Interview – Entrepreneur Festival brings Global Talent to UK

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The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills has launched the Sirius Programme at a festival in Manchester.

The program, which aims to attract entrepreneurs and young businesspeople from around the world, is seen as a major initiative by the British Government to increase the scope and diversity of the British economy.  Students and recent graduates with an early stage business plan will receive £12,000 investment, expert advice and help with the logistics of moving to the UK.

Lord Bilimoria, a key figure in the government drive, was interviewed on BBC Breakfast television about the scheme. He said, “I found this country’s environment fantastic, I saw the glass ceiling that existed absolutely shattered before my eyes. People don’t realise what a great country this is to do business.”

The video can be found here.

Speech – Syria and the Use of Chemical Weapons

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My Lords, in the summer of 2003 my late father, Lieutenant-General Bilimoria, was here in the UK on a visit. It was his last visit to the UK because he passed away a couple of years later. At an event he was approached by a prominent journalist who said: “General, do you think that we should have intervened in Iraq?”. My father, without blinking, said: “No. Intervention should only have taken place with the authority of the United Nations”. My father spoke from experience because as a young captain he had served with the United Nations in the Congo.

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Question – Critical National Infrastructure: Ownership

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My Lords, today the former Governor of the Bank of England has taken his seat, and we welcome him. His successor is a Canadian. How many other countries would have a foreign national as the governor of their national central bank? We do. Do not the Minister and the Government think that we should be proud that we are one of the most open economies in the world, and that that is a great strength to this country? Regardless of that, and on the other hand, how much longer are the Government going to dither and procrastinate about increasing our airport capacity in London?

Speech – Finance Bill

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My Lords, I declare my interests in this area. I remember when qualifying as a chartered accountant it was very clear that tax avoidance was legal and tax evasion was illegal. Recently, there has been a huge public outcry about avoidance having escalated to abuse and companies operating within the law have been vilified.

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Speech – London Finance Commission: Raising the Capital

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My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Harris, for initiating this debate. He said right up front that London is the greatest city in the world and I could not agree more. It is the greatest of the world’s great cities. He congratulated the London Finance Commission on its report, Raising the Capital. I had the privilege of serving on mayor Boris Johnson’s Promote London Council, which was a great experience. It came up with what ended up being London & Partners and had huge success. It really understands London and looks at its competitiveness.

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Speech – Business and Society

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My Lords, when I came to this country from India in the early 1980s, entrepreneurship had the image of Del Boy and second-hand car salesmen. There was a glass ceiling. Today, everything has changed. Entrepreneurship is cool, and I believe that we have a society where anyone can get anywhere, regardless of race, religion or background. Yet business still has such a bad image. We have executive pay. The noble Lord, Lord Sacks, spoke about the noble Lord, Lord Sugar. We have the “Apprentice” image of “You’re fired”. We also have the financial crisis and bankers. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Sacks, for initiating this debate.

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Question – Student Loans

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My Lords, have the Government done a survey regarding one effect of student loans—the fact that students will be burdened with a long-term debt of up £40,000 after they graduate? Has it deterred children from going to university, particularly those from family backgrounds where no one has been to university before? Are the Government comfortable that we have student loans of this magnitude while in Scotland undergraduates still do not have to pay any fees at all?

Speech – Queen’s Speech

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My Lords, the gracious Speech said a lot of really good things: build a stronger economy so that the United Kingdom could compete and succeed in the world; strengthen Britain’s economic competitiveness; ensure that interest rates are kept low and that people who work hard are properly rewarded; invest in infrastructure-I could go on. It is terrific.

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Interview – BBC Hardtalk

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After visiting India with the Prime Minister, Lord Bilimoria was interviewed about immigration on BBC News’ HARDtalk program. In it, Karan spoke about how best to reform the present immigration system in Britain in a way that would limit illegal entry into the United Kingdom, whilst allowing the brightest and best to contribute to the economy and wider society.

A clip of the interview can be found here.