My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Lexden for introducing this debate and for everything he has said—with which I agree absolutely and entirely—so forcefully and rightly. What is significant about the debate is that there is a unanimity of view in this House, not only about the injustice but why it needs to be put right, coming from all parts of the Chamber, and I am very glad about...
My Lords, I feel extremely strongly about this matter, but time constraints mean that I can make only a few points. I want to concentrate on the Ted Heath issue. I declare a personal interest: I am on the committee of the Sir Edward Heath Charitable Foundation. I agree with every word that was said by the noble Lord, Lord Armstrong, and I am particularly grateful for the contribution of the...
My Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Burns, and his committee for so expertly producing this analysis and for giving us the options for the road ahead and the basis for the decisions that I hope we will take. I am also grateful to the Lord Speaker for his initiative in setting up the committee. As I go around the country and talk to people about the House of Lords, I...
My Lords, I declare an interest in that I worked very closely with Edward Heath when he was leader of the Opposition and I was head of his private office in the mid-1960s. The most damning indictment of Operation Conifer came from the noble Lord, Lord Macdonald of River Glaven—the former Director of Public Prosecutions—who was in the best position to know, when he called it a sham. There...
My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Truscott, on obtaining this debate and on his introduction to it. However, I shall come to some very different conclusions from those that he reached. I chaired the Economic Affairs Select Committee, which reported on this subject in May 2014. According to our own press department’s survey, that committee’s report obtained one of the widest...
My Lords, I wish to comment briefly on the point just made by the noble Earl, Lord Kinnoull, about the importance of our Select Committees. Coming from the other House a long time ago, I have been impressed by the work of the Select Committees and the way in which they are impartial in looking at all the issues. I very much regret that they get so little attention in the media, because I...
My Lords, it is difficult at this late stage of the debate, when so many have spoken so well and covered the ground so extensively, to say anything new, so I shall make a few comments to add my support to points already made. First, like others, I pay warm tribute to and thank my noble friend Lord Cormack for the extensive work he has done over the years on this issue and to my noble friend...
My Lords, it is a great pleasure and a daunting experience to follow the noble Lord, Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, whose knowledge of the practical working details of the Community and of the whole area is more or less unrivalled. It is very helpful to all of us to have his views and experience. My own direct experience of the EU is dated—to the 1980s and early 1990s—and limited: it was when...
More of Lord MacGregor of Pulham Market's speeches and debates
asked Her Majesty's Government: In the most recent year for which figures are available, what would be the gain to the Exchequer of reforming capital gains tax taper relief for business assets so that the proportion of gains chargeable was (a) 100 per cent after two years or less; (b) 90 per cent after three years; (c) 80 per cent after four years; (d) 70 per cent after five years; (e) 60 per...
asked Her Majesty's Government: In the most recent year for which figures are available, what would be the gain to the Exchequer of reducing the generosity of capital gains tax taper relief for business assets so that the proportion of gains chargeable was 75 per cent after one year and 50 per cent after two years or more; and In the most recent year for which figures are available, what...
asked Her Majesty's Government: How much income tax is paid on earned income from employment by people over the state retirement age at (a) the starting and basic rate of income tax; and (b) the higher rate of income tax, for the latest year for which figures are available.
asked Her Majesty's Government: Further to the statement by Lord McIntosh of Haringey on 26 February (HL Deb, col. 378), whether they will provide a breakdown of the ÂŁ90 million start-up costs of the Child Trust Funds Bill.
