Tax: Changes

Lord Boateng Excerpts

Tuesday 29th April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

The noble Baroness will know that the OBR has not included an assessment of that Bill in its latest forecast, because it has not yet progressed through Parliament.

[Lord Boateng (Lab)]

My Lords, does the Financial Secretary agree with the Chancellor of the Exchequer who said that

“it is not fair that people live in this country for very long periods of their lives benefit from our public services and yet operate under different tax rules from everyone else”.—[Official Report, Commons, 8/7/15; col. 325.]

Does he agree with that statement? Was that not in fact the statement of George Osborne, the Tory Chancellor of the Exchequer? If that is the case, is there not a lot of hypocrisy and cant being shoved at this from the other side?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I agree with much of what my noble friend says. The previous Government resisted taking action in this way for many years, but then did a screeching U-turn and implemented a series of reforms. Their reforms raised £21 billion in revenue. Our reforms will raise an additional £12 billion in revenue.

Public Spending: Inheritance

Lord Boateng Excerpts

Tuesday 30th July 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness for her kind words. She is extremely expert in these matters, and I have the greatest respect for her, but I think that her analysis is not correct in terms of the value of the triple lock versus the winter fuel payment. In the other place yesterday, the Chancellor confirmed that pensioners will continue to benefit from the triple lock throughout this Parliament.

On the winter fuel payment, this of course is not an easy decision and I can understand why there is disappointment about it, but it is the right decision in the circumstances. The level of overspend is not sustainable. Left unaddressed, it would have meant a 25% increase in the Government’s financing needs this year, so it falls on this Government to take the difficult decisions to make the necessary in-year savings.

We will, of course, work to maximise the take-up of pension credit in two ways: bringing together the administration of housing benefit and pension credit, and working with older people’s charities and local authorities to raise awareness of pension credit and to help identify households not claiming it.

[Lord Boateng (Lab)]

My Lords, I congratulate the Financial Secretary on his appointment and say how glad many of us are about his return to the Treasury. We recall—as I look around, there are a number of folk who do—his excellent service last time he was in that place.

Will he also please draw to the attention of the House —and Members opposite in particular—that when he was last at the Treasury, the United Kingdom was second only to the United States in increases in productivity and indeed had the highest growth in GDP of any member of the G7? Will he reject the carping criticisms and crocodile tears that have come from Members opposite, here and in the other place? Will he reaffirm his Government’s commitment to building on human capital and innovation to support long-term growth?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am extremely grateful to my noble friend for his kind words. He is quite right: not only are the previous Government guilty of what we are discussing today, of running up an enormous overspend and of hiding that from Parliament, the public and the Opposition at the time, but they left us with possibly the worst economic inheritance since the Second World War. That contrasts sharply with the performance of the economy under the last Labour Government. Of course, growth is absolutely our priority. That growth will take time, but we are absolutely committed to doing what it takes to return this economy to a sustainable level of growth.