Motion
Moved by
That the Bill do now pass.
The Parliamentary Secretary, HM Treasury () (Con)
My Lords, this Bill helps to deliver the Government’s vision for
an open, sustainable and technologically advanced financial
services sector. I thank all noble Lords for their valuable
scrutiny and input, which has led to some important enhancements
to this Bill. I formally thank the Opposition Front Benches,
particularly the noble Baroness, Lady Chapman of Darlington, and
the noble Lords, and , for their positive engagement
and overall support for the Bill and its important aims. I also
thank the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer, from the Liberal
Democrats, supported by the noble Lord, , and the noble Baroness, Lady
Bowles, for their thorough scrutiny and constructive debate.
Finally, I thank the noble Lord, , for bringing his considerable
expertise to the scrutiny of this Bill.
The Bill delivers the outcomes of the future regulatory framework
review, giving the regulators significant new rule-making
responsibilities while balancing that additional responsibility
with clear accountability, appropriate democratic input and
transparent oversight. Thanks to the positive engagement of this
House, we can now be more confident that we have got that balance
right.
I also thank my noble friends , of Headley, and Lady Noakes, in
particular, for their constructive challenge of the Government’s
approach to the important issues that the Bill deals with. I hope
that the package of amendments brought forward by the Government
on Report demonstrates the open and collaborative way in which we
have engaged with the important matters raised in this House.
The level of scrutiny and debate on the Bill rightly demonstrates
the vital importance of the financial services sector to the UK
economy. Financial and related professional services employ more
than 2.5 million people across regional hubs in all four nations
of the UK, and create £1 in every £10 of the UK’s economic
output. Building on the strengths of our financial services
sector is fundamental to its continued growth and to the wider
economy. I am therefore pleased to see the Bill progress towards
becoming law. It will allow us to begin the process of revoking
EU law and replacing it with an approach that is guided by what
is best for the UK.
Before the Bill returns to the Commons, I extend my thanks to the
significant number of Treasury officials, in the Bill team and
beyond, for their work in preparing such a substantial Bill and
for their support in engaging fully with your Lordships’
scrutiny. I also recognise the work of the Office of the
Parliamentary Counsel in drafting the Bill, and of House
staff.
While the Bill is the culmination of a large amount of work over
a number of years, it is also the foundation of much work still
to come, and I look forward to continuing to discuss these
important issues with noble Lords in the future. I beg to
move.
of Darlington (Lab)
My Lords, I thank the Minister for her kind words as she
introduced this Third Reading. The Bill leaves the House in a
much better condition than when it arrived. We have made changes
to the Bill on the treatment of politically exposed people,
financial inclusion and the FCA’s accountability to Parliament,
and through measures that help to protect the environment. I
thank all Members of the House who contributed to our
consideration of the Bill, from both sides, and from the Liberal
Democrats and Cross Benches, especially those from Peers for the
Planet. I also thank the doorkeepers and House staff teams, and
everyone who enables us to do our work.
I thank the Minister for her open and welcoming approach to our
discussions. I particularly thank my noble friend for doing more than his
fair share of the work from Report onwards, and of course my
noble friend who led the Labour Party—he did
not lead the Labour Party but led for the Labour Party; that was
quite a thought experiment—throughout the long Committee stage.
His advice and support have been invaluable. Lastly, I thank the
outstanding Dan Stevens for his impeccable advice, preparedness
and thoughtfulness.
We hope that the Government accept the Bill as amended and do not
feel the need to bring it back to the House for further
amendments.
(LD)
My Lords, I join in the thanks to the Minister, who has been very
generous with her time, as has the Bill team, and who provided us
with explanations and listened to our issues and concerns. I also
give particular thanks to my noble friends and Lady Bowles on my Benches,
who bring extraordinary expertise and analysis to all these
issues. They covered for me while I was recovering from surgery,
and I very much appreciate their willingness to pick up and carry
that burden.
I join in the good words about the noble Lord, . He has been an absolute
stalwart on this entire portfolio. He is phenomenal in dealing
with statutory instruments especially—an area that most of us
avoid. I will miss the opportunity to be with him on these
Benches, as it were, when these issues come forward again. He
might have made a very good leader of the Labour Party, I should
say. I also thank the noble Baroness, Lady Chapman, and the noble
Lord, , for the final stages and
their close working. The Cross Benches have been quite
exceptional on this Bill, as, frankly, have some on the Back
Benches of the Conservative Party. It has been an excellent
example of cross-party working in the interests of better
governance.
A striking feature of the Bill has been that common concern,
particularly focused on the issues of parliamentary scrutiny and
the accountability of regulators to Parliament. There have been
modest steps to improve the Bill on those issues, but there is a
great deal more to be done. I remain concerned, as do my Benches,
about the risk being injected back into the financial services
sector, but again, that is business for another day. We hope that
the Bill will go through unamended in the other House. The
improvements that come particularly from Peers for the Planet and
from those involved in financial inclusion have been important.
Again, my thanks to the attendants and the others who have
supported us so well throughout this entire process.
(CB)
I join in the gratitude expressed to the Minister, who has been
her usual courteous and committed self in discussing the
considerable amendments that were needed to this Bill, bringing
through something far better than we had at the start of the
process. The noble Lord, Lord Vaux, and the noble Baronesses,
Lady Wheatcroft and Lady Boycott, were all highly involved in the
process. Like others, I believe we made some important changes in
terms of forest risk and making certain that nature as well as
climate are involved in this Bill. My only plea, the Minister
will not be surprised to hear, is that I hope very much that when
the Bill is considered in the other place, those amendments hold
and we do not have to have the argument all over again in this
House.
Bill passed and returned to the Commons with amendments.
