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

One of the difficulties with a Bill such as this, which sets out to correct what the noble Lord sees as a difficulty, is that in correcting one difficulty new difficulties are created. Like my noble friend Lord Astor, I, too, am in favour of every Member of your Lordships’ House paying their taxes. When I read the reports to which my noble friend referred, I, too, wondered how they could have originated in the newspaper that I read, which happens to be the same as my noble friend reads. Is it possible that someone in the Liberal Democrats’ machinery is leaking the alleged views, which are wrong, of my noble friend? I hope that the noble Lord, Lord Oakeshott, will disclaim responsibility for those most unfortunate and quite improper reports referring to my noble friend. On the amendment tabled by my noble friend Lord Selsdon, I should like to ask him whether he is entirely satisfied that the lists of the various countries are correct. I ask that because, during my somewhat inglorious short career as a junior Minister, I came across a number of curiosities, one of which I draw to your Lordships’ attention: the island of Rockall. Back in 1981, I was honoured to be appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department of Trade with responsibility for shipping matters. The late Lord Biffen was the Secretary of State. After a while, I was asked whether I agreed that the Department of Trade should continue to pay for the light on Rockall, which was apparently for shipping purposes. Shipping purposes had apparently receded and our lights over Rockall were more of a political nature at that time rather than of a marine or maritime nature. I was advised to write to my opposite number at the Foreign Office saying that the Department of Trade would no longer be responsible for looking after the shipping light on Rockall and that in future, as it was a diplomatic matter, it should fall to the Foreign Office. Sadly, I was immediately reshuffled to the Foreign Office and someone said, "Minister, we have received this rude letter from the Department of Trade". I was then obliged to write a letter back to my successor at the Department of Trade saying that the letter that I had written to the Foreign Office was complete rubbish and that the Foreign Office declined to have anything to do with it. What happened to the light on Rockall is lost in the mists of history. I cite that example not just to entertain your Lordships, but to draw attention to the difficulties of defining the appropriate status of some of those overseas territories, which is far from clear.