Regional Growth

Lord Bach Excerpts

Thursday 5th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Lord for his support and for what he says. He knows much more about that region than I do. He will know that in the previous Budget, we funded the trans-Pennine upgrade for the work that was under way. We gave a further £2.1 billion investment for West Yorkshire yesterday, which will deliver for the West Yorkshire mass transit system, linking up Bradford, Kirklees, Calderdale, Wakefield, Pudsey and Leeds. I hope that goes some way towards what he is asking for. There will be further transport announcements in the spending review next week. I look forward to debating those then.

[Lord Bach (Lab)]

My Lords, I must apologise to the House and my noble friend the Minister for being a couple of minutes late for the start of the Statement. I hope that the House will forgive me; it is the first time that I have done that.

I want to ask the Minister about the east Midlands. We have felt very left out over many years in that important part of England, but I was delighted by yesterday’s announcement as it affects transport links between the two great cities of Nottingham and Derby. That is a great plus which we are very pleased about. Now for my slight gripe: I spring from Leicestershire, and we are feeling slightly left out, not from yesterday’s announcements but because, generally, Governments, and particularly the previous one, have failed to do anything to help in this way in the east Midlands and around Leicester in particular. Can the Minister and his colleagues consider that when future decisions are made?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am very grateful to my noble friend. Even though he was late, I was very happy for him to contribute when he was welcoming what we have done, for which I am grateful; I was less keen once he started with his gripe. We have pledged £2 billion of additional investment in the East Midlands to develop the Trent Arc, linking Derby and Nottingham to create tens of thousands of new jobs and homes, and to connect Infinity Park Investment zone and the East Midlands Freeport with sites including Ratcliffe-on-Soar clean energy and advanced manufacturing and East Midlands Intermodal Park—home of Toyota in the region. I absolutely hear what he says about Leicester; I will take that back and hopefully will have more good news for him in the spending review next week.

Autumn Budget 2024

Lord Bach Excerpts

Monday 11th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bach (Lab)]

My Lords, in many years as a Member of this House, I have never dreamed of speaking in a Budget debate. Why have I changed my mind today? I want to say a few words because this Budget springs from a view of the world—an approach, or a political philosophy, if that does not sound too grand—that, rightly or wrongly, happens to fit in with my own beliefs or, as some opposite might say, my prejudices.

I am particularly excited by its emphasis on stability, combined with its emphasis on investment and growth—getting that balance right is everything. I believe this Budget succeeds here. It does not revert to austerity but is determined to move forward while protecting those who have the least. Its insistence on improving our desperate public services is an essential part of that crucial balance, which has been found successfully by the Chancellor. That balance has been difficult this year, given the economic legacy bequeathed by the last Government. They will have to understand that that legacy is widely and correctly criticised, and it explains the general election result to an important extent. My gentle advice to the Opposition is to stop defending their record, stop beating their heads against a brick wall and move on as fast as they possibly can.

Austerity as a policy is, thankfully, dropped. It did untold harm. I was a police and crime commissioner for five years and, every working day, I saw the effect of austerity on police numbers and on an excellent force’s ability to do the job it wanted to do. Neighbourhood policing suffered badly, and it followed, like night follows day, that anti-social behaviour and other crimes flourished. Austerity was a disaster for the poorest and most vulnerable—not least for the young, with the inevitable closure of youth clubs and other provision.

I am delighted by the plan set out in the Red Book for visible neighbourhood policing to be boosted by 13,000 neighbourhood officers and PCSOs. My concern today—here I remind the House of my declared interest as the chair of the board of trustees of the Leicester law centre—is about law centres and advice centres generally, which give vital legal advice to those who need it at the time that they need it. Given the effective destruction of social welfare law legal aid over the last 14 years, they will struggle to find the increase in employers’ national insurance. That advice, if given, can save money for the state, as well as protecting people’s lives, of course. Although I personally understand the importance of, and support, raising employers’ national insurance as a way of moving forward, I invite my noble friend to look again, if possible, at the issue as it affects the people I have referred to.

I repeat how proud I am of this Budget. I congratulate the Government on having presented a Budget that is both sensible and radical, and that represents the best hope for the future of our country.