Results 1-20 of 1,963 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 Myners
- Growth and Infrastructure Bill — Commons Amendments (24 April 2013)
Lord Myners: Will the noble Lord, Lord Flight, at least acknowledge that the OBR has also expressed serious doubts about how this provision, which is not affected in any way by the laudable proposals now made by the Government, will be exploited for tax advantage? I believe that the OBR projected a cost of £1 billion.
- Growth and Infrastructure Bill — Commons Amendments (24 April 2013)
Lord Myners: The question is whether we give credit to the noble Lord's noble friend or to your Lordships' House. I think it is the latter that deserves credit for the improvement in this provision. We will see the statute book and regulations getting thicker and thicker as the Government try to head off all the strategies that will be developed to seek to take advantage of this provision. We have come up...
- Growth and Infrastructure Bill — Commons Amendments (24 April 2013)
Lord Myners: I welcome the general avoidance rule, which of course is not the matter that we are discussing. Even there, though, while I was not directly responsible for HMRC or Inland Revenue matters when I was a Minister, we all knew that the agility of tax planners should never be underestimated. We need to be slightly careful that a general tax avoidance rule is not going to create a new nirvana and...
- Growth and Infrastructure Bill — Commons Amendments (24 April 2013)
Lord Myners: My Lords, I disagree with one of the comments made by the noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria. I think this will be a very popular scheme for employees and employers, but in only one small sector of the economy. This is not about creating employment, business and economic growth. SMEs and new innovative companies are not going to offer these schemes, and employers are not going to be attracted by...
- Growth and Infrastructure Bill — Commons Reasons (22 April 2013)
Lord Myners: My Lords-
- Growth and Infrastructure Bill — Commons Reasons (22 April 2013)
Lord Myners: The Minister has just said that legal advice is available for settlement and compromise agreements but that it will not be available to an employee considering one of these contracts. Will he explain why legal advice would not be available? Will he then answer the question from my noble friend on the Front Bench on how a jobseeker seeking employment on the national minimum wage will be able...
- Growth and Infrastructure Bill — Commons Reasons (22 April 2013)
Lord Myners: The Minister says that he does not expect employees to enter into such contracts without careful consideration, and he thinks that this will be a long-term commitment. However, the articles of association of most companies place restrictions on the sale of shares. Will the Government require that there be no restriction on the employee's ability to sell their shares for the highest price they...
- Growth and Infrastructure Bill — Commons Reasons (22 April 2013)
Lord Myners: I think the Minister has confirmed-but perhaps he could avoid any doubt about this-that it would be possible for the employer simply to say, "You can sell these shares only to me and only at the valuation that I judge appropriate, and without any reference to arbitration or a third party". If that truthfully is the case, this policy is shambolic.
- Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill: Commons Amendments (13 March 2013)
Lord Myners: My Lords, I support the Bill and the amendments the Minister has presented today. However, I am left pondering that if we have a situation here where we are concerned about a customer abusing a supplier, should we also not be alert to the issue in banking where we have suppliers potentially abusing customers? Should there not be a similar mechanism in place in which customers of banks, and I...
- Prisoners: Work Programmes — Question for Short Debate (15 January 2013)
Lord Myners: My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the right reverend Prelate in this debate secured by the noble Lord, Lord Carlile. It is a timely debate in the context of the Government's announcement last week of planned changes to the prison estate and to post-release supervision and support. I look forward to the Minister's response. I know that he has taken an active interest in prisons. He told me...
- Autumn Statement — Statement (5 December 2012)
Lord Myners: My Lords, perhaps I may add my personal congratulations to the Minister. He has always brought great skill, tact, humour and optimism to his role on the Front Bench. It is a shame that that optimism has not seen the prize delivered because today's economic Statement is a lamentable one. Against the two principal, navigating stars that the Chancellor of the Exchequer set-the fiscal mandate and...
- Financial Services Bill — Third Reading (5 December 2012)
Lord Myners: Perhaps I may also ask a question following that of the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer. The concept of interoperability is very important in the clearing of derivatives, so that corporates in particular can offset a position with one platform where they have a credit with another platform where they have a deficit. Will the Minister clarify that that involves a degree of mutualisation in the...
- Property: Commonhold — Question (19 November 2012)
Lord Myners: My Lords, will the Minister explain the circumstances in which it would be cheaper for the taxpayer for infrastructure to be financed with the use of a Treasury guarantee than for that same expenditure to be funded directly by the Treasury?
- Financial Services Bill — Report (1st Day) (6 November 2012)
Lord Myners: My Lords, I support the amendment in the name of the noble Baronesses, Lady Noakes, Lady Wheatcroft and Lady Kramer. I, too, have been struck by the potency of the Walker report appendix on group effectiveness, drafted by the Tavistock Institute. My experience leads me to conclude that the larger the group, the less effective it becomes. The R-squared is actually extraordinarily high and...
- Financial Services Bill — Report (1st Day) (6 November 2012)
Lord Myners: My Lords, I will pick up on a term in the final sentence of the contribution of the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson. He referred to relying on the judgment of the non-executives. Many issues around the court will depend on the quality of the people appointed, and how they conduct themselves. A slightly less than perfect structure, superbly implemented, is likely to give a better outcome than a...
- Financial Services Bill — Report (1st Day) (6 November 2012)
Lord Myners: I want to be helpful and pick up one point about the references that have been made by several Peers to models of good corporate governance. The noble Lord, Lord Flight, with considerable experience and great standing in business in the City, has already pointed out one respect in which the court cannot be compared with a conventional board of directors: its ability in the end to remove the...
- Financial Services Bill — Report (1st Day) (6 November 2012)
Lord Myners: My Lords, I support my noble friend's amendment. The decisions on the aggregation of power within the Bank of England are now set. The Government are clear in their determination to achieve that. In my view, no one form of regulatory architecture can be assuredly more successful than others. Looking around the world at what happened with the global financial crisis, we saw many different...
- Financial Services Bill — Report (1st Day) (6 November 2012)
Lord Myners: I will give way in a moment to the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson, who has had his opportunity. We must look to create a body that is capable of appropriately challenging the current governor and governors in the future. I am not sure that this is necessarily seriously advanced by the language we are using here. Perhaps I will anticipate the point on which the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson, wishes to...
- Financial Services Bill — Report (1st Day) (6 November 2012)
Lord Myners: The words proposed by my noble friend take us a little further in the right direction. I would like to go a great deal further but am more than happy to support my noble friend's amendment.
- Schmallenberg Virus — Question (1 November 2012)
Lord Myners: My Lords-