grateful for the noble Lord’s intervention. I can well anticipate that, if this is an issue that arises on consultation, there may be a distinction—to my mind, it is…25 Mar 2025HANSARDHouse of Lords (Hereditary Peers) BillThe constitutional tension is between judges who sit on cases that may often concern government legislation also sitting in the legislature. The distinction I seek to draw simply…25 Mar 2025HANSARDHouse of Lords (Hereditary Peers) BillI thank the noble Lord, Lord Wolfson, and other noble Lords for their contributions to this debate. We do not accept Amendment 60 for three reasons, beyond the fact that it falls…25 Mar 2025