Lord Levene of Portsoken: My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Dean, whose wise words on defence are always worth paying attention to. I thank her for her chairmanship of the group to which she referred, from which we all benefit. I also pay compliments to the noble Lord, Lord Touhig, for the efforts that he always makes to promote the importance of defence in Wales. He does a great job...
Lord Levene of Portsoken: My Lords, I declare my interest as chairman of General Dynamics UK. Many years ago now, I was given the task of unscrambling the defence industrial policy, which was centred on so-called national champions. This policy resulted in significant cost overruns and delay in delivery of equipment badly needed by our Armed Forces. Will the Minister please confirm that the Government have no...
Lord Levene of Portsoken: My Lords—
Lord Levene of Portsoken: My Lords, the Minister started his remarks by saying that those of us in this House should have little to worry about. I have to say, from personal experience of having an account in France to look after the small needs of the home that I own there, that one is treated as if it were the Spanish Inquisition. They really do not want to know any differently. Can the Minister give an assurance to...
Lord Levene of Portsoken: My Lords, I, too, am most grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Hennessy, for his initiative in arranging this debate and I am happy to add to his already mammoth score. There have been quite a number of claims recently—sometimes from Ministers—that civil servants in government departments have not properly pursued the policy that their Ministers have laid down and are being insufficiently...
Lord Levene of Portsoken: My Lords, I welcome this opportunity to comment on the progress of defence reform in the Ministry of Defence. When the former defence Secretary, Dr Liam Fox, took office, he asked me to chair a steering group to monitor the progress of that reform. Your Lordships may recall that at the time a very large shortfall had been revealed in the funding of the forward programme of the MoD, and so...
Lord Levene of Portsoken: My Lords, I am sure that the Minister is about to sit down, but I hope that I may be permitted to congratulate him on his incisive maiden speech. He has spent much of his career advocating and critique-ing the work of the financial services industry in the City. As we heard from the noble Lord, Lord Young of Norwood Green, he has done so wearing many different hats and serving a number of...
Lord Levene of Portsoken: My Lords, I am very glad to introduce this short debate this afternoon, not least because it will mark the maiden speech of the noble Lord, Lord Sassoon, who is now Commercial Secretary to the Treasury. The issue of competitiveness has particular resonance for me since I served in two government posts in previous Administrations, the first in the Ministry of Defence with responsibility for...
Lord Levene of Portsoken: My Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Truscott, for providing the opportunity of this debate. I must declare an interest in this topic, apart from an historical one, in so far as I am chairman of General Dynamics UK and president of the Defence Manufacturers Association. The defence industry has always been a crucial part of the UK industrial base, as well as serving as the...
Lord Levene of Portsoken: My Lords, I am most grateful to my noble and gallant friend Lord Inge for initiating this debate. I declare an interest as chairman of General Dynamics UK and president—very much an honorary title—of the Defence Manufacturers Association, although it is certainly not my intention to speak on their behalf today. Perhaps a more pertinent interest is a past one: that of Chief of Defence...
Lord Levene of Portsoken: My Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Brooke, who served with such distinction in another place as the Member for the City of London, for having initiated this debate and for his very kind remarks today. I declare an interest as chairman of Lloyd's and the IFSL, the body which promotes the financial services industry internationally, and also as a serving alderman and past Lord...
Lord Levene of Portsoken: My Lords, we debated the subject in this House about 18 months ago and perhaps I may repeat the remarks I made. A businessman travelling from London to Paris leaves London at eight in the morning and arrives in Paris at 10; a businessman travelling from Paris to London leaves Paris at eight and arrives in London at eight. That is a huge commercial disadvantage. Furthermore, I do not...
Lord Levene of Portsoken: My Lords, I shall first take the opportunity to thank all noble Lords who have taken part in the debate. It is gratifying to hear so much support in the House for an industry that has proved to be so successful in the United Kingdom, and which is continuing to do so much to support and develop our national economy. I join all those who have congratulated the noble Lord, Lord Brooke of Sutton...
Lord Levene of Portsoken: rose to call attention to the place of the financial services industry in the economy of the United Kingdom; and to move for Papers. My Lords, I am grateful for the opportunity to propose this Motion. I should like to declare an interest. I am chairman of IFSL, the old British Invisibles, and vice-chairman of Deutsche Bank in London. The financial services industry is about managing risk. It...
Lord Levene of Portsoken: My Lords, I was pleased to see that the noble Lord, Lord Peyton, had initiated today's debate on an issue with which we are all confronted on an all too regular basis, whether we like it or not. Last year, during my term of office as Lord Mayor of the City of London, the topic caused increasing concern and led us to address the issue in the City in a manner which I believe should commend...
