Charities: Banking Services

Debate between Lord Forbes of Newcastle and Lord Lemos

Thursday 23rd July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Forbes of Newcastle]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the challenges faced by charities in accessing ethical and appropriate banking services; and what steps they are taking to ensure that voluntary organisations can obtain reliable, affordable and compliant banking provision.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Lemos) (Lab)]

Charities make vital contributions across the country. While the provision of banking services is ultimately a commercial decision for banks, the Government believe that it is essential that charities and voluntary organisations can access suitable banking services for their needs. The Government have worked closely with UK Finance to support non-profit groups’ access to finance, developing the interactive account finder tool hosted on its website. Smaller charities may also be eligible to use the current account switch service. I should also declare my interest: I was chair of the payments board at UK Finance for several years.

[Lord Forbes of Newcastle (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for his thoughtful and considered reply. Many charities face slow, complicated and burdensome processes to change registered trustees on their accounts. According to the Charity Commission, a growing number of charities, particularly but not exclusively those that are Muslim-led, are finding themselves debanked altogether. Does my noble friend the Minister accept that current money laundering rules and banks’ risk-avoidance practices are having unintended consequences for charities seeking ethical banking? Will His Majesty’s Government consider issuing clearer regulatory guidance for the banking sector to ensure that civil society organisations are treated proportionately, fairly and indiscriminately?

[Lord Lemos (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for that easy, holiday-focused question on the last day of term. I also thank my noble friend Lord Pitt-Watson, who got to the Treasury job too late to take this Question. Mine’s a gin and tonic, David.

We recognise the concerns raised by charities about access to banking services. The UK’s anti-money laundering regime is designed to be risk-based and proportionate, and banks are expected to assess customers on that basis, rather than applying blanket approaches. We continue to engage with the banking sector, regulators and charities to understand these issues, and we will keep under review whether further guidance is needed to support fair and proportionate treatment of civil society organisations.

Just to share my empathy with my noble friend, the Charity Finance Group’s 2024 survey said that 92% of charities had experienced at least one banking difficulty in the previous two years. That number needs to come down.

Domestic Travel and Holidays: Visitor Levy

Debate between Lord Forbes of Newcastle and Lord Lemos

Tuesday 21st July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lemos (Lab)]

The visitor levy was announced on 25 November 2025 and a consultation on the design of the levy powers was launched in the Budget. The consultation has now closed, and the response will be published—perhaps the noble Lord will not be surprised to hear me say this—in due course. We expect that local leaders will be able to introduce the levy before the end of this Parliament. I am afraid I do not accept the wider characterisation from the noble Lord. As he knows, we have done a great deal to support the hospitality industry, including pubs and live music venues, through business rates support and through our Great British Summer Savings scheme, which is now well advanced.

[Lord Forbes of Newcastle (Lab)]

My Lords, I am a former chair of Core Cities UK, the group of the 10 largest cities outside of London. Core Cities campaigned long and hard for the power to introduce a discretionary visitor levy to fund the additional costs of tourism-related expenditure, maintaining historic sites, promoting marketing campaigns, and the cost of major events—which in my time as leader of Newcastle City Council the hospitality sector told me was the single biggest thing that brought additional business in through their doors—ultimately reducing the burden on council tax payers of the overall visitor economy. Can my noble friend the Minister indicate whether His Majesty’s Government have plans to press ahead with this financial flexibility for areas in England that wish to introduce it?

[Lord Lemos (Lab)]

As I have said, the discretion will be with local mayors, and I pay tribute to the campaign of my noble friend and others. Perhaps I can quote one regional mayor:

“I am proud that nearly two million people from all over the world choose to visit Greater Manchester every year. The money they spend contributes about £9 billion annually to our economy”—

Security of Candidates, MPs and Elections

Debate between Lord Forbes of Newcastle and Lord Lemos

Thursday 12th February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lemos (Lab)]

I entirely agree with the noble Lord. The right to peaceful protest is a vital part of our democracy. It is a long-standing tradition in the UK, of which we are justifiably proud, that people should be free to gather and express their views, provided that they do so within the law. Peaceful protest does not extend to unlawful behaviour. This includes actions that are violent or which cause harassment, alarm or distress to others. With regard to the noble Lord’s comments about antisemitism, we on these Benches and noble Lords across the House entirely denounce antisemitism and all its consequences. We believe that there is a leadership responsibility, not just for the Government but for all involved in politics, to conduct our discourse in a respectful and responsible way. Surely that is not beyond our rhetorical abilities.

[Lord Forbes of Newcastle (Lab)]

My Lords, does my noble friend the Minister share my concern about the rising tide of abuse in our politics being detrimental to the broadest range of candidates putting themselves forward? Does he share my concern that women in particular are severely disadvantaged by this and are put off our politics? Will he join with me in calling for a comprehensive approach to the Speaker’s Conference which enables people of all aspects of our public life to stand for public office? Not to do so is an affront to our democracy and damages its accountability and validity.

[Lord Lemos (Lab)]

Of course I agree with that. The Electoral Commission has noted that some of these problems are experienced to a greater extent by women but also by candidates from Black and minority ethnic communities. We do have to be especially vigilant but also consistent regarding all these types of incidents. We are very committed to this and take it very seriously, but I do not want to give false hope. This is something that we will have to continue to work on. My noble friend is right to draw our attention to that.