Westminster notes
Independent banks inquiry needed: Durkan
Mark Durkan has joined Labour MPs in calling for a judicial banking inquiry following revelations of Libor rigging at Barclays. Durkan called for a broader, judge-led and time-bound probe into the banking culture rather than a parliamentary commission, which the Government established in July.
Durkan said that he was “rejecting the pretence that Parliament is already sufficiently informed or would ever really be trusted by the public to reliably pursue and remedy the culture of indulgence which now scandalises us.” The Treasury Select Committee’s scrutiny of Bob Diamond underlined the need for a “fuller, deeper, wider inquiry which needs to include an application of judicial investigation.”
The time-limited inquiry that he wanted to see would have included an interim report to Parliament by the end of the year, allowing it to proceed with amendments to the Financial Services Bill as necessary.
“Having insisted on the inadequacy of the current Bill, the Government are now using the urgency to amend it, as the excuse for rejecting a judicial inquiry,” he said. The parliamentary commission will report on legislative matters by 18 December.
Spirited dissent from Paisley
Ian Paisley Junior has opposed government plans to introduce plain packaging for tobacco despite DUP Health Minister Edwin Poots’ support for the proposal.
Paisley, whose constituency includes Gallaher’s tobacco plant, has branded the proposal “simply ludicrous” claiming that it would not improve public health, punish local businesses, infringe on fundamental rights and increase smuggling.
Paisley has voted against the majority of his party colleagues twice at Westminster. In 2011, he opposed the budget increase in alcohol duties while six DUP MPs supported it. With Labour abstaining, he was one of only nine MPs to vote against the proposal, a group that included five SNP MPs. Whiskey production is a major employer in North Antrim (at Bushmills) and several Scottish seats.
In 2010, he joined Jeffrey Donaldson in supporting a Labour proposal to stop Irish citizens (living outside the UK) from voting in the AV referendum.
Lord Glentoran’s gold
Most Olympic coverage tends to focus on the summer games but the winter session has also delivered Northern Ireland’s only parliamentary Olympian. Lord Glentoran (Robin Dixon) won a gold for Great Britain in the two-man bobsleigh at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck. He sits on the Conservative benches and was previously in business, organising the Tall Ships’ 1991 visit to Belfast.
Reform options
Lord Empey has welcomed the Government’s decision to drop legislation on House of Lords reform but has said that reform is still possible “minus the elected element”. This could include reducing the House’s size from 816 to around 600 and powers to dismiss peers guilty of misbehaviour. Around 25 peers are currently from Northern Ireland and the original reform plans would have resulted in nine being elected.
