High Street Retailers

Baroness Ludford Excerpts

Wednesday 4th July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth]

My Lords, the noble Lord is right about the changing nature of the high street. There is no way, as somebody said to me, that we can stop evolution. These are changes that we have to embrace, but there are many things we can do such as, as the noble Lord hinted, ensuring there is a level playing field. VAT rates are not central to this; the important issue is international action in relation to online activities. The Treasury is seeking here to lead the charge with our partners, both in the EU and more widely.

[Baroness Ludford (LD)]

Does the Minister agree that staying part of the EU gives us a much better chance of grappling with the problems of taxing big multinational companies, because the EU has the collective clout to do that, which we cannot necessarily do on our own?

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth]

I do not think that is the case. We need to work with our EU partners, but we are not limited to EU partners, as I have indicated. This is a global issue, which is much wider than simply the EU.