Cross-government Cost-cutting

Baroness Smith of Basildon Excerpts

Wednesday 21st December 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Basildon (Lab)]

My Lords, as I listened to the noble Lord, Lord Bird, I was reminded that on my desk is a form to renew my lapsed subscription to the Big Issue—I recommend it to colleagues; it is a lot easier than always paying for an individual copy. I was also reminded why he set it up in the first place. I recall talking to him as Charities and Third Sector Minister; I can tell him that I will leave this place and renew my subscription before Christmas.

The noble Lord said something that reminds us why that enterprise is so successful and why today’s debate is so important. His reference to the “miscarriage of common sense” is worth bearing in mind for future debates in your Lordships’ House and the work we do. He used the example of a woman about to lose her home, partly because life is too tough and too hard for her. All of us will know people who are finding life too tough and too hard at the moment; whether they are waiting for an appointment or on the phone trying to get through to somebody to fix something—for a workman, a health appointment or whatever it is—life is getting harder and harder and the costs are getting greater and greater. If we can return to dealing with these miscarriages of common sense, I think we can get ourselves to a much better place.

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Bird, for allowing us to have this debate. It is Christmas and, we hope, the season of good will. Other than legislation, this is the last proper debate of Parliament this year. I am grateful to him both for his tone and for introducing the issue and allowing us to have this debate.

I also thank my noble friend Lord Watson of Wyre Forest, and I am genuinely pleased to welcome him to your Lordships’ House. His speech today was really important. He mentioned an apology but, for me, what was really thoughtful and deep in his speech was his commitment; he said that he will dedicate himself and do these things to make sure that these issues can be addressed. That is a marker of the man that he is. I have worked for him for many years, and I think he has shown today why he will be an asset to your Lordships’ House. I thank him for his speech.

Other speeches today have touched on crucial issues. In terms of the cuts we are seeing at the moment, the noble Lord, Lord Rees of Ludlow, emphasised the comments made by the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, and the noble Lord, Lord Bird, has mentioned them many times before. We talk about efficiency savings, but I have been hearing about them from this Government for so long that I wonder whether there are any savings left to be made, and why it went so wrong the first, second and third times that we are still trying to make efficiency savings. Building on the contribution from the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, the noble Lord, Lord Rees of Ludlow, said that they are too drastic to be efficiency savings and are in fact harmful.

The noble Lord, Lord Bird, has made the point many times before that spending cuts are not wise if the damage done is greater than the savings made. That should be our starting point; it brings us back to the point about common sense that he made at the start of his speech. If the effect of saving money is just to push the costs further along—the noble Lord, Lord Greenhalgh, is frowning at me; perhaps if he had been here for the rest of the debate, when other noble Lords were speaking, he would understand the points I am making—so that the costs are borne by others and have a greater social and financial impact, it is not really a saving. All of us want to see the best value for money we can get. Nobody is against genuine efficiency savings, but there comes a time when cutting into the bone is damaging to society and to our finances altogether.

We have had short speeches in this debate, and I think they have been all the more powerful for that. It remains for me only to say that I wish the whole House, our colleagues, the staff and everyone here a very merry Christmas, and again thank the noble Lord for the opportunity to have this debate today.