Bill could ban tax exiles from House of LordsA forthcoming constitutional reform bill could include measures to stop tax exiles from sitting in the House of Lords House of Lords: see Parliament. , the cabinet secretary said yesterday amid further questions about the tax status of the millionaire Tory donor Lord Ashcroft. Gus O'Donnell Sir Augustine Thomas O'Donnell, KCB, born October 1, 1952,[1] known as Sir Gus O'Donnell (and informally as GOD), is the Cabinet Secretary, the highest ranking civil servant in the British Civil Service. said the sections of the bill addressing Lords reform could be used to change procedures governing who sits in the upper chamber - but declined to comment on Ashcroft's status. Ashcroft gave two undertakings that he would return to live in the UK before receiving his peerage peerage Body of peers or titled nobility in Britain. The five ranks, in descending order, are duke, marquess, earl (see count), viscount, and baron. Until 1999, peers were entitled to sit in the House of Lords and exempted from jury duty. seven years ago, with the result that Downing Street Downing Street, Westminster, London, England. On the street are the British Foreign Office and, at No. 10, the residence of the first lord of the Treasury, who is usually (although not necessarily) the prime minister of Great Britain. issued a statement in March 2000 saying he had given a "clear and unequivocal assurance" he would take up permanent residence in the UK by the end of that year. But in 2004 the House of Lords expenses register showed that his main residence was in the central American Central America A region of southern North America extending from the southern border of Mexico to the northern border of Colombia. It separates the Caribbean Sea from the Pacific Ocean and is linked to South America by the Isthmus of Panama. tax haven Tax Haven A country that offers individuals and businesses little or no tax liability. Notes: There are several countries in the Caribbean that are considered tax havens. of Belize, beyond the reach of HM Revenue and Customs. He now refuses to say whether he has honoured his pledges. On Wednesday Gordon Brown said he believed that people resident abroad should not be allowed to fund political parties. Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs This is a list of Liberal Democrat MPs. It includes all Members of Parliament elected to the British House of Commons representing the Liberal Democrats. Members of the European Parliament, the Scottish Parliament or the Welsh Assembly are not listed. , alarmed by Ashcroft's large donations to Tory campaigns in key marginals, say he should answer questions about where he lives and his tax status. The Conservative Party refuses to comment. O'Donnell attempted to distance himself from the row when quizzed by the public administration select committee yesterday. He declined to explain how Ashcroft's undertaking was given, or to whom, because as head of the civil service he could not comment on the tax status of individuals or on people in the Lords. Pressed by Labour backbencher back·bench n. 1. Chiefly British The rear benches in the House of Commons where junior members of Parliament sit behind government officeholders and their counterparts in the opposition party. 2. Gordon Prentice Gordon Prentice (born January 28, 1951, Edinburgh) is a politician in the United Kingdom. He is Labour Party Member of Parliament for Pendle and was first elected at the 1992 General Election. , who told him he was lodging an inquiry about Ashcroft's assurances as a formal Freedom of Information request, he warned: "I will obviously reply. But precisely how much I will be able to meet what I think you may be trying to get at in all of this - I think you may well be disappointed." Prentice is calling on the prime minister to consider new legislation requiring MPs and working peers to sign an annual declaration that they are resident in the UK for the purposes of paying income tax. O'Donnell said he could "understand the force" of the suggestions that there should be clear guidelines for peers, and that the public's representatives should be domiciled in the UK, but added: "The question is, whose responsibility is it to do that? I'm not sure it's mine." He added that the Lords appointment committee - which did not exist when Ashcroft became a peer - might not have the authority either. The committee made UK residence for tax purposes a condition of approval after a row over another Tory donor, Lord Laidlaw, who has since taken a leave of absence from the upper chamber. Asked by committee chairman Tony Wright whether the constitutional reform bill could tackle the issue, O'Donnell agreed: "There are sections of the bill that refer to House of Lords reform. It would be within that context that you could, for example, decide you wanted to change the rules and procedures governing the Lords." 
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