Finance (No. 2) Bill
Lord Desai Excerpts(13 years, 6 months ago)
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Lord Desai
My Lords, the Minister has done very well in presenting to us what is a non-controversial Bill. My remarks will be about not the technical aspects of the Bill as such but about the slightly broader context.
I recall that when I first came to your Lordships’ House and the Conservative Party was in power, I managed to wangle a day of general debate on the Budget as soon as it was presented in the House of Commons. Since we cannot amend the Budget anyway, we just discussed the Budget while it was still fresh and in the newspapers. I urge the coalition Government to follow that good practice by ensuring that, when the Budget is presented in March next year, we can perhaps have a day of general discussion on it.
Although I welcome the provisions on zero-carbon emissions vehicles and some of the Bill’s other provisions, I want to make two general comments on other measures that, while not strictly related to the Budget, are part of government policy. First, the well publicised proposal to withdraw child benefits from households that pay the higher rate of income tax is, I think, a bad move. Child benefit is currently paid to the mother rather than the income earner, and neither the mother’s income nor her partner’s income has ever been relevant to the mother’s entitlement to child benefit. I think that the Government’s proposal is a bad move, but if the Government are bent on taxing child benefit, they would be much better to include the benefit in the general income tax category so that everyone, whether they pay tax at the 20 per cent rate or at the 40 per cent rate, was taxed on child benefit. If the Government made it clear that the child benefit goes not to the mother but to the household—although that might require primary legislation—and if they were to tax child benefit across the board, people who do not pay income tax would still get the full child benefit and taxpayers would have either 20 per cent or 40 per cent of the benefit taken off them. That is the first thing that I wanted to say.
Secondly, I want to ask the Minister, in light of what has happened since the Budget and since the comprehensive spending review, what his estimates are for the growth prospects of the British economy. For the third quarter, the provisional growth rate figure of 0.8 per cent was better than expected, but it was lower than the growth rate in the second quarter. However, the figure for the second quarter has been revised downwards, to 1 per cent rather than 1.2 per cent. Does the Minister think that those successive three quarters of positive output growth give any assurance that growth will continue and, if so, at what rate? What does the Office for Budget Responsibility advise in that respect? Furthermore, in light of what has happened over the past three to four months, what does the government borrowing requirement look like? Are the Government’s borrowing predictions on track, or will borrowing be better or worse? I would be grateful if the Minister could advise us on that.
Comprehensive Spending Review
Lord Desai Excerpts(13 years, 7 months ago)
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Lord Sassoon
My Lords, I could sit here for a long time, get out my calculator and work these things out. All the numbers are set out in the book; there still seemed to be copies in the Printed Paper Office when I came into the Chamber. There are probably more important things to be talking about now.
Lord Kilclooney
My Lords, it is only right to say thank you. Northern Ireland, historically and geographically, has been very closely associated with Scotland. As a result, the Presbyterian Church in Northern Ireland is the largest Protestant communion in that province. The problems of the Presbyterian Mutual Society have been a running sore for several years. Will the Minister take note that there will be widespread appreciation across Northern Ireland that this problem has finally been addressed in the Statement?
Lord Sassoon
I am very grateful to the noble Lord for drawing attention to the fact that the Presbyterian Mutual Society has been a long-running issue which was not gripped by the previous Government. Whether it is that or properly compensating the policyholders of Equitable Life, we have got on and made what we believe to be fair decisions which were dodged by the previous Government.
Lord Winston
My Lords, would the Minister be kind enough to answer my noble friend Lord Eatwell’s question about universities? Does he agree that the Browne review can in no way cover the costs of teaching, which we need, in the universities which contribute so much to our economy beyond the STEM subjects and so much to our civilised society?