House of Commons
Parliament

The debate concludes and MPs begin voting on new clause 8.

This clause calls for an analysis of the bill's effectiveness in tackling tax avoidance and evasion.

House of Commons
Parliament

The SNP's economy spokeswoman Kirsty Blackman notes that, printed out, the new version of the UK tax code is "almost as tall as me".

"Is it any wonder that there are unintended loopholes?", she asks.

Financial Secretary to the Treasury Mel Stride says the government's record is "second to none" when it comes to "clamping down" on tax avoidance.

Labour, he says, "did very little" when they were in government.

House of Commons
Parliament

Shadow Treasury minister Anneliese Dodds tells MPs that the bill was was a chance for strong action against aggressive tax avoidance.

Instead, she says, the government has produced "a paltry bill" which is "lacking in ambition".

"Like the government," she adds.

Conservative Alex Chalk defends the government's record pointing to a reduction in the tax gap from 8% to 6%.

That equates to £12.5bn per year, he says.

The tax gap is the difference between the amount of tax that should be collected and the amount of tax actually collected.

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs have voted to reject Labour's amendment 309 votes to 273.

The next amendment to be debated is Labour's new clause 8 which requires analysis of the bill's effectiveness in tackling tax avoidance and evasion.

House of Commons
Parliament

The debate concludes and Labour's new clause 6 is pushed to a vote.

The new clause requires the chancellor to review the "equality impact" of the provisions in the Finance Bill.

House of Commons
Parliament

Financial Secretary to the Treasury Mel Stride says that there are more women in work "than at any time in our history".

He says the gender pay gap in full time work is the lowest on record and that the government is putting money towards helping disabled people into work.

The government has also increased the national living wage, he adds.

Labour's Stella Creasy intervenes to ask why he is against an equality impact assessment, which would "tell us all the good news".

Mel Stride replies that such assessments are often selective.

House of Commons
Parliament

This is a "brilliant" amendment, says the SNP's Kirsty Blackman.

She blames government policies for a rise in rickets and working people going to food bank.

She argues that if the government is committed to equality it should not be "scared" of producing impact assessments.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Labour's Baroness Young of Old Scone says that there is polling which suggests that when a prime minister appoints a lot of peers, then public respect for the Lords falls.

She believes that failing to implement that this report could be the "final nail in the reputational coffin".

She asks why the hereditary peers don't just "take the law into their own hands," she suggests that the electorate of the hereditary peers could just refuse to vote, leading to a more effective "two out, one in," rule.

She calls on the House to reflect the wider population and admit younger members.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Conservative Lord Howard of Rising says that there is no real need to reduce the size of the House, because "90% of the time, the chamber is 90% empty".

He says his friend Lord Cormack often gives his views to what is "an essentially empty House".

He says the role of revision by the Lords is very important as committee stage in the Commons is time limited, as opposed to the Lords, he adds.

In practice, he says, the House already operates with around 600 peers due to non-attendance.

He brands the reduction "either pointless, or possibly an impediment to the future working of the House".

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour's Stella Creasy says the government does not want "to do the maths because the figures tell the ugly truth".

Another Labour MP, Laura Pidcock, says a fully functioning democracy needs transparency.

However Conservative Bim Afolami argues that the government is taking the lowest paid people out of tax and raising the minimum wage.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Crossbench Lord Turnbull tells the House that he registers "strong support" for all three main measures outlined in the report.

He says for the role of scrutiny of the Commons, he believes that the Lords is best as an appointed House, "rather than an elected one".

The Lords Spiritual (Bishops) have the best geographical representation for the UK, he says. He believes that the Lords should make progress to do everything short of legislation to end hereditary peerages, telling the House that the position of hereditaries "will become so indefensible that the wise amongst them, and there are many, will come to accept legislation to end by-elections".

He says that while this may violate the 1999 agreement on hereditary peers, that agreement was always seen as an "interim one".

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

MPs now resume debate of the Finance Bill which implements measures announced in the Budget last month.

The shadow women and equalities minister Dawn Butler opens the debate by speaking about Labour's new clause 6 and 7.

These two clauses would require the chancellor and the Office for Budget Responsibility to review the equality impact of the Budget.

"86% of government cuts are falling on women," says Dawn Butler.

She adds that austerity has now been going on for seven years - "even Scrooge would have seen the error of his ways."

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

With that, the Lords returns to debating the size of the House.

Conservative Baroness Browning, a committee member, says that in the Commons there is often momentum that builds up for "change in the Upper House".

She echoes Baroness Stowell of Beeston in a desire for defining what the House of Lords is for, she says.

She adds that people being offered peerage need to realise they are being offered "the privilege of public service", rather than a career and job.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, PA

Conservative Sir Henry Bellingham now introduces his bill - the Emergency Response Drivers (Protections) Bill.

This bill provides protection for drivers of emergency vehicles in certain circumstances.

Drivers responding to emergencies would have greater protection from "civil liability and criminal prosecution".

Currently, police officers can face prosecution if later judged to be not driving carefully and competently.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

The final question today comes from the Lord Bishop of St Albans, who is asking the government what they're doing to combat increasing homelessness and demand for temporary accommodation.

Communities and Local Government Minister Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth says that the government has embarked on an ambitious programme in relation to homelessness, investing £1bn to try and tackle the problem. He says the Homelessness Reduction Act is the most ambitious programme in decades. The government are committed to tackling the problem through to 2020, he adds.

The bishop says that the National Audit Office estimates that rough sleeping has increased from 1,800 people in 2010 to 4,000 now. He asks if local authorities have sufficient funding to meet their legal obligations under the Homelessness Reduction Act.

Lord Bourne says this has become a more serious problem; it is starting to affect parts of rural England, he says and the government plan to reduce homelessness by 50% by 2022, and eliminating it by 2027 totally.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Labour's Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws asks what the government is doing to support women to use the legal system to challenge sexual harassment in the workplace.

Government spokesperson Baroness Vere of Nurbiton says that the government is clear that unwanted sexual behaviour in the workplace is unlawful. She says citizens can contact the government's Equality Advisory & Support Service or the Citizen's Advice Bureau before deciding to pursue a claim.

Baroness Kennedy says she is concerned at the abuse received by women who are working in low-paid, zero hours contracts in small companies where there may not be an HR department.

Baroness Vere says legal aid continues to be available for legal advice and representation for cases pertaining to harassment in the workplace.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, Reuters

Conservative Viscount Ridley asks the second question today, he wants to know, as Public Health England has decided to include vaping in its stop smoking campaign for 2017, if the government will now review vaping regulations in line with the Tobacco Control Plan for England.

Lord O'Shaughnessy of the Department for Health replies that the government is committed to a review of these regulations by May 2021. The government does not believe that this is linked to leaving the EU, so will be dealt with after the UK leaves.

Viscount Ridley says that vaping is much better for people than smoking, and advertising vaping is the UK is limited by EU regulations.

Lord O'Shaughnessy says there is no evidence that vaping leads to smoking, he says the government believes that the current EU guidelines are satisfactory. He says the government has to be aware of the possibility of "normalising smoking", particularly among younger children.