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

Employment Rights Bill

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

Committee stage
Thursday 5th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

My Lords, before my noble friend stands up—I hope he will not have to stand up—it is nearly 7.45 pm and it is Thursday. It is not just the convention but the firm convention of this House that the House should rise at about 7 pm on a Thursday. Therefore, will the Government Chief Whip move to resume the House?

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

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness very much for that. I was the Opposition Chief Whip for three years in this House and always played fairly and reasonably with the then Government, even though many times I opposed them fiercely. I try to be reasonable and fair in all the things that I do as Government Chief Whip. This House has an important role to play in challenging and scrutinising legislation. The Opposition have the right to oppose, and the Government have the right to get their business through. I know the point that the noble Baroness makes about conventions. However, equally, we have many times stood here in opposite roles at all hours, well beyond 7 pm on a Thursday, well beyond 10 pm during the week. I want us to continue. We will do one more group before I move that the House adjourns. I think that is fair.

I always recall the words of the noble Lord, Lord True, whom I like very much. He would often say to me at the end of the night, “Well, of course, Roy, for me it is True’s law that matters. What goes around comes around”. I always thought that I treated the Government very fairly and reasonably. I remember sitting here until four o’clock one morning on a Home Office Bill with the noble Baroness and the noble Lord, Lord Sharpe. I did my job reasonably and fairly. We will do one more group before we adjourn the House.

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

The Chief Whip is absolutely right that the Government will get their business through; I have never demurred from that fact, as he did not when his party were in opposition. However, this is a 298-page Bill. We have made really good progress today—as the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Whitchurch, said—but it is 7.45 pm and we are sitting tomorrow.

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

It is because the Bill is so important and noble Lords have so much to say on it that I have given the Opposition three more days in Committee after this to make sure we have proper scrutiny. We will do one more group before the House adjourns.

Data (Use and Access) Bill [HL]

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

Consideration of Commons amendments and / or reasons
Wednesday 4th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wallace of Tankerness (LD)]

I would be grateful if the Minister could clarify that, if the amendment of the noble Baroness, Lady Kidron, is carried, it will not scupper the Bill, but rather the Bill will go back to the Commons, where the Commons can provide an amendment in lieu. Therefore, the ball would be in the Commons’ court and the Government’s court; it will not scupper the Bill if we vote for the amendment of the noble Baroness, Lady Kidron.

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

Could the Minister also just clarify her point about the primacy of the House of Commons? She just seemed to imply the opposite.

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (Lab)]

We regard the primacy of the House of Commons as absolutely paramount. As I have stated, at the end of the day if we are not careful, we will get into a situation—which I think the noble Baroness was beginning to raise—where we will not be able to accept the primacy of the House of Commons. To us, that is absolutely paramount.

Passing the Bill will also let us get on with delivering the other measures it contains, many of which have been championed by noble Lords for some time— and I welcome the support of the noble Viscount, Lord Camrose, for all of these. The Bill has had broad support, which was enjoyed in the last Session too, and that is testament to the work done by this Government and the previous one on these issues, and why both our party and the Opposition advocated for the Bill and its policies during the general election.

Many noble Lords, including the noble Baroness, Lady Kidron, have spoken in this and other debates about the good that these measures will do. I am glad to recall her warm support during our Second Reading debate for the data preservation measures for coroners to preserve data when a child dies, and her wishes for the Bill’s swift passage to see that become law, and I agree with her. I also recall the noble Lord, Lord Clement- Jones, saying that this version of the Bill was much improved from the last, and that as we have done so much scrutiny of its predecessor, we should be able to make good progress.

These policies and the significant economic benefits they will bring are why the elected House has voted in favour of the Bill’s continued passage four times in a row. It has exercised its choice. We now have to get on with the job—for the bereaved parents, the victims of deepfake intimate image abuse, the charities that want to use the soft opt-in and the businesses keen to benefit from the use of smart data and all the many and various benefits of the measures and manifesto commitments in the Bill. I urge your Lordships to accept the Government’s new amendments and let the Bill pass into law, rather than moving us to the precipice where we could face collapsing it entirely.