Lord Eatwell: My Lords, I will make a couple of observations on the amendments put forward by my noble friends Lord Sikka and Lady Chapman, and the noble Lords, Lord Fox and Lord Agnew. These observations are based on my experience as chairman of the Jersey Financial Services Commission. The Bill as drafted is significantly weaker than the requirements for registration in Jersey. For example, on the point...
Lord Eatwell: My Lords, I support the theme of what the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, just said, which is the general weakness of the definition of beneficial ownership in this Bill. It is very striking that in other jurisdictions within the British Isles that hold registers of beneficial ownership and have done for some years, the beneficial owner is always defined as an individual and never as a firm...
Lord Eatwell: My Lords, the Minister suggested that he did not use the precautionary principle in his speeches at Second Reading. At col. 314, he drew a direct analogy between the need for photographic evidence to vote and locking a door to prevent burglars. Is not that the precautionary principle?
Lord Eatwell: My Lords, I regret that, like the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes, I was unable to attend the Second Reading debate. At the time I was on an aeroplane returning from work in the United States. However, I have read the full proceedings in Hansard with great care and I feel appropriately informed. Moreover, some time spent in the United States has also given an added perspective on some of the...
Lord Eatwell: Will the Minister give way?
Lord Eatwell: Given the wide level of expertise evident in this debate, will the Minister commit to pre-legislative scrutiny of the new economic crime Bill? That would be the way both to exploit the talents available in this House and to ensure that the Bill, when it arrives on the Floor, will have a smooth passage.
Lord Eatwell: My Lords, a considered assessment of this Bill requires some reflection as to why measures to thwart economic crime have failed so dismally up to now. At the centre of the Bill stands the registrar, embodied in Companies House. It is Companies House that is the prime source of the failings that have made London the money-laundering capital of the world. One of the political pantomimes of the...
Lord Eatwell: My Lords, the market for oil and gas is global, and therefore the figure that the Minister has cited twice about our dependence being only 4% is entirely irrelevant to what happens to the price of energy in the UK. If there is a shortage of gas in Germany, the gas price goes up globally. The only answer to this is to reduce hydrocarbon use throughout Europe, and therefore reduce the market...
Lord Eatwell: My Lords, I rise to give my strong support to Amendment 108, and I do so because of the terms of the genocide convention to which this Government are committed and are obligated to support. It is important for the House to note that genocide is not defined solely as mass killing. It is also defined as “causing serious bodily or mental harm … deliberately inflicting … conditions of life...
Lord Eatwell: My Lords, first, I declare an interest as a recent chairman of the Jersey Financial Services Commission and therefore a financial services regulator. I begin by congratulating the noble Lord, Lord Altrincham, on his maiden speech and welcome him to the small club he sees around the Chamber of people who have an almost obsessive interest in the details of these financial matters. I hope he...
Lord Eatwell: It is fortunate that the Minister just brought up once again the issue of fairness and the discussion of it in the House. At the beginning of his speech, he referred to the proportion of the total raised from—I think he said—the top 14% of payers. This is a completely bogus statistic and has nothing to do with fairness. Let me give him an example. Let us suppose that someone earns £1...
Lord Eatwell: My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for his brief introduction to the Bill. The key promise of what he has described as the permanent new role for the Government, as expressed in the Bill and accompanying documentation, can be described as the introduction of the health and social care levy, which will mean that, between 2019 and 2025, the NHS England budget can increase by 3.9% per year...
Lord Eatwell: My Lords, in the development of environmental fiscal policy, do the Government accept the fundamental principle that the polluter pays?
Lord Eatwell: To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportions of UK national debt were owned by (1) UK households, (2) the Bank of England, (3) overseas purchasers, (4) banks and financial houses, and (5) insurance and pension funds, in (a) 2017, (b) 2018, (c) 2019, (d) 2020, and (e) 2021.
Lord Eatwell: To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the average duration of UK national debt in (1) 2017, (2) 2018, (3) 2019, (4) 2020, and (5) 2021.
Lord Eatwell: My Lords, a debate on the economy must begin with the news this morning that the economy is 8.7% smaller than it was pre pandemic. Do not be fooled by claims of spectacular growth rates in the next few months; it is how soon we get to pre-pandemic levels that really matters. Our economy has been permanently scarred by the pandemic and Brexit, permanently reducing output below previously...
Lord Eatwell: My Lords, while we on this side of the House were hoping for action rather than further consultation, and we remain somewhat puzzled as to exactly what further the FCA has to learn that was not learned in the consultation of 2018 when it published a discussion paper entitled with some prescience, A Duty of Care and Potential Alternative Approaches. None the less, despite our desire for action...
Lord Eatwell: My Lords, Amendments 24 and 25 develop the notion of an information system—the information that will be provided by the FCA, PRA and the Government to feed into an assessment of the performance and impact of the financial services sector and the regulators. Amendment 37 goes much wider, as one might have gathered from its presentation, seeking to make, or ask for, a general economic...
Lord Eatwell: My Lords, I would like to begin by acknowledging the considerable efforts that have been made by the noble Earl, Lord Howe, to provide greater insight and information in the form of letters from the CEOs of the FCA and PRA, and to encourage the Economic Secretary to the Treasury to provide his letter today, all of which have enhanced and coloured this debate. These letters have been quoted by...
Lord Eatwell: My Lords, this seems to be an entirely sensible modification of an overly restrictive time limit on prosecutions for market abuse, and the Minister has certainly made a strong case. I have one question associated with the Government’s note that accompanied the amendment. The Government stated that they had not found any clear rationale for the five-year limit applying in EU law and could...