Northern Ireland: Corporation Tax

Lord Kinnock Excerpts

Monday 15th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Newby]

My Lords, of course, considerations of consequentials to Wales are always uppermost in the Government’s mind.

[Lord Kinnock]

In view of the Government’s ambition to withdraw from certain obligations of membership of the European Union, are they contemplating the possibility that the devolved Administration in Northern Ireland could cut corporation tax to the much lower level that is customary in the Republic of Ireland?

[Lord Newby]

My Lords, that is exactly what this whole process is about. The complication, as I said earlier, is that if you devolve Northern Ireland corporation tax rate-setting to the Northern Ireland Assembly, you face a significant financial cost to the Northern Ireland budget, which, when last estimated by the Treasury, was thought to be in the region of £300 million.