Economic and Taxation Policies: Jobs, Growth and Prosperity

Viscount Trenchard Excerpts

Thursday 13th November 2025 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Trenchard (Con)]

My Lords, I, too, am grateful to my noble friend Lord Elliott for securing this very timely debate today. For inspiration as to what to say, I referred to the TaxPayers’ Alliance, a highly respected body founded by my noble friend. I agree wholeheartedly with the view expressed by John O’Connell, the chief executive, who said:

“It’s still not too late for the chancellor to abandon plans to increase taxes and instead focus her fiscal policy on bringing down the spiralling cost of government”.


The Institute of Director’s chief economist, Anna Leach, has accurately stated:

“Business leaders are worn out from the past year’s rollercoaster of uncertainty and tax increases”.


Data provided by the IoD suggests that the Employment Rights Bill could lead to the loss of 326,000 jobs, which would mean an increase in welfare payments of £521 million, 108,000 years of lost output and an £8.3 billion hit to the economy. The British Retail Consortium has supported the view of the Resolution Foundation that the Government’s continuing persistence in granting day-one rights will inhibit hiring, and is rightly concerned that guaranteed hours will make it harder for retailers to offer local, flexible and part-time jobs.

I welcome the Government’s commitment to spend more on defence, although the target of 3% during the next Parliament is too little, too late. If we were to increase defence spending to 3%, by 2029-30 we would be spending some £90 billion on defence, and it is deeply depressing that OBR forecasts now suggest that our annual debt bill will be 45% higher than that, at £130 billion, in that fiscal year.

The previous Government were not successful in cutting the size of the state and abolishing unnecessary quangos, but the new Government have made the position worse. I urge the Government to stop trying to blame the economic downturn on Brexit and instead belatedly to start to take more of the potential upside from us taking back control over our trade policy and regulatory regime. The chief executive of Eisai, the Japanese pharmaceutical manufacturer, whom I have known for 40 years, has told me that he was not happy at having to duplicate his licences, be supervised by both the MHRA and the EMA, and increase capital investment in Europe and the UK following Brexit, but that if we can now reduce the emphasis that we place on the precautionary principle, adopt a less cumbersome regulatory regime based on common-law principles and revert to behaving more like the rest of the anglosphere, then this country will secure and retain its place as the best country in the world for a life sciences company such as his to research and develop, trial, manufacture and distribute new treatments. I wish the noble Lord, Lord Eatwell, for whom I have the highest respect, could at least acknowledge the upside of Brexit.

Our incredibly high energy costs are an existential threat to our remaining industrial base. Can the Minister confirm that the Government will persuade the Secretary of State for Energy Security that it is essential to remove renewable subsidies from electricity bills now, make plans urgently to bring forward and commercialise more small nuclear technologies, and provide funding to GB Nuclear on the same basis as to GB Energy? Can he also confirm that he will seriously consider a belated attempt to retain some non-doms, such as the sensible proposal in The Prosperity Package by the Adam Smith Institute, which has been endorsed by his noble friend Lord Mendelsohn? So many of those who have been creating wealth and jobs have left or are actively considering leaving the country. They are leaving in droves, as this country is becoming an increasingly unattractive place for them to live and invest in.