"My Lords, despite a lot of obvious things that—understandably—worry many people around the world, in fact the world economy has strengthened quite notably in 2017. Based on many of the indicators that I have followed for a very long time, the world economy is ending 2017 on a cyclically rather …..." Lord O'Neill of Gatley - View Speech
"My Lords, I now find myself wondering whether the most passionate advocates of Brexit, some of whose arguments we have just heard the noble Lord illustrate, are secretly in favour of a second referendum on the original question. If not, I cannot see any of their logic. Brexit with no …..." Lord O'Neill of Gatley - View Speech
"My Lords, I would like to make four points. First, the decision to hold a referendum on membership of the EU in the first place was driven by politics, especially those of the party governing the country. Not a great deal of thought was given to the economics of the …..." Lord O'Neill of Gatley - View Speech
"My Lords, as this is my first speech from these Benches, I will start by thanking the Prime Minister for allowing me to have served in her Government, as well as her predecessor for inviting me to join in the first place. It was quite a surprise at the time, …..." Lord O'Neill of Gatley - View Speech
"My Lords, the Finance Bill before us today covers a range of measures of real importance to the strength and growth of our economy. Broadly, they fall into three main categories: our work to help more people to save; our support for businesses; and the additional action we will take …..." Lord O'Neill of Gatley - View Speech
"My Lords, not for the first time when discussing these matters, we have had an extremely interesting debate which has been conducted in a sporting manner with a number of noble Lords also providing us with great humour. I thank all noble Lords for their excellent and insightful contributions. I …..." Lord O'Neill of Gatley - View Speech
"My Lords, UK productivity performance remains a fundamental challenge. The Government set out their approach to tackling the issue in their productivity plan, Fixing the Foundations. The Government have since introduced further measures that will help productivity growth—for example, the apprenticeship levy, proceeding with investments in UK infrastructure such …..." Lord O'Neill of Gatley - View Speech
"My Lords, the decision to leave the EU was the result of a democratic question put to the people of this country—it was the result of that choice. What that means for the future of UK productivity remains to be determined. As I am sure many Members of the House …..." Lord O'Neill of Gatley - View Speech
"My Lords, private business needs to feel confident about many things in order to undertake further investment decisions, of which the latter part of what the noble Baroness asked may be one. However, a number of other factors are important. In that regard, it is interesting that the latest evidence …..." Lord O'Neill of Gatley - View Speech