Parliament: Restoration and Renewal Project

Lord Empey Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord True]

My Lords, I always commend an open mind, but unfortunately for the Liberal Democrat party, many of its proposals for reform have fallen on stony ground.

[Lord Empey (UUP)]

My Lords, in the event that the Government should decide to move this House to another location against its will, would that require primary legislation and would the Minister propose to take such legislation through all its stages in this House?

Finance Bill

Lord Empey Excerpts

2nd reading & Committee negatived & 3rd reading & 2nd reading (Hansard) & 2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & 3rd reading (Hansard) & 3rd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & Committee negatived (Hansard) & Committee negatived (Hansard): House of Lords
Friday 17th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Empey (UUP)]

My Lords, we need to recall that, in attempting to increase revenue, by increasing tax we have in fact reduced revenue in stamp duty terms. This a lesson we need to learn for the future. I ask the Minister to look very closely at how this tax is reintroduced—not only its thresholds but the rationale for it. Simply imposing a large amount of tax does not in fact produce enough revenue for the Treasury.

There is an overwhelming fear in the hearts of many people in this country about the enormous amount of money we are borrowing. There is no alternative, but having been taught in recent years to believe in the age of austerity and the dangers of spending too much money on the public sector, many people fear that we are embarking on a journey whose destination and the time it will take we do not know.

There is an underlying issue when we talk about trying to regenerate the economy. Walking into this building this morning—and indeed last week, for the first time since March—one could see the problem with one’s own eyes: the people are simply not there. They are not there because they are afraid, or they can see that there are alternative ways of working—Sir Patrick Vallance tells them one thing, the Prime Minister tells them another. The fact is, the streets are largely empty in this part of London, which is symptomatic of the rest of the country. We need to get our act together, bearing in mind that, if there were to be a second spike, our economy would be in colossal difficulty.

In the 1970s, this country made a huge mistake in turning its back on manufacturing. We are not making things, and our service sector is vulnerable to very short-term issues. As has already been mentioned, the furlough was a bold announcement. But, speaking as someone who takes a keen interest in the APPG on aerospace, I know that if we do not find a sectoral resolution for aerospace, we will have great difficulties. We are number two in the world in aerospace, but that could very quickly slip away from us.

We need to refocus our economy and take this opportunity, but we need to remember that making things is how we generate the most revenue, and we are simply not doing it.

House of Lords and Machinery of Government: Consultation on Changes

Lord Empey Excerpts

Wednesday 15th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord True]

My Lords, I do not necessarily agree with that argument: the noble Baroness is holding me to account at present. It is no secret that I was not an enthusiast for the Strasbourg Parliament.

[Lord Empey (UUP) [V]]

Will the Minister confirm to the House whether the decision of the Supreme Court to become involved in the Prorogation dispute last autumn will be considered as part of the review when the commission is established?

[Lord True]

My Lords, I must repeat that, obviously, the commission will be looking at a wide range of matters and the broader aspects of the constitution. The issue that the noble Lord mentioned is of great constitutional importance and certainly deserves examination.

Covid-19: Economy

Lord Empey Excerpts

Thursday 4th June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Empey (UUP)]

My Lords, a number of colleagues have mentioned housing. However, there is a perverse government policy with regard to the application of VAT that applies in the housing market. It is environmentally and in many other ways more economic to encourage the development of social and other housing on brownfield sites where existing infrastructure is already in place. However, the way the VAT system works is that we incentivise people to build on greenfield sites, which is counterintuitive.

I have raised this issue in the past, and the Treasury’s argument has been that there would be refurbishments and renewals of brownfield properties, and therefore that there would be dead weight if the VAT were reduced or removed on brownfield work and refurbishments. However, we are in a new era now, and I believe the Treasury should revisit this. Removing that cost in redevelopment of brownfield sites, for commercial and particularly housing projects, could be a stimulus but would also help solve the housing problem, which is at the core of poverty and so many social and other issues.

Will the Minister examine the possibility of using the VAT system to encourage the redevelopment and refurbishment of properties on brownfield sites and not give an incentive to people to build on greenfield sites?

Beyond Brexit (European Union Committee Report)

Lord Empey Excerpts

Tuesday 12th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Empey (UUP)]

My Lords, the report talks about winning friends and influencing people. I believe one of the key requirements for that is a strong and growing diplomatic push by the United Kingdom throughout the world. From 2017-18, even after the EU referendum, the United Kingdom started to cut back the resources it was putting into our Diplomatic Service. In fact, the Foreign Office was one of the few departments getting hit really hard by the budgets. Can the Minister assure the House that adequate efforts will be made to build up our diplomatic capability, once the best in the world? We are now confronted with the fact that we need it even more, but I believe it has been starved of resources.

Many Members have already mentioned the position in Ireland. I never thought I would see a Conservative and Unionist Government agree to a border in the Irish Sea. To try to pretend that our position in the rest of the United Kingdom is not altered by the contents of the protocol is misleading—it makes a huge change—but by using and adapting the existing structures of the Good Friday agreement, as my noble friend Lord Caine said earlier in the debate, we have at our disposal a mechanism by which we can find a way of resolving these matters without damaging the union. Whatever the United Kingdom does, it must ensure that its international diplomatic capability is reinforced, not cut back.

Brexit: Financial Assistance for Businesses

Lord Empey Excerpts

Wednesday 26th February 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

The noble Baroness asked rather a lot of questions there; I will try to answer one or two of them. Northern Ireland will continue to be part of the UK customs territories, and practical information will be required for goods moving from the rest of the UK to Northern Ireland. This will be provided electronically, and the Government will work with the EU to minimise the impact to traders. Through the grant system that I mentioned in my Answer, we have seen 3,000 customs agents trained over the last 18 months, and that process will continue.

[Lord Empey (UUP)]

My Lords, the Minister has effectively conceded that there will be a regulatory border in the Irish Sea, but there is confusion over that because the Prime Minister is saying that there will not be. Either there is or there is not. Will the Minister confirm that any additional costs attributed to administering that will in fact be met by Her Majesty’s Government and that businesses will not be disadvantaged in any way?

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, the negotiation is a dynamic process; we are at the beginning of what will be a very fractious negotiation over the next nine months. I tell those noble Lords with a gentle stomach that what we are seeing today are the opening remarks of the EU: it is going to get a lot hotter over the next nine months, and we will know more clearly probably by the middle of December.