House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Conservative Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint tells the Lords that the UK is the third or fourth largest exporter of services in the world.

He says the UK's ambition of a special bespoke relationship is the right way forward. He also recommends the UK pays more attention to the EU/Japan deal that has just been struck.

He says the UK needs to be realistic as the UK will "largely be a taker" of rules from the EU.

House of Commons
Parliament

The Commons has voted by 313 to 260 to reject a Labour amendment requiring the Government to carry out a review of the bank levy.

House of Commons
Parliament

The Commons has voted by 313 to 258 to introduce measures that reduce the bank levy, a tax introduced in 2011 in the wake of the financial crisis. It means the overseas activities of UK banks will not be subject to the charge.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Labour's Lord Whitty is opening the debate on the EU Committee report on trade in non-financial services, external.

He says that the government response and a debate on the issue was delayed by the general election.

He calls the UK a very "services driven" economy with the UK exporting more services than it takes in from the EU.

The EU has led to regulatory convergence in transport, aviation, broadcasting and many other sectors, he says, in many cases these are overseen by EU agencies.

Lord Whitty warns that a no-deal scenario would mean businesses are likely to relocate or move substantial amounts of their business to the EU. This will affect the UK's trade balance, tax revenues and employment, he adds.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Speaking for the government, Lord Bates tells the House that the nine largest banks are now legally required to provide bank accounts which would not otherwise be available to certain consumers. He says they are fee-free.

He says that financial inclusion is at the core of some of the work of the Department for Work and Pensions.

The cap on pay day loans had "an immediate effect," he says.

The government will set up a forum on financial exclusion in the first quarter of 2018, it will meet every six months and will report its findings and report back to government.

Wrapping up the debate, Liberal Democrat Baroness Tyler of Enfield thanks everyone who has contributed.

She says she feels "somewhat more reassured" by the response from Lord Bates, rather than the government's written response to the report earlier.

She looks forward to seeing the government strategy, she says.

House of Commons
Parliament

The theme of the debate is the bank levy, a tax introduced in 2011 to ensure banks and building societies make a fair contribution to the UK's coffers.

The Finance Bill introduces measures to scale the bank levy back. A Conservative Robert Courts says it's important that the banks pay a "fair contribution", as they're wealthy, but argues that there now needs to be a "balance".

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Shadow Treasury Spokesperson Lord Tunnicliffe says it is not possible to achieve good deals for consumers which rely on the fair markets approach.

He agrees with the case made in the report that primary schools children should be taught about financial matters.

He flags up the recommendation that Universal Credit claimants should not be encouraged to make applications online by charging for phone calls.

Credit unions are one of the few places where stretched consumers can get a loan without going to payday lenders, he says, so he wonders why the government does not supply revenue - instead of grants - to credit unions.

House of Commons
Parliament

Old wounds are being re-opened in the Commons as MPs talk about the causes of the financial crash in 2008. A Conservative James Cartlidge says the Labour government should shoulder some responsibility, recalling how easy it was to get a mortgage and the low savings rate.

Several Labour MPs insists that the Conservatives would not have made different decisions. Labour Treasury spokesperson, Peter Dowd says the shadow cabinet at the time was calling for further deregulation of financial services, not more.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokesperson, Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope, says that they were not talking about the "just about managing" but people who were finding it "just about impossible".

He says he is disappointed that the Post Office is not carrying more of the weight in helping to tackle financial exclusion.

He adds that 16m people do not have insurance on their properties and possessions.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Conservative Baroness Altmann says that debt worries can have negative implications for workplace productivity and money worries can damage mental health.

She says that action is urgent at a time when interest rates will rise and Brexit uncertainties unfold.

Banks should promote basic bank accounts, she says, but she is concerned about the continued closure of bank branches in the UK. She says the situation should be monitored carefully to make sure that disabled people are not negatively impacted by bank closures.

She says that under net pay schemes, the lowest paid workers are not eligible for the 25% rate relief that people earning above £11,500 per year can receive.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Opening for Labour, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Peter Dowd accuses the government of "offering another tax break by limiting the scope of the bank levy".

He says the whole idea behind the levy was that banks "should pay their fair share".

He argues the threshhold for the tax was set "embarrassingly low" and has saved the banks £4.7bn.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

Labour's Baroness Lister of Burtersett says it is disappointing that the Department for Work and Pensions did not follow the recommendations from the Joint Committee on Human Rights to try different types of universal credit roll-out in different areas.

She says that monthly payments are not appropriate for many people, and that fortnightly payments would be better.

The government is "washing their hands" of the responsibility for the consequences of the universal credit reform, she adds.

House of Lords
Parliament

Image source, HoL

The Bishop of Birmingham says "there is a long way to go" before full financial inclusion.

He says there is a relationship between the person and the policy, poverty and power.

There should be further support for the sustainable credit industry, he says, which would help credit unions in the UK which are currently underfunded.

There should be regulatory regimes which are appropriate for the smaller lenders he is talking about, he adds.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Financial Secretary to the Treasury now opens the debate of the Finance Bill at committee stage.

The bill implements changes to government policy announced in the Budget.

The bill:

• abolishes stamp duty for first time buyers on the first £300,000 spent on buying a house (except in Scotland where stamp duty is devolved)
• increases the duty paid on purchases of cigarettes by 2% above the RPI of inflation
• raises company car tax for diesel vehicles by 1% for vehicles that do not meet emissions standards

Financial Secretary to the Treasury Mel Stride begins by focusing on the bank levy, which he says "effective and stable".

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Speaker John Bercow concludes the debate on harassment with some rousing remarks for MPs who may be ground down by abuse online or from national newspapers.

He states that making death threats or threats of violence is "a kind of fascism which must be explicitly denounced".

He adds that MPs have both a right and duty "to vote as they think fit".

By voting in "the way they think fit" he tells MPs that they are "never mutineers, never traitors, never malcontents, never enemies of the people."

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

"A clockwork mouse will only scamper across the floor if wound up," says Labour's Christian Matheson.

Similarly, he says, "keyboard warriors" will only take to their computers if "incited by billionaire tax-dodging newspaper owners or their editors".

"We should all consider very carefully the language we use," replies Amber Rudd and draws attention to language used by some members of the shadow front bench about some Conservative MPs.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Labour's Sarah Champion says that abuse and intimidation are "symptomatic" of what is happening across the country, especially against children.

She asks for extra resources for police.

Ms Rudd says that £17m of funding has gone to the police from the Police Transformation Fund so that the police can collect the evidence they need in "cases like this". She will always make sure the police have enough resources to do their jobs, she finishes.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

"When it comes to the social media companies, the time for pussyfooting is over," says Conservative Mark Menzies.

"These are multi-billion pound companies," he says and asks what the government is doing about anonymous accounts.

"There is no pussyfooting on this side of the house," says Ms Rudd, She says she is determined to see social media companies held to account.

Google is publishing transparency reports and Twitter is taking action, she says, adding: "It's not enough, but it is an important step."

House of Commons
Parliament

"Simply calling out bad behaviour is not going far enough," says Conservative Simon Hart and member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life.

He calls for offending party activists to be publicly and robustly "brought to book".

Amber Rudd says that all party leaders should be held "to account and deliver" on action.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Conservative Sarah Wollaston pays tribute to the "amazing teams" who work in Parliamentary offices.

She says that the extent of abuse she received after being "targeted as a traitor" in the Daily Mail was so great that she had to ask her staff to work from home.

"It is truly shocking and unacceptable," she finishes.

Ms Rudd says that, so often, it is staff "who are the front line" and who often protect MPs and deal with abuse.