Economic and Taxation Policies: Jobs, Growth and Prosperity

Baroness Stedman-Scott Excerpts

Thursday 13th November 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Stedman-Scott (Con)]

My Lords, the forthcoming Budget due on 26 November is perhaps the most anticipated that I can remember. We have had a summer of speculation, an autumn of uncertainty, and now, as winter approaches, we know what is coming—tax rises—and we know this is not an inevitability; it is a political choice. It is the choice of a Chancellor who has deliberately decided not to tackle the soaring welfare bill and in doing so has failed to confront the deeper question of how we restore the value of work in our society. Once again, rather than make the structural reforms our economy so desperately needs, this Government reach for the taxpayer’s wallet, but we cannot tax our way to prosperity. We cannot grow an economy by burdening those who work, create and invest, while allowing the welfare budget to expand unchecked. The cost of economic activity through ill health is now estimated at £212 billion a year, and around 235,000 people aged 25 and under are claiming long-term sickness benefits, many citing mental health. Some 5,000 people a day are moving on to sickness benefits, and this represents not only a fiscal challenge but a moral one—the loss of potential, of dignity, of contribution. If we are serious about jobs, growth and prosperity, this is where our focus must lie.

A welfare system that traps people rather than supports them is not compassionate; it is corrosive. Yet, too often, welfare policy has become morally untouchable. Just because a policy is founded on noble intentions, compassion, equity and justice does not mean it should be immune from scrutiny. In fact, the more morally appealing a policy appears, the more resistant it becomes to critique, creating a dangerous blind spot.

The welfare bill is now one of the greatest barriers to economic renewal, not simply because of its size but because of what it represents: a failure to match compassion with accountability and support with expectation. Until we confront that reality, we will continue to balance the books not through reform but through ever higher taxes on those already doing their bit. The Government should be clear why value for money considerations and reducing inefficiency are not explicit objectives.

My noble friend Lord Young of Cookham has already referred to the Timms review’s terms of reference, but it is important PIP is fair and fit for the future, and something that we as a country can afford. It is a deliberate exclusion that raises serious questions about priorities. The Government should also confirm that improving outcomes and securing better value for the taxpayer remain central to the design and delivery of disability benefits, and commit to publishing an implementation plan with clear, measurable efficiency gains.

This debate matters. I congratulate my noble friend Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell on securing it. His book is a good one and I can recommend it—in fact, because I am feeling a little bit generous, I am very happy to buy a copy for the noble Lord, Lord Livermore. I am sure he will enjoy every page.

Can the Minister explain why value for money considerations and reducing inefficiency are not explicit objectives, and will the Government confirm that improving outcomes and securing better value for the taxpayer remain central to the design and administration of disability benefits, and commit to publish an implementation plan with measurable efficiency gains?

I spent 34 years helping unemployed people with every problem in the book get back to work. It can be done, but it needs to be against a backdrop of the country’s good economic performance. I leave you with this: you cannot make a poor man rich by making a rich man poor, and you cannot help the wage-earner by punishing the wage-payer.