"My Lords, that is exactly the sort of false choice that we need to guard against. We want to be clear that we spend the welfare budget well. That is why we have the Timms review on PIPs and why we have the Milburn review on NEETs and getting a …..." Lord Pitt-Watson - View Speech
"The Government’s commitment to the defence of this country is absolute. We have the third-highest absolute expenditure on defence among our allies. We will honour our NATO commitment of 3.5% by 2035. In direct answer to the question from the noble Lord, Lord Bellingham, we will set the target date …..." Lord Pitt-Watson - View Speech
"As I said, the 3% timing will be declared at the spending review. I do not want to do all the criticising of other parties, actually; I am trying to maintain a collegiate House. But I do remember, a couple of weeks ago, the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of …..." Lord Pitt-Watson - View Speech
"I completely agree with those statements. Let us recognise that in 2025 this Government committed to the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War, after years, as my noble friend pointed out, of decline. I hope I will have an opportunity to come back …..." Lord Pitt-Watson - View Speech
"That the Government have an absolute commitment to the defence of this nation; that we already have the third-highest absolute expenditure among our allies; that we will honour our NATO commitment of 3.5% by 2035 and set a target for 3% on defence at the spending review; and that in …..." Lord Pitt-Watson - View Speech
"I think the reference to private companies and what defence spending can do for the economy is very important. If I have my figures right, the additional investment we will be making will create 60,000 more jobs in the private sector. So we are aware of this important point and …..." Lord Pitt-Watson - View Speech
"I think I have made the Government’s position on that reasonably clear. Let us just look at the proposal we have, for example on housing benefit, from the party opposite to take £4 billion off the budget, which is something like £13.5 billion or £14 billion. Have we thought about …..." Lord Pitt-Watson - View Speech
"Yes. I would answer that by saying that £4.3 billion will be saved as a result of the biggest crackdown in a generation. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Agnew, for his passion on that when he stood at this Dispatch Box. We are responding to his call to take …..." Lord Pitt-Watson - View Speech
"My Lords, this Question about the Government’s interest bill is a really good one: £1 in every £10 of government money is now spent paying interest. There are three elements causing this. One is the overall level of borrowing, and consistent, disciplined fiscal rules that are kept to are, we …..." Lord Pitt-Watson - View Speech
"Overall fiscal discipline is the central question. Discipline is really important. The noble Baroness mentioned the moron premium. I do not know whether all noble Lords understand what that term refers to: it was a slight by an economist describing the behaviour of the team responsible for the September 2022 …..." Lord Pitt-Watson - View Speech