We have a new Chair & 8 new Members, after the House agreed the annual rotation of committee Members yesterday. Welcome to our new Chair, Lord Stirrup, & thank you to our outgoing Chair Lord Ricketts @lordrickettsp.bsky.social. See our full new line-up here: committees.parliament.uk/committee/51...

💥📣 My new book will be out on 7 May! Order your copy now: geni.us/PeaceMakers. It’s the exciting story of the men and women of the Foreign Office in WWII. In a world torn apart by war, they evacuated UK citizens, picked up intel in shadowy corners, corralled allies and organised PoW escape lines.

We're taking evidence on Weds (21 Jan 2:30pm) from Home Office Minister Lord Hanson of Flint. We'll be asking re: a range of Home Office EU business, incl. citizens' rights & follow-up to last year's summit on law enforcement cooperation & irregular migration committees.parliament.uk/event/25910/...

Lord Peter Ricketts on BBC4 re Trump/Greenland: 'The right thing for the European countries is to react very calmly, to be firm & polite in public, ... making the case that America can have all its security interests served by working with Denmark and with Nato.' www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

West London is black and white again. The nature is healing #FFC

Whatever else 2026 has in store, we will have the most sensational example of cultural diplomacy for a generation with the Bayeux Tapestry returning to the UK for the first time in 1,000 years, and on display at the British Museum from September. The vivid images speak to all ages. Don’t miss it!

Somewhat unexpectedly, one of the best books I’ve read this year. The history of the August 2024 prisoner swap, the largest one since the Cold War. A lot about the US, Germany, and Slovenia. Less than expected about Poland, holding a GRU operative included in the swap.

Polish basketball mecca - no better place to watch basketball than the Wrocław-based Hala Stulecia, home of Śląsk Wrocław

European Commission has today recommended UK-EU negotiations for 2 agreements: UK participation in EU internal electricity market & UK financial contribution to reducing EU regional disparities—so, more developments since our Nov report on the UK-EU reset publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5901/ld...

Includes very good live coverage of the Ukrainian president’s visit to Poland and his meeting with his Polish counterpart, a significant step in a somewhat complicated Polish-Ukrainian relationship

The European Commission has today renewed the UK's EU data adequacy status, to 2031. Based on our earlier work on the issue, in our Nov report on the UK-EU reset we noted renewal "would avoid significant disruption to UK-EU cooperation across the board". publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5901/ld...

Good to hear that the Government are (finally) taking action to get this money to those who need it most in Ukraine. This is what we called for in our @lordseuroaffairs.parliament.uk Report in January 2024 Report committees.parliament.uk/publications...

We've published a letter we've received today from Nick Thomas-Symonds about the agreement on the UK's association to Erasmus+ in 2027, plus updates on other negotiations following the 2025 UK-EU summit & confirmation of UK-EU aims before next summit in 2026 committees.parliament.uk/publications...

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Our Chair @lordrickettsp.bsky.social is at the COSAC conference of European Affairs c'tees in Copenhagen. Noting participants' calls for a stronger Europe, he said Europeans must work together to achieve this—as in Geneva last week—& expressed hope for a pragmatic solution on UK association to SAFE

In the Folketing in Copenhagen for COSAC - Chairs of national European Affairs Cttees. I expect much support for Ukraine and the urgent need for a strong Europe - a good context to regret the disconnect between this and the failure of talks on UK access to SAFE. @lordseuroaffairs.parliament.uk

An excellent snapshot of the complicated state of the Polish - German relationship www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

Came, saw, conquered #FFC #FollowFulhamAway

Our Chair @lordrickettsp.bsky.social is on this week's Parliament Matters podcast from @hansardsociety.bsky.social (at 21' 25"). He discusses the UK-EU 'reset' & our recent report on it, & Parliament's current & future role in scrutinising UK-EU relations, including prospective dynamic alignment

We've written to the Government with Qs re: the European Commission 2026 Annual Work Programme & the Gov's Explanatory Memorandum on it—incl on migration, energy & competitiveness. We look at these documents every year as part of our regular EU scrutiny work. committees.parliament.uk/publications...

I represented @houseoflords.parliament.uk at a Summit in Stockholm to remind the world of Crimea’s plight since 2014: killings, children sent to Russian camps, cultural heritage destroyed etc. Zelensky put it powerfully in his speech to us ‘Putin wants legal recognition for what he has stolen’.

Our Chair @lordrickettsp.bsky.social is representing lordspeaker.parliament.uk & houseoflords.parliament.uk today at the Crimea Platform parliamentary summit in Stockholm, to show solidarity with the Ukrainian people & call for a just settlement including respect for Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

Our Chair @lordrickettsp.bsky.social and several of our Members are members of the UK delegation to the UK-EU Parliamentary Partnership Assembly (PPA) and taking part in the Assembly's sixth meeting today & tomorrow at Westminster. 📺 Watch live on youtube 🔽

If you are puzzled by the proliferating EU demands for UK cash as part of the reset process I will try to see through the fog on BBC Radio 4 PM Programme at around 1730 (or later on BBC Sounds)!

An interesting aspect of the European Affairs Committee's work is its scrutiny role, in particular its examination of the Government’s Explanatory Memoranda. Below are examples of correspondence with the Government, focusing on UK-EU negotiations on the Youth Experiences Scheme, SPS and ETS

After publishing our UK-EU reset report on Weds, we've sent 2 scrutiny letters to the Gov re: youth experience scheme & SPS & ETS linkage negotiations—especially re: UK financial contributions, & plans re: EU CBAM start on 1/1/26. See all our publications 🔽 committees.parliament.uk/committee/51...

Thanks to the FT for quoting me on the Lords European Affairs Cttee report. But as I understand the outcome of the Brussels debate on money, a UK contribution to EU cohesion funds w’d only be sought for future access to the Internal Market, not for SPS/ETS deals. This is good news. t.co/8UqLZ7bGn4

📢 We have published our report, ‘Is Working from Home Working?’ We found that hybrid working has the potential to be the "best of both worlds", but only if it is well managed. committees.parliament.uk/committee/77...

Ten months, 15 oral evidence sessions, 82 written submissions. Fantastic witnesses representing a wide range of views and a report that, somewhat unsurprisingly, asks many questions about the future of the UK-EU relationship. The Chair @lordrickettsp.bsky.social outlined the key issues below

Lots of nuggets in there on the EU-UK relationship - and lots of room for closer cooperation.

It’s out! Here’s @LordsEUCom Report ‘Unfinished Business: resetting the UK- EU relationship’. The Gov’t have made a strong start, esp on security and defence, but there’s still much to do in turning aspirations and goodwill into workable agreements 1/8 publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5901/ld...

📢 We've published our report on the UK-EU reset - the 1st assessment by a parliamentary committee of the Government's progress so far ⬇️ committees.parliament.uk/committee/51...

Yesterday, before the Everton-Fulham kick-off #LestWeForget

Last week, the @houseoflords.parliament.uk European Affairs Committee was honoured to host a joint meeting with the European Affairs Committee from the French Senate. Following the meeting the respective chairs, @lordrickettsp.bsky.social and Senator Jean-François Rapin, co-signed a Joint Statement

The European Affairs Committee is now on Bluesky

🌌Our report, 'The Space Economy: Act Now or Lose Out' makes recommendations to the Government about UK space policy. 📜You can read a summary of our findings here: ukparliament.shorthandstories.com/UK-engagemen... 📺Watch a video summary of our report ⬇️

One rarely gets to hear a former NATO Sec Gen, a former EU High Rep, former National Security Advisers, Permanent Secretaries of the Foreign Office and Chiefs of Defence staff in one debate. All with one bipartisan message of support for Ukraine. 📖Hansard: hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2025-1...

By the river #FFC

Iranian drone used by Russia to attack Ukraine (Porcullis House, Palace of Westminster)

The Committee has published a unanimous report today on Northern Ireland after Brexit: Strengthening Northern Ireland's voice in the context of the Windsor Framework. The Committee warns that efforts to mitigate the democratic deficit in NI after Brexit remain insufficient. 1/6

The House of Lords Northern Ireland Scrutiny Committee has just published an excellent report, summarising Committee inquiry into Strengthening Northern Ireland’s Voice in the Context of the Windsor Framework committees.parliament.uk/committee/76...

If you ever wondered where the term “usual channels” comes from, in 1905, PM Arthur Balfour used it in a response to a parliamentary question, asking MPs to communicate with a colleague “through the usual channels”. A perfect read for parliamentary geeks ( & as a pub quiz prep!)

That other football, with reasonable VAR

This, by @shaunwalker7.bsky.social, is excellent. At times, it reads like a spy novel akin to John le Carré. Highly recommended!

Saturday, sun, football by the river

An extremely important report from the House of Lords International Agreements Committee looking into parliamentary scrutiny of international treaties and agreements. Worth noting that IAC is the only parliamentary body dedicated to treaty scrutiny. 📖 publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5901/ld...

🔴Shadow Defence Secretary, James Cartlidge MP is asking an urgent question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the violation of Poland’s airspace by Russian drones. Watch live ⬇️ parliamentlive.tv/event/index/...

A good day to follow @theguardian.com Europe Live for reliable information about Polish (and not only) reactions to the overnight violations of Polish airspace by Russian drones. @jakubkrupa.bsky.social provides helpful translations from 🇵🇱 incl political context www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

Poland said it scrambled its own & Nato air defences to shoot down drones over its territory after repeated violations of its airspace during a Russian attack on Ukraine The first time in the war that Warsaw has engaged Russian assets in its airspace. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...