Results 1-20 of 492 for in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates' speaker:Lord Eatwell

Queen's Speech — Debate (3rd Day) (13 May 2013)

Lord Eatwell: I am grateful to the noble Lord for correcting any verbal infelicities that may have occurred. I wonder if he has noticed that the significant government cuts in expenditure have not resulted in a falling deficit for the past two years. In the same way, an expenditure programme targeted on worthwhile activities that stimulated a flow of tax returns would result in a reduction in the deficit....

Queen's Speech — Debate (3rd Day) (13 May 2013)

Lord Eatwell: My Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Deighton, for introducing this part of the debate on the gracious Speech. If only all the good news that he spoke of had some connection with economic reality. Like all noble Lords, I look forward to the maiden speech of the noble Baroness, Lady Lane-Fox. Many noble Lords may not know that she is an accomplished actress. It was surely no...

Queen's Speech — Debate (3rd Day) (13 May 2013)

Lord Eatwell: Gross borrowing could be increased so that net borrowing would fall. That is our strategy. Again, what is left of these four pillars is something that the Opposition perhaps do not understand. The noble Lord, Lord Deighton, who has a good economics degree, understands it very well. What is left of the four pillars of the Government's strategy? Monetary activism that does not work, a banking...

EU: Budget Report — Motion to Approve (25 April 2013)

Lord Eatwell: My Lords, the noble Lord has rather ably misrepresented what I said. I said that the economy was growing at 2%, which it was, and that the 2% growth would lead to a fall in the deficit, which it did. I did not say that at the time there was a need to increase the deficit. What happened was the destruction of business confidence by the foolish remarks of the new Chancellor of the Exchequer-the...

EU: Budget Report — Motion to Approve (25 April 2013)

Lord Eatwell: My Lords, I can maybe help the noble Baroness by confessing, "It was me that done it". The objective at the time was to urge the then Government of John Major-Sir John Major as he is now-to make a report on the convergence procedure. The first time the debate took place, they elected not to do that but simply to send in the Budget report instead. I complained mightily, but of course to no...

EU: Budget Report — Motion to Approve (25 April 2013)

Lord Eatwell: My Lords, as the noble Lord, Lord Newby, made clear, the Government are required by the European Communities (Amendment) Act 1993 to submit an assessment of the UK's convergence programme towards the economic structure of the eurozone. This requirement is perhaps more apt this year than in past years. On the broadest economic assessment, the Government's convergence programme has been a great...

Public Service Pensions Bill — Commons Amendments (24 April 2013)

Lord Eatwell: My Lords, I am grateful for the corrections which the noble Lord has made to the amendment which I put down yesterday, and to the commitment that the review will be done within eight months. There was another change that he did not cover. The term of art, "statements of requirement", which refers to the level of physical ability that the fire service and police must attain, was changed to...

Public Service Pensions Bill — Commons Reasons (23 April 2013)

Lord Eatwell: My Lords, I beg to move the manuscript amendment on the Marshalled List. We were told last night-that is to say, at the last minute-that the Government intended to assert financial privilege over our attempt to achieve fairness for the members of the Defence Fire and Rescue Service and the Ministry of Defence Police. We have learnt that the Government know they have lost the argument when...

Banking: Quantitative Easing — Question (27 March 2013)

Lord Eatwell: My Lords, given that interest rates have been at record lows for three years and that liquidity is high, with no notable impact on the overall rate of growth, will the Minister tell us exactly what the mechanism is by which this greater monetary activism will stimulate growth?

Budget Statement — Motion to Take Note (21 March 2013)

Lord Eatwell: This side totally support the remarks just made by the noble Lord, Lord Higgins.

Budget Statement — Motion to Take Note (21 March 2013)

Lord Eatwell: My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for introducing this debate on the Budget Statement. He demonstrated that it was not a boring Budget. Indeed, the Budget was-let us say-revelatory. It revealed that, try as you might, you cannot spin economic failure. Two weeks ago the Prime Minister declared that, "there are signs that our plan is beginning to work". The reality is that the economy...

Bank of England: Monetary Policy — Question (19 March 2013)

Lord Eatwell: My Lords, from what the noble Lord has said, the Treasury has clearly been content with the policy pursued by the Monetary Policy Committee over the past three years. Is the noble Lord also content with the impact of that policy on pensioners' annuities?

Inequality: Income and Wealth — Question (11 March 2013)

Lord Eatwell: The noble Lord has made much in his Answer of the proportion of taxation paid by the highest earners. Is not the reason for this that their gross incomes are excessively high compared to those of others in our society?

EU: Eurozone Financial Transaction Tax — Question (5 March 2013)

Lord Eatwell: Will the noble Lord explain why the Government are so allergic to the financial transaction tax, which is to be levied at less than 1% of the value of transactions and by many countries, whereas we are quite happy to have stamp duty levied on transactions at 5%, which is effective only here in the UK?

EU: Budget — Question (4 March 2013)

Lord Eatwell: My Lords, given that the EU budget is being reduced in real terms, can the noble Lord tell us what the consequential reductions are in expenditure in the UK?

Economy: Rating Agencies — Question (27 February 2013)

Lord Eatwell: My Lords, could the Minister tell the House whether it is better to borrow to fund the fiscal costs of negligible growth or to fund the expansion in investment and growth?

Public Service Pensions Bill: Third Reading (26 February 2013)

Lord Eatwell: My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for explaining the content of these essentially technical amendments. I particularly welcome the approach, which is in accord with the recommendation of my noble friend Lord Hutton. I have but one question of the noble Lord, and that is why his remarks were not prefaced by an apology to the House for having put down these amendments as late as 5 pm...

Public Service Pensions Bill: Third Reading (26 February 2013)

Lord Eatwell: My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for introducing these amendments, and for reacting as he promised on Report to the issues raised there by me and my noble friend Lord Whitty. His speech was slightly imperfectly drafted as it referred on several occasions to the unlikelihood of negative growth. In fact under this coalition Government negative growth has become an all too common...

Public Service Pensions Bill — Report (Continued) (12 February 2013)

Lord Eatwell: My Lords, the Minister has said that, with respect to the notion of the review, the Government will have reviews, because the DWP White Paper says so, but they are not quite sure what those reviews would be-it is all too complicated at the moment and they have not worked it out. Therefore, they cannot include it in the Bill. That is pretty unsatisfactory. On the one hand, they are prepared to...

Public Service Pensions Bill — Report (Continued) (12 February 2013)

Lord Eatwell: My Lords, there are also in this group a pair of amendments in my name and that of my noble and learned friend Lord Davidson, both of which seek to add flexibility and that famous characteristic, future-proofing, to the Bill. It is a laudable objective of the Government to have a common movement-a standard process-that can be seen as fair and generally acceptable across the entire structure...