Noble Lords
Captain of the King’s Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard and Deputy Chief Whip (Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent) (Lab)
My Lords, the noble Lord is now an independent, I believe, so he will ask his question and be followed by the Cross Benches.
Lord Wilson of Sedgefield (Lab)
The new Chancellor has said that we will stand by the fiscal rules that were laid out at the start of this Parliament. The noble Lord is absolutely right about the debt servicing costs that we have to meet. One of the upsides—not of the debt but of what is happening—is that while borrowing was stuck at about 5% of GDP for the previous four years, it has fallen by 1% to its lowest level for six years, at 4.2%, in 2025-26. According to the IMF, this year, for the first time since 2004, we are forecast to be borrowing less than the rest of the G7 on average. We all know about the conflict in the Middle East and the impact that is having on debt not just in this country but around the world. However, we are setting a plan to ensure that we can lower that debt burden.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Con)
My Lords, wealth creators and entrepreneurs are more internationally mobile than ever. What steps are the Government taking to ensure that their cumulative tax rises do not drive away young people or established wealth creators such as Chris Rokos, who until recently contributed so much to the UK’s prosperity in tax and philanthropy?
Lord Wilson of Sedgefield (Lab)
The noble Baroness has mentioned young people and the importance of them staying in the UK and working here. We all know the problems that we have with NEETs. We need to consider what some businesses around the country and internationally are saying about doing business in this country; for example,
“businesses are starting to press ahead with investment … we are starting to see the data moving in the right direction”
and
“Despite geopolitical tensions, cost-of-living pressures and fiscal uncertainty, the fundamentals for … UK businesses are strong”.
This is business that is speaking about the future of the British economy. As I said, we need to be optimistic. She asked whether the tax burden is driving people out of the country. Some figures will be released next year which we think will prove that the effect has been marginal on the number of people who are leaving.