Results 1-20 of 303 for in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates' speaker:Nigel Mills

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Topical Questions (20 May 2013)

Nigel Mills: Will my hon. Friend please update the House on what recent assessment she has made of the number of Remploy staff who have made it into employment or training?

Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards: House of Commons Administration Estimate (23 April 2013)

Nigel Mills: One potential consequence of the Standing Order would be that, if the accounting officer so wished, he could decline to put the financial details into the House domain and therefore the debate on the motion could not happen. What does the hon. Gentleman understand “a reasonable time frame” to mean—a day, a week, five years?

[1st Allocated Day]: New Clause 7 — General anti-tax avoidance principle (17 April 2013)

Nigel Mills: Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is preferable that only people who engage in aggressive tax abuse should be put on notice, and that people innocently going about trying to structure their affairs normally within the law should not be scared of the provision at all?

[1st Allocated Day]: New Clause 7 — General anti-tax avoidance principle (17 April 2013)

Nigel Mills: It is a pleasure to speak in this debate, and I rise to speak to amendments 11 and 12, which stand in my name. I have said this before, but I have concerns about Parliament agreeing overwhelmingly with a principle that effectively says, “We as a Parliament, even with all the specialist advice we get, cannot draft the law sufficiently well to leave our taxpayers to try to apply and...

[1st Allocated Day]: New Clause 7 — General anti-tax avoidance principle (17 April 2013)

Nigel Mills: I am grateful to my hon. Friend and I would like to expand a little on this theme. It has been said before that there are various ways of interpreting what the rule of law means. One version from the 17th century is that the rule of law is the “supremacy of regular power as opposed to arbitrary power”. In the case before us, rather than saying “Here is the law that applies...

[1st Allocated Day]: New Clause 7 — General anti-tax avoidance principle (17 April 2013)

Nigel Mills: I agree with my hon. Friend that tax evasion is a crime that should be prosecuted to the fullest possible extent, but in this instance we are talking about tax avoidance. We should be clear about the principle of what we are doing. We are saying to HMRC, “You can enforce something that is not in law.” If we are to pursue that line, we must be certain that safeguards are in place...

[1st Allocated Day]: New Clause 7 — General anti-tax avoidance principle (17 April 2013)

Nigel Mills: Am I right in thinking that the second sign of madness is to keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result? I think that that applies to introducing more and more complexity and assuming that the outcome will eventually be different.

[1st Allocated Day]: New Clause 7 — General anti-tax avoidance principle (17 April 2013)

Nigel Mills: The hon. Lady is right. I have not sought to defend those who peddle tax avoidance schemes. It is probably human nature for us all to try to minimise our liabilities. I personally think that we should try to adjust our tax regimes so that they get much closer to taxing the real profit that is declared, rather than allowing a collection of reliefs, allowances, incentives and so forth to...

[1st Allocated Day]: New Clause 7 — General anti-tax avoidance principle (17 April 2013)

Nigel Mills: Yes, I do. Various Members have expressed concern about the principle before. I think we must accept that the House has concluded that the only way of tackling the problem of excessive outrageous tax avoidance is to risk the principle of the reading of the rule of law, and to be satisfied that a relatively minor version is what is needed to tackle tax avoidance. I am not sure I would have...

[1st Allocated Day]: New Clause 7 — General anti-tax avoidance principle (17 April 2013)

Nigel Mills: Does the right hon. Gentleman not accept that one reason why we have got this far is that Graham Aaronson, who probably meets the right hon. Gentleman’s definition of someone who has made his living from selling tax-avoidance schemes or at least advising on them, recommended that the Government go ahead with the GAAR?

[1st Allocated Day]: New Clause 7 — General anti-tax avoidance principle (17 April 2013)

Nigel Mills: I will say it more loudly. Does the right hon. Gentleman accept that one reason why we have got this far is that Graham Aaronson, who arguably meets his criterion as someone who has made a living out of at least advising on such schemes, recommended that the Government go ahead with the GAAR?

[1st Allocated Day]: New Clause 7 — General anti-tax avoidance principle (17 April 2013)

Nigel Mills: rose—

Royal Assent: Rail Franchising (26 March 2013)

Nigel Mills: Although I welcome the new station for Derbyshire, can the Secretary of State assure me that it will not be serviced at the expense of two other stations on that line, namely, Alfreton and Langley Mill?

Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department: Net Migration (25 March 2013)

Nigel Mills: What progress her Department is making in reducing net migration to the UK.

Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department: Net Migration (25 March 2013)

Nigel Mills: I welcome the fall in net migration. Can the Home Secretary confirm to the House that it was caused by fewer people coming to the UK and not more people leaving, as some have suggested?

Energy and Climate Change: Alcohol: Minimum Unit Price (14 March 2013)

Nigel Mills: On behalf of the responsible drinkers of Amber Valley, I thank the Government for reconsidering this excessive nanny state policy. Has he considered what the policy might do to encourage further the already serious problem of the illegal sale of non-duty-paid alcohol?

Oral Answers to Questions — Work and Pensions: Women’s Single-Tier Pensions (11 March 2013)

Nigel Mills: We look forward to seeing the Minister later. Does he agree that one of the problems is that people just do not understand what the change will mean for them? What plans do the Government have to write to everybody to tell them what pension they would have received under the old system and what they will receive under the new one?

Supplementary Estimates 2012-13 — Department for Work and Pensions — Universal Credit (6 March 2013)

Nigel Mills: It is a pleasure to follow the Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee and to speak about the report. This is the first report that I had the pleasure of working on when I joined the Committee. I feel slightly guilty in that I missed all the evidence sessions because I did not join the Committee until it started to write the report. I therefore missed the hard work and did the fun bit at the...

Supplementary Estimates 2012-13 — Department for Work and Pensions — Universal Credit (6 March 2013)

Nigel Mills: I see the sense in that, but it would involve a large cost. Speaking as someone who still does the weekly payroll for a small charity with six employees, I am looking forward to the time when I have to input the data into the HMRC system weekly or monthly, rather than making the PAYE payment that is due once a quarter. I think that the system will work quite successfully for large employers...