Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 17 Sep 2025 Deforestation
"My Lords, successive Governments have facilitated deforestation abroad. A good example is Drax, which has received billions in subsidies for burning wood pellets to produce electricity that is twice as expensive as electricity produced from gas. Drax has a record of lying about the use of primary forests for burning …..." Lord Sikka - View Speech
"My Lords, people’s inability to buy goods and services is a major reason for low economic growth, and 14 years of Conservative rule delivered real wage cuts, the two-child benefit cap, frozen income thresholds, and unchecked profiteering. Some 16 million people live below the poverty line. What plans do the …..." Lord Sikka - View Speech
"My Lords, can the Minister explain what assessment the Government have made of the pros and cons of requiring road builders to replace some of the fossil fuel-based bitumen with plastic pellets?..." Lord Sikka - View Speech
"My Lords, I congratulate the Minister on retaining his position after the recent reshuffle of the Cabinet.
Despite recent reforms of Companies House, several issues remain unaddressed and the legislation in front of us does not really deal with them. I will illustrate my concerns with three pieces of empirical …..." Lord Sikka - View Speech
"My Lords, jobs depend on people’s ability to buy goods and services. That ability has been severely eroded. Some 16 million people live in poverty and 1.2 million are on insecure zero-hour contracts. Can the Minister confirm that there will be no rollback of any part of the Employment Rights …..." Lord Sikka - View Speech
"My Lords, the local authority audit system was wrecked by the previous Government. Electoral Commission data shows that in the period leading to the 2010 general election big accounting firms handed millions of pounds in cash and non-cash donations to the Conservative Party and got their wish, which was the …..." Lord Sikka - View Speech
"Can the Minister confirm that there is no cost-benefit analysis or impact statement in relation to this statutory instrument? I am particularly interested in what the cost of not doing the audits might be, whether financial or non-financial in terms of risks, impropriety, and so on. Can she confirm whether …..." Lord Sikka - View Speech
"My Lords, can the Minister confirm that the yield rise does not affect the cost of servicing the debt already in place, including £2.71 trillion of debt inherited from the previous Government?..." Lord Sikka - View Speech
"My Lords, history shows that infatuation with deregulation of the finance industry always ends up destabilising the economy. At the moment, shadow banks are bigger than retail banking and totally unregulated. Private equity is devouring care homes, water, veterinary services, town centres and companies all over the UK. Its gearing …..." Lord Sikka - View Speech
"My Lords, Ministers claim that public ownership of water would somehow cost £100 billion, which is a totally unsound claim. Let me explain. The £100 billion figure is generated by Ofwat, which calls it “recognised capital value”. It is calculated by taking the value of the company at the time …..." Lord Sikka - View Speech