King’s Speech

Lord Carlile of Berriew Excerpts

Tuesday 19th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Carlile of Berriew (CB)]

My Lords, what a pleasure and what a privilege it is to speak after four brilliant maiden speeches. It is a special personal honour for me to follow my friend, the noble Lord, Lord Dixon. In 2016, I became the chair of a large voluntary organisation, a drug and addiction charity. The day after I accepted that demanding and unremunerated role, I was told that the chief executive was leaving and was going to be the chief executive of Children in Need—which he did. So I held on to the railings, as it were, and realised that I had to find a new chief executive. We had a formidable shortlist that included two internal candidates and a young fellow called Mike Dixon, a rising star in the voluntary world in social enterprise and benefit. He was irresistible, and we appointed him—and here he is today. He proved to be clever, strategic, eloquent and wise. He knew how to tell truth to what he perceived—possibly falsely—to be power in the organisation, and he led essential changes.

Shortly after he joined us, I was at a meeting with Hilary Benn MP. Mike Dixon had been in the past one of Hilary Benn’s special advisers, when Mr Benn was in one of his many roles over the years as a Cabinet Minister. I told Mr Benn at the end of the meeting that I had just appointed Mike Dixon as our chief executive. Without blinking, he replied, “In that case, Alex, you are a very lucky man”. Indeed I was, and I say to your Lordships that we are now a very lucky House to have the noble Lord, Lord Dixon, here. I look forward with your Lordships to his many contributions in the future, perhaps over the next 30 or 40 years or more, along with the noble Baroness, Lady Leaman, who made such a magnificent speech.

In the context of this debate, I will make some comments on technology and education in relation to children and the threat that gambling brings to their lives. I am not a spoilsport about gambling, by the way. Last weekend, I actually won £2.90 on the National Lottery. However, as a parent, grandparent, lawyer and citizen, and a Member of this House, I am very concerned about the potentially addictive exposure of children in their everyday digital environments to online temptation that could ruin their lives. I am going to speak, briefly and specifically, about loot boxes. If noble Lords do not know what loot boxes are, do as I did and ask your grandchildren—or possibly the noble Lord, Lord Dixon, and the noble Baroness, Lady Leaman, who may already know.

Loot boxes are items within computer games which are accessed either through gameplay or are purchased within a game and offer virtual currencies, but sometimes ask for real money. It is the temptation to pay that real money they do not possess that is the real danger and may lead them to a life of addiction and a life that is shortened as a result. Actually, as your Lordships know, under-18s are not permitted to gamble, yet they remain exposed to temptation and all too often circumvent prohibitions. In short, I would urge His Majesty’s Government to classify and regulate all loot boxes as gambling. This would bring them under Gambling Commission oversight, ensuring a ban on access and targeted promotion that is aimed quite specifically at the under-18s as a vulnerable group.

Some loot boxes are completely unregulated and represent a threat to children and young people. There is an excellent organisation now called Peers for Gambling Reform, to which I belong, and it has shown, through evidence it has collected, a consistent link between loot-box spending and later problem gambling and potential lifelong addiction. This risk was acknowledged by the previous Government in 2022 in a consultation which fully recognised that link. This has been addressed, in part only, by the Pan-European Game Information body and applies to new games from next month. However, it is not retrospective, and young people for a very long time will remain subject to this egregious temptation which could ruin their lives. I ask His Majesty’s Government to apply the new rule to the huge number of pre-June 2026 games for the protection of future generations. As I said earlier, I am not against gambling, but I am against uncontrolled gambling and the effect it has on future generations.