:00:13. > :00:14.Hello and welcome to Monday in Parliament, our look
:00:15. > :00:21.A tabloid newspaper story about the Queen's views on the EU -
:00:22. > :00:28.If the Justice Secretary were to have disclosed
:00:29. > :00:31.this information, he would have breached the principle
:00:32. > :00:33.of confidentiality and prayed in aid the monarch in
:00:34. > :00:38.The Work and Pensions Secretary defends the Government's record
:00:39. > :00:47.We spend more than ?50 billion, which is more than any other OECD
:00:48. > :00:48.country of equivalent size, such as Germany.
:00:49. > :00:54.And taking aid to those who need it most but,
:00:55. > :00:56.in offering help to everyone who needs it, muslim charity workers
:00:57. > :01:03.explain one more peril that they face.
:01:04. > :01:10.The Guantanamo Bay danger, which is that you are photographed and in the
:01:11. > :01:13.background is a known terrorist. Or you are in an area and you get
:01:14. > :01:16.hoovered up because you are in the wrong place at the wrong time.
:01:17. > :01:18.Calls for the Justice Secretary to be investigated over claims
:01:19. > :01:21.the Queen is Eurosceptic have been dismissed by the Government.
:01:22. > :01:24.The Sun newspaper published a story saying the Queen had
:01:25. > :01:30.alleged bust-up with the Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg,
:01:31. > :01:32.who was at the time the lord president of the Privy Council.
:01:33. > :01:35.Buckingham Palace has made a complaint to the press regulator
:01:36. > :01:39.Ipso, and stressed the monarch is politically neutral.
:01:40. > :01:42.Michael Gove has denied briefing the Sun newspaper,
:01:43. > :01:46.but declined to deny being the source of the claim.
:01:47. > :01:50.Her Majesty cannot be supposed to have a private opinion
:01:51. > :01:56.apart from that of her responsible advisers and any attempts
:01:57. > :01:59.to use her name in debate to influence the judgment
:02:00. > :02:04.of Parliament is immediately checked and censured.
:02:05. > :02:08.A minister is, however, allowed to make a statement of facts
:02:09. > :02:12.in which the Sovereign's name may be concerned.
:02:13. > :02:15.I earnestly hope that honourable members will spare me
:02:16. > :02:23.the embarrassment of having to stop them
:02:24. > :02:26.in their tracks if they seek to draw to the House's attention any alleged
:02:27. > :02:28.views of the monarch on the EU or indeed anything else.
:02:29. > :02:31.Three members have categorically denied that they are the source
:02:32. > :02:33.of the justice... They are the source...
:02:34. > :02:40.Yet the Justice Secretary has only
:02:41. > :02:42.said, I don't know how the Sun got all its information.
:02:43. > :02:48.Mr Speaker, the Sovereign's constitutional
:02:49. > :02:53.impartiality is an established principle of our democracy.
:02:54. > :02:55.It is incumbent on those in political
:02:56. > :03:00.office to ensure that this remains the case.
:03:01. > :03:04.Such a breach would be particularly serious and significant.
:03:05. > :03:06.If the Justice Secretary were to have
:03:07. > :03:10.disclosed this information, he would have breached the principle
:03:11. > :03:13.of confidentiality and prayed in aid the monarch in a politically
:03:14. > :03:18.Last week a national newspaper published a story allegedly based
:03:19. > :03:22.on a conversation that took place at a lunch
:03:23. > :03:26.However, my predecessor, the then Lord President,
:03:27. > :03:28.the right-honourable member for Sheffield Hallam,
:03:29. > :03:30.has said very clearly that the story
:03:31. > :03:36.As the House is aware, Buckingham Palace has referred
:03:37. > :03:38.the matter to Ipso, the new press complaints body.
:03:39. > :03:44.Given all of this, Mr Speaker, I do not
:03:45. > :03:47.believe there is any need for further action here.
:03:48. > :03:51.Does my right-honourable friend agree with me that
:03:52. > :03:54.what we are witnessing is a poorly disguised example of a tendency
:03:55. > :03:56.of the party opposite to play the man
:03:57. > :04:05.and not the ball in the circumstances?
:04:06. > :04:07.Will he further agree with me that the workings
:04:08. > :04:09.of the Privy Council are a matter for
:04:10. > :04:11.the Privy Council and are not the same rules that apply
:04:12. > :04:14.to ministers who are tangible to this House of Commons?
:04:15. > :04:17.My honourable friend is absolutely right and it is worth
:04:18. > :04:19.saying, Mr Speaker, that the conversation
:04:20. > :04:21.that is alleged to have taken place, which the former Lord President
:04:22. > :04:24.said did not take place, actually did not take these
:04:25. > :04:30.I've always considered it an honour had a privileged to be a member
:04:31. > :04:33.of the Privy Council and I take it very seriously the trust
:04:34. > :04:36.who are part of that Privy Council.
:04:37. > :04:38.I think the allegations carry a great deal of
:04:39. > :04:40.currency and, if they are not properly investigated,
:04:41. > :04:42.they can undermine the whole of
:04:43. > :04:44.the Privy Council and everybody in it.
:04:45. > :04:47.I think the Prime Minister was right to say
:04:48. > :04:51.that it would be very serious if a member of the Privy Council
:04:52. > :04:56.was the source of the Sun newspaper story
:04:57. > :05:01.and, therefore, I think it is beholding upon the Government
:05:02. > :05:04.to ask the member involved to come to this
:05:05. > :05:09.House and to make a statement himself to lay this matter to rest.
:05:10. > :05:13.As the Lord High Chancellor is the keeper of the Queen's
:05:14. > :05:15.conscience, is it not inconceivable that he could misapply his
:05:16. > :05:22.Is it not further important that in the Privy Council oath,
:05:23. > :05:24.privy counsellors swear that they will do their uttermost
:05:25. > :05:28.to bear faith and allegiance unto the Queen's Majesty
:05:29. > :05:31.and will assist and defend all jurisdictions, pre-eminences
:05:32. > :05:36.and authorities granted to Her Majesty, and annexed
:05:37. > :05:38.to the Crown by acts of Parliament or otherwise,
:05:39. > :05:40.princes, persons, prelates, states or potentates.
:05:41. > :05:49.How, therefore, how, therefore, could members of the Privy Council
:05:50. > :05:51.go off and be European Commissioners swearing
:05:52. > :05:53.I have never been to this palace,
:05:54. > :06:03.I don't know what takes place but the most bizarre thing,
:06:04. > :06:05.for me, what on earth was the Queen doing
:06:06. > :06:29.Mr Speaker, I think the response to the honourable gentleman's
:06:30. > :06:31.comment across the House, I think, suggests
:06:32. > :06:38.not everyone disagrees with the views put forward.
:06:39. > :06:41.What I'd say to him is I hope, before the end his illustrious
:06:42. > :06:44.career, he does have a chance to go to the Palace.
:06:45. > :06:51.Earlier, Opposition MPs lambasted ministers over the latest cuts
:06:52. > :06:53.to disability benefits, with one accusing the Government
:06:54. > :06:56.of waging an on-going war against disabled people.
:06:57. > :06:58.Iain Duncan Smith and his team were appearing in the Commons
:06:59. > :07:01.for the first time since the announcement last Friday
:07:02. > :07:03.of changes to Personal Independence Payments,
:07:04. > :07:07.people with the extra costs associated
:07:08. > :07:13.with disabilities and long-term illnesses.
:07:14. > :07:23.He is going to take away ?1.2 billion, completely
:07:24. > :07:25.eroding access to Personal Independence Payments for 200,000
:07:26. > :07:28.people and cutting it by one third from ?70 to ?50
:07:29. > :07:31.People who are unable, quite often, to use the toilet
:07:32. > :07:37.That comes on top of the cuts to ESA that went through
:07:38. > :07:45.Before I came here this afternoon, Mr Speaker, I asked disabled people
:07:46. > :07:48.what question they would like to put to the Secretary of State and one
:07:49. > :07:54.answer stood out and it was quite simply,
:07:55. > :07:58.Can I just remind the honourable gentleman
:07:59. > :08:01.that under this Government, spending on sickness and disability
:08:02. > :08:09.We spend over ?50 billion, which is more than any
:08:10. > :08:11.other OECD country of our equivalent size, such as Germany.
:08:12. > :08:16.I'm proud of that, by the way, and even under
:08:17. > :08:19.these changes, we will continue to see spending on PIP rise every
:08:20. > :08:23.year all the way to the end of this Parliament.
:08:24. > :08:26.A report published just yesterday from the Women's Budget
:08:27. > :08:30.Group, highlighted that this Tory Government's policies
:08:31. > :08:34.are predicted to be more regressive even than its coalition predecessor,
:08:35. > :08:37.highlighting that single parent women and single
:08:38. > :08:39.female pensioners will see their standard of living reduced
:08:40. > :08:45.His department's policies are negatively
:08:46. > :08:50.Will he go back to the drawing board to
:08:51. > :08:54.create a social security and pension system that is fair and equitable?
:08:55. > :08:59.It comes a little bit rich from the Scottish Nationalists,
:09:00. > :09:02.who are in government in Scotland, who now face
:09:03. > :09:04.a 15 billion deficit which would have absolutely racked
:09:05. > :09:06.them had they gone for independence and not once
:09:07. > :09:10.do we ever hear about the tough choices they might have to take
:09:11. > :09:13.It is a nonanswer, a nonanswer, a hallmark of this dodgy,
:09:14. > :09:25.Let's see if they can do a bit better with this one.
:09:26. > :09:27.Social Security spending on disabled people, as a percentage of GDP,
:09:28. > :09:32.The Conservative manifesto for the last
:09:33. > :09:34.general election pledged not to cut Social Security support
:09:35. > :09:44.How and why has the Government gone back on this commitment and how much
:09:45. > :09:50.more do they think disabled people will be able to take?
:09:51. > :09:52.We actually spend almost double what the Germans spend.
:09:53. > :09:56.We spend about 6% of our Government spending, which is more
:09:57. > :09:58.than we spent on our police and defence
:09:59. > :10:01.Why does the Government have such a compulsive
:10:02. > :10:03.need to hit out at disabled people at every opportunity?
:10:04. > :10:07.Doesn't he realise how difficult it is for
:10:08. > :10:10.these people to lead their lives and yet, at the same
:10:11. > :10:13.time their income is being undermined by the Government?
:10:14. > :10:15.This can only be described as an ongoing Tory war
:10:16. > :10:22.DWP confirmed last week that less than 365,000
:10:23. > :10:24.people are actually on Universal Credit.
:10:25. > :10:28.A staggeringly pathetic success rate of 4.4%.
:10:29. > :10:34.Isn't the only reason the Government is pushing out
:10:35. > :10:37.Universal Credit now to deliver the tax credit cut that will hit
:10:38. > :10:38.thousands of working families in my constituency?
:10:39. > :10:41.Isn't it time the quiet man went silent on pretending
:10:42. > :10:49.I bet that looked good when he wrote it
:10:50. > :10:53.Mr Speaker, my constituent Nick Dale is 36 years
:10:54. > :10:55.old with a complex range of disabilities.
:10:56. > :10:57.His care package has just been reduced by Cambridge
:10:58. > :11:00.county council from 17 hours a week to six and a half.
:11:01. > :11:02.The council tells him he shouldn't see this negatively
:11:03. > :11:05.but as a way, and I quote, of utilising the strength
:11:06. > :11:07.and resources that he may not realise he has
:11:08. > :11:11.His mother is appalled by his loss and the
:11:12. > :11:17.patronising tone borrowed from the Government.
:11:18. > :11:20.Mr Speaker, if I lift the Secretary of State's wallet in the lobby
:11:21. > :11:23.tonight, would it help him utilise hidden strength he didn't
:11:24. > :11:27.Or would you be as furious as I am about the way Nick
:11:28. > :11:31.The Minister Justin Tomlinson said he would be happy to take a look
:11:32. > :11:35.Plans to reduce subsidies for onshore wind farms should have
:11:36. > :11:38.no effect on business, the energy minister's insisted.
:11:39. > :11:41.The early exit for cash incentives for green energy
:11:42. > :11:43.was removed by peers in the House of Lords
:11:44. > :11:45.but the Government has insisted on the measure,
:11:46. > :11:49.saying it was an election manifesto commitment.
:11:50. > :11:51.But other parties have objected, saying action needs to be taken
:11:52. > :11:54.The SNP have called the move a betrayal,
:11:55. > :11:57.this would not happen when the power
:11:58. > :12:06.The power over the renewables obligation
:12:07. > :12:08.against the explicit undertaking that the Government had given
:12:09. > :12:16.I think there is an element of trust and betrayal of trust that has come
:12:17. > :12:25.That is something that has woven its way through the integrity
:12:26. > :12:28.--That is something that has woven its way through the entirety
:12:29. > :12:30.of the Government's handling of onshore wind and the closure
:12:31. > :12:34.The industry had, for a long period of time, I think,
:12:35. > :12:36.trust in the Government. That trust has vanished.
:12:37. > :12:39.We want to know that the power is there
:12:40. > :12:46.--whether the wind is blowing or not.
:12:47. > :12:49.Whether the sun is shining or not, people expect continuous power
:12:50. > :12:52.to light and power their homes and industry needs continuous power
:12:53. > :12:55.So on all these grounds, wind doesn't cut the mustard,
:12:56. > :12:58.Mr Deputy Speaker, and I'm very glad we now have a Government
:12:59. > :13:05.I think when history comes to be written of the last 15 or 20 years,
:13:06. > :13:08.what the European Union is doing and what the
:13:09. > :13:10.previous Labour Government did on energy policy will go down as one
:13:11. > :13:28.The Government remains committed to end subsidies for onshore wind. I am
:13:29. > :13:32.grateful to my honourable friend for their clear support expressed during
:13:33. > :13:35.this debate. But the Government is also conscious of the need for
:13:36. > :13:39.industry certainty and so, in response to the question from the
:13:40. > :13:43.honourable member for Southampton Test, I would like to make it clear
:13:44. > :13:47.that if Royal Assent for this bill goes beyond the 31st of March, the
:13:48. > :13:50.Government intends that the provisions to come into force from
:13:51. > :13:51.the date of Royal Assent and does not intend to backdate the
:13:52. > :13:53.provisions. That, in each of the last five
:13:54. > :14:00.months, the record for a global temperatures has been broken
:14:01. > :14:04.and every month with February And then this other fact,
:14:05. > :14:10.Mr Deputy Speaker, that atmospheric concentrations
:14:11. > :14:12.of CO2, and it's hard to get your head round this,
:14:13. > :14:16.are now higher than they have been for at least
:14:17. > :14:18.a million years. Because that is what
:14:19. > :14:22.the scientists tell us. The UK's renewable energy
:14:23. > :14:25.potential is vast. The costs of solar and
:14:26. > :14:27.wind power is falling. The need to leave
:14:28. > :14:29.the vast majority of fossil fuel reserves on the ground
:14:30. > :14:32.gets more mainstream by the week. There is no longer a case
:14:33. > :14:35.for using the EU emissions trading system as an excuse
:14:36. > :14:39.for not meeting our own carbon budgets by cutting our own
:14:40. > :14:41.emissions here in the UK. The global carbon budget
:14:42. > :14:43.is rapidly shrinking and there is simply no
:14:44. > :14:45.room for free riders. I think the UK should be leading
:14:46. > :14:48.the race to a zero carbon economy, not weaseling our way out
:14:49. > :14:54.of making a fair contribution. You're watching
:14:55. > :14:56.Monday in Parliament. Still to come - a bit
:14:57. > :14:59.of a depressing thought for anyone I suspect that most members of this
:15:00. > :15:04.House pay more in income tax But first, direct intervention
:15:05. > :15:12.from the Government is needed with South Yorkshire Police
:15:13. > :15:15.to improve the force's handling of cases of child sex abuse,
:15:16. > :15:19.the House of Lords has been told. A Lib Dem peer expressed concern
:15:20. > :15:22.at the way the cases He said the figures
:15:23. > :15:26.spoke for themselves. This has been highlighted
:15:27. > :15:29.by the recent Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary
:15:30. > :15:33.report which said that South Yorkshire Police still needs
:15:34. > :15:36.to make major improvements, and the release on Friday
:15:37. > :15:40.of a BBC report through freedom of information
:15:41. > :15:43.requests of ten forces across the country, that showed that
:15:44. > :15:48.one in five cases that are reported but in South Yorkshire
:15:49. > :15:55.it is one in 16. Very serious claims and,
:15:56. > :15:58.in fact, that report, the HMIC report, at least did point
:15:59. > :16:02.to the fact that there had We have got Professor
:16:03. > :16:05.John Drew, who is looking independently into that,
:16:06. > :16:08.and we will be following very carefully what his responses
:16:09. > :16:12.were, but it is very important that that particular area,
:16:13. > :16:15.which has been the centre of so many of the cases,
:16:16. > :16:21.has the public confidence, and I know that is something we will
:16:22. > :16:25.be watching very carefully indeed. An independent peer also raised
:16:26. > :16:28.the importance of good structures. Is the Minister aware
:16:29. > :16:31.that there are a large number of different models being
:16:32. > :16:34.tried across the country of cooperation between
:16:35. > :16:37.the police and other agencies? Indeed, my own county of Norfolk
:16:38. > :16:42.is attempting to put services closely together and I am grateful
:16:43. > :16:46.for the investigation into the local boards,
:16:47. > :16:50.but what is the Government doing to ensure that the practice
:16:51. > :16:54.is pooled together, and that the best practice
:16:55. > :16:58.is promulgated right Lord Bates said this was vital work
:16:59. > :17:04.to prevent abuse in the future. The Government's been accused
:17:05. > :17:07.of cutting off its nose to spite its face by pushing away
:17:08. > :17:10.Muslim charities best placed to offer aid to victims
:17:11. > :17:13.of the refugee crisis. Two former international
:17:14. > :17:16.development secretaries, from very different ends
:17:17. > :17:18.of the political spectrum, came together to tell
:17:19. > :17:22.MPs change was needed. The Muslim community
:17:23. > :17:25.tends to be big givers, so there's tens, indeed,
:17:26. > :17:28.hundreds of millions of pounds donated, mostly to Muslim charities,
:17:29. > :17:32.not exclusively by Muslims but overwhelmingly,
:17:33. > :17:35.and not working exclusively, either, in the Muslim
:17:36. > :17:37.world, but predominantly, because of where the
:17:38. > :17:41.crises are currently. And since Islamic Relief,
:17:42. > :17:45.which is the oldest and biggest and the one which I think
:17:46. > :17:48.both of us know best because it was in Birmingham
:17:49. > :17:51.and we worked with them when we were in Government,
:17:52. > :17:56.was listed in, I think, an Israeli Ministry of Defence list
:17:57. > :18:02.of questionable NGOs or something, Suddenly in Britain, and DFI,
:18:03. > :18:09.they were pushing them away and, as someone said to me,
:18:10. > :18:14.if Oxfam or something got criticised by a foreign Government,
:18:15. > :18:18.you would expect our Government to say, what is it?
:18:19. > :18:20.There was no detail. And look into it and try
:18:21. > :18:24.and sort it rather than say, oh, well, some people don't
:18:25. > :18:28.like you so we will push you away. These Muslim charities
:18:29. > :18:30.are doing fantastic work. They can often get to places that
:18:31. > :18:34.others simply cannot reach, and they are very heavily supported
:18:35. > :18:38.within the United Kingdom. ?300 million has been donated
:18:39. > :18:46.from amongst British Muslims, and we saw for ourselves the way
:18:47. > :18:49.this was going into extremely difficult and troubled places,
:18:50. > :18:54.keeping displaced people alive. And we need to give this
:18:55. > :18:56.very strong support, and Britain has been right
:18:57. > :18:59.at the front in terms of using our taxpayers' money to help
:19:00. > :19:04.dispossessed people and, in a way, we are sort of cutting
:19:05. > :19:08.off our nose to spite our face if we are not supporting those
:19:09. > :19:10.British charities which are Andrew Mitchell said the whole point
:19:11. > :19:17.of humanitarian support was that it was offered to everyone,
:19:18. > :19:22.regardless of who they were. Those very brave people,
:19:23. > :19:25.who are humanitarian actors, who are taking relief,
:19:26. > :19:27.and help and support, to those who are desperately
:19:28. > :19:31.in peril, The best example of this, of course,
:19:32. > :19:37.is the International Red Cross. But they are there purely
:19:38. > :19:40.to help people whose... And, therefore, by placing them
:19:41. > :19:46.in a position which one of them, when we were there, referred
:19:47. > :19:50.to as the Guantanamo Bay danger, which is that you are photographed
:19:51. > :19:53.and in the background Or you are in an area
:19:54. > :20:00.and get hoovered up because you are in the wrong
:20:01. > :20:02.place at the wrong time, and find yourself somewhere
:20:03. > :20:04.you don't want to be, so there is a real danger to some
:20:05. > :20:07.of these humanitarian actors that this terrorist legislation
:20:08. > :20:11.not only restricts their financing but actually places an added burden
:20:12. > :20:15.upon them, when they are doing dangerous and difficult work
:20:16. > :20:19.relieving people in very difficult circumstances, and that, too,
:20:20. > :20:22.needs to be addressed. The UK NGOs are procuring
:20:23. > :20:25.and bringing stuff right up to the border and then
:20:26. > :20:27.handing it over. It is Syrians who are doing
:20:28. > :20:29.the delivery inside, and it was one of them, a doctor,
:20:30. > :20:38.who said, sometimes they will end up
:20:39. > :20:40.in Guantanamo, which is shocking and outrageous, when
:20:41. > :20:42.they are trying to, So, yes, there was this
:20:43. > :20:45.feeling that they were... They were being accused,
:20:46. > :20:48.that they were suspects. If they help people in areas
:20:49. > :20:53.controlled by groups they might get themselves
:20:54. > :20:56.into difficulty. "We are doing it anyway,"
:20:57. > :21:01.but some sort of resentment And I think it is both inefficient
:21:02. > :21:07.and it's not the way to make friends It wasn't just because they
:21:08. > :21:10.were a Muslim charity, or indeed based
:21:11. > :21:11.in Birmingham, that they became a big partner
:21:12. > :21:18.when I was working It was because they were willing
:21:19. > :21:23.to work with quality in really difficult areas like the Kashmir
:21:24. > :21:25.border with Azad Kashmir, for example, where there
:21:26. > :21:27.are refugees and it is And I should say, because,
:21:28. > :21:34.after 9/11, anything with Islam or Muslim in its title gets sniffed
:21:35. > :21:40.at, I did ask our security services Oh, right, yeah.
:21:41. > :21:46.So, I mean, that isn't there. At the end, the chairman
:21:47. > :21:48.of the International Development Committee, Stephen Twigg, said
:21:49. > :21:52.he would take the issue forward. Taxpayers are running out
:21:53. > :21:54.of patience with large companies minimising their tax bills,
:21:55. > :21:59.a Labour peer has told the Lords. The Government was being asked
:22:00. > :22:01.about confidentiality in the tax Several household names were held up
:22:02. > :22:07.as examples of organisations but ministers were mindful that,
:22:08. > :22:11.in budget week, everyone's looking for a hint of
:22:12. > :22:15.what policies are to come. Taxpayers have confidence
:22:16. > :22:18.that the sensitive information they give the HMRC will be
:22:19. > :22:21.protected, and this trust underpins the high
:22:22. > :22:25.levels of voluntary tax compliance So, the public benefit of taxpayer
:22:26. > :22:32.confidentiality lies in the overall effectiveness of the tax
:22:33. > :22:35.administration that I can't for the life of me
:22:36. > :22:41.understand the Minister's answer, Surely we have to seek the right
:22:42. > :22:48.balance between confidentiality and surely transparency in our tax
:22:49. > :22:56.returns would add to the integrity of the tax system
:22:57. > :22:59.and ensure that the HMRC had I suspect that most members of this
:23:00. > :23:04.house pay more in income tax There is a debate to be had
:23:05. > :23:10.about greater transparency, whether on part of HMRC or on part
:23:11. > :23:13.of large businesses, and the Government signalled this
:23:14. > :23:19.by proposing recently to take forward a system of country
:23:20. > :23:21.by country reporting for large but, within that,
:23:22. > :23:28.we think that confidentiality... There are good reasons
:23:29. > :23:31.for having confidentiality, It promotes voluntary compliance
:23:32. > :23:41.and it encourages businesses to be more open and share
:23:42. > :23:43.proprietary information Public patience with large
:23:44. > :23:48.companies, and particularly multinationals, getting away
:23:49. > :23:52.with paying minuscule amounts of tax in relation to the turnovers that
:23:53. > :23:57.they have in the United Kingdom, Surely it does mean
:23:58. > :24:02.that the Government should be addressing why it is that HMRC
:24:03. > :24:06.were unable to get more than ?130 million out
:24:07. > :24:12.of Google over a decade when, in fact, Google had turnovers
:24:13. > :24:17.of over ?4 billion in any one year. And, as we know, my Lords,
:24:18. > :24:21.Google is not the only case. Starbucks and, of course, Amazon,
:24:22. > :24:25.were brought to book by public response because the public set
:24:26. > :24:30.about boycotting their businesses Surely the Government must recognise
:24:31. > :24:35.that to just hide behind the doctrine of confidentiality
:24:36. > :24:39.will not do, and the tax authorities have got to be much more efficient
:24:40. > :24:43.than they have been in the past. I do not think it is true
:24:44. > :24:47.that they are hiding The doctrine of confidentiality
:24:48. > :24:51.that you mentioned was passed by the Labour Government
:24:52. > :24:55.under the act in 2005. And, as for Google, which is not
:24:56. > :24:58.the subject of this question, as the noble lord should know,
:24:59. > :25:03.if he doesn't know, the tax that Google paid was based on taxable
:25:04. > :25:09.profits, not on turnover. Wouldn't the Minister agree that
:25:10. > :25:12.a company's tax should not be determined by the attitude
:25:13. > :25:16.of its PR department or even The HMRC needs to put
:25:17. > :25:22.in place tough standards, so will this Government review
:25:23. > :25:26.the structure of business taxes so that global businesses cannot use
:25:27. > :25:31.tax manipulation as a way to out-compete domestic businesses
:25:32. > :25:35.and small businesses My Lords, the budget
:25:36. > :25:38.is on Wednesday. I am not going to talk
:25:39. > :25:41.about tax policy. Keith Macdougall's here
:25:42. > :25:46.for the rest of the week