Lord Lipsey - a member of a cross-party group opposed to an elected House of Lords - believes changes would come at too high a price in an age of spending cuts.

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The archbishop - a former oil industry executive - is a member of the cross-party Banking Standards Commission.

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This arrangement does entail cross-border agreements and some surrender of sovereignty among member states to the central arbitrators.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy

But now those firms are more broadly vulnerable to both regulation and litigation when any local member firm, now part of a large cross-border group, screws up an audit.

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Mike Whiting, cabinet member for education at the council, said the cross-party committee would look at the how the scheme had affected families and consider alternatives.

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To be fair to the former home secretary and Labour member for Norwich South, he was key to securing the A11 development - in a cross-party allegiance with Richard Spring, the former Conservative MP for West Suffolk.

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But there are prominent naysayers too, notably David Blanchflower, a former member of the Monetary Policy Committee, and Lord Skidelsky - a former Conservative peer, now a cross bencher.

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