House of Lords (Members’ Taxation Status) Bill [HL]

My Lords, the noble Lord did say in his speech that it was on the basis, but of course his Bill contradicts him. What his Bill says is that it is not on the basis that someone has to be resident and domiciled—it is nothing to do with the basis. The noble Lord cannot have it both ways; it is just not good enough. Indeed, it is the usual Liberal fudge. Perhaps I may turn to the next page of the White Paper where it states that the Government, "““proposes that the creation of a reformed second chamber would include provision disqualifying from membership anyone who is not resident in the UK for tax purposes””." That is perfectly fair, but it says absolutely nothing about domicile because that is not in the Government’s proposals. So far as I can see, no other party has made any objection to that. So the noble Lord says that he wants it on the basis, but that is not what his Bill says. It really is not good enough. No changes have been made to this Bill. The noble Lord, Lord Desai, who sadly is not in his place, wanted an amendment to provide that these proposals should not, for life, be irrevocable, but I can see nothing in the Bill to that effect and the noble Lord, Lord Oakeshott, did not mention it. Moreover, one of the weaknesses of the Bill is that we want everyone who is a Member of the Parliament of this country to pay tax, whether here or in another place. The rules for this House should be exactly the same as those for another place. But if we are going to do that, the same provisions should be brought in for the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly so that they are the same for everyone. To select just this House seems bizarre. As I say, everyone should pay taxes if they sit in this place. The noble Lord, Lord Goodhart, told us that he is a former non-dom and remarked that no one comes here as a reward for past services. I do not think that that is correct. A number of noble Lords were Members of another place and the reason that they are here is because they were very distinguished Members of Parliament. Yet again, we have heard from the Liberal Benches something that does not make sense. This is a silly Bill because it is a half-hearted attempt at reform. It does not take account of all that is happening elsewhere and I really hope that this time it will not go any further.