Middle East: Economic Update

Lord Londesborough Excerpts

Tuesday 28th April 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I do not actually have with me the figure of the number of days of gas storage. I apologise if I should have that figure with me: I am more than happy to find it and to write to the noble Lord.

[Lord Londesborough (CB)]

My Lords, as a fair-minded Cross-Bencher, I acknowledge that there have been some encouraging signs in the first quarter, particularly GDP growth and employment in February. But I also recall that we had a brief fireworks display in Q1 last year, followed by a flatlining of the economy throughout H2. Now, as we know, as a result of the war in Iran, both the IMF and the OECD have marked down the UK’s employment forecast by more than any other G7 economy. So I hope the Government will be true to their pledge to be the fastest-growing economy in the G7—noble Lords will remember that pledge—by doing all they can to prove those forecasts wrong: none more so than for our SMEs, as we have heard, particularly our start-ups and scale-ups, which are swimming against the tide of rising taxes and increasing costs. What meaningful encouragement are the Government offering our SMEs, specifically to stimulate growth activity, investment and output, if we are to believe in this growth mission?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am very grateful to the noble Lord for his question. I have much experience of his fair-minded Cross-Bencher activities, and I am always grateful to him for his comments. He is absolutely right that there was encouraging economic news last week. As I said, the latest GDP figures show the economy grew faster than expected in the three months to February, and that growth for the three months to January was upgraded. He is obviously also right to say that Iran now presents serious challenges for our economy, and for all global economies. He is also absolutely right to say that it is important that we beat the forecasts. We have beaten the forecasts before: we beat them last year and I am confident we will be able to do so again.

We must continue to bear down on inflation and to build our energy security, both of which we have discussed already. Of course, we must continue with our growth plan. We must continue investing in growth-enhancing capital, transport and housing, for example, with record investment in R&D. We must continue reforming the planning system, to get Britain building; we must continue deepening our economic relationship with the European Union; we must make sure we have the fastest adoption of AI in the G7, which we have set as an objective; and we must deliver an effective regional growth strategy, so that growth and the increase in living standards are felt throughout our country.