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Baroness Hayman Excerpts

Thursday 5th February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Hayman (CB)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Laing of Elderslie (Con)]

My Lords—

--- Later in debate ---

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

My Lords, we will now have the Cross Benches, then the Conservative Benches.

[Baroness Hayman (CB)]

My Lords, I welcome what the noble Baroness the Leader of the House said about looking at whether the Code of Conduct needs to be strengthened. But would she agree with me that in this House we do have rules of behaviour, an independent investigative process, and sanctions available when those rules are broken? Would she further agree that the Code of Conduct binds every Member of this House—that binding is symbolised at the beginning of each Parliament by the signing of the Code of Conduct, but it applies all the time—and that it is very wide-ranging about behaviour and encompasses the seven principles of behaviour in public life, which cover a great many of the sorts of issues we are discussing today?

[Baroness Smith of Basildon (Lab)]

The noble Baroness is right. As a self-regulating House, we have a Code of Conduct and there are rules of behaviour, an independent process and sanctions. Is it adequate? Does it meet the test that it needs to meet? Does it do the job we want it to do? Does it give confidence in this House to the public? Those are the questions we want to look at. At the moment, it is very difficult for a Member to be removed from this House and there are no powers to remove someone’s title. I can think of only one occasion when a Member of this House has been expelled from it, but I can think of a number where somebody has resigned to avoid being properly investigated or expelled. We may want to look at whether we are confident and satisfied that it meets the test that the public expect of us.