Carbon Border Taxes
Debate between Lord Livermore and Lord Hannan of Kingsclere(3 weeks ago)
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Lord Livermore (Lab)
Yes—I agree with the noble Baroness that energy prices are too high. I just wonder what the previous Government did to tackle that over 14 years. This Government have invested in CCUS, for example, which the previous Government did not. I do not know whether the noble Baroness agrees with our investments in that; she opposes the revenue-raising measures that we have taken to raise the funds to invest in those measures. It is an interesting question, but I of course agree with her. That is why the tax is designed in exactly the way that it is.
Lord Hannan of Kingsclere (Con)
My Lords, to return to my noble friend Lord Fuller’s question, how is this different from a tariff? One effect of a tariff is that it results in the outsourcing of manufacturing. People will take car-making or whatever to places that are not affected by this additional levy. Have the Government made any assessment of how much deindustrialisation there will be as a consequence of imposing what is, in effect, a tariff on ourselves?
Lord Livermore (Lab)
As I understand it, the noble Lord likes market-led approaches. The UK Emissions Trading Scheme is a market-led approach whereby those domestic firms and industries that are able to decarbonise quickly do so first, while technological solutions are found for those where it is more difficult. To maintain the integrity of the UK’s decarbonisation efforts through the emissions trading scheme, we must mitigate the risk of carbon leakage, which means that we must have a carbon border adjustment mechanism.
London Stock Exchange: Decline in UK Funds
Debate between Lord Livermore and Lord Hannan of Kingsclere(1 month, 2 weeks ago)
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Lord Livermore (Lab)
The decision on whether a firm can list in the UK is a matter for the independent regulator, the FCA, subject to a firm meeting its listing rules and relevant disclosure requirements.
Lord Hannan of Kingsclere (Con)
My Lords, the chief beneficiary of the loss of business from London has been New York, where companies are not subject to stamp duty. Is the Minister’s department prepared to consider lifting this handicap from the London Stock Exchange to give us more of an equal chance?
Lord Livermore (Lab)
Stamp taxes on shares raise more than £4 billion a year in revenue. Targeted design features such as the exemption for transfers made on growth markets also support the UK’s competitiveness. This matter is out of scope of the pensions review, but we of course keep all taxes under review.