Taxation: Avoidance

Debate between Lord Howell of Guildford and Lord Newby

Monday 9th February 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Newby]

My Lords, if noble Lords have read the statement by HSBC in today’s Guardian—it may be in other newspapers, but that is where I read it—they will have seen that it is clear that, in 2005, HSBC was run as a very loose confederation and that the centre sought not to exercise very great control. That has changed very dramatically, and the new regulatory authorities are much more intrusive in ensuring that management at the centre has effective control throughout the organisation. It is clear that there was a wholly unacceptable culture in many of the banks. Both regulatory and legal change and activities by the banks in setting up their own body to monitor standards—as well as statements by senior management at the top of banks—are trying to reverse that culture towards the kind of culture that I suspect most people would expect their bankers to follow.

[Lord Howell of Guildford (Con)]

My Lords, I have listened to several attempts by the Opposition to tie the name of my noble friend Lord Green to whatever was going on in HSBC Switzerland, which I know in intention he would not dream of defending. Does the Minister nevertheless accept that my noble friend Lord Green is a man of the utmost probity who has done an enormously valuable job as a Trade Minister for this Government? I have the privilege of working with him. His activities bring great benefit to this nation. Would it not be a little wiser, if we want to maintain the quality and integrity of our political discussion in this House, to avoid premature innuendo of the kind that we have heard frequently from the opposition Benches?

[Lord Newby]

I completely agree, my Lords.

Employment: Private Sector Jobs

Debate between Lord Howell of Guildford and Lord Newby

Thursday 30th January 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Newby]

My Lords, there are a number of measures but one of the key things is what is happening to employment and unemployment regionally. In the past quarter, unemployment fell more quickly in Scotland, Wales and four English regions than it did in London. There is big growth in a number of regions outside London, which is extremely welcome.

[Lord Howell of Guildford (Con)]

My Lords, when it comes to rebalancing, is my noble friend aware that more than 40% of our export earnings come from the services sector, at which we are extremely good? Manufacturing is doing extremely well but services are doing very much better. Can he assure us that the Government will do everything to reinforce and encourage this sector, particularly in international dealings in an increasingly digitalised and networked world where services are the main growth area?

[Lord Newby]

Absolutely, my Lords, and in a number of the major trade delegations that the Prime Minister and other senior Ministers have undertaken in recent times, promoting services has been uppermost in their minds. One of the great strengths of the UK in terms of professional services is that the standards we set here through bodies such as those for chartered accountants and the legal bodies have a worldwide reputation, which underpins the credibility of British companies seeking to sell their services internationally.

Economy

Debate between Lord Howell of Guildford and Lord Newby

Tuesday 28th January 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Newby]

My Lords, we have a long-term problem in terms of linguistic skills and a long-term problem in terms of the balance of payments. The Government are seeking to put in train policies that turn that around. I completely agree with the noble Lord that the survey evidence suggests that for small businesses in particular a lack of language skills is one of the biggest single inhibitors in moving into non-English-speaking foreign markets. That is why we must do all we can to encourage children to take up languages at school.

[Lord Howell of Guildford (Con)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as an adviser to the British Chambers of Commerce. In welcoming this obviously improving news about the economy, which is now getting distinctly stronger, particularly in the export sector, can my noble friend tell us what plans the Government have for reinforcing the work of the British Chambers of Commerce rather along the lines of the chambers of trade in Germany, to reinforce our export effort even further?

[Lord Newby]

My Lords, the Government are very appreciative of the work that the British Chambers of Commerce has done. Of course, the Heseltine review, No Stone Unturned in Pursuit of Growth, made the point that a strengthened British Chambers of Commerce was much to be welcomed. However, the tradition in Germany of chambers of commerce, of which membership is virtually compulsory for organisations, is very different from here. While the Government are encouraging the chambers of commerce to strengthen, it would be misleading to think that one could have a simple write-across from the German example in the foreseeable future.

Economy: GDP Forecast

Debate between Lord Howell of Guildford and Lord Newby

Monday 29th July 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Newby]

My Lords, I disagree with virtually all of that. As I pointed out earlier, during the five years of this Government we will have borrowed very significantly more to shore up the economy. That is why debt is higher. I am not sure whether the noble Lord is suggesting that we should have borrowed even more.

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

Is not the noble Lord, Lord Peston, leading us all into a bit of a false dichotomy? Of course we want economic growth, and we are getting a little now. The growth is coming back, as the noble Lord will have seen from the newspapers. Although we would obviously like more of it, growth depends on getting the debt curbed and on getting public expenditure under control. These things are not opposites or choices but all have to go together. Surely the noble Lord, who is a very good teacher and an expert, should be teaching us that. That is what he should be telling your Lordships.

[Lord Newby]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Peston, is an extremely eminent economist and he knows, as a good Keynesian, that the key at this point of the cycle is the change in animal spirits—the sense to which people have confidence to invest. Animal spirits have been very significantly subdued over recent years. There is a suggestion in every single figure that we now see that they are returning to the positive. That, more than any single thing that the Government now do, will be what drives growth forward.

Future Investment

Debate between Lord Howell of Guildford and Lord Newby

Thursday 27th June 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

My Lords, does the Minister accept that these long-term plans—in some cases very long-term—are mostly welcome, but that the problem lies in their delivery and implementation over the years? He may be too young, but does he recall that back in 1980, I announced in the House of Commons on behalf of the Government the introduction of a programme of nine new giant pressurised water reactor nuclear power stations, but only one ever got built? Of course, life would be very different today for our power sector, and we would have much more opportunity for low carbon, if we had those machines in place but the programme failed. Will he make sure that his colleagues in government, particularly in the Department of Energy and Climate Change, are fully aware of why the failures occurred, why the vast stabilisation and drop in fossil fuel prices undermined most of the economics of nuclear and why the political resistance built up? There are lessons to be learnt there which, unless they are absorbed properly, may yet damage our own attempts to move to a low-carbon, long-term nuclear base load for electricity.

[Lord Newby]

My Lords, I am happy to give that assurance but the noble Lord underlines what has been a leitmotif of the nuclear programme. On paper it has looked a lot better in a number of respects and easier to deliver than has been achieved in practice. What we are committed to trying to achieve when we set our face to get new nuclear capacity is that we are able to deliver it on a reasonable budget and within a sensible timeframe.

Air Passenger Duty

Debate between Lord Howell of Guildford and Lord Newby

Monday 28th January 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Newby]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Morris, anticipates me. I was just coming to the Caribbean but a number of noble Lords have called for the tax to be abolished tout court. There have been strong arguments—

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

We must have accuracy in this debate. I am aware of one calling for abolition; sensibly, none of the rest of us is calling for abolition. For the Minister to pin his arguments on the abolition plea alone really is to distort the debate and not to do justice to this House.

[Lord Newby]

My Lords, I was simply stating that I thought that several noble Lords—at least one—have called for abolition.