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Proceeding contribution from Lord Beamish (Labour) in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 3 May 2011. It occurred during Debate on bill and Committee of the Whole House (HC) on Finance (No. 3) Bill.


Finance (No. 3) Bill

My hon. Friend makes a clear point. I do not know which wag in the Treasury came up with the nickname Merlin for this project. Having dealt with the Treasury and Treasury Ministers I have never thought of them as having a sense of humour, but whoever came up with that name clearly had one. Again, my hon. Friend makes a good point. There is no explanation for the figure of £20 billion other than the yield that it is intended to produce. The Minister needs to provide the evidential basis for the £2.6 billion yield. If we levy, for example, £2.7 billion, £2.8 billion or £2.93 billion, at what point do the Barclays bankers pack their bags and move to Zurich? Would the entire system of bankers' bonuses fall apart if the figure were more than £2.6 billion? I have raised the issue already, and I accept that international finance is a global business and can move, but in terms of bonuses, bankers are clearly not bothered about the £2.6 billion figure. May we see the evidential basis on which the figure was arrived at? What would be the effect if it were a little higher or lower than £2.6 billion? It is important that we know that.


Secondary information

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
527 c538 
Session
2010-12
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
Banks Financial services Excise duties Fuels EU economic policy Exploration Economic growth Oil Pay Natural gas Public expenditure Prices Offshore industry Regulation Taxation VAT Tax yields North Sea oil Bank levy
Legislation
Finance (No. 3) Bill 2010-12
Link
View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk