"My Lords, this amendment, in the names of my noble friend Lady Kramer and myself, adds to the list of exemptions from the proposed increase in employer national insurance contributions. I thought I would make that clear at the outset, although I see that the noble Lord, Lord Eatwell, is …..." Lord Sharkey - View Speech
"My Lords, I thank everybody who has spoken so very powerfully about the plight of the mortgage prisoners. It is important to make one point about the mortgage prisoners: they are like everybody else in every other respect. They are not a delinquent or feckless part of society. They are …..." Lord Sharkey - View Speech
"I close by reminding everybody that this is a current situation. Lots of people are suffering very badly indeed because of it, and it is not getting any better. So I close with Lenin’s favourite question: what is to be done? I beg to move...." Lord Sharkey - View Speech
"My Lords, mortgage prisoners are people who are stuck with their existing lenders and cannot access a better deal such as a fixed rate. As a result, mortgage prisoners continue to pay interest rates on their mortgages at around four percentage points over normal market rates, costing them hundreds of …..." Lord Sharkey - View Speech
"My Lords, I will speak briefly to Amendment 35. I declare an interest as a member of council at UCL.
On the first day of Committee, I spoke in support of my noble friend Lord Storey’s amendment on education, including universities, as the noble Lord, Lord Altrincham, mentioned. That amendment …..." Lord Sharkey - View Speech
"My Lords, these amendments address very important issues. As noble Lords who attended the Committee last week will be aware, we on these Benches have taken an approach to the Bill aiming to exclude certain sectors from the Government’s rise to employers’ national insurance contributions—sectors that we feel will be …..." Lord Sharkey - View Speech
"My Lords, we have a lot of sympathy for the amendments in this group. My noble friend Lady Kramer has added her name to Amendment 22.
It is absolutely right that we should be concerned about the effects of the proposed NICs rise on small businesses. These businesses are at …..." Lord Sharkey - View Speech
"My Lords, I have added my name to Amendment 4 in the name of my noble friend Lord Storey, which proposes to exempt universities from the NIC increase, among other things. I will speak to that exemption for universities. I am grateful for the extensive briefing provided by UUK, and …..." Lord Sharkey - View Speech
"My Lords, this is an unsatisfactory Bill, not because it raises taxes—that was, and is, an obvious necessity—but because it does so in a way that exacerbates existing unresolved and urgent problems or, as in the case of social care, in effect ignores them entirely.