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

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have spoken. I should probably start by apologising to the noble Lord, Lord Selsdon, for shooting his fox. He was obviously deeply disappointed that I was, as my noble friend Lord McNally said, statesmanlike. Indeed, noble Lords may have heard not a breath of partisan comment pass may lips—and I must chide him gently for bringing in a political note. There is an important point, however—and I was sorry that neither I nor my noble friend Lord Goodhart seemed to manage to get it across to the noble Lord, Lord Selsdon, or the noble Viscount, Lord Astor. Indeed, there were one or two passages in the Minister’s speech where there seemed to be confusion about how the Bill would work. Let me put it even more simply, if I can. We are just saying that noble Lords will be taxed as if they were fully resident and fully domiciled in this country, and no other. It is a very simple point.