Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill

Lord Rooker Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 6th February 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Rooker (Lab)]

Your Lordships’ House has been sent the Bill by the elected House of Commons to, in effect, snuff out the elected House of Commons from its role in primary legislation and to subordinate Parliament to Ministers in respect of nearly 4,000 items of legislation, in which the elected House will have no role. I was not sent to this House in 2001 to oversee the dismantling of the accountability of the Government to Parliament in order to make Parliament accountable to Government.

The Government’s delegated powers memorandum indicates in paragraph B that a key role of the Bill is

“restoring the primacy of Acts of Parliament in UK statute.”

That is not achieved by the Bill. The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 made repeated references to Parliament making the changes to law after the exit from the EU. However, according to the Bill, Ministers alone will decide what happens to retained EU law, with no role for Parliament.

Members will have seen the delegated powers report on the Bill. Our approach is meticulous and concerned not with policy but with the use of delegated powers. These are constructed in a way to remove power from Parliament. In fact, the Bill is the concluding evidence that the Government have not intended, are not intending and do not intend to pay the slightest attention to the reports debated as recently as 12 January, Democracy Denied? and Government by Diktat. There is one group that ignores the reports at its peril and ours: the group drafting the legislation. Its members are clever and know what they are doing: they are following orders from Ministers in a way that their predecessors from a couple of decades ago would not recognise. Those who drafted Bills were a constraint on Ministers stepping over the line—not any more. Parliamentary counsel are wholly owned by the Government; they work for, and are accountable to, the Government and not Parliament. They are currently located in the heart of government departments, rather than in their own buildings. In July last year at a joint meeting of the Delegated Powers Committee and the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, when I asked the First Parliamentary Counsel about the current process, Dame Elizabeth Gardiner said:

“I think things have changed a lot.”


Yes, they have; and the Bill is proof that government counsel are not fit for purpose as far as the primacy of Parliament and the House of Commons is concerned. I do not buy the “only following orders” defence given by Dame Elizabeth when she said that

“we have a key role in what the Bill looks like, but we do not decide on its contents”;

it is

“a political and policy decision.”

If they had any professional self-respect, there would have been a resignation of counsel on a par with that of Sir Jonathan Jones, the former head of the Government Legal Service, in 2020. Anyone associated with drafting the Bill should not be welcome in a regime that believes that the Government are accountable to Parliament.

Energy Prices Bill

Lord Rooker Excerpts

Committee stage
Monday 24th October 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lennie (Lab)]

My Lords, this group of amendments is all about making various clauses subject to the affirmative procedure in your Lordships’ House. I give notice that we intend to divide the House on Amendment 25.

The amendments affect Clauses 2, 3, 6, 7 and 16, and Schedules 1 and 2, making them subject to the affirmative procedure. The Government seek to justify some of the use of the negative procedure by pointing out that the Secretary of State already has the power to modify or revoke the schemes in Clauses 2 and 3, and Clauses 6 and 7 for Northern Ireland.

Clause 16, which confers powers to make it a temporary requirement on electricity generators to make payment regulations, uses the affirmative procedure on first use and the negative procedure thereafter. The Government’s justification for a temporary requirement represents a significant intervention in the electricity market. This clause will define the main parameters of the scheme. After this, the Government believe that interest will wane, with only minor or technical amendments likely to occur, therefore justifying the negative procedure thereafter.

The justification for the Schedule 1 powers is that, although the Government recognise that the powers are significant, they are necessary to allow the schemes for relief of GB businesses. The Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee report, established in haste last week, says that by including paragraph 3(2) of Schedule 1 the Government have completely ignored the recommendation contained in its report:

“No attempt has been made to limit the powers or to ensure that they will be subject to parliamentary scrutiny.”


Nor was any “compelling justification” offered to support the Government taking these powers. Schedule 2 powers relate to Northern Ireland, where a similar provision is proposed.

In Clauses 21 and 22, the subject of Amendment 25, the Government assert that their approach would include a fuller period of consultation with relevant stakeholders providing suppliers with earlier certainty. However, what guarantee is there that these steps will ever be taken? The department also considers that any delay could have negative consequences for those who were to benefit from the scheme. However, there are enough examples of regulations being scrutinised after the fact—for instance, those relating to Covid—and even after this primary legislation, which, as it stands, took effect from 1 October 2022. I cannot see why this cannot be applied here.

The pace of things is another justification offered by the Government. The affirmative procedure would not allow certainty that the licence modifications would follow and this in turn would inhibit suppliers making required operational changes, slowing delivery this winter.

There does not seem much justification for the Secretary of State taking these overwhelming powers. Clause 22 applies similar powers to Northern Ireland, also without the same compelling justification. It allows the Secretary of State to tackle barriers to delivering implementation of the schemes as necessary. There appears no justification for this at all. The Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee is firmly of the view that any power conferred by Clause 22 is inappropriate and that the Government should act by,

“imposing a time limit on the exercise of the power which is commensurate with other time limits contained within the Bill.”

I beg to move.

[Lord Rooker (Lab)]

My Lords, I shall speak briefly to some of the amendments in my name in this group. This is the only time I shall intervene. Although I have tabled amendments in the second and fourth groups, I do not propose to speak to them. What I am about to say covers the same points.

I declare an interest as a member of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee. I do not speak for the committee; the report does that. Over the weekend, I read the Government’s inadequate response to the report. I am grateful for the speed with which the Government responded, as I suspect other committee members are. That was useful but their response was completely inadequate. It is significant that the government response makes no mention at all of the Delegated Powers Committee’s report from November 2021, Democracy Denied? The Urgent Need to Rebalance Power between Parliament and the Executive.

Clause 22(5), which is not referred to in the government response, is the subject of Amendment 28. According to paragraph 14 of the Delegated Powers Committee’s report, Clause 22(5) is, in effect,

“a Henry VIII power because it allows the effect of legislation, including primary legislation, to be modified by a direction.”

Paragraph 14 also says:

“There are no limits on the kinds of requirements which may be imposed through the directions power.”


Paragraphs 14 to 18 say firmly that the powers in Clause 22 are inappropriate. Clause 22 brings in what is referred to as “disguised law”. This was referred to in the November 2021 report as “camouflaged legislation” and an “unacceptable ploy”.

The Delegated Powers Committee report on this Bill refers to the memorandum supplied with the Bill, particularly paragraphs 154 to 162. Referring to the government memo, the report says that it

“does not explain the full range of the things which can be done”.

It goes on to say, in paragraph 16:

“We are also not convinced by the reasons given in the Memorandum for the power not being subject to parliamentary scrutiny.”


As such, the Delegated Powers Committee report says that the Government appear

“to have completed ignored the recommendations”

in the committee’s report of November 2021.

I want to make a more general point, which I shall not repeat on the other group of amendments. I was not a member of the Delegated Powers Committee when its November 2021 report, Democracy Denied?, was published, in tandem and in co-operation with a report from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee of your Lordships’ House, entitled Government by Diktat: A Call to Return Power to Parliament. Both reports—that from the Delegated Powers Committee and that from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee—were about Parliament and the Executive. They were not about this House and the elected House of Commons. Parliament and the Executive are what this is about.

Both reports were debated in this House on 6 January under a Motion tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Cavendish of Little Venice. I have no criticism of the Minister or his team for reasons I shall make clear. I do not expect he has read either report; I am not sure any Minister has. I do not hold the Minister responsible. He and his government colleagues are taking advantage of the slack role Parliament has played to bequeath powers from Parliament to the Executive.

On Wednesday 20 July this year—a significant date because it was the day before the Summer Recess started—both the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee and the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee, including Peers who had been members of those committees last year when the reports were prepared, took evidence on the reports from the then Leaders of both Houses and First Parliamentary Counsel. There was no sign that anybody had read anything about the 6 January debate on both of them. It was abundantly clear that neither of the then Leaders had even been briefed on the views of this House.

Parliamentary counsel have clearly continued to draft Bills, such as this Bill, which have “completely ignored” the recommendations of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee report, Democracy Denied? Why have they done this? Repeatedly, parliamentary counsel are producing Bills which transfer powers from Parliament to the Executive. It is parliamentary counsel doing this—they draft the Bills.

During the exchanges on 20 July in respect of what is referred to as Question 16, I asked the First Parliamentary Counsel, Dame Elizabeth Gardiner, about her saying during our evidence that day that counsel

“have that discussion on a daily basis with the teams and with the Ministers about the nature of what they are asking for”.

I pointed out that, in my time as a Minister, in both Houses, over 12 years—it is in the minutes—

“I understood … that parliamentary counsel took instructions from the department’s lawyers and Ministers never got involved with parliamentary counsel.”


Dame Elizabeth’s answer was:

“I think things have changed a lot ... Probably we do meet policy officials and Ministers more frequently on Bills than we would have done 30 years ago”.


I have checked on this. I think this change, or breach of convention, has happened in the past 12 years. My experience, particularly in two departments, as I recall, when I served in this House—there were four altogether, but two in particular—was that it was specifically said to me when I joined, because Bills came up, that in general the Government accepted most of the recommendations from the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee. It was the norm to accept the majority. I was repeatedly told that. I think this change, or breach of convention—it is certainly a lapse in the accepted standards of conduct—has happened only since 2010, when somebody started playing wild with parliamentary procedures, and the House of Commons was blindsided by it. That, I think, is very dangerous.

I am prepared to say that I think the old way was best. If lawyers gave instructions for policy officials so that the policy officials would have to say to department’s lawyers, “This is what we want to do, and what our Ministers want to do”, the lawyers would then use the legal structures to put that case to parliamentary counsel. By and large, the system worked. I think it would be far less likely that clear recommendations made by Parliament would be “completely ignored” if the lawyers were the ones who gave the instructions to parliamentary counsel, as was the case up until 2010.

I trust the lawyers here to follow the conventions. Quite clearly, parliamentary counsel work with the Government—let us make no bones about it. These days, they do not even have their own office block in Whitehall, to which I was once invited to when I was a Minister in the other place. I know the way they work; they are now ensconced inside the Treasury. They work for the Government; they are not independent.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The noble Lord asked me for an example. I have provided him with an example of one means that we envisage may be necessary. There could be other licensed modifications that we have not envisaged yet. As I said, this legislation has been drawn up at pace, using the excellent resources of lawyers and parliamentary counsel. It has been enacted very quickly. This is a clause that we think is necessary in order to, if you like, cover something that we have not thought of and that we have missed out in the Bill, but it is limited to use in the specific circumstances that the Bill requires.

[Lord Rooker (Lab)]

Just for the record, Amendment 28 refers to subsection (5). Does the Minister think, and is it his advice, that subsection (5) is a Henry VIII clause or not?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

It is a power to give directions. Whether it qualifies as a Henry VIII power, I suppose depends on your definition of a Henry VIII power. Perhaps I may consult the lawyers and give the noble Lord a more detailed answer.

Additionally, there may be other circumstances—as I just said to the noble Lord—not yet known in which Clause 22(5) will be necessary to enable directions and the schemes that they are giving effect to to be implemented effectively with legal certainty and without undue delay. As I said, it is not unprecedented. A similar measure was included in the 1989 electricity regulations which we have just used to help implement this provision, and there has not been widespread abuse by a number of Secretaries of State from both parties who have been in office with that existing power since then. I understand noble Lords’ concerns, but history demonstrates that this is not unprecedented and noble Lords’ concerns are unwarranted.

Regarding Amendments 31 to 35, it is not uncommon for highly technical schemes to use tertiary legislation to provide for the detail of schemes, or for secondary legislation to enable directions to be made or provide that functions may be exercisable by persons named within them. These powers are crucial so that payments can be made for the energy bill relief scheme as quickly as possible—as I said, we are acting at pace, and I am grateful for the support of noble Lords to get this legislation through at pace—and to enable us to make any necessary changes to the technical nature and detail of the scheme as it becomes operational.

It is always the Government’s intention that delegated powers are appropriately limited and justified. Many powers in this Bill are already subject to the affirmative procedure and are expressly time limited. Other powers are subject to the requirement to use them in relation to the energy crises or in connection with other time-limited provisions in the Bill.

I return to the question from the noble Lord, Lord Rooker. I am told that it is not a Henry VIII power, but it has the same effect.

North Sea Gas

Lord Rooker Excerpts

Wednesday 7th September 2022 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Rooker]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they have made to reopen storage capacity for North Sea gas that has been closed since 2017.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Lord Callanan) (Con)]

My Lords, Great Britain has 1.5 billion cubic metres of gas storage capacity, which equates to approximately five days of peak January demand. Energy security is an absolute priority for the Government, and therefore we welcome Centrica taking the necessary steps to reopen the Rough storage facility this winter, which is its commercial decision. Last week, the North Sea Transition Authority granted its approval to Centrica to open Rough. Centrica has also received approvals from the Health and Safety Executive and Ofgem.

[Lord Rooker (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for what I consider to be quite a positive Answer. However, does he agree that it is not alarmist to point out the bad decision of the then Chief Secretary, a former Shell employee, in 2017 to refuse the public contribution to maintaining the modest amount of gas storage in the Rough field? On the other hand, if it can be reopened this winter, Centrica was not telling the truth in 2017 about the safety and economic aspects of it. They cannot both be right. Is it not the case that we relied on the stock market and just in time, and this has cost the UK dear? We have a very low level of storage, as the Minister said, and Rough would give us an extra 10 days, compared to Italy which has 157 days. We are miles behind, and it is much better to have some security rather than the minimal amount that we have now. My final question is: can we stay part of the EU system for gas networks, if only for the fact that Ireland gets its gas via the UK?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The noble Lord has made a number of points that deserve an answer. First, it was a commercial decision for Centrica to close the Rough storage facility. Secondly, the reason that the UK has traditionally had lower levels of underground storage than the likes of Italy or Germany is precisely because 45% of our own capacity is from our own domestic resources, which is essentially a huge gas storage facility. We also have 20% of all the LNG unloading facilities in Europe, and in fact the UK has been taking the opportunity during the summer to help the EU, including Germany and other countries, to refill their storage capacities using our LNG import facilities, because they did not have enough of them. So it is a complicated picture, but energy security is a great priority for us, and we are well placed for it.

Costs of Living

Lord Rooker Excerpts

Wednesday 25th May 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The noble Lord makes a good point, but, as a result of the price cap, most energy companies are hedging their supplies, based on current prices. There are plentiful supplies of LNG, but, of course, capacity able to be injected into the system is limited, due to our number of offshore loading points. We actually have a good number in the UK, but they are being fully utilised.

[Lord Rooker (Lab)]

What is the technical difficulty of changing benefits mid-year? Surely the big advantage of universal credit, bearing in mind that probably 60% of those who are really badly affected are in work, is that there is no distinction between being in or out of work. I do not understand the technical problem that has been raised. Universal credit is the quickest, easiest, most targeted thing for the Government to do. They do not need to wait, so why are they waiting?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

As I said, the Chancellor is considering a range of options to mitigate the expected further energy price cap rise in October, and we keep that and all other matters under constant review.

Energy Security Strategy

Lord Rooker Excerpts

Wednesday 27th April 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The noble Lord’s question was somewhat contradictory. He complained that the strategy did not address some of the short-term problems but in the end, he referred to it as what it is: a long-term strategy. The clue is in the title. The reality is that it takes many years to put in place energy infrastructure, and it is right that the Government address these factors and look to the long term to make sure that we are putting in place the appropriate steps, such as the nuclear RAB Bill, to provide the long-term security of supply and power that the country needs. That does not obviate the difficulties that we have in the short term. As I suspect the noble Lord knows very well, I cannot comment on what the Chancellor may do in response before any future fiscal event, before the next price cap comes in. However, I can assure the noble Lord that the problems the nation faces with high energy prices are at the forefront of the Government’s consideration.

[Lord Rooker (Lab)]

I will make two brief points to the Minister, but as an aside on Drax, if memory serves me correct, when it started using the pellets, they were from trees in north America that had been grown for the printing industry, and the paper industry completely collapsed. Communities had been destroyed, and the fact that they could use this wood seemed a positive benefit. However, that may not currently be the case—it has been many years since I paid a visit.

On the nuclear issue, my noble friend is right in the sense that in 2009 the Labour Government left half a dozen sites for nuclear power stations, but the Statement is correct in that we lost 20 years. The Labour Government Cabinet was discussing this issue in late 2002 and early 2003. I was a simple Minister of State—I was not involved in that—but I remember writing a note for my Cabinet colleague, my senior. That is the kind of thing I remember because it was Christmas Day and I was sitting in Charing Cross Hospital at the time, as a visitor. The issue had been discussed but it was flattened by two or three members of the Cabinet. I will not name anybody, but that was a lost period.

The central issue I want to ask the Minister about was not referred to: batteries. The International Energy Agency has said that because of the use and storage of batteries for transport, propulsion and homes, the world will need a sixfold increase in lithium, cobalt and rare earths. Where are they processed? Some 60% of the world’s lithium is processed in China, as is 65% of the world’s cobalt, although it is mined in the Congo, where 40,000 children are involved in mining it. Some 87% of the world’s rare earths are processed in China. Therefore, the issue has to be, what do we do with colleagues and friendly countries—we cannot do it ourselves—to avoid in 20 years’ time being in the same position we are in now with gas and oil from Russia: being hooked to China for the metals we need for batteries? It is a grip that has enormous potential, and it needs dealing with now. I used the word “processing”; China is not mining it all but is controlling the process from the mining. A huge amount of cobalt comes from the Congo but it ends up being processed in China. China has a grip on this and I know people are trying to deal with it—I think the EU is—but the Government have to be part of a plan. They will not be able to do it on their own; they have to work with others. We need to cease dependence on such a large scale on metals that will be vital for our industries and our energy security.

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The noble Lord raises a number of important points. On the biomass supplying Drax, he is right that it is mainly produced from waste-wood sources that would otherwise not be utilised. I think he was agreeing that that was a mistake on the part of the Labour Government, who got elected in 1997 on a manifesto that said there was no case for new nuclear. It is easy for us to look back at mistakes made in the past but in retrospect, that was a mistake. This comes back to the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Kerr: that in an advanced industrial country, this infrastructure takes many years to put in place. We let the UK nuclear industry wither on the vine because, of course, at the time we had ample supplies of clean gas and not so much concentration on climate change.

The noble Lord is in essence right about rare earths, but the Government are very well aware of this. A number of innovative battery technologies are also being developed but we are looking very closely at the necessity of various rare earths for existing battery technology, such as cobalt and lithium, and at where alternative supplies can be procured.

International Energy Agency Report

Lord Rooker Excerpts

Tuesday 26th April 2022 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Rooker]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to implement the recommendations in the International Energy Agency report, Playing my part: How to save money, reduce reliance on Russian energy, support Ukraine and help the planet, published on 21 April.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Lord Callanan) (Con)]

My Lords, we are working closely with the US, the EU and other partners to end dependence on Russian oil and gas in response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, recognising the different circumstances and transition timelines. The net-zero strategy is the Government’s plan to achieve a green, sustainable future, including how we will support the public to play their part in this transition. We note the report’s recommendations and will continue to consider further steps to support the public.

[Lord Rooker (Lab)]

My Lords, the UK is a member of the International Energy Agency, and I expected a more positive view. I fully accept that it is the Government’s role to take the national and the global view, but people want to be able to play their part and feel that they are contributing, above donations and above helping refugees. The nine points in the plan are voluntary except for one: speed limits. We could save an enormous amount of energy if we reduced the speed limit to 60 miles per hour, as we did during the three-day week. It is not a massive inconvenience for people and it saves a lot of energy. While I am uncomfortable talking about boiler temperatures when millions of people in Ukraine are living below ground at the present time, the estimate is that this plan could save 220 million barrels of oil and 17 billion cubic metres of gas. It is worth a real push by the Government to get people to play their part.

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I do not disagree with the noble Lord. We are encouraging people to play their part and, of course, we encourage people to drive as slowly as possible and responsibly. We encourage people to turn down the temperature of their boiler if this can be achieved while still heating their home properly and providing the appropriate levels of comfort. Of course we will support people to make responsible choices.

Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill

Lord Rooker Excerpts

Committee stage
Monday 14th March 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Clement-Jones (LD)]

My Lords, I shall speak to Amendment 53. I thank the noble Lords, Lord Cromwell and Lord Vaux, for their support, although I understand that they would like to see this tweaked to go further. I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Eatwell, for his supportive comments.

The Bill needs to be comprehensively amended to close the loopholes that currently allow professional enablers to undermine the effectiveness of, and even circumvent, the checks aimed at detecting, disrupting and deterring economic crime. One of the key ways this can be done is by imposing a positive duty on professional enablers to disclose knowledge or reasonable suspicion that misleading, false or deceptive information has been provided to the registrar of overseas entities.

As I set out on Second Reading, professional enablers, such as lawyers, accountants and bankers, are the gatekeepers of economic crime and the Government need to adopt a comprehensive strategy towards them. Given the nature of their work, there is an inherently high risk that these professionals may unwittingly enable economic crime, but there are also enablers that specialise in services aimed at concealing the source of wealth or ownership so as to frustrate the objectives of the law.

This poses a particularly acute challenge in the context of the Bill’s attempt to tighten the checks around the beneficial ownership of property by overseas entities. The UK’s 2017 national risk assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing revealed that 50% of suspicious activity reports related to the legal sector in 2016 were linked to the property market, illustrating that real estate transactions are especially susceptible to money laundering.

As the noble Lord, Lord Vaux, very eloquently deconstructed, the Minister prayed in aid regulation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales on Second Reading. Does the Minister really believe that these regulators are the way to tackle these professional enablers? The current model for supervising professional enablers is fragmented and weak. In the legal and accountancy sectors alone, there are 22 different professional body supervisors, or PBSs. In its 2021 report, the Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision found that the vast majority—some 81%—of these legal and accounting PBSs do not implement an effective risk-based approach to supervising their members as required by the money laundering regulations. Where is the evidence that they can do the kind of job needed to root out corrupt behaviour in sanctions avoidance or as envisaged by this Bill?

In summary, it is critical that the Bill addresses the heightened risk that professional enablers, particularly conveyancers and lawyers, will frustrate the objectives of the register of overseas entities. Beyond this modest amendment, urgent reform is needed—I hope it will take place in the second Bill—to ensure that there is effective, comprehensive supervision of professional enablers. This should be fully addressed when we come to the second economic crime Bill.

[Lord Rooker (Lab)]

My Lords, I had not intended to speak today. I came to learn and listen to the experts on areas I do not know much about. But listening to the noble Lords, Lord Cromwell and Lord Clement-Jones, I am reminded of an example. I know this would not be classed as money laundering, but the well-known spiv, Aaron Banks, was responsible for what is, I think, the biggest political donation in British history—I think it was £8 million—during the Brexit referendum period. When it came to investigation by the Electoral Commission, which had the responsibility for doing this, he was not an unwitting enabler. His conclusion was, “We’re cleverer than the regulator.” The Minister does not want to be faced with that during the passage of this Bill and its actions, so he would be very wise to accept the spirit of some of these amendments.

[Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (GP)]

I think it is obvious that the Minister will accept a lot of these amendments, because they are from people who are much cleverer than most of us in this Chamber.

I support most of the amendments—even all the government amendments, because they are quite helpful, particularly those that require the disclosure of whether any beneficial owners of property are subject to sanctions, and the strengthening of the criminal offences for false declarations. However, it is obvious from the speeches of other noble Lords that the Government are still falling short and that the Bill needs to be tougher. For example, Amendments 23, 24, 57 and 58 all need to be inserted into the Bill.

All beneficial interests should be registered, not just those acquired on or after 1 January 1999. That is a completely arbitrary date and should be removed. The Minister shakes his head; I guess he will argue that it is a very important date. I disagree.

This legislation is being rushed through as an emergency, but the Government are content to wait another year, following initial registration, before any changes in beneficial ownership take place. I cannot see the logic in that and I think most people will not either. It makes much more sense to update the register within 14 days of any changes.

Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill

Lord Rooker Excerpts

2nd reading
Wednesday 9th March 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Rooker (Lab)]

My Lords, I very much agree with the contents of virtually all the speeches we have heard so far. The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Leeds said that he wanted to introduce some ethics into the debate. I deeply regret that before I finish I shall introduce some politics into it. The constant theme in the House of Commons on Monday was that alarm bells have been ringing for years and been ignored by the Government. It is sad to say that this is an entirely fair point to make. I shall therefore go through a bit of the history. I make no apology for saying “I told you so”.

In March 2015, Transparency International published a detailed analysis, Corruption on Your Doorstep: How Corrupt Capital is Used to Buy Property in the UK. I will not go into any of the details given there but the Government knew about it because I initiated a debate on it on 18 June 2015. The present Government Chief Whip replied.

Another alarm bell around the same time was rung in the Financial Times on 6 June 2015, when it reported that more than half the homes costing £1 million-plus were being bought with cash. The newspaper reported that 76% of the most expensive homes costing above £5 million were paid for by entirely by cash. Alarm bells?

In Singapore in July 2015, the then Prime Minister made what I have said previously was a seminal speech on corruption, which was never really followed up with action, even though that Prime Minister said in his 2017 lecture on corruption that he thought action was being taken forward. He was taken in.

In early 2016, Roman Borisovich launched the Kleptocracy Tours. The idea was to show people what it was all about—to visit locations and explain about the owners, or what was known about the owners, the lavish properties and something about the sources of wealth. That was before the emergence of unexplained wealth orders, a matter raised in the original Transparency International report. The tours started in Whitehall and went through Knightsbridge, South Kensington, Hampstead, Highgate and so on.

I shall highlight just two examples and I shall do so because I have done it before—at least four times. There is no argument about what has been going on and been ignored by the Government. The start was outside the Igor Shuvalov’s property at 4 Whitehall Court, which are two apartments, now knocked into one—138a and b—and are above the Farmers Club for those familiar with the location. This apartment was worth more than 80 times Mr Shuvalov’s annual income as a Russian government official. Due diligence there was none. The extract from the Russian registry of companies disclosed the beneficial ownership of Sova Real Estate by Shuvalov and his spouse. The purchase price of £11,440,000 is well known. The lender: none. The London end was cared for by Tulloch & Co of Hill Street.

My other example is relevant for two reasons. The person is Ukrainian and the sellers of the property were the UK Government. There is much more detail. When I prepared this speech, I saw the “Long Read” in yesterday’s Guardian by Oliver Bullough, so the details are there. It relates to a property that I have driven past for decades on my way here—a dwelling attached to the old Brompton Road Tube station. Dmytro Firtash paid over £100 million for it. He made his fortune selling Russian gas to Ukraine. He was living in Austria fighting extradition to the United States on bribery and racketeering charges. That continues today.

The matter is relevant because the Tube station closed in 1934 and during the war was used for various matters related to the Anti-Aircraft Brigade. In 2014, while Mr Firtash was still in Austria fighting the extradition charges, the owner of the site—the Ministry of Defence—sold it to him. He claimed that he wanted to convert it to residential use. He paid £53,375,000 to the Secretary of State for Defence. The property now still appears to be three separate buildings but is in fact one. In June last year, according to Reuters, the Ukraine Government headed by President Zelensky imposed sanctions on Firtash for selling products that ended up being used by Russian military enterprises. Did the MoD do any due diligence before the sale of its property? It was known that Firtash was in Austria—he was not living there. I asked about this some years ago and was simply fobbed off.

I should say in passing that the tour went past the house of Roman Rotenburg, owned through a Cypriot company. He received his father’s and uncle’s sanctioned foreign assets in 2015. I mention that only because others in this House are more capable than me of explaining the background, although they are not here tonight.

If the Government are still pleading ignorance, in 2018 along came Moneyland by Oliver Bullough. I will quote a brief extract from the flyleaf, which states:

“Once upon a time, if an official stole money, there wasn’t much he could do with it. He could buy himself a new car or build himself a nice house or give it to his friends and family, but that was about it. If he kept stealing, the money would just pile up in his house until he had no rooms left to put it in … And then some bankers in London had a bright idea.”


These matters and other examples were raised again and again, especially during the passage of both the Criminal Finances Act 2017 and the Sanctions and Money Laundering Act 2018. So why has no action been taken until Ukrainian blood is being spilled at the level it is today? The Bill is a token because it has been brought about only because of that. The issue was always there anyway. Our economy is being distorted at a crude level because if half the money disappears all at once it will be highly damaging. But we knew that because we knew that the money was coming in.

The impact assessment for the Bill, which the Minister signed on 25 February 2022, on page 5 uses as a reason for action the very report from Transparency International in 2015 that I mentioned at the start. That was seven years ago. The impact assessment to justify the Bill is based on something that the Government knew about seven years ago and has been repeatedly raised with them—but they did nothing about it.

I am not going down the road of the former Prime Minister, when Home Secretary, refusing the inquest into the death of Alexander Litvinenko because of “international relations”. Then there is the present Prime Minister, who is so close to the Russian KGB family that he dumped his security detail to go to meetings and parties—one of which was the in the week of the first Covid lockdown in March 2020. Missing five COBRA Covid meetings was okay because the top priority was to report to the Russian he could not get into this House at the time.

The common theme is the active involvement of both those top UK Government members in fundraising events—all on the record—to obtain Russian-based money into the Conservative Party. This has spread to many other Ministers. I cannot understand it. Constituency parties in this country have received donations from people who are living here legitimately and are on the electoral register. Did those constituency parties not ask why this money is coming in? We do not really need to ask any more, do we?

Nuclear Energy (Financing) Bill

Lord Rooker Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 21st February 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Rooker (Lab)]

My Lords, I strongly support the Bill. I recall some years ago being on a boat on the Thames with Thames Tideway and being briefed about the massive new tunnel. When the financing was explained, I was not alone in asking whether it had been used for any other big infrastructure projects as, frankly, it seemed too good to be true. That sounds simplistic, but the fact is that I was sold, as were others, on the system of finance. An operational nuclear power station is not the same as a tunnel taking sewage away from London, but the cost, infrastructure and quality-of-life implications are very similar. At the end of the day, of course, the consumer will pay. You cannot hide that fact and nobody seeks to do so. But over the next 30 years, the use of electricity in the United Kingdom will double compared to the 2019 figure. The overall use of energy will go down, and we will use a smaller proportion of oil and gas, and, of course, introduce renewables and hydrogen. This this makes electricity absolutely fundamental. We will always need a baseload, and nuclear is the best form.

I do not think you can be taken seriously as a political party in 2022 if you are not in favour of civil nuclear power: it is as simple as that. I do not want to disparage people, but I am reminded of the brown bread and sandals brigade attacking nuclear not on a scientific basis but on an almost mythical, quasi-anti-religious basis, yet it is clean, green and cheap to operate. We know from our regulatory information powers that it is safe. We started it—we invented it—and we used it to make electricity. We cannot do nothing, given that our older Magnox stations will be phased out in a few years. We have to prove that we have learned the lessons from Hinkley Point C. The National Audit Office has given its approval for the use of alternative financing models, hence this Bill.

I want to be brief, and I have just two key points to make. One relates, as the Minister very fairly pointed out, to customers. The Government have to ensure that customers do not pay more than twice. They will pay twice for this, of course—that is the system; it is split—but they do not need to pay three times. Paying for construction and operation is one thing, but they should not pay for aborted projects or massive cost overruns. There has to be something which gives a degree of confidence. The Government have to prove that they have customers’ interests as a top priority, as energy policy requires that customers change their behaviour. We are asking the citizens of this country to massively change their behaviour, and they have to understand why. We know from the pandemic that behaviour will change if people understand why. We have to be transparent and open about this.

My second point concerns security. There is no reason at all why the UK, along with other democratic states, cannot ensure security and stability of nuclear technology and get control of it itself. My view is that there should be no finance from China or Russia at all. They cannot be trusted with commercial contracts these days. I remember someone once telling me, many years ago, that the Soviet Union had never reneged on a commercial contract. We do not have the Soviet Union now; we have Russia, and it is reneging on commercial contracts. Leave the security bit aside, if you will—I am worried about that as well—but it cannot be trusted on commercial contracts, and we are talking here about very long-term commercial contracts.

We started the process. Okay, it never came about that electricity was so cheap that it was not worth recording, but we are in a different age. We will not have coal and gas to fall back on for a quickie. Nuclear is going to take on an importance beyond keeping the lights on, whether it is the small modular reactors or new build.

I do not want to turn the clock back—it was never the “good old days”—but when I left school, you could get an apprenticeship with the Central Electricity Generating Board. What I cannot see today among the 20 or more different organisations is the replacement for that, so that we can upskill and give careers and a future to the people of this country. We have lost that. I would like to believe that this Bill could be one of the most important that the Government introduce. It could actually be a factor in restoring that from a bygone age.

Economic Crime: Planned Government Bill

Lord Rooker Excerpts

Monday 31st January 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

Indeed, the register of overseas entities Bill is currently tied up in the economic crime Bill, which we hope to make progress on as quickly as possible. However, I do not want to rule out any alternative legislative routes that might present themselves. As the noble Lord will be aware, it has gone through pre-legislative scrutiny and was well received by the committee that looked at it. We have incorporated some of the suggestions that were made. Of course, I cannot commit to what may, or may not, be in Her Majesty’s speech, but clearly a key element of taking forward this work is liaising closely with the overseas territories, which we will do.

[Lord Rooker (Lab)]

Will the Bill, when it arrives, fulfil the commitments that David Cameron made in his seminal speech in Singapore?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I cannot give the noble Lord a commitment about when a Bill might arrive. I also cannot give a commitment about what might be in it when it does arrive.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I thought that I had come to answer questions on an economic crime Bill, but I see that we are getting into party-political donations again. That is not a matter for which I am, or my department is, responsible, so I am unable to furnish the noble Baroness with a response to her question.

[Lord Rooker (Lab)]

You are answering for the Government.

[The Lord Bishop of Durham]

My Lords, those who decide to perpetrate economic crime are apparently targeted, swift and very bright about how they do it. I read the Statement and it mentions the Home Office, the Treasury and BEIS. Is it not time for more targeted, thought-through, quick action by government, rather than action that is divided across too many departments?