House of Lords peers who resigned for tax reasons will keep titles (original) (raw)

Five peers have resigned from the House of Lords to avoid becoming resident in the UK for tax purposes, but they will still be allowed to keep their titles, parliamentary officials have confirmed.

Lord Foster, the architect, who was ennobled in 1999, and Lord Bagri, the Indian metal magnate, resigned last night. Lady Dunn resigned last week, as did Lord McAlpine and Lord Laidlaw.

Their resignations followed the introduction of the law stipulating that in order to sit in either house of parliament, people should be registered in the UK for tax purposes. The law was introduced in the wake of the mystery over the tax status of the Tory donor and deputy chair of the Conservative party, Lord Ashcroft.

Ashcroft confirmed in March that he was a non-dom after keeping his party leadership in the dark. At that point he suggested that he would remain in the Lords under the new rules, indicating that he would relinquish his non-dom status. However, yesterday his spokesman fuelled speculation that he may have changed his mind by refusing to confirm whether Ashcroft would remain in the house after the deadline. "You'll have to wait and see," he said. Relations between Ashcroft and the Tory leadership are said to have deteriorated in recent months.

In April, when the law banning non-doms from parliament was passed, peers were given three months to comply with the new rules or leave. That deadline is today, and more may declare their intention to go before close of play today.

A House of Lords official confirmed the departing peers will retain their titles for life despite no longer having access to parliament or debates. The house would not say how many peers have changed their tax affairs to comply. Lord Paul, the Labour donor, has promised to do so.

Lords sources confirmed Foster will leave, though representatives for the architect could not be contacted last night. Foster has substantial business interests abroad with offices in Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Madrid and New York.

Lord Bagri of Regent's Park has been a Tory peer since 1997. He began his career as a 15-year-old apprentice metal trader in Kolkata and went on to found Minmetco. Reports suggest that he now lives in India, though he has a £50m home in Regent's Park. He is not recorded to have made an appearance in the Lords since 2000.

Dunn was a senior politician in the Hong Kong legislature under British rule and was deputy chairman of HSBC. She lives in Hong Kong. She has spoken twice in the Lords, in 2002 and 2007.

Laidlaw, a Scottish businessman, is now based in Monaco. He has donated more than £4m to the Tory party. He took leave of absence from the Lords in 2007 after it emerged that he had failed to keep a promise to become a UK tax resident.

On his resignation last month, McAlpine, who now lives in Italy, reportedly said: "I have sat in the house for 26 years and enjoyed every bit of it, but the fact is these changes to tax laws have far-reaching consequences."