Results 1-20 of 1,352 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Mark Field

[Mr. Bill Olner in the Chair] — Financial Services Regulation (10 Nov 2009)

Mark Field: I am glad that the Minister has confirmed what I said earlier: hedge funds and alternative assets played no fundamental part in the credit crunch and the financial problems. But the suggestion that the EU will now have much more international influence surely is undermined by what has happened, because it is clear that it was not economic or financial issues at stake, but the raw politics,...

[Mr. Bill Olner in the Chair] — Financial Services Regulation (10 Nov 2009)

Mark Field: Thank you, Mr. Olner. I am always aware that I am barely a householder in my own home, let alone anywhere else. It is a great pleasure to follow my right hon. Friend the Member for Wells (Mr. Heathcoat-Amory), who made a sensible contribution to the debate. As he rightly said, the issue of financial services regulation is of great importance. One concern in the midst of many people's...

[Mr. Bill Olner in the Chair] — Financial Services Regulation (10 Nov 2009)

Mark Field: I entirely agree with my right hon. Friend's comments on the directive. Will he confirm in front of the Minister that the financial crisis of the last two years has never been a crisis of asset management, which is what is being proposed here? Furthermore, on international competition and protectionism, the biggest worry is that some of the brightest and best in Europe will go elsewhere,...

Central London Businesses (27 Oct 2009)

Mark Field: I am sure that the Minister would not wish to characterise my proposal for an element of localisation as saying that the entire rates amount should be retained. Clearly, ratepayers in both the city of Westminster and the City of London are not unrealistic about the huge amount of money that is at stake, much as many of them do not like the present arrangements, but does she share my concern...

Central London Businesses (27 Oct 2009)

Mark Field: Briefly, I accept that, but, equally, it is widely recognised that the Business Rate Supplements Act 2009 is there, first and foremost, for Crossrail, a project that is already on the stocks. Therefore, this is a London-related issue, not one that necessarily will initially have an impact on other parts of the country.

Central London Businesses (27 Oct 2009)

Mark Field: No one can dispute that the past year has been tough for businesses large and small nationwide. Their future will remain uncertain, as the climate in which they operate continues to be unpredictable, and any signs of sustainable economic recovery are likely to be tentative. One might therefore have hoped that any further tax burden on our nation's commercial enterprises would be avoided at...

[Miss Anne Begg in the Chair] — Licensing Act (22 Oct 2009)

Mark Field: I apologise for intervening so early, but having sat on the Bill's Standing Committee, and as the legislation affects central London, where there are many licensed premises, I must say that we had significant objections to what it was trying to achieve in the first place. We wanted to see streamlining and cost-effectiveness, but our biggest concern at the time was that the legislation had not...

[Miss Anne Begg in the Chair] — Licensing Act (22 Oct 2009)

Mark Field: I shall, Miss Begg, and I take your point, although I believe there are another 147 minutes to go. My point is that many of us had grave concerns about the legislation, and I am afraid that they have been borne out, as the Committee's excellent report shows.

[Miss Anne Begg in the Chair] — Licensing Act (22 Oct 2009)

Mark Field: At the time, much of the publicity about the legislation focused on 24-hour drinking, and my hon. Friend is absolutely right to say that there has not been an explosion in 24-hour drinking and that most licensed premises have not gone down that route, but does he agree that the bigger concern, which has been borne out in the five years since the legislation came into force, relates to the...

Nato: Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill (20 Oct 2009)

Mark Field: The Justice Secretary has rightly pointed out the temporary nature of these arrangements, but would it not have been useful to bring in the category of temporary peer? The Government of all the talents was a very unrewarding experience: peers were appointed specifically as Ministers, but after a year or so in the role they ended up disappearing back into the private sector with a seat for...

Nato: Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill (20 Oct 2009)

Mark Field: The Secretary of State will, I am sure, appreciate that there is an issue not simply for Westminster city council: advice is taken from the Metropolitan police, and there are elements in the vicinity to which the ambit and rule of the Mayor of London also applies. However, I agree with the right hon. Gentleman: I personally feel that there is a right to protest within the vicinity, but the...

Nato: Royal Mail (20 Oct 2009)

Mark Field: I was disappointed by how little the Minister had to say about the protection of the everyday consumer. With that in mind, does he rule out this Government removing the last vestiges of the monopoly that Royal Mail has enjoyed, to the detriment of so many of the consumers who have relied on that service?

City of London (14 Oct 2009)

Mark Field: I agree. I hope that Northern Rock goes down the mutual route, and that the mutuality of building societies will come back into vogue. Does the Minister not recognise, however, that ever stronger regulation is an impediment to the diversity to which she refers?

City of London (14 Oct 2009)

Mark Field: I have a suggestion; in many ways, it is a "back of the envelope" suggestion. It is that unless the senior directors of a bank can explain, within two sides of A4, a product that they are trying to create, such a product should not be marketed by that bank.

City of London (14 Oct 2009)

Mark Field: I congratulate the hon. Member for Selby (Mr. Grogan) on introducing this important debate. I shall focus mostly on hedge funds and alternative investment matters, which was the original title of the debate and a subject on which the hon. Gentleman focused in the latter part of his speech. The hon. Gentleman gave us a quick tour d'horizon of the history of the City of London, and he was...

City of London (14 Oct 2009)

Mark Field: That is an extremely good point. Some of the livery companies have strong connections with other areas; for instance, given the historical and traditional importance of steel, the Cutlers are strong in places such as Sheffield. The fact that a huge number of schools have received large sums from trusts set up, often centuries ago, by the livery companies bears witness to what my hon. Friend...

City of London (14 Oct 2009)

Mark Field: If things are taken to an absurd level, one would have to agree. Clearly, there needs to be some regulation, not least to protect consumers. To return to the history of the City of London, I was joking with my hon. Friend the Member for West Suffolk earlier that we should look at the great scandals that took place in the Victorian era, when mines and railway promoters ripped off consumers....

City of London (14 Oct 2009)

Mark Field: I entirely agree. That is an important point. Power is shifting eastwards to India and China. They have two and half billion people between them, and they will be the two big economic superpowers of our lifetimes—certainly by the middle of the century. That shift has undoubtedly been accelerated by recent events, and nothing would be more catastrophic for Europe—whether within the...

City of London (14 Oct 2009)

Mark Field: Without talking too much about ties, I have to admit that I, too, am a clip-on man. On social usefulness, surely one of the biggest problems that we face, and one reason for the catastrophe in financial services, is the sub-prime market. From the mid-1990s, in the United States of America, it was those who thought there must be more social usefulness in relation to financial services who...

City of London (14 Oct 2009)

Mark Field: Although broadly I very much agree with that point and I think that in time the failure of Lehman Brothers will not be seen as the great mistake that conventional wisdom suggests it is, is not the problem the nature of the guarantee? Whereas all of us would accept, I think, that depositors should have their interests guaranteed—there is now an implicit if not an explicit guarantee that...