The Lord Birt
Crossbench
Member of the House of Lords
M
Lord Birt's full title is The Lord Birt. His name is John Birt, and he is a current member of the House of Lords.
Allowance claims · 2026
Data not yet released for 2026 — the Lords Finance Office publishes monthly CSVs ~6-8 weeks after month-end.
Lords votes · 2026
162 divisions
2 Content(1.2%)
0 Not-Content(0.0%)
160 didn't vote(98.8%)
Source: lordsvotes-api.parliament.uk. "Result" shows the headline
Content vs Not-Content tally (including tellers). The Lords doesn't
publish a "didn't vote" attendance roll like the Commons, so the
figure above conflates absence with abstention.
Recent Hansard contributions · latest 25
2026-06-17
Thames Water
My Lords, the dire position of Thames Water is, above all, a regulatory failure. Does the Minister accept that Ofwat’s record as a regulator has been absolutely woeful? Above all, it failed to require water companies to invest over a long period of time
2026-06-15
Defence Investment Plan
My Lords, I was very sad indeed to see such a capable and committed group of Defence Ministers depleted by resignation, but very pleased—as was the noble Baroness, Lady Goldie—to see that the Minister remains with us in his place today. At the 2025 NATO
2026-04-20
Trains: Punctuality
My Lords, in the last year, just under 10% of British train journeys were either cancelled, truncated or arrived more than 10 minutes late. The prime causes identified were unavailability of crew or fleet and signal and points failures. Recently, my wife
2026-04-16
Local Resilience Forums
My Lords, utilising modern science and technology, the police appear to be addressing the most serious crime very effectively. But we all know that we have an epidemic of offending on our streets—and our high streets—unmatched in my lifetime, with shopli
2026-03-18
Trail-hunting
My Lords—
2026-03-17
BBC World Service: Sustainability
My Lords, in a few years, we will be celebrating the centenary of one of the UK’s many great inventions, the BBC World Service, which now reaches a remarkable 400 million people each week. It is the most trusted news service on the planet and a significa
2026-03-16
Humanist Weddings
My Lords, in Scotland in 2024, there were more humanist weddings than there were weddings of all religious faiths combined—evidence not only of the substantial demand for humanist marriage but of the accelerating decline of traditional religions. Nine mo
2026-02-24
Quantum Technology
My Lords, quantum technology is possibly, indeed probably, the most disruptive and transformational technology yet invented by mankind. Thankfully, with our world-leading science base, the UK already has the second-highest number of start-ups working in
2026-02-11
Electric Vehicles: Transition
My Lords, I readily acknowledge that the EV charging network in the UK is growing very rapidly, but none the less there are issues. Some parts of the UK are significantly underserved: public charge points are often not sited close to where people live; g
2026-02-11
New Homes Target
My Lords, I return to the question of social housing. Since 1990, the UK’s population has grown by around 20%—an additional 12 million people. In that same period, our stock of social housing has not grown but contracted by nearly 10%. We now have fewer
2026-01-30
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, we are discussing one of the most important decisions that any individual might make in their lives. It is important for the individual and for the state. I think that it is appropriate to ask that the critical meetings with the medical practit
2026-01-23
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
Believe it or not, I have had cause, at various times in my life, to navigate the NHS, as probably everybody in this Committee has, and of course it is very difficult. However, when you go into A&E, you effectively do have a navigator. I do not think
2026-01-23
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
Plainly, the NHS is a very large organisation and it offers a variety of different kinds of experience. I hope none of us uses A&E very often but, like everybody else, I have used it and, in my experience, I have found it very efficient indeed at han
2026-01-23
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
I am sorry; perhaps the noble Baroness can talk to me later, as I could not take in what she said.
I am, frankly, open-minded about the NHS question and accept the strength of what the noble Lord, Lord Stevens, says. It may well be that this is an org
2026-01-23
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
The one issue that unites the whole Committee is that we have to have an effective service of palliative care in this country. The data in Australia, which varies from state to state, tells us that somewhere between 70% and 90% of people who come forward
2026-01-23
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
I do not think it for us, in framing in principle amendments, to deal with that level of issue, but the noble Lord is right—that is exactly what the body should do. We are talking about highly distressed people, and it should facilitate different kinds o
2026-01-23
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I will try not to keep us too long from our lunch. This has been a lively and helpful debate, and I think it has exposed a fair number of critical issues that are yet to be resolved.
My past has caught up with me in this debate. How many peo
2026-01-23
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
No, I am sorry—I have an argument to put; I am not going to take any interruptions.
Furthermore, one of Australia’s most senior and experienced practitioners tells me that, although in theory it must be a risk, she herself has never experienced a sing
2026-01-23
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, I shall speak also to all the other amendments listed in my name and that of the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, who, having assiduously attended our sessions on the Bill thus far, as all will have noticed, deeply regrets that he cannot be present wi
2026-01-23
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
2026-01-19
Northern Powerhouse Rail
It has been a difficult weekend. I regularly visit the north-west of England, as I did at the weekend. I am involved in an east of Pennines business, so I am very familiar with the 19th-century infrastructure of the whole of the north of England. Are we
2026-01-19
Northern Powerhouse Rail
My Lords, I worked at No. 10 as Tony Blair’s strategy adviser in 2005 when an in principle go-ahead was given to an ambitious high-speed rail network for the whole country. Twenty-odd years later, we do not even have one small part of that plan in place.
2025-12-10
Drax
My Lords, the Minister appears to be completely unaware that “Panorama” proved conclusively two or three years ago that Drax does indeed burn old-growth forests. However, the new agreement that the Government have negotiated with Drax for 2027-31 will re
2025-12-05
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
Could the noble Lord please answer my question: should we try to reach the 10th group of amendments today?
2025-12-05
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
I just want to ask: does the noble Lord think that we should try to reach the 10th group of amendments in the course of today?
Source: hansard.parliament.uk via hansard-api. Snippets shown
verbatim from the search API; click any debate title for the full record.
Register of Interests · 4 entries on file
Declarations under the Lords Code of Conduct. Free text — no monetary values, no hours worked. A declaration that an interest exists, not a claim about its size.
Category 1: Remunerated employment etc.
-
Chairman, Wharfedale Acquisitions Topco Ltd (holding company for JLA Group, which offers equipment supply and maintenance)
registered 2018-08-22 · amended 2025-04-05
Category 2: Shareholdings etc. (b)
-
Wharfedale Acquisitions Topco Ltd (holding company)
registered 2018-08-22 · amended 2025-04-05
Category 3: Land and property
-
Residential properties in East Midlands from which rental income is received
registered 2020-03-13 · amended 2025-04-05
Category 6: Gifts, benefits and hospitality
-
Ticket and hospitality for West Ham United v Liverpool Premier League match received from vice chairman of West Ham United, 30 November 2025
registered 2025-12-04
Source: UK Parliament Members API (Lords register). Refreshed weekly.
Read the full
Lords Code of Conduct
for what each category covers and the disclosure thresholds.
Party history
2000-02-11 → present
Crossbench
current
Government posts
None recorded.
Opposition posts
None recorded.
Committee memberships
None recorded.
Contact
Parliamentary office
contactholmember@parliament.uk
020 7219 5353 · House of Lords, London, SW1A 0PW
020 7219 5353 · House of Lords, London, SW1A 0PW
APPGs (2026) · 2 active officership(s) · 2 historic
| Group | Role(s) | Funders | Officers in group | Next deadline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Metal, Stone and Heritage Crime
Subject Group
|
Vice Chair | — | 4 | 2024-10-23 |
|
Electric Vehicle All-Party Parliamentary Group
Subject Group
|
Officer | Renewable Energy Association (REA) | 4 | 2027-01-10 |
One row per active APPG. Funder names link out via the
/appgs Top secretariat funders panel — click any funder
there to open its full relationship graph. Officer matching is name-based against
the parliament.uk register text and may miss titled / hyphenated variants.
Written parliamentary questions · 2026
Showing
12
of 12 tabled
12 answered(100.0%)
6
departments
2026-06-01
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Political Parties: Finance
Answered
2026-05-18
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
Natural Gas and Oil: Storage
Answered
2026-04-20
Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
Electricity: EU Countries
Answered
2026-02-27
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Mackerel: Fisheries
Answered
2026-02-10
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Fly-tipping: Private Property
Answered
2026-01-13
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Fly-tipping: Private Property
Answered
Source: UK Parliament Members API. The amber "interest" tag is set
by Parliament's own system when the asking member has a register entry
it deems related — typically a paid role or directorship in the
sector being asked about. Click any "i" icon to see the full
question and the department's answer.
Bills sponsored & supported · 2026
0 bills
0 as lead sponsor
0 as supporter
No bills sponsored or supported in 2026.
Source: UK Parliament Bills API. "Lead" sponsor is the
primary mover (sortOrder = 1); "Supporter" rows are
members of either House who
backed the bill at introduction. Year is the bill's first-reading
date.
Historic bills (all-time)
0 bills
0 as lead sponsor
0 as supporter
No bills sponsored or supported on record.
Same source as the year-scoped panel above, but unconstrained by
year. The "Sponsored" tag = lead sponsor; "Supported" = backed at
introduction. Sorted newest first.