Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

Report stage
Wednesday 8th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hunt of Wirral (Con)]

If the noble and right reverend Lord does not support this amendment, it will be unnecessary for the Government to come and ask for more money. It is only when there is a cap that the Government have to be accountable to Parliament. For the reasons I have outlined, and because taxpayers should never be asked to sign a blank cheque, I wish to test the opinion of the House.

[Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, before we divide the House, I need to inform the House that there have been intermittent network issues on the estate. Because of the small risk that this may cause temporary disruption to the pass readers and the Division system, I have agreed with the usual channels to extend the time for Divisions from eight to 10 minutes.

I ask all noble Lords to ensure they firmly tap their pass on the pass reader. If in doubt, they should tap their pass a second time. The system will only record a vote once. If we all remember that beep means you have voted and no beep means no vote, we will all be fine.

Processed Russian Oil Products: Sanctions

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

Thursday 21st May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Harper (Con)]

My Lords—

[Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, we will hear from the Labour Benches next, then the Conservative Benches.

[Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Lab)]

My Lords, the support from this country for Ukraine has been steadfast and bipartisan, and I regret very much what we are seeing. I think Mr Putin will be delighted to see the attacks on what is going on now. We have been steadfast in our support for Ukraine, and I think we have had a bipartisan approach to minimising the impact of events in the Middle East on people and businesses in this country. Can my noble friend the Minister confirm what she has said: that the sanctions package overall is stronger, while providing businesses facing complex supply chain issues with temporary flexibility? Can she commit to keeping this under review, with the aim of fully implementing the new, stronger sanctions regime as quickly as can possibly happen?

UK Start-up Companies

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

Wednesday 28th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Patel (CB)]

My Lords—

[Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)]

It is the turn of the Cross Bench group, so can you make your mind up?

Hospitality Businesses

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

Tuesday 27th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Swire (Con)]

My Lords—

[Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)]

We will hear from the Cross Benches next, then we will go to the Conservative Benches.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Swire (Con)]

My Lords—

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

Can you please decide who is going to ask a question on the Conservative Benches?

[Lord Harper (Con)]

I am grateful to my noble friend. I listened very carefully to the Minister, but he did not answer the question about hotels, particularly family-run hotels. Their rates bills are going to rise by even more than pubs’ and there is no help coming for them. What are they to do? They run fantastic businesses, which attract people to rural areas in particular, but they face rises in their business rates of over 100% in April.

Superintelligent AI

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

Monday 26th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Harding of Winscombe (Con)]

My Lords—

[Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)]

Let us have the Lib Dem Bench next and then the Conservative Benches.

[Lord Clement-Jones (LD)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as a consultant to DLA Piper on AI regulation and policy. In their manifesto, the Government promised

“binding regulation on … companies developing the most powerful AI models”,

yet, 18 months later, even in light of the harmful activities of stand-alone AI bots, we have seen neither the promised consultation nor any draft legislation. How can the Government credibly claim to be taking superintelligence seriously when they cannot get round even to publishing a consultation, let alone legislating?

--- Later in debate ---

[Noble Lords]

Labour!

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

They are both Labour.

[Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab)]

My Lords, I am and always have been a faithful. With tighter regulation in the future confidently anticipated, is it not often the case that its absence in the present can impede innovation rather than foster it? Given that many of those responsible for the development of AI—and, in some cases, the development of AI superintelligence—have repeatedly requested tighter controls on their activities, can my noble friend the Minister assure your Lordships’ House that the existing regulatory structures are adequate? Can she describe the mechanisms through which their salience and strength are kept under constant review?

Employment Rights Bill

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

Consideration of Commons amendments and / or reasons
Wednesday 10th December 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Trefgarne (Con)]

My Lords, I move that the Question be now put.

[Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)]

My noble friend is coming to the end. We should hear her remarks and then we will go to the votes.

[Baroness Lloyd of Effra (Lab)]

I emphasise again that the Government’s convening of recent discussions and our willingness to compromise on the issue of unfair dismissal should signal to parliamentarians and stakeholders that we want to get this right. I emphasise that the Government’s work on this agenda is far from over. There will be opportunities for further debate and scrutiny, and I look forward to these discussions. I therefore hope that noble Lords will join business representatives and trade unions in supporting the position reached in recent discussions and backing the Government’s Motions today.

Artificial Intelligence Legislation

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

Monday 17th November 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Brennan of Canton (Lab)]

My Lords—

[Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)]

We will hear from the Cross Benches next, then we will go to the Labour Benches.

[Viscount Colville of Culross (CB)]

I thank the noble Lord. The World Economic Forum has said that dis- and misinformation is the number one threat to economic stability. Generative AI has hugely increased the scale of that threat. There is concern from AI safety groups that companies are not adequately tackling the problem. Can the Minister tell the House whether the Government will take this as seriously as they do cyberattacks?

Steel Industry (Special Measures) Act 2025

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

Thursday 23rd October 2025 Lords Chamber

Motion agreed.

[Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, before the House adjourns, I congratulate my noble friend Lord Stockwood on a truly excellent maiden speech. I was honoured to have been one of his supporters when he came into the House only a week ago. He has had an extensive and successful business career and will be of great benefit to the Government in the important work he will now do as Minister for Investment. He has achieved much in his business career, but, as he said, being the chair of Grimsby Town Football Club when they beat Manchester United 12-11 on penalties, knocking them out of the Carabao Cup, was a momentous day for him and everyone living in Great Grimsby. I watched my noble friend give many TV interviews the following day. I wish him well in his new role and I look forward to hearing from him many more times in the future.

Employment Rights Bill

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

3rd reading
Wednesday 3rd September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, I have it in command from His Majesty the King to acquaint the House that His Majesty, having been informed of the purport of the Employment Rights Bill, has consented to place his interest, so far as it is affected by the Bill, at the disposal of Parliament for the purposes of the Bill.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business and Trade and Department for Science, Information and Technology (Baroness Jones of Whitchurch) (Lab)]

My Lords, before the formal Third Reading of the Employment Rights Bill, I will make a brief statement on its devolution status.

During the Bill’s development and parliamentary passage, the Minister for Employment Rights, Competition and Markets has regularly corresponded and engaged with his devolved Government counterparts. This has been supported by weekly engagement between officials. As a result, I can confirm that legislative consent Motions have been successfully agreed in both the Senedd Cymru and the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Scottish Parliament has also agreed an LCM that covers the majority of the Bill’s provisions.

However, we consider that certain amendments relating to the social care negotiating body, tabled in my name on Report and accepted by your Lordships’ House, also engage the consent process. Owing to the date that these amendments were tabled and the Scottish Parliament’s Summer Recess, it has not been possible for a further supplementary LCM to be secured by the time of this statement. Now that the Scottish Parliament has returned from recess, and noting that the Bill has the support of the Scottish Government, we are hopeful that the process around this supplementary LCM will progress swiftly.

More broadly, I am grateful to Ministers and officials in the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive for their positive and collaborative approach towards this legislation. We remain committed to sustained engagement with the devolved Governments for the remainder of the Bill’s passage as we look ahead to its implementation, the benefits of which will be felt across the United Kingdom.

Clause 162: Commencement

Amendment

Data (Use and Access) Bill [HL]

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

Consideration of Commons amendments and / or reasons
Wednesday 11th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, before we consider the Commons message on the data Bill, I again remind the House of the importance of applying greater discipline to ping-pong. We have now spent nearly 44 hours debating this Bill as a whole, including nine and a half hours on the last four rounds of ping-pong. This means that over 20% of the total time spent on the Bill has been on ping-pong alone. The remaining issue is entirely known to Peers and the arguments have been rehearsed at length. I ask noble Lords to minimise contributions and keep any interventions brief and to the point. I have asked the Whip to continue to monitor the House and keep it on track. Thank you.

Motion A

Moved by