Why in the name of justice are peers who quit the Lords to avoid paying tax not stripped of their titles?
Five peers who have stepped down from the House of Lords to keep their non-dom tax status will retain their titles.
Architect Norman Foster and four other peers will still be able to call themselves Lord or Baroness - even though they have resigned their membership of the Upper House to avoid paying tax on their worldwide income.
Last night a former standards watchdog said it was 'absurd' that the five kept their titles.
Keeping their titles: Clockwise are four of the five peers who have stepped down to keep their non-dom tax status: Baroness Dunn, Norman Foster, Lord Bagri and Lord Laidlaw
The resignations followed a new requirement in this year's Constitutional Reform and Governance Act for peers to pay tax on their worldwide earnings.
Peers had until midnight last night to choose between their non-domiciled tax status and their seat in the House.
Along with Lord Foster, another crossbench peer, Baroness Dunn, stepped down. The other three were all Tories - former treasurer Lord McAlpine, businessman Lord Bagri and Lord Laidlaw, a Monaco-based peer who sought treatment for sex addiction two years ago after hosting parties with prostitutes.
John Mann, Labour MP for Bassetlaw, said: 'It is outrageous that these five are being allowed to keep their titles.
'If they can't be bothered to live here and pay their taxes like the
rest of us, why should they be able to call themselves a Lord?
'The act was far too loose on this. Seeing as they don't live here most of the time, this is virtually allowing these people to have a foreign title.'
Sir Alistair Graham, former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said: 'It's absurd - you're no longer a member of the club, so you shouldn't be able to use the title.
'I sincerely hope all titles will go in due course - and I'm surprised these peers are not voluntarily giving up their titles. Maybe they can blaze a trail for the reform of the Upper House we need.'
The Lords authorities said that allowing the five life peers to retain their titles was no different to the way hundreds of hereditary peers kept theirs after being expelled by Tony Blair.
The legislation forcing them to choose between the Lords and their non-dom status refers only to membership of the House of Lords. Their titles, which were given to them in letters patent from the Queen, will not be revoked.
A non-domiciled resident - a non-dom - is someone who lives in the UK but does not pay tax on his earnings made outside this country.
A British citizen can register for non-dom status by showing strong affiliation with another country where they were either born or where their parents were born.
They must also show an intention to leave the UK at some point - effectively giving them 'temporary' tax status.
Non-doms must spend no more than 183 days in a tax year in the UK, or visit the country fewer than 91 days on average per year over a four-year period.
Conservative Party deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft confirmed yesterday that he had relinquished his non-dom status - and would remain in the Lords.
His admission in March that he was a non-dom came after years of refusing to say whether he paid tax on his overseas earnings.
Labour donor Lord Paul has also announced he will give up his non-dom status to keep his seat.
There are an estimated 120,000 non-doms in the UK. They include
Indian steel tycoons, Greek shipping magnates, Russian oligarchs and
many workers at City banks, hedge funds and private equity firms.
Non-doms are taxed in the normal way for money earned in the UK and for any outside earnings they have brought into this country.
A Cabinet Office spokesman said: 'The Constitutional Reform and
Governance Act will ensure that peers in the House of Lords are liable
to pay the same taxes as the majority of people in the UK.
'Any peers who leave the House of Lords under section 42 of the 2010 Act will retain their title but will no longer be members of the House of Lords and as such not will no longer be legislators.
'There is currently no mechanism to allow life peers to disclaim their title.'
Who are the peers who want to keep their cash and titles?
LORD FOSTER
As one of Britain's most successful modern architects, Lord Foster of Thames Bank has a fortune estimated at £500million.
The 75-year-old crossbench peer is responsible for a string of prestigious projects throughout the world, including the Swiss Re 'Gherkin' building in London, Beijing Airport and New York's Hearst Tower.
Less successful projects include London's 'wobbly' Millennium Bridge which was closed by the police on safety grounds days after it opened. Lord Foster lives as a tax exile in Switzerland with his third wife, Elena Ochoa.
LORD LAIDLOW
Two years ago Lord Laidlaw of Rothiemay hit the headlines over allegations of sex parties in Monaco with prostitutes.
He checked into a South African clinic for treatment for 'sex addiction'. The Scottish-born Tory peer, 67, is one of Britain's richest men, with an estimated £630million fortune from his conference organising business.
He lives in Monaco as a tax exile and has faced criticism for refusing to become a UK resident for tax purposes since being made a peer in 2004.
LORD McALPINE
Lord McAlpine of West Green is a friend of Baroness Thatcher who served as Treasurer and deputy chairman of the Conservative party for large parts of her reign during the 1980s.
He defected to Sir James Goldsmith's Referendum Party and became leader following the death of the party's founder in 1997. Lord McAlpine, 68, returned to the Conservative fold in recent years. He became a life peer in 1984.
BARONESS DUNN
Hong Kong-born Lydia Dunn was a prominent politician in the former British colony and also a successful businesswoman, rising to deputy chairman of the banking giant HSBC.
She was made a crossbench peer in 1990, and is Baroness Dunn of Hong Kong Island and Knightsbridge.
The 70-year-old this year auctioned off 160 items from her private art collection at Christie's. Lots were valued at up to £30,000 each.
LORD BAGRI
Indian-born Lord Bagri began his career as a 15-year-old metal trader in Calcutta, moving to Britain at the age of 19 where he rose to become chairman of the London Metal Exchange, retiring in 2002.
Lord Bagri, 79, was awarded the CBE in 1995 and made a Tory peer in 1997. He has spent more than a decade building a mansion on the edge of Regent's Park, which is thought to be worth up to £50million.
He married Usha Maheshwary in 1954 and they have two children.
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