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Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill

I understand the hon. Gentleman's point. My understanding from raising the matter with the Government is that, although in future Members of the other place could seek leave of absence, as they have done in the past and still do, there would be no possibility, once the Bill was enacted, of their being non-domiciled in this country for tax purposes during that leave of absence. They would not be treated as not being domiciled in this country—they would continue to receive tax demands and be required to pay UK tax as if they were still here. Their only avenue out in those circumstances would be to resign from the House of Lords. That would mean that they could not—as they could hitherto—return to the service of the House on their return from some foreign appointment. One could argue that that has a measure of not only novelty but—because it affects someone who is not playing an active role in the other place—unfairness. The other way of looking at it is that if one chooses to remain a Member of the other place, one must simply accept that, under the new rules, one will be deemed to be resident in this country for tax purposes until one decides to resign. As I can envisage some difficulties in adapting the provisions to take account of leave of absence, I assume that the Government have decided to ignore that. However, I ask the Minister for a rationale behind the Government's approach to the matter. He did not provide one in his opening speech this evening, but it would be helpful if could do so because I do not believe that anyone has complained in the past of mischief in the case of a peer who has leave of absence being away from the UK or not domiciled, but perhaps the Government think that somebody has done so. We will support new clause 85. We have signed it and, if it is put to the vote, we will back the Government. We wish it a fair passage on to the statute book. I hope that, consequently, we can bring to an end a sorry episode of constant suspicion of individuals in the other place, some of which may prove totally unfounded in some cases—