"To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they plan to take to disable business rates avoidance schemes and the industry promoting them...." Lord Sikka - View Speech
"My Lords, saying that questions need to be completed in 30 or 45 seconds is incredibly regressive. We have more Members, more Ministers, more ministries and more legislation than ever before, and to imagine that you can ask a detailed question in about 30 or 35 words is impossible. Somebody …..." Lord Sikka - View Speech
"My Lords, I thank the Minister for his reply. After claiming empty property relief, some businesses place empty boxes in premises to give the appearance of occupation, subsequently removing them to trigger an additional period of relief. One scheme operated by Principled Offsite Logistics Ltd has deprived councils of £500 …..." Lord Sikka - View Speech
"My Lords, I support some of the committee’s suggestions but not others. I have never knowingly supported discrimination based on gender, race, religion, disability or age and will not support a mandatory retirement age of 80 for Members of this House. There are excellent Members of that age and above …..." Lord Sikka - View Speech
"My Lords, 90% of England’s water industry is foreign owned, including by the Chinese state. The result has been low investment, high bills, raw sewage in rivers, over 1,200 criminal convictions, and harms to nature, health and national security. Everyone knows that public control of the water industry has failed …..." Lord Sikka - View Speech
"My Lords, according to a former Minister, 40% of global illicit financial flows pass through the UK, its Crown dependencies and overseas territories. Can the Minister explain why UK Governments continue to fail to curb the flow of illicit financial funds?..." Lord Sikka - View Speech
"My Lords, this Bill does not end the power of the rich to hijack democracy. Corporations and the super-rich do not donate; they invest and get a return for themselves and their class. Numerous laws are bent to advance their interests. The result is that 1% own more wealth than …..." Lord Sikka - View Speech
"My Lords, ageing problems begin during childhood and are incubated by poor government policies. A June 2026 paper in Nature Human Behaviour noted that consequences of poverty, inequality and discrimination accelerate biological ageing from a very young age. Adults enduring childhood economic deprivation age at a significantly accelerated biological pace, …..." Lord Sikka - View Speech
"My Lords, I welcome the Prime Minister’s Statement, and he faces a daunting task in reversing the Conservative legacy. This includes 25.3 million people living below the minimum living standard, declining life expectancy, potholed roads in every street, 7.6 million on NHS waiting lists in England alone, social care in …..." Lord Sikka - View Speech
"The proposed data centre at Thurrock in Essex will concrete over habitat for bees, butterflies, plants and birds. It will consume up to 3 million litres of water a day in an area routinely subject to hosepipe bans. It will consume 2.65 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year and …..." Lord Sikka - View Speech