Name: House of Lords
Uploaded: 2026-10-26T14:34:57+00:00
Duration: 19440 s

02:48 - 04:18

Speaker 4

Charles the Third, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of our other realms and territories King, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, to the Right Reverend our right trusty and well-beloved Richard Lee, Bishop of Durham, greeting. Whereas our Parliament for arduous and urgent affairs concerning us, the state and defence of our United Kingdom and the Church, is now met at our City of Westminster, we, strictly enjoining, command you upon the faith and love by which you are bound to us, that considering the difficulty of the said affairs and dangers impending, waiving all excuses, you be personally present at our aforesaid Parliament with us and with the prelates, nobles and peers of our said Kingdom to treat and give your counsel upon the affairs aforesaid.

And this as you regard us and our honor and the safety and defense of the said kingdom and church and dispatch of the said affairs in no wise do you omit. Witness ourself at Westminster the 23rd day of July in the fourth year of our reign.

04:18 - 06:25

Speaker 3

I, Rick, Lord Bishop of Durham, do swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles, his heirs and successors according to law, so help me God.

06:25 - 06:28

Speaker 1

First oral question, Lord Sharpe of Epsom.

06:28 - 06:33

Speaker 2

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the question standing in my name on the order paper.

06:33 - 07:11

Speaker 8

My Lords, I would like to thank the noble Lord Sharpe for his interest in this issue. It's timely because in response to his and other works today, the FCA has confirmed there should be no sustainability requirements and no FCA regulatory barrier preventing banks and other financial institutions from supporting the defense sector. I have the publication here requiring good practice from financial firms and I hope that that goes some way to address the concerns that he has been raising.

07:11 - 07:57

Speaker 5

Well, I thank the noble Lord for that answer and I'm very grateful to him for it because it is encouraging. But the reason for asking this question again, it's the second time I've asked it in 18 months, is because I was recently contacted by two ex-army officers who've developed a novel counter-drone technology.

They had secured a 700,000 pound grant from Innovate UK, but were in danger of losing that grant because they had nowhere to put it. And the reason that the banks were saying that they couldn't open an account on their behalf was, quote, "because of the nature of your business." So could I ask the minister to press home the importance of this new FCA report directly to the banks, perhaps invite them into the Treasury and explain that not only is defending the nation profoundly ethical, but it's also a moral imperative.

07:57 - 08:36

Speaker 8

I think I'm in entire agreement with the noble Lord Sharp on this. Look, to be absolutely clear, no legitimate company should be excluded from financial services solely because it operates in the defence sector. I can confirm that as a first step, the FCA will be writing to all firms, all financial firms, today to make that expectation absolutely clear. And again, would thank him and the many other people from all political parties who have been campaigning on this important issue for some time. Thank you.

08:36 - 09:17

Speaker 11

My Lords, we also have heard, I chair the Industry Committee, we're looking at defence at the moment, and we've heard from small defence companies with this problem. So I ask two things. One is that we ask, make sure that the FCA actually enforce the guidance, which they don't in the other area I deal with, as you know, politically exposed persons. But secondly, that they are sympathetic to the sort of cases I think referred to. These are often new companies, so won't have a long trading arm, and therefore they must be flexible to help in this way.