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Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 10 Dec 2025
Employment Rights Bill

"My Lords, I will speak fairly briefly in support of Motion D1 from the noble Lord, Lord Burns. This has become known as the hokey-cokey amendment—opt in, opt out, opt in, opt out, through the chain of amendments that have been put down. I support the vital role of trade …..."
Lord Cromwell - View Speech

View all Lord Cromwell (XB - Excepted Hereditary) contributions to the debate on: Employment Rights Bill
Division Vote (Lords)
10 Dec 2025 - Employment Rights Bill - View Vote Context
Lord Cromwell (XB) voted No and against the House
One of 18 Crossbench No votes vs 26 Crossbench Aye votes
Vote Tally: Ayes - 244 Noes - 220
Written Question
Roads: Fly-tipping and Waste
Thursday 4th December 2025

Asked by: Lord Cromwell (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether section 89 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 requires local authorities and other relevant bodies to keep only land under their control, such as highways, clean of litter and refuse; whether the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse specifies the distance from the highway for which it is the responsibility of the local authority to clear fly-tipping and other waste; and whether local authorities and other bodies are required to assist landowners with clearing their land beyond the edge of the highway of waste placed illegally by third parties, including toxic waste and fly-tipping.

Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Section 89 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 imposes duties on local authorities to ensure that certain land is, so far as is practicable, kept clear of litter and refuse. The Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse (see attached) provides guidance on discharging these duties. It does not specify the distance from the highway for which it is the responsibility of the local authority to clear fly-tipping.

Local authorities are responsible for most trunk roads and other, more minor roads. National Highways is responsible for motorways and certain trunk roads. Landowners are responsible for the land that they own. We encourage local authorities to investigate all incidents of fly-tipping, including those on private land. The Environment Agency may investigate waste that has the potential to damage the environment, such as hazardous waste.

We recently published a Pride in Place Strategy in which we committed to bringing forward statutory enforcement guidance on littering and modernising the code of practice on Litter and Refuse that outlines the cleaning standards expected of local authorities.

Division Vote (Lords)
24 Nov 2025 - Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill - View Vote Context
Lord Cromwell (XB) voted No and in line with the House
One of 32 Crossbench No votes vs 5 Crossbench Aye votes
Vote Tally: Ayes - 200 Noes - 244
Division Vote (Lords)
24 Nov 2025 - Planning and Infrastructure Bill - View Vote Context
Lord Cromwell (XB) voted Aye and against the House
One of 12 Crossbench Aye votes vs 5 Crossbench No votes
Vote Tally: Ayes - 81 Noes - 132
Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 24 Nov 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill

"My Lords, I support Motion E1 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering. In particular, I agree with her about the level of urgency and the slow progress that has been made on this, and about the de minimis rules, which need thoroughly updating to make …..."
Lord Cromwell - View Speech

View all Lord Cromwell (XB - Excepted Hereditary) contributions to the debate on: Planning and Infrastructure Bill
Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 24 Nov 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill

"My Lords, on Motion K1, I want underline what the noble Baroness, Lady Freeman, said about the need for independence in the monitoring and evaluation. The noble Baroness, Lady Willis, referred to it, but I am not sure that the Minister did so—forgive me if I missed it. Can we …..."
Lord Cromwell - View Speech

View all Lord Cromwell (XB - Excepted Hereditary) contributions to the debate on: Planning and Infrastructure Bill
Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 24 Nov 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill

"The Minister gave me encouraging reassurance about independence and referred to two bodies that would be doing the monitoring and evaluation. Could she repeat for me—I think I missed it—which bodies they are? Are they fully independent of Natural England and the Environment Agency?..."
Lord Cromwell - View Speech

View all Lord Cromwell (XB - Excepted Hereditary) contributions to the debate on: Planning and Infrastructure Bill
Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 18 Nov 2025
Ministry of Defence Procurement: UK-manufactured Products

"My Lords, the real barrier for UK SME manufacturers is the time it takes to secure contracts, which is typically years, even for kit upgrades. By contrast, as the Minister knows, I recently hosted an event exploring ways to link UK manufacturers with Ukrainian software developers, who are innovating and …..."
Lord Cromwell - View Speech

View all Lord Cromwell (XB - Excepted Hereditary) contributions to the debate on: Ministry of Defence Procurement: UK-manufactured Products
Speech in Lords Chamber - Tue 18 Nov 2025
Space Debris

"My Lords, I suppose I should declare a small interest as having been the progenitor of the space committee. We think of space as infinite. In fact, the usable orbits are a crowd of high-speed rubbish. Just a fleck of paint will do damage. Not long ago, a single bolt …..."
Lord Cromwell - View Speech

View all Lord Cromwell (XB - Excepted Hereditary) contributions to the debate on: Space Debris