Speeches by Thomas-Symonds.

“The point is this: there is no barrier to hereditary peers being appointed—I accept that it is slightly different for the Cross Benchers. For example, I understand that two Liberal Democrat hereditary peers have just been appointed as life peers. There is nothing stopping the Leader of the Opposition—who will obviously…”

“The Parliament Act has been used very rarely. I sincerely hope that we do not get into that territory. That is not what I am seeking to do. I want it done in this Session, and that is exactly what we are seeking to do.”

“Select Committee arrangements are a matter for Parliament rather than for me, but I have no doubt whatsoever that we will be discussing that and other appropriate mechanisms in the passage of the Bill.”

“The Standing Orders and procedures of the House of Lords are, obviously, a matter for them. I think that work on the abolition of the hereditary principle in our legislature is important. I think it is a first step. We now have a Committee, which has been set up by the Leader of the House of Lords and others, to look a…”

“Their lordships themselves will have answer as to what their motivation is, but I would just observe—to go back to 1911—that the history of reform being delayed is there in our UK political history.”

“I am afraid that we come back to the desire to ensure that the cost-of-living benefits are felt as soon as reasonably possible. In terms of the choreography that you are talking about, the common understanding was agreed in May 2025, so we know what areas we are dealing with. I think that is pretty clear before the Bil…”

“Of course I would like it to be achieved very soon. I am not disappointed—in the sense that I never had an expectation, given the history of Lords reform, that this would happen quickly—but we are coming to the end of this parliamentary Session, so I would sincerely hope that it will be achieved soon.”

“I would describe a termination clause as standard in international agreements. That is simply because international agreements are between countries, and not between the Governments that happen to be in power in those countries at the time. It is something that I would expect as standard in any of these agreements, whe…”

“I understand.”

“Evidently, as we go forward, the way that the alignment mechanism will work is around Parliament having a say. Laws and secondary legislation going forward will set out exactly how that will work in terms of the Bill. Certainly, there is absolutely a role for Parliament. Indeed, when we agreed the common understanding,…”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The Leader of the Opposition should have risen to the occasion yesterday in a profound moment for the nation. She chose not to do so.”

“Our democratic mandate from the general election is clear: we will not rejoin the single market or the customs union, or go back to freedom of movement. However, what we do, and what I do every single week, is negotiate that closer UK-EU relationship, which is in our national interest. The hon. Lady and her colleagues …”

“I look forward to visiting Belfast later today. The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that the East-West Council is an important part of our “Safeguarding the Union” arrangements. I certainly take a pragmatic and proportionate approach to the Windsor framework, which is one of the reasons I am so keen to get the…”

“On the hon. Lady’s first point, we agreed the new strategic security and defence partnership with the European Union in May last year, which is absolutely crucial. On the point about the food and drink agreement, we agreed just before Christmas that that will be completed by the time of the next summit.”

“Well, on the basis of my exchange with the shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, I thoroughly look forward to bringing the Bill to the Commons and debating it fully. I can assure the hon. Lady that what we will be debating is why the Government’s approach is good for jobs and how it will bear down on bills for c…”

“To clarify, there are no access fees in regard to either the emissions trading system linkage or the food and drink agreement that is being negotiated. That is absolutely clear. In terms of moving forward, we take pragmatic decisions in the national interest in various sectors, which is why we opened negotiations on el…”

“There is a real issue of democracy here, in the sense that we won a general election with a mandate to negotiate a closer UK-EU relationship. It is in our national interest to do so, and we have set out the red lines within which those negotiations are taking place. Listening to what the shadow Chancellor of the Duchy …”

“That is precisely why the Government take a pragmatic approach. We choose to align in areas where it makes sense to do so. Where it makes sense to diverge, we will also continue to do so. We are always driven by our national interest.”

“On the first point, I met the families of the victims of the Manchester Arena bombings and the Hillsborough families only last week. It is critical that we get the balance right between allowing our intelligence services the secrecy that is essential to their work and having proper oversight. That is exactly the work t…”

“The Prime Minister has given the independent ethics adviser the independence to initiate his own investigations, which is just one of the measures the Government have taken to improve transparency and standards. The high standards the Prime Minister expects of all of us who have the privilege of serving in high office …”