Taxation: Avoidance

Debate between Lord Newby and Lord Harris of Haringey

Monday 9th February 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Harris of Haringey (Lab)]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Green, as everyone has said, is a man of great integrity. Can the Minister tell us whether the noble Lord was aware of the wrongdoing of the bank of which he was chairman? If he was aware, was the Prime Minister aware of that when he appointed him as a Trade Minister? If he was not aware, what judgment did the Prime Minister make about how effective he was as chairman of HSBC?

[Lord Newby]

My Lords, I have no idea what was in the head of the noble Lord, Lord Green, but I am aware that when he was appointed he was held in extremely high esteem by everybody who had ever had any dealings with him.

Finance: Fiscal Devolution

Debate between Lord Newby and Lord Harris of Haringey

Wednesday 9th July 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Harris of Haringey]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made in considering the proposals for fiscal devolution set out in the London Finance Commission’s report Raising the Capital.

[Lord Newby (LD)]

My Lords, the Government have recently devolved a range of responsibilities and funding through the Localism Act 2011 and they have decentralised local government finance through the Local Government Finance Act 2012. Any further fiscal devolution to sub-national authorities in England would represent a significant change to the existing tax landscape, with potentially significant legal, economic and constitutional implications.

[Lord Harris of Haringey (Lab)]

My Lords, the Minister will no doubt have read the report issued this morning by the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committee, which says that it supports the principle of fiscal devolution and found no evidence opposed to it. He will also be aware that the major cities of this country apart from London—Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and all the other core cities—all agree that they need to see bolder fiscal devolution if they are to invest for their longer-term growth. Is it not time for the Treasury to undertake an economic analysis of how the full suite of property taxes could be devolved to England’s great cities in line with the recommendations of the CLG report and the London Finance Commission report and the devolution being delivered in Scotland and Wales?

[Lord Newby]

My Lords, the first point that the noble Lord makes is summed up very well in the introduction to the report to which his Question refers, in which Tony Travers, who chaired it, says:

“Devolution and localism face little opposition apart from national politicians’ cautious approach to constitutional change in Britain”.

That sums up the position very well, and I think that there has been considerable movement under this Government. I will take back the noble Lord’s second point to my colleagues in the Treasury.