Inside The Lords: asylum policy, assisted dying and assaults on smokers

Claire Fox reports from a frantic few weeks in parliament.

It’s my first Inside The Lords for a while – mainly because inside the Lords is so hectic at the moment as the Labour government is trying to cram through huge amounts of legislation. I filmed this video in the wake of Shabana Mahmood’s dramatic statement on the government’s new asylum policy – and, I have to say, I was very impressed, despite how much I dislike the Labour Party. She seemed to get what a crisis we’re in, and how we’ve lost control of our borders. I even liked that she told people to ‘sod off’ and spoke plainly to her critics in the Commons who tried to claim that this was all a far-right storm in a teacup. A bit of straight talking is a welcome step after so much obfuscating and finger pointing when it comes to discussions about immigration.

The reactions have been interesting, if unsurprising, including one Labour MP telling a breakfast radio show that Mahmood was ‘pandering to the electorate’. Heaven forbid a politician pander – or, more accurately, listen – to the public will. Others have claimed that she won’t get anywhere because of bias in the civil service, activist lawyers and the like. That may be true – and the detail of some of proposal isn’t quite right, including allowing NGOs to sponsor people or the strange 20-year time limit for applications for the right to remain. But the spirit and authority with which she addressed parliament was rare and praiseworthy.

The reason I can’t abide the government at the moment is because of the way they’re pushing through legislation, using lawmaking as a cover for their lack of political leadership. We’ve just finished the Borders Bill – on the day that Mahmood’s statement changed the entire Overton window on immigration. It is an incredibly petty bill which has wasted too many hours of parliamentary time.

I’m also involved in the Crime and Policing Bill, which is bringing in draconian powers to criminalise all kinds of behaviour – like the invention of ‘respect orders’ which, you’ve guessed it, have nothing to do with eliciting respect.

At the same time, the government is bringing in the Sentencing Bill, which the government claims will mean fewer people put in jail for small-time crimes. So, one Bill will criminalise more, and one Bill will send fewer to jail? This is a contradiction that the government seems unaware of…

Two other Bills I’m involved in have an interesting crossover – the Tobacco and Vapes Bill and the Assisted Dying Bill. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is stuffed full of public-health experts asserting that it’s the state’s duty to stop people from potentially harming or killing themselves from smoking, yet these same people in a different piece of legislation argue that the state should, quite easily, prematurely end your life. The same health minister has to go to both these debates and argue different positions of the sanctity of life. Make it make sense.

There are almost 1,000 amendments to the Bill tabled by Lords, reflecting the poor drafting of a Private Members’ Bill, which Keir Starmer has backed, even if the government remains neutral. Charlie Faulkner (Labour peer and sponsor of the Bill) claims this attempt to patch up the Bill with necessary safeguards is an affront to democracy. The Lords are obliged to pass a Commons Bill, we’re told. Oh please, the day that arch Remainers - who tried to use the Lords to block Brexit - become the defenders of democratic accountability is the day that hell freezes over.

Despite Mahmood’s impressive intervention earlier this year, we are in many ways watching the Labour Party implode - from changing their minds every minute on the Budget to the mutinous atmosphere within the Party itself. In fact, it seems the only thing they feel they can have control over is the parliamentary calendar, and are using it to keep us in until the small hours of the morning and push through as much legislation as possible.

I’ll report again soon from inside the Lords - and if you’d like to catch up on any of my speeches or questions in parliament, you can find them all on my YouTube here. And, as always, hit subscribe below to never miss one of our Academy of Ideas Substacks.