Spring Forecast Statement
Debate between Lord Davies of Brixton and Lord Leigh of Hurley(1 week, 3 days ago)
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Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)
Yes, the noble Lord, Lord Leigh of Hurley. That was a blind spot: I am sorry. I always listen with great interest to what the noble Lord says. We take part in many of the same debates. I did not really understand his suggestion that widows would be the main people to suffer from this policy. I would be happy to give up 15 seconds of my seven minutes if the noble Lord could clarify that. Is he saying that they are going to have to do the PR work? Is he saying that their pensions are going to be taxed?
Lord Leigh of Hurley (Con)
As the noble Lord has invited me to intervene, I will. The point is that women live longer than men and it is much more likely that, if a person passes away, it will be the man leaving the woman to be the PR and to pay the tax.
Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)
Sure, but that is true only if the widow does not get a pension. My whole point is that that arrangement should be providing pensions and not providing capital sums to the widow. If the deceased does not want to place that burden on their widow—or widower: it works both ways—they have to ensure that the money is not unused but is used to provide the dependant, the spouse, with a pension. It is only lump sums that will be taxed in this way. To me, that seems right and proper because it is part of the deceased’s estate, and there are of course the normal tax-free allowances. We are here because pensions are the purpose of these arrangements. They are not for the purpose of estate planning, and yet, since the introduction of freedom of choice, that is what they have become.
I want to pick up a point made by the noble Lord, Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell. He mentioned the total welfare bill. Of course, the main part of the welfare bill is pensions. I was not entirely sure whether he was suggesting that we take the pensions away from pensioners and advise them to get a job. Was that his suggestion?
Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill
Debate between Lord Davies of Brixton and Lord Leigh of Hurley(1 year, 10 months ago)
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Lord Leigh of Hurley (Con)
Possibly first class. No one can forget that academia is not immune to bigotry. Let us recall that Heidelberg University in Germany was no less prestigious than any UK university in its day. In the 1920s, it was the centre of liberal thinking. A decade later, a mob of Heidelberg students burned Jewish and other so-called “corrupt” books in the Universitätsplatz. Jewish students and Jewish academics were banned, its faculty developed pseudo-academic fields such as race theory, eugenics and forced euthanasia. Heidelberg was led by administrators who lacked moral leadership—and we all know how this ended.
It cannot be right that students at universities around the world feel unprotected and threatened. Most ironically, only a few years ago, children of Jewish friends of mine were telling their parents they did not feel comfortable going to a UK university, so they applied to go to one in the United States. The appalling lack of leadership in some US universities has quite rightly led to the removal of their leadership in some famous cases. We are all watching Columbia University, apparently led by the noble Baroness, Lady Shafik, most carefully to see whether it can exhibit proper leadership against the vile intimidation and abuse.
In the UK, we have seen many universities fail to take proper action. I will cite some alarming incidents indicative of this unsafe environment. For example, in Leeds there was the attack on a Jewish chaplain, a rabbi, the sit-in at the Parkinson building, the daubing of the Jewish student centre and the encampment outside of the student union. Apart from the absurdity of the protesters protesting against an occupation by occupying university buildings, the demonstrations themselves are misplaced—and, as at other universities, such as King’s College, Cambridge, are causing huge distress to Jewish students, as has been noted.
Despite very sterling work by the noble Lord, Lord Mann, it is endemic. In Birmingham, students called for “Zionists off our campus”. We know what they mean, “No Jews here”—as they did in Heidelberg. A while ago, in December 2021, City University students, among others, demanded a BDS ban. It was stopped only because the Charity Commission ruled that this was in breach of its charitable status. Interestingly, the leader of the call for BDS there, Shaima Dallali, was subsequently elected president of the National Union of Students before she was suspended for anti-Semitism. The connection between the call for BDS and anti-Semitism is staring us in the face
Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)
Today, it has been reported that she has been compensated for unfair dismissal—so I do not think the point quite works as the noble Lord intends.