Trade Bill

Lord Naseby Excerpts

2nd reading & 2nd reading (Hansard) & 2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords
Tuesday 8th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Naseby (Con)]

My Lords, we have heard two excellent maiden speeches this afternoon, from my noble friend on the Front Bench and from the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Blackburn. I thank them both; they were very moving and very effective. Of course, that is not surprising, when this is the most vital Bill that this country has faced for many a long year. It is all about the sovereignty of the United Kingdom.

I had the privilege of working for the Reckitt & Colman (Overseas) group for a fair number of years, in Calcutta, where I covered the whole of eastern India, and in Colombo, which was of course then Ceylon, trying to learn the language—I got O-level Hindi. I did it in depth. If you are going to export, you have to do it in depth. Subsequently, I became a director of one of the largest advertising agencies, responsible in particular for clients who were involved in exporting.

I look at the list of countries in the continuation agreement area, and I am sorry to say that I do not see much of the Commonwealth. I see discussions on Singapore, but that is almost about it apart from part of the Caribbean. I therefore say to my noble friend on the Front Bench—I declare an interest as president of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Sri Lanka and as active in all the south Asian countries—that that area is hugely friendly to our country. They want to be involved. I say that as one who goes regularly every year, as far as I can, to that part of the world. They are anxious to enter into agreements. I suggest to my noble friend on the Front Bench that we have to have very senior people in our embassies and in our high commissions who are well briefed on what the opportunities are and who can see the possible opportunities. For my money, I would like to see the deputy high commissioner or the deputy diplomat in those and other countries being appointed from senior businesspeople.

As someone who has been in the world of advertising and marketing, I know that the promotion of exports is not new. In the old days, we used to have the British National Export Council, then the British Export Corporation, which was talked about, with, potentially, an international exhibition centre at London airport.

The mention of London airport brings up two issues: the air freight and airline business is absolutely paralysed at the moment, and somehow or other we must ensure that the structure is kept there and that the third runway gets built.

On marketing, I say to my noble friend on the Front Bench that the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are pretty tired. They need a complete revamp. On trade associations, the noble Viscount, Lord Waverley, talked of an all-party parliamentary group, and I would be more than happy to join it.

I am disappointed that there appears to be a row between Her Majesty’s Government and the UK Association for International Trade, or in particular with HMRC. We do not need this at this point in time, and I suggest that my noble friend bangs a few heads together.

My noble friend and others will get support from ECGD, the Road Haulage Association, and so on. However, we also need our universities on side. We need to know that the young people coming forward really understand the importance of exporting and the interaction between people. On the question of interaction, much needs to be done. There needs to be much of it, and, frankly, we cannot afford for officials to be sitting at home, having very little interaction.

Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020

Lord Naseby Excerpts

Wednesday 29th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan]

The noble Lord makes a very good point. I can certainly reassure him that the courts have taken all practical measures within the resources available to accommodate a likely increase in the workload before them. Specialist seminars have taken place to ensure that judges are up to speed with the changes and the processes that have been introduced by the Act. Resources include the numbers of, and the deployment of salary to, fee-paid judges and courtrooms, where required.

[Lord Naseby (Con)]

As someone who was in financial services, I wonder about awareness of the scheme. Is there not a case for putting forward a couple of arbitrary case histories on an anonymous basis—we do not have one yet, but perhaps a framework case could be drawn up initially?

[Lord Callanan]

I understand the point my noble friend makes, but I think that the provisions are fairly well known and understood in the insolvency profession. There is a wide circle of people who know all about them and who specialise in this area, but I am happy to consider my noble friend’s suggestion.

Contracts for Difference (Electricity Supplier Obligations) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020

Lord Naseby Excerpts

Thursday 2nd July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Naseby (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I welcome this SI and say well done to the Government for anticipating this need. If they had not done that, there could have been problems with the continuity and reliability of supply, and it is absolutely crucial at this difficult time that we do not go through any of the old problems we had in the past. As an aside, I recently had no telephone, no wi-fi and indeed no water supply, but thankfully they are all back on again now.

I have a few questions. First, what consultation was there with the key renewable companies over this arrangement and were any problems raised by them? Secondly, following the speech by the noble Baroness, Lady Bowles, does Ofgem fit into this anywhere? She is right in the sense that we know that, domestically, demand has gone up because everyone has been locked down and stuck at home, and we have all been using our computers far more than we would normally do. Thirdly, some might say that this action is undermining efficiency and making it a little too easy for companies that ought to be able to handle the toing and froing of challenges. However, maybe looking at the detail of the SI, the Minister will tell me that paragraph 7.5 of the Explanatory Memorandum answers that question.

What exactly is the estimated cost to the Government through this transitional loan? Presumably it is a cost of lost interest, and is that somehow rolled up at the end of the process? Finally, as someone who was a very junior Minister in Northern Ireland, I am not sure why Northern Ireland is not involved. Is it because Stormont was not sitting and this came under Stormont, or is the infrastructure in Northern Ireland different from the rest of the United Kingdom?

Covid-19: High Street Retailers

Lord Naseby Excerpts

Thursday 2nd July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan]

The noble Baroness raises an important point. We announced a review of the business rates system, which is ongoing, and I am sure we will have more to say on that shortly.

[Lord Naseby (Con) [V]]

Retail is facing a complete revolution with the move to online, added to which there is a fear factor among consumers against spending at the moment. Should we not, first, ditch the “Stay at Home” message and get everybody back to work? To take one example, why cannot the beauty sector go back to work? It has 200,000 female employees, and what honestly is the difference between them and hairdressers? Indeed, while we are about it, why not allow physiotherapists to open, too? Does not the Minister think that it is time to trust all retailers, so that they can make the decision to open safely, within the boundaries that we have set?

[Lord Callanan]

My noble friend is right to highlight these issues. I can only tell him that we have studied the health advice very carefully: we are following the scientific advice from Public Health England and others. It is our wish to get every sector reopened as soon as possible, but he will understand that we need to do that as safely as possible.

Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill

Lord Naseby Excerpts

2nd reading & 2nd reading (Hansard) & 2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords
Tuesday 9th June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Naseby (Con)]

My Lords, I greatly welcome the Bill and should like to lodge a particular thank you to the Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the depth of their understanding of the challenge in front of our businesses and commerce. I also associate myself with the words of my noble friend Lord Dobbs. Hybridity is very much a halfway House. Just one Member of the Official Opposition, one Member of the Liberal Democrats and one Member of the Cross Benches are here. This would never have happened in any of the previous 46 years in which I have been across the two Houses. It does not really work for any major Bill such as this. At the same time, every business in the land is having to adjust. They have to do it. We should move faster to adjust in this House.

Look at the challenges. One has only to look at yesterday’s newspapers, with stories such as the boss of Lloyds urging the state to take charge of Covid debt, or the warning from the chief of Heathrow that 25,000 jobs are at risk—let alone the people who are dependent on Heathrow. These are huge numbers of people in difficulty.

I had the privilege of speaking on Second Reading of the Coronavirus Bill. I raised three issues. First, the Prime Minister said that we would take action to save the NHS and save lives, and I suggested that the economy should be added to that. Secondly, I suggested that Winston Churchill had Lord Beaverbrook to help him, and a little later on some help came from one of our colleagues to help with PPE. Thirdly, I asked about testing and the WHO recommendation to “Test, test, test”. Rather late in the day, we started on that front.

It is disappointing that SAGE does not have a senior economist to be called on; there is no Keynes in SAGE at the moment. On top of that, we have two further hindrances. The first is the two-metre rule—a huge hindrance. Right at the beginning the WHO said that one metre was enough, and France, Singapore and others have followed. Even if we rely on the science, why, with great respect, do the Government not read the latest issue of the Lancet, which proves almost beyond doubt that the differences between the two are minute?

I know the WHO from personal experience. At the time of the tsunami in 2004, Her Majesty’s Government said that fish were eating the dead bodies of the people who had drowned. I challenged that; I am married to a doctor and my eldest son is a doctor, and the three of us got hold of the WHO and asked it to rule on it. The WHO said there was no evidence at all for it, and the advice from the British Government was withdrawn.

What on earth are we doing on quarantine for travel? We know, and the Government have admitted, that the effect on the virus is marginal, but it has a massive effect on the airlines, the travel industry and indeed our exporters.

The Bill is important. I just think that there are two practical areas that should be considered. One has been raised by my dear and noble friend Lord Hunt of Wirral: “could” should be substituted for “would” when we are talking about the moratorium, and I hope the Government will have a look at that. The other is the repositioning of where HMRC comes in the list of creditors. It seems to me that the change suggested there will adversely affect floating-charge creditors and unsecured creditors.

Having said all that, I wish the Bill a fair passage, and once again thank my noble friend the Minister for all the work that he and his team have put into it.

Covid-19: Businesses and the Private Sector

Lord Naseby Excerpts

Thursday 21st May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Naseby (Con)]

My Lords, I thank my colleague and noble friend Lord Dobbs. It is worth reminding ourselves of the macro situation. One-third of the UK’s GDP is covered by public services, and they are all working flat out now. Another third is those who are producing and distributing food, fuel, power, water, water disposal and waste disposal, and they are working flat out. There is a remaining third, where nothing is happening: they are shut down, they cannot work, they cannot sell and they cannot deliver. We urgently need to get them back to work, and to do that we need a sensible distancing level of one metre, as recommended by the World Health Organization and used by France and Italy. Secondly, we must never forget my university’s diktat of Maynard Keynes: unemployment is the issue that has to be dealt with, not debt.

Turning quickly to Public Health England, I am sorry to say that while it may be working hard, it has rebuffed offers of help from the private sector. That is not a good situation. It happened with PPE and it is happening now with testing. That has to be dealt with now; it is urgent.

Finally, I say a few words of thanks to my local Tesco, at Sandy. It is well run, well organised and responsive, and my goodness, that has happened in store after store, up and down the country. Secondly, I pay tribute to the work of the National Business Response Network. It has had well over 1,000 requests, half of which have been dealt with and the other half of which are being dealt with now—all on a voluntary basis. Well done to it and to the many other organisations that have helped our people.

Oil: Changes in Global Markets

Lord Naseby Excerpts

Thursday 21st May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Naseby (Con)]

How will we help the Arab world to adjust, particularly our friends in Saudi Arabia and Qatar? Alongside that, as far as the UK is concerned, does Covid-19, on top of these changes, mean that domestically we will have to reappraise the rate at which we can implement climate change policies?

[Lord Callanan]

Our 2050 targets are now legally binding. We are committed to them and do not believe that there is any need to review them. We believe that we can continue with those targets and prioritise economic recovery at the same time; we do not believe that they are mutually exclusive.