Non-UK Residents: Property Ownership Register

Lord Mann Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd November 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

When the register is implemented there will be considerable incentives to comply and penalties for not complying. I am sure that Companies House and the Land Registry would be very interested to hear any reports of anybody not abiding by the regulations.

[Lord Mann (Non-Afl)]

Unless I am mishearing, the Minister and his department are chomping at the bit to bring forward this legislation, so what advice could he give to those of us who would like to help him persuade the Government Whips that this is an important priority?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The noble Lord puts his finger on the button as always. We are very keen to introduce it, and any influence he can bring to bear on the Public Bill Committee, or indeed the Prime Minister, would be greatly appreciated.

Climate Change: Global Temperatures

Lord Mann Excerpts

Wednesday 27th October 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

No, I do not accept that, because the UK, even after the recent reduction, still has one of the largest international climate finance facilities in the world. Again, on international finance, we are world-leading as well. It was an immense diplomatic effort to get many other nations on board—credit goes to the Prime Minister and to Alok Sharma for managing to do that. We have got the commitment, albeit maybe not as early as we would have hoped for, from 2023.

[Lord Mann (Non-Afl)]

What is the target date for the Minister’s own departmental buildings to be carbon neutral?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

As the noble Lord is probably well aware, under the heat and buildings strategy, another of the Chancellor’s announcements last week, we have allocated hundreds of millions of pounds to the public sector decarbonisation scheme to go with the £1 billion that we have already spent in the past year on the PSDS. I could point the noble Lord to numerous examples across the country, both in London and elsewhere, of excellent schemes where the public sector is using these funds to deliver meaningful carbon reductions.

Administration (Restrictions on Disposal etc. to Connected Persons) Regulations 2021

Lord Mann Excerpts

Monday 22nd March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Mann (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, on balance this statutory instrument seems to be an improvement worth supporting, although I am sure the caveats put very clearly and eloquently by my noble friend Lord Mandelson and the noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Rolfe, will have attracted the Minister’s keen ear as things move on. I endorse the core points and arguments that they made and bow to their superior knowledge on the detail. I am sure the Minister will have been as persuaded as I was by their arguments.

I come back to the topic of the football industry. There are some interesting aspects in the detail, particularly the period of eight weeks in relation to the football industry. Something that has happened a lot over recent years is that, in order to fit with the rules in England whereby clubs have points deducted and are potentially relegated, there is a tendency for clubs to go into administration at the very end of the football season. Some suggest rather cynically that that is sometimes calculated on whether the points deduction will have a specific financial impact on the following season.

Football has another oddity, which is that for a long time now a club has been allowed its own preferential football creditors. HMRC lost its court case with Exeter City over this in 2012. Given the way that the football industry and its income streams work, there is a period between seasons—sometimes of 12 weeks but sometimes as low as 10 weeks—when clubs tend to be bought and sold. Does the Minister intend at any stage to look at the implications of the loss of that court case, and what it means for the industry and the stakeholders?

One thing that has happened repeatedly, particularly when one goes down the food chain into lower league and so-called non-league football, is that individual traders—for example, the joiner, the plumber or the printer—lose out on money when everyone else seems to be getting whatever money is around. Yet these are precisely the people who are most crucial, while living on very small margins. It can be the cleaner, the window-cleaner or the grasscutter who loses out, and it often is in this situation. Will the Minister take a closer look at this industry in the next year, the rules that it applies and some of the imagination that could benefit government?

One of the inevitabilities of the year-long lockdown or semi-lockdown is that some football clubs, particularly at the non-league level, will, when furlough ends, go out of business. We will see this problem occurring; that is very predictable. This is an industry that has a greater meaning, particularly to small towns, than most other industries or companies. This is about losing the identity of the local football club, because it no longer exists. We have seen football clubs almost disappear. Some have fought their way back, but in places such as Scarborough, Maidstone, Chester or Darlington we have seen them disappear out of mainstream football and very rarely bounce back. The impact on the community is very great. I put it to the Minister that it would be quite a wise investment of time to give the court case of 2012 and its implications, and the way in which these regulations will apply, a specific eye from Ministers during the next year in relation to the football industry.

Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy

Lord Mann Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I know the noble Lord’s personal commitment to the north-west, and I agree with him about leaving no stone unturned. I assure him that the Government are committed to securing the future of Ellesmere Port. The Business Secretary and his senior officials are engaging frequently with the company to explore ways to ensure that the plant stays open. The noble Lord will understand that, while these discussions are ongoing, I cannot comment further, but we will do all that we can.

[Lord Mann (Non-Afl)]

We have the land and the skilled workforce, and we no longer have the bureaucracy of the European Union restricting state aid to new industries. The Minister talks about the private sector—of course it needs to be there. But should we not be in the lead in the world on electric vehicles, with state money—government money—helping to make sure, as we have done with vaccines, that we are first, not second, third or fourth in this technology? Therefore, should those decisions not be made now?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

Those decisions have already been made, and I agree with the noble Lord: it is essential for the future of the industry, and in relation to issues such as rules of origin, that we establish domestic supply chains. I outlined in a previous answer the very substantial investments that the Government are making in this area.

Domestic Energy Efficiency: Retrofitting

Lord Mann Excerpts

Monday 1st March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

We are of course always keen to learn lessons. I acknowledged in the previous answer that there have been significant challenges in getting the scheme up and running, but I assure the noble Baroness that considerable effort is going into improving its performance.

[Lord Mann (Non-Afl)]

The Minister cannot pre-empt the Budget, but someone is briefing the press that the green homes grant will be slashed on Wednesday. Our ambassadors are warning that COP 26 is in danger because of the perceptions abroad of government action. Does the Minister agree that there must be a review of where the Government are going with their green policies, very quickly?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

We are progressing well with our green policies. The Prime Minister’s 10-point plan indicated the route map forward, and we will be publishing the heat and building strategy shortly.

Workers’ Rights

Lord Mann Excerpts

Tuesday 26th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I am surprised that the noble Baroness is asking about the trade and co-operation agreement, because the Liberal Democrats voted against it and therefore would have preferred no deal, but it is the case that, under that trade agreement with the EU, either party can consider whether divergence on labour standards merits a rebalancing of the agreement. We will of course completely comply with our obligations, as we do under all trade agreements.

[Lord Mann (Non-Afl)]

When I spoke at the rally at Staythorpe power station in 2009, it was European Union law that allowed foreign workers to be flown in and put in containers, stopping British workers getting those jobs. Why are the Government not changing our law to prohibit this undercutting of workers’ rights?

Trade Bill

Lord Mann Excerpts

3rd reading & 3rd reading (Hansard) & 3rd reading (Hansard): House of Lords
Monday 18th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD) [V]]

It is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, in his literary thanks to the Minister. I cannot compete with that. I am from the Walter Scott area rather than Shakespeare country, but I am certain that, during the three-and-a-quarter years of the passage of the Bill, the Minister and Ministers probably felt that many of our amendments and much of what we were saying were “Much Ado About Nothing”, much as we thought that the Government were probably acting as a “Comedy of Errors”. But the Minister will now probably think that “All’s Well That Ends Well” with the passage of the Bill, and I congratulate him on putting this legislation on the statute book.

In response to his maiden speech, I indicated that it was the third time that the Bill had been presented to the House and that I was certain that it would be third time lucky for him, and it has been. However, I do not think there has been much luck associated with the Bill. I congratulate him on taking it through in a conscientious, gracious and inclusive manner. All those qualities were indicated in his first correspondence with me when he became a Minister when he set out how he wished to operate. He has demonstrated that to the letter, and I am very grateful, as are my noble friends Lord Fox, Lady Kramer, Lady Bowles, Lord Bruce, Lady Bakewell and others on these Benches who have been able to benefit from the Minister’s time and the manner in which he has listened our concerns and thoughts and responded in a timely manner. In that, he has been very ably assisted by his private office, which I also commend, as well as the noble Viscount, Lord Younger, who has been an extremely patient Whip on the Bench on many of these proceedings.

I had a look at the Parliament web page for the Bill. One of the signs of how conscientious Ministers are is what the website terms “Will write letters”. The noble Lord, Lord Grimstone, has written 23 letters during the passage of the Bill through the Lords, which demonstrates two things: first, that across all the Benches there has been great interest in trade policy in a post-Brexit scenario; and, secondly, that he has tried to respond to all the points that have been raised. For the record, I say that not all the 23 will-write letters were to me, but I am sure that the Minister probably felt at certain stages that the contributions from me and these Benches were perhaps excessive. My colleagues and I care very deeply about having a 21st century trade policy to meet the needs of the 21st century. During ping-pong, we will endeavour to continue to make the case.

The Minister said that he commends those on the other Benches on getting the Bill to where it is today. I hope he does not mind me saying that if the Bill becomes an Act as it is today we would be very happy, but we are not yet at the very final stage—like some of the trade agreements that have not yet been ratified after the end of the transition period, this involves a degree of provisional application. I hope the House of Commons will see the sense in the cross-party amendments that this House has passed so that the Bill as it is today will continue to be strong.

I will say one final thing about the Minister. I commend him on putting through this legislation while also having significant health problems with his eye. I have never known a Minister who has seamlessly managed to have major eye surgery—and we commend the NHS and Moorfields Eye Hospital on restoring his eyesight—while taking this legislation through without pause. No one would have noticed any difference, so I commend him on doing it.

I hope that, during ping-pong, we will be able to protect some of the elements of the amendments that we passed during the scrutiny, which I think most colleagues consider to have been thorough, conscientious and effective.

[Lord Mann (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, as we near the end of lengthy deliberations over a long period, during which we have finally managed to leave the European Union, and now have to start to combat, economically, the greatest worldwide pandemic in many centuries—I do not think that is an exaggeration—I want to make a short contribution imploring the Government not to follow a tendency inbuilt in all Governments. When legislation has taken so long to put together and eventually receives Royal Assent, I implore them not to sit back and leave others to do the next stage. We in this country are good at appointing trade envoys to go out across the world but we are not nearly as good at taking the message inwards. If one thing strikes me more than anything else about what is needed with the freedoms that come from leaving the European Union and the complexities of recovering, at some stage, the economy post the Covid pandemic, it is that we will need to engender two things that will not come automatically.

The first is an entrepreneurial spirit. It is easy for politicians to talk about that but, when industrialists, business people and workers have been anchored down for so long with the pandemic and will continue to be in some way for some considerable time, entrepreneurship will not simply emerge quickly from nowhere; it will need encouraging, facilitating and inspiring.

The second thing, as part of that, will be the need for a new social contract, to use an old term in a modern setting, post Brexit. If those who own and work in our businesses are not on the same wavelength, with the same motivations and moving in the same direction, that entrepreneurship will be severely hampered. The innovations will be concepts rather than delivered goods and services that boost our economy. The Government need to decide whether we will be an economy that trades cheap and cheerful or as the best in the world. That choice will be made in the next 18 months and will last for many years to come.

I implore the Government to go inward into our industrial heartlands of the past, taking the message of this Trade Bill about what trade means and re-establishing that social contract—the message that we are all in this together. The UK, with its new freedoms, will prosper and thrive if we do so on the basis of being the best, rather than the cheap and cheerful back end of the industrial world, I hope that Ministers from this department will take the lead in doing that.

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I pay fulsome tribute to my noble friends Lord Grimstone of Boscobel and Lord Younger of Leckie for their stewardship of the Bill, bringing us to where we are today. I join my noble friends in also paying tribute to my noble friend Lady Fairhead for originating the original Bill, to which I also contributed.

My noble friend has alluded to all those who contributed, and I join him in thanking all the officials who have helped us—notably, his private secretary and the Bill team. I also thank the doorkeepers, the attendants and those in the Printed Paper Office and the Public Bill Office, who have worked exceptionally hard on the Bill. I thank, too, the catering staff, who have ensured that, while we have been meeting in this House, we have been well fed and watered.

My noble friend alluded to the fact that the Bill has changed during its passage in this House before it proceeds to the ping-pong stage. I echo the concerns expressed by the noble Lord, Lord Curry of Kirkharle, that the food standards agencies of the four nations will be asked to advise on human health. There is a concern over how they will report on and feed the human health aspects into the other two reports to which my noble friend referred.

I also extend warm thanks to the Law Society of Scotland, which briefed me at various stages of the Bill to ensure that Scottish concerns—particularly those of the legal profession in Scotland—were heeded.

The noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, referred to “Hamlet”. Obviously that was set in Denmark, with the Prince of Denmark being the main player. I end by thanking my noble friend Lord Grimstone, who has emerged as the swan, with the rest of us being the ugly ducklings. He has had an aura of calm at every stage of the Bill, and I am sure that he has been serenely paddling underneath. I thank him and congratulate him and other noble friends on getting the Bill to this stage today. I look forward to the ping-pong stage to see how the unfinished business, particularly relating to the CRaG procedures and the other domestic legislation and the regulations they put in place, plays out.

Green Homes Grant Scheme

Lord Mann Excerpts

Wednesday 6th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

We have already listened to feedback and announced the extension of the scheme until March 2022. We will always listen to feedback. I gave the figures earlier for the number of applications that have been received. In due course, we will a provide further breakdown of those figures.

[Lord Mann (Non-Afl)]

The number of contractors engaged with the scheme appears, not least in the north and the Midlands, to be remarkably low. What will the Government do to incentivise more contractors so that issues such as the replacement of oil heating systems can be delivered through this scheme? There appear to be no contractors doing it anywhere across the whole of the north and the Midlands.

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

More than 1,300 companies are registered with TrustMark so far, of which 765 are registered with the scheme, including many businesses that operate nationally with substantial capacity to carry out work across the country, but the noble Lord makes a good point. We are well aware that we need to get more contractors and installers signed up to the scheme. We are actively working with TrustMark and the certification bodies to do that, but we need to ensure that the essential quality standards are met.

Trade Bill

Lord Mann Excerpts

Report stage & Report: 2nd sitting (Hansard) & Report: 2nd sitting (Hansard): House of Lords
Tuesday 15th December 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, first, I thank the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, for supporting what I said on the earlier amendment. It encourages me greatly, because the campaign for our rejoining the European Union is gaining momentum day by day.

Returning to this amendment, like the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, I am also a member of Peers for the Planet, an excellent organisation, involving Peers from all parties, for raising awareness about the dangers of climate change. Indeed, it was the noble Baroness who recruited me to that organisation, and I agree with absolutely every word that she said and have very little to add.

Just to underline what the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, said, I add just one thing, in relation to the United States of America. It will now be much easier to have a trade deal with the United States that incorporates these requirements. The election of President-elect Biden—and we can all, I hope, rejoice in the fact that he has now been confirmed as the President-elect—is a great step forward in that regard. He has pledged that one of his first actions in office will be to rejoin the Paris climate change agreement, and the United States could therefore formally be a member of that agreement before the beginning of March 2021. His transition website suggests an aspiration for net zero by 2050, which is a great improvement even on what President Obama agreed. President-elect Biden has named former Secretary of State John Kerry as his special envoy for climate change, with a seat on the National Security Council. That is very important, because it underlines the fact that climate change is also a national security issue.

I look forward to being around, if not in, Glasgow next November and welcoming to Scotland and the United Kingdom delegates from all countries from around the world in the COP 26. I say “welcome to Scotland”—I know that the Minister will agree with me wholeheartedly on that. We hope, expect and believe that it will remain part of the United Kingdom for many years to come.

[Lord Mann (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, these amendments are like that Christmas nightmare, whereby you anticipate a guest bringing—or perhaps this year sending through—a case of high-quality Yorkshire ales because they promised the Christmas booze, but what is in fact delivered is a small bar of chocolate liqueur.

I hear that even the chocolate liqueurs will not be put to the vote today. It is a shame that that opportunity has been missed, and I obviously share the blame for not tabling a stronger amendment, because the green case for Brexit is absolute. I appreciate that those will not be welcome words here in remain central. However, the case was put here, and in the other place, repeatedly—for example, of the car industry, and Toyota cars. A single part would cross the channel 25 times that way and 25 times back—50 journeys per car part. That was put as a case for why we should stay in the European Union, even when the people had voted to leave.

It struck me both before and after the referendum that the green case on manufacturing was absolute. The future winners competitively would be those countries that reconfigured their industry and services not to be global in terms of absolute requirements but to be localised. I have always shared Schumacher’s philosophy that small is beautiful. The worst entity for big and bold is beautiful was the European Union, with its entire structure dictated by trade across large borders. Now, as we leave, Parliament is obsessing again about trade agreements.

I want to see the new industries and technologies developed in this country. I want to see food and manufacturing parts not transposed over many borders and thousands of miles, because the planet cannot sustain that, as is self-evident, but localised supply chains and investment, and decisions by this place that facilitate that change—along with an energy policy not reliant on Russian gas and, thankfully, no longer reliant on Chinese coal. I look forward to celebrating that. I can see two of the last six coal power stations from my house. One has now shut down and I look forward to the second going. That is what these amendments should be about.

We got derided for saying “British jobs for British workers”. Perhaps the slogan should have been “Green jobs for a green economy”, with local markets and supply chains. Nevertheless, even with the little chocolate liqueur of greenness on offer, should there be boldness from the Liberal Democrats in putting the amendment to a vote, they will have my vote.

Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Obligations of Hospitality Undertakings) (England) Regulations 2020

Lord Mann Excerpts

Friday 9th October 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Mann (Non-Afl)]

Some 25 of us could leave the House today and book places on a coach tour for the weekend and travel the country, calling at multiple tourist sites. Several coachloads could book into the same hotel. We can stay and eat in the hotel and, remarkably, if we did so, almost certainly Members of this House would lower the average age of the participants doing precisely that this weekend. Each week, private dinners take place in the Palace of Westminster, yet six of us cannot pay for a private box at a sports venue.

Tomorrow, 500 people could huddle together under the only rain covering at a lower league football match, at a capacity of, say, 50%, yet 5,000 cannot go in a socially distanced way, perfectly safely, to an outdoor rugby league match, where everything is planned in advance within government standards. There needs to be a change of approach between indoors and outdoors. If pensioners can tour in coaches this weekend and it is deemed safe—and it is—sports such as rugby league should be allowed to survive by having a social distancing plan and getting in some revenue.