Baroness Kramer — Hansard — Westminster Brief

Lords Debate 14 July 2025 2 contributions

Employment Rights Bill

My Lords, I will speak to all three amendments in this group, the second two of which are in my name. I begin by thanking the Government for listening to and acting on the concerns of victims of harassment and discrimination, who have risked so much by speaking out for justice despite being bound b…

My Lords, I am going to speak very briefly, because the noble Baroness, Lady Smith of Llanfaes, has given such an effective speech, which outlines the issue, and the hour is late. When she first came forward with the proposal for the Health and Safety Executive, I thought, “My goodness, here is a b…

Lords Oral Questions 14 July 2025

Tax on Imports under £135

We fully recognise all the issues that the noble Baroness has set out, which is exactly why we established a review in April. That review will look at the online marketplace rules to establish whether they can be amended to remove opportunities for businesses to avoid their VAT obligations. All avai…

Lords Oral Questions 10 July 2025

Tax Increases

The noble Baroness knows that I will not comment on specific financial market movements, but I will write to her on stablecoin if that is okay with her.

Lords Proceedings 8 July 2025

Government Performance against Fiscal Rules

My Lords, the Government have constantly asserted that meeting the fiscal rules is non-negotiable. Will the Minister now reassure the House that protecting the NHS and social care is also non-negotiable, and rule out any cuts to those services as the Government try to balance the books? Will he also…

Lords Oral Questions 8 July 2025

Companies House: Filing of Annual Accounts by Small Companies

The noble Baroness has obviously read various newspaper reports. I suggest to her, “Don’t believe everything you read from the papers”. As it stands now, most companies have to file abbreviated accounts, which, as the noble Baroness will know, is just a balance sheet. We are asking under this Act fo…

Lords Oral Questions 7 July 2025

Unpaid Tax

No. I am grateful to the noble Baroness for making me aware of the awareness week. She says that this is the central pillar of our strategy; it is one of them. Most importantly, we are recruiting an additional 5,500 compliance officers, which is the central piece in what we are seeking to achieve. O…

Lords Proceedings 30 June 2025

UK Modern Industrial Strategy

My Lords, we on these Benches remember how powerfully business welcomed the industrial strategy produced by Vince Cable during the coalition years, and the shock and dismay with which it greeted the Conservative decision, when that party was in government alone, first to weaken it and eventually to …

Lords Proceedings 24 June 2025

UK Infrastructure: 10-year Strategy

My Lords, like my colleagues in the other place I welcome this strategy, which if well managed can significantly improve the UK’s potential for growth. My colleague, the MP Sarah Olney, who responded to this Statement in the other place, focused very much on the absence of a serious discussion of sk…

Lords Debate 16 June 2025 3 contributions

Employment Rights Bill

My Lords, Amendments 247, 248 and 250 would introduce further requirements in relation to trade union ballots, particularly concerning the risk of intimidation, the use of workplace locations and the information that unions must provide to members. While the intention to ensure that ballots are cond…

My Lords, I speak to Amendment 251C through to Amendment 252, in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Sharpe. These amendments would introduce a wide range of limitations to the new right not to suffer detriment for participating in protected industrial action. The amendments seek to define and restrict…

+1 more contribution in this session

Lords Proceedings 12 June 2025

Spending Review 2025

My Lords, I recognise that the Chancellor faces real constraints, and this morning’s GDP figures for April underscore the problem. However, I am not going to use this opportunity to spend a lot of time talking about growth. It is such a big issue that we need some separate debate time set aside for …

Lords Debate 11 June 2025 2 contributions

Armed Forces Commissioner Bill

My Lords, I understand the point the Minister is making but, in all the years when I have met whistleblowers, I have never met one who came forward intending to speak to somebody and then closed down the issue that they had just raised. Whistleblowers are looking for investigation. But, if he were t…

My Lords, I thank all who have contributed to this debate, not least the Minister, with his impassioned defence of the Government’s position. I shall try to deal with the individual points that have been raised. The noble and learned Lord, Lord Hardie, asked a simple question: does the whistleblowe…

Lords Oral Questions 11 June 2025

Economic Growth

I am grateful to the noble Baroness for her question. She mentions the outflows. The outflows in 2024 were less than in any previous year over the last 14 years so, although they are not what we want to see, they are perhaps not as doom-laden as she might want to make out. The Chancellor set out ext…

Lords Oral Questions 10 June 2025

Corporate Liquidations

My Lords, I assure the noble Baroness that we will publish our industrial strategy very soon, and it will definitely cover SMEs. As I mentioned earlier, compulsory liquidation is not something new. Companies go bust. We have seen big companies fail. Failure is a reality of business. Even major firms…

Lords Committee Stage 4 June 2025 6 contributions

Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Anderson. In the eyes of this Committee, coming here today on her honeymoon to lead on the Bill demonstrates that she is a true romantic. The amendments in this group, both of which are in my name, are probing amendments, and they are designed to cr…

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Maude of Horsham, and the noble Viscount, Lord Younger of Leckie, for rowing in on this issue of real significance. I also thank the Minister, who is clearly taking these issues on board, thinking them through and looking for a way to progress. I would love the…

+4 more contributions in this session

Lords Debate 21 May 2025 2 contributions

Employment Rights Bill

I will just say to the noble Baroness, Lady Fox, that the greatest danger we have is that the Bill passes and yet we have groups of people in the workplace who are not in any way protected, or not sufficiently protected, either from violence or from harassment. I thought the case was brilliantly mad…

My Lords, I would join with anyone who wants to speed up employment tribunals and cut the costs of going to them. I hope that is an agenda the Government will take on rapidly. We heard an unfortunate case of someone who is waiting until 2027; some people are waiting four years. I hope the Government…

Lords Debate 19 May 2025 2 contributions

Employment Rights Bill

My Lords, I am privileged to speak first on this group of amendments, which is an opportunity I enjoy just by the luck of the numbering. I acknowledge the intense campaigning done by others in this House over many years—many of them will be speaking later in this group of amendments. I also express …

My Lords, I thank the Minister both for the meeting that many of us had before Committee and for her response today. I hope I am not being overoptimistic, but I am reading some positivity in her comments that progress could take place before Report.

Lords Debate 19 May 2025

Employment Rights Bill

My Lords, I am a signatory to this excellent amendment, but I am also speaking as a winder from these Benches. I shall speak very briefly, because I will touch on many of the issues in a later group, but this is so important. I am so glad that the noble Baroness, Lady Morrissey, brought forward an a…

Lords Debate 15 May 2025 2 contributions

Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill

My Lords, it is always a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer, who I think was rather underplaying her expertise in her comments. There is a certain level of déjà vu about this Bill, as has been mentioned. Many of us spent a lot of time debating its predecessor, under the previous Gove…

It is a percentage of the amount of fraud that was recognised. Clearly, we do not have figures for the amount of fraud of any kind that has not been identified or recognised. That was the figure for the amount we have on our books as organised fraud. The reality is that, whether it is done by organ…

Lords Proceedings 14 May 2025

Mansion House Accord

My Lords, we all want to see more investment in the UK’s productive economy, but what protection is to be provided for people with small DC pension pots who cannot risk losses and see their pensions as a savings product, not as an investment, especially if that investment is high-risk and illiquid, …

Lords Debate 12 May 2025

Bank Resolution (Recapitalisation) Bill [HL]

My Lords, this is an important Bill, which provides the Bank of England with extra flexibility to manage bank failures, particularly those of smaller banks, in a way that strengthens protections for taxpayers. It reflects proposals by the last Government in the light of experience with the demise of…

Lords Oral Questions 1 May 2025

Small Businesses: Access to Banking

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Sharkey, for bringing forward this debate and for his continued focus on, and interest in, banking services in this country. I also thank the Minister for hosting this debate and for his dedication in doing so in the last slot in Grand Committee just before the…

Lords Oral Questions 1 May 2025

Inheritance Tax: Impact on Rural Businesses

It is worth saying that the Government are investing £5 billion across this year and next year to support the transition to a more sustainable and productive sector, including the biggest budget for sustainable food production and nature recovery in our history. I do not necessarily accept the chara…

Lords Debate 30 April 2025 2 contributions

Armed Forces Commissioner Bill

My Lords, I apologise for not taking part in the Bill earlier. As the House will know, this is not my usual territory, but I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Goldie, and my noble friend Lady Smith of Newnham for drawing my attention to the whistleblowing issue in it. I very much support the a…

I ask the Minister for clarification. All those things will be in a policy document, as I understand it. Can he explain to me the legal standing of a policy document? That would be so helpful.