Subsidy Control Bill — House of Lords, 2022-01-19
Topic: Government Operations
Michael Bruce Forsyth (Conservative, Centre-right): My Lords, I apologise if I discombobulated my noble friend by asking a question at Second Reading. I appreciate it is unusual to do that, but it is also unusual to have a Second Reading of a Bill so devoid of detail and without the information being provided. I put a marker down: this is becoming a habit for this Government. I voted for leaving the European Union; I thought it would mean that this Parliament would have more power over our affairs. This kind of behaviour just gives power to the bureaucracy, which is then not accountable to Parliament. That is not why we did it Again and again, from the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill onwards, we have had legislation which has not been properly thought through. It is particularly striking with this Bill; it has been through the House of Commons, yet when it arrives here we still do not have the basic information to enable us to have a Second Reading debate on what it is about and what its principles are. We are told that that will follow shortly. It is becoming a habit, like Billy Bunter’s postal order—it is in the post, and by the time it arrives you have forgotten what was promised I start from a slightly ideological position which may not please some Members opposite; I am suspicious of subsidies, because I believe they distort competition by bailing out unsustainable industries and attempting to pick winners. I think my fly-fishing but very distinguished economist friend Sir Dieter Helm coined the phrase that Governments are poor at picking winners but losers are good at picking Governments. That is important to remember. If we are to have a regime of this kind, it is really important that we know what money is being handed out to whom and for what purpose Looking at the Bill, it is great that, as advertised, it promotes "autonomy, transparency and accountability". It is unusual for me to praise the European Union—having dealt with the principles of additionality and the problems of getting through the bureaucracy, I do think this is an advance—but I find it difficult to understand why the threshold for disclosure is higher than it was for the EU. Why should that be? Unless I have misunderstood, it is £500,000 instead of €500,000. That is a significant difference. People might say that it is just a rounding error—my honourable friend John Penrose made these points in the House of Commons—but, while these subsidies must be reported, you have to wait six months to find them. It is hard to understand how having to wait six months to see them increases accountability or transparency The bit I really do not understand, which my noble friend touched on in his introduction and the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, picked up on, is how this works for Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, but on my reading of where we are now, any subsidies would be subject to the European Commission’s rules. That is the position and, until such time as the Government have negotiated their way out of the protocol which they agreed to, it will remain so. I am not clear what happens if you are a British manufacturer of car batteries, to take an example a colleague suggested to me today, and your cars go to Northern Ireland—if there is a subsidy from the Government to you in the UK, how does that work? It is not clear to me. I would be grateful if my noble friend could explain what will happen. The noble Lord, Lord Purvis, talked about having two sets of accounts. How will that be possible I see that I am about to run out of time. I know my noble friend is not to blame, but something is going wrong with the machinery of government when we continue to get legislation, which is not thought through and has no proper impact assessments or detail, being rushed through the House of Commons and coming here. Everyone complains about the number of amendments tabled in this House and the time it takes to get legislation through. That is because Bills are arriving in a form which is not suitable for consideration.