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

My Lords, as far as I am concerned, Members of this House should pay full British taxes and that is an end to it. This is a Second Reading debate, and we have had a good discussion of the principles. I have tried to keep it on principles and not personalities and there is an important issue here. I am disappointed by the Government’s reaction. They may not like the Bill—and I can understand that and that they might want to amend it—but I am disappointed that we are still hearing the argument that, because the Budget two years ago said that there would be no substantial change in the position of non-doms, that somehow stops a long overdue reform of this House, which would be minor in terms of the overall number of non-doms here and is almost a self-regulatory issue. I cannot see that that is a sensible excuse to hide behind, so I am disappointed. If the Government do believe in making these changes, I wish that they would get on with it. I would be happy to work with them, but I am disappointed at the tone, which seems to suggest kicking this into the long grass. I hope that as the Bill progresses we will move forward.