(1 day, 2 hours ago)
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Baroness Altmann
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the economy, businesses and individuals of Ministerial comments which have been interpreted as suggesting forthcoming fiscal changes.
The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Livermore) (Lab)
My Lords, the Chancellor will deliver the Budget tomorrow. She has rightly been clear with the country about the challenges we face and the need to deliver stability in the public finances. The Budget will build more resilient public finances to withstand global turbulence. It will reduce inflationary pressure in the economy and get the cost of living down. It will protect the NHS and public services from a return to austerity, and it will support growth and innovation. I will not comment on individual measures ahead of the Budget.
Baroness Altmann (Non-Afl)
My Lords, I thank the Minister for his Answer. I have the upmost respect for him and believe he has acted commendably ahead of this Budget. He has been left in the position of having to issue constant denials by an approach from his colleagues which has damaged the economy, businesses and individuals. The Government are supposedly pro-business, pro-wealth creation and pro-growth. Other Ministers should not have been speculating and could have issued the kinds of robust denials the Minister has issued—much to the frustration of this House, I understand, and difficulty for himself. I would like to put on record that the communications have been shambolic and unnecessary.
Does the Minister agree with his right honourable friend the Secretary of State Peter Kyle, who said that we are in a “growth emergency”? If so, does he believe the policy change pitch rolling, constant kite flying, and policies that are withdrawn, brought back and then changed, help business or individuals planning their lives? Businesses have put investment on hold. Individuals have rushed to take money out of their pensions. I urge the Minister to urge his department in future not to engage in the same kind of speculation and kite flying ahead of Budgets that we have seen now.
Lord Livermore (Lab)
I am most grateful to the noble Baroness for her question. As she knows, I am not going to comment on the ongoing Budget process, which will conclude tomorrow when the Chancellor delivers her Budget. She asked about growth. Growing the economy, and supporting businesses to create jobs and innovate, will be absolutely central to tomorrow’s Budget alongside protecting our NHS and public services from a return to austerity, improving the cost of living, doing what is necessary to protect families from high inflation and interest rates, and keeping debt under control.
Baroness Kramer (LD)
My Lords, can the Minister tell us whether there are any significant measures in the Budget which have not been announced in advance or leaked? I would invite him to mention them to us, then he can have a clean slate.
Lord Livermore (Lab)
The noble Baroness need only wait 22 hours and then she will know for herself.
Lord Hayward (Con)
My Lords, according to opinion polls, the public at large in this country think that Rishi Sunak was a better Chancellor of the Exchequer than the current one by a ratio of over 2:1. Does the Minister agree with the public at large?
Lord Livermore (Lab)
Why do we not just compare their records? Where the previous Government delivered the slowest projected growth in the G7, growth in the first half of this year was the fastest in the G7. Where they presided over the worst Parliament ever for living standards, living standards have increased by 2.1% since the election. Where they oversaw the worst pay growth in a century, real wages grew more in the first 10 months of this Government than in the first 10 years of the previous Government. Where they continually cut capital spending and deterred investment, we are investing for the long term, with £120 billion extra over the next five years. We will continue to rebuild the economy after 14 years of failure from the party opposite.
Lord Hintze (Con)
My Lords, why does the Minister never look at GDP growth per head?
Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted (LD)
My Lords, does the Minister consider that, apart from him, the days of trying to avoid government-induced market glitches are history? Do the Government and Chancellor think that markets will cease to be responsive or that investors will not go elsewhere as they have done for other countries exhibiting inconsistency?
Lord Livermore (Lab)
As the noble Baroness knows, and as I think I have made clear, I am not going to comment on speculation ahead of the Budget, neither am I going to comment—I never do—on market movements.
Lord Bridges of Headley (Con)
My Lords, the Minister just said that the Budget tomorrow will be focused on protecting our NHS, reducing our national debt and improving the cost of living, which the Chancellor has said in one of her many scene-setters are the priorities of the British people. However, back in May, the Prime Minister said that the Government
“see security and defence not as one priority amongst many others but as the central organising principle of government – the first thought in the morning – the last at night. The pillar on which everything else stands or falls”.
Therefore, why is not defence one of the priorities, or has No. 11 not yet got the memo?
Lord Livermore (Lab)
I know that the noble Lord thinks that his question is terribly clever, but it is perfectly possible for the Government to have ongoing priorities and for there to be specific priorities for this Budget. Those two things are not in any way contradictory. He will see what we have to say about defence in the Budget tomorrow; likewise, he will see what we have to say about the NHS, growing the economy and the cost of living.
Lord Blunkett (Lab)
Does my noble friend agree that the investment in Sheffield Forgemasters, and through BAE Systems in other aspects of defence procurement in Sheffield, has substantially improved the growth prospects, job prospects and prosperity of the people of my city?
Lord Livermore (Lab)
I 100% agree with my noble friend. Defence spending and growth go hand in hand. We will see far higher levels of growth in our economy as a result of the investment we are putting into our defence industry and increasing the security of our country.
Lord Fox (LD)
My Lords, looking back rather than forward, it is quite clear that UK business cannot take another Budget like the last one. I was reminded by the introduction of our new and very welcome Peer of the apocryphal medical ethical oath. Could the Minister please carry back to the Chancellor one thing: do no harm?
Lord Livermore (Lab)
I am grateful to the noble Lord for that. As he knows, I am not going to comment on specific measures or any speculation ahead of the Budget. I have set out clearly what our priorities are for tomorrow’s Budget; he will just have to wait a few more hours until he finds out for himself.
The Earl of Clancarty (CB)
My Lords, how much do the Government now blame Brexit for the black hole?
Lord Livermore (Lab)
As the noble Earl knows, alongside the Budget tomorrow, the Office for Budget Responsibility will set out the conclusions of its review of the supply side of the UK economy. I will not pre-empt those conclusions, but it is likely that the OBR will downgrade its historic assessment of the UK’s productivity and find that the productivity performance we inherited from the last Government is weaker than previously thought. The causes of this economic underperformance are well understood: austerity, Brexit and the Liz Truss mini-Budget have left deep scars on the British economy that are still felt today.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con)
My Lords, one of the main objectives of the Treasury, as stated on its own website, is to:
“Ensure the stability of the macro-economic environment”.
Few people believe that this stability objective has been achieved in recent weeks, which have instead been characterised by presentational chaos. As my question is not a Budget question, does the Minister agree?
Lord Livermore (Lab)
The noble Baroness talks about stability and chaos; let us talk about 14 years of chaos. First, there was austerity, which took demand out of the economy at exactly the wrong moment, cutting investment and undermining the economy’s ability to grow. Then we saw a disastrous and tragically misjudged Brexit deal, which imposed new trade barriers equivalent to a 13% increase in tariffs for manufacturing and a 20% increase in tariffs for services, reducing total trade intensity by 15% and permanently reducing GDP by 4 percentage points. Finally, the Liz Truss mini-Budget crashed the economy and sent mortgages soaring by £300 a month. We on this side will take no lessons from the party opposite on how to manage the economy.
Lord Harper (Con)
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Fox, simply asked whether the Minister could rule out doing harm in the Budget—he did not ask about lots of specific measures—so let me ask him again: can he just rule out the Budget doing harm to British business?
Lord Livermore (Lab)
As I have said already, I am not going to comment on individual measures ahead of the Budget.
Lord Pannick (CB)
Can I ask the Minister a question of facts and not speculation? Will he confirm that Ministers and officials have been floating possible Budget proposals over the last few weeks?
Lord Livermore (Lab)
As the noble Lord well knows, I am not going to comment on the ongoing Budget process, which will conclude tomorrow when the Chancellor delivers the Budget.