Economic and Taxation Policies: Jobs, Growth and Prosperity

Baroness Meyer Excerpts

Thursday 13th November 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Meyer (Con)]

My Lords, being 30th in the list is a problem, as I am bound to repeat what many noble Lords sitting on my Benches have said. But sometimes things need to be repeated time and time again for them to sink in, and this is particularly so when you are facing an audience that does not want to hear the chorus of voices expressing their concern.

I am not talking just to people sitting on my Benches but to allies and friends of the Labour Party. Take Sir Tony Blair, who has warned that the workers’ rights Bill will erode business confidence and ultimately undermine growth. Labour backer John Caudwell recently said that it will make Britain “less investable”. Sir Martin Sorrell and an array of major business leaders, SMEs, entrepreneurs and start-ups all echoed this view and urged the Government to reconsider.

The Government speak of delivering growth, but the facts are there. After only one year, growth has fallen to nearly 0%, the budget deficit is up, public debt is the second highest on record, unemployment is up, productivity is down and inflation is up. What is the Government’s answer? It is more taxes. No wonder confidence has collapsed. Apart from trade unions and their supporters, no one seems to support the workers’ rights Bill. Why? Anyone who understands economics realises that, once you tax jobs, you end up with fewer jobs. If you tax success, you kill aspiration. Tax wealth and the wealth leaves. We should reward entrepreneurs and encourage them to invest, not punish them and drive them into the welcoming arms of Italy and the Middle East.

Non-doms are not freeloaders; they have paid billions in taxes, invested in British businesses, created jobs and supported philanthropy—yet they are being driven away. Redistribution of wealth may sound very virtuous, but it is ideology, not economics. The Laffer curve is not a theory but a warning; beyond a certain point, higher taxes reduce revenue because people simply stop working and investing or they move elsewhere. We are there—Labour is draining the lifeblood of our economy, taking more from a shrinking number of taxpayers to fund an ever-growing number of dependants. This is not fairness but folly. You cannot redistribute prosperity if you are destroying it in the first place.

Will the Minister consider a flat tax model on the Italian system, as laid out so clearly by the noble Lord, Lord Elliott, to attract investment and drive growth? Does the Minister accept that constant tax rises are driving away the very entrepreneurs and investors on whom the economy grows? I conclude by congratulating the noble Lord on tabling this important debate and giving us an excellent opening speech. I am surprised to see how few on the opposite Benches are speaking—maybe because they cannot actually defend their policy.