To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the economy, businesses and individuals of Ministerial comments which have been interpreted as suggesting forthcoming fiscal changes.
My Lords, the Chancellor will deliver the Budget tomorrow. She has rightly been clear with the country about the challenges we face and the need to deliver stability in the public finances. The Budget will build more resilient public finances to withstand global turbulence. It will reduce inflationary pressure in the economy and get the cost of living down. It will protect the NHS and public services from a return to austerity, and it will support growth and innovation. I will not comment on individual measures ahead of the Budget.
My Lords, I thank the Minister for his Answer. I have the upmost respect for him and believe he has acted commendably ahead of this Budget. He has been left in the position of having to issue constant denials by an approach from his colleagues which has damaged the economy, businesses and individuals. The Government are supposedly pro-business, pro-wealth creation and pro-growth. Other Ministers should not have been speculating and could have issued the kinds of robust denials the Minister has issued—much to the frustration of this House, I understand, and difficulty for himself. I would like to put on record that the communications have been shambolic and unnecessary.
Does the Minister agree with his right honourable friend the Secretary of State Peter Kyle, who said that we are in a “growth emergency”? If so, does he believe the policy change pitch rolling, constant kite flying, and policies that are withdrawn, brought back and then changed, help business or individuals planning their lives? Businesses have put investment on hold. Individuals have rushed to take money out of their pensions. I urge the Minister to urge his department in future not to engage in the same kind of speculation and kite flying ahead of Budgets that we have seen now.
I am most grateful to the noble Baroness for her question. As she knows, I am not going to comment on the ongoing Budget process, which will conclude tomorrow when the Chancellor delivers her Budget. She asked about growth. Growing the economy, and supporting businesses to create jobs and innovate, will be absolutely central to tomorrow’s Budget alongside protecting our NHS and public services from a return to austerity, improving the cost of living, doing what is necessary to protect families from high inflation and interest rates, and keeping debt under control.
My Lords, can the Minister tell us whether there are any significant measures in the Budget which have not been announced in advance or leaked? I would invite him to mention them to us, then he can have a clean slate.
My Lords, according to opinion polls, the public at large in this country think that Rishi Sunak was a better Chancellor of the Exchequer than the current one by a ratio of over 2:1. Does the Minister agree with the public at large?
Why do we not just compare their records? Where the previous Government delivered the slowest projected growth in the G7, growth in the first half of this year was the fastest in the G7. Where they presided over the worst Parliament ever for living standards, living standards have increased by 2.1% since the election. Where they oversaw the worst pay growth in a century, real wages grew more in the first 10 months of this Government than in the first 10 years of the previous Government. Where they continually cut capital spending and deterred investment, we are investing for the long term, with £120 billion extra over the next five years. We will continue to rebuild the economy after 14 years of failure from the party opposite.
My Lords, does the Minister consider that, apart from him, the days of trying to avoid government-induced market glitches are history? Do the Government and Chancellor think that markets will cease to be responsive or that investors will not go elsewhere as they have done for other countries exhibiting inconsistency?
As the noble Baroness knows, and as I think I have made clear, I am not going to comment on speculation ahead of the Budget, neither am I going to comment—I never do—on market movements.
My Lords, the Minister just said that the Budget tomorrow will be focused on protecting our NHS, reducing our national debt and improving the cost of living, which the Chancellor has said in one of her many scene-setters are the priorities of the British people. However, back in May, the Prime Minister said that the Government
“see security and defence not as one priority amongst many others but as the central organising principle of government – the first thought in the morning – the last at night. The pillar on which everything else stands or falls”.
Therefore, why is not defence one of the priorities, or has No. 11 not yet got the memo?
I know that the noble Lord thinks that his question is terribly clever, but it is perfectly possible for the Government to have ongoing priorities and for there to be specific priorities for this Budget. Those two things are not in any way contradictory. He will see what we have to say about defence in the Budget tomorrow; likewise, he will see what we have to say about the NHS, growing the economy and the cost of living.
Does my noble friend agree that the investment in Sheffield Forgemasters, and through BAE Systems in other aspects of defence procurement in Sheffield, has substantially improved the growth prospects, job prospects and prosperity of the people of my city?