Transnational Repression in the UK (JCHR Report)

Lord Isaac Excerpts

Thursday 26th February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Isaac (Lab) (Maiden Speech)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Alton, for his warm welcome and for introducing this important debate: one that is fundamental to protecting freedoms and human rights in this country, and one that I believe highlights the important work of his committee. I rise for my maiden speech with a real sense of responsibility and duty that comes from joining this august body.

I begin by thanking Black Rod, Garter, the Clerk, the doorkeepers and all the staff of this House for the kindness that they have shown me since joining. I thank noble Lords from every side for the very warm welcome without exception they have given to me. I especially thank my supporters, my noble friends Lady Royall and Lord Collins, for their encouragement, wisdom and support, as well as my noble friend Lord Faulkner of Worcester, an alumnus of my college in Oxford and someone who has been a great supporter and friend of my work, in and beyond Oxford.

I grew up in a small village called Llanfoist, outside Abergavenny in South Wales, where many of my family for many generations had lived. I attended the village primary school and I went on to the local secondary school, where I was privileged to receive an excellent state education—something that we Welsh are rightly proud of and that should be the right of every child, not a privilege. That education enabled me to go to Cambridge, the first member of my family to go to university, and ultimately to establish a successful career as a lawyer in the City. Education transformed my life and life chances. It gave me important skills, it widened my horizons and it taught me about the importance of music, art and culture and how they enhance the world.

My commitment to education has led me to the most recent phase of my career as provost of Worcester College, Oxford, and chair of the University of the Arts in London. These roles have enabled me to give something back to current students, but they have also given me an opportunity to argue for a number of things, such as improved funding for students and universities, the need to continue to support initiatives to widen participation and, last but not least, the importance of creative education. Let us not forget that the creative industries contributed £125 billion to the UK economy in 2022. Improved support for students and educational institutions, including creative educational institutions, is, in my view, essential if this country and future generations are to flourish.

I am very conscious that this debate is about transnational repression of freedoms and human rights. Human rights have played a key role in my life. I grew up in the 1980s during the AIDS pandemic and later lived through the chilling effect of Section 28. Working with others, I realised that we could use our legal and advocacy skills to work to end discrimination against the gay community in this country. Progress in delivering legal and cultural change has succeeded in no small part because of our focus on human rights. Later, as the chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, it was a privilege not only to lead a national organisation committed to promoting equality and human rights, but to work with international organisations promoting greater understanding, particularly in countries where human rights are not yet as well embedded in law as they are in the UK.

At the same time as protecting the rights of our own citizens, and, dare I say, resisting culture-war attacks on the very notion of human rights, we must stop foreign state-directed crimes against individuals deemed by their Governments to be a security threat. The noble Lord has provided ample evidence of those threats. I am particularly grateful to the Minister, my noble friend Lord Hanson, for meeting me to discuss his department’s response to this important report. I thank him for his work, which I am confident is in line with the ambitions of the JCHR report. The freedoms and human rights of journalists, lawyers and political opponents in this country are, as we have heard, being undermined. I also know that anxieties about such threats can and do have a chilling effect in our universities. We must work hard to ensure that human rights and freedom of speech are protected in our universities more generally. It is for that reason that I am committed to support the work of the JCHR in this important area.

I should like to end by making it clear that it would have been beyond the imagination of my teenage self to think that today I would be a Member of this House. It is thanks to the support of my parents, and particularly to the confidence that my teachers had in me while I was growing up, that I hope to play a role in this Chamber in promoting not only human rights but the importance of education and culture.