Global Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Sanctions Regulations 2026

Lord Evans of Guisborough Excerpts

Wednesday 4th November 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Evans of Guisborough (Con)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow my noble friend Lord Frost, who has demonstrated his considerable knowledge and experience in this field.

It is a hallmark of bad law that it encourages shadow compliance and overcompliance. British companies and institutions quite rightly wish to obey the law, but also wish not to be test cases. It takes time and money to be a test case and, after all, it is not their job to clarify UK law. The Government should be responsible for saying exactly where the boundaries lie. Because of that, I ask the Minister for his assurance about the assessment that the Government have made that their actions are going to be proportionate under this legislation to their stated aims and consistent with their obligations under international law.

I have considerable respect for the Minister and I understand that he will want to do his best to get this right, but we in this House always remember that statutory instruments and other legislation that we approve will be used by future Ministers. That is why, because I do not necessarily trust people who in future might pick up this responsibility, I ask the Minister for a further safeguard: that he restore the duty to report to Parliament on sanctions regimes which was scrapped back in 2022. This is a considerable extension of the Government’s power of sanctioning, and it is right that both Houses of Parliament get a report every year about what has happened, who has been sanctioned and what the results are going to be. I hope the Minister will be able to reassure me on both those points.