Middle East: Economic Response

Lord Bellingham Excerpts

Monday 1st June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

As the noble Baroness will know, as she is far more expert in these matters than I am, in order to support farmers and the freight industry we have cut duty on red diesel. Red diesel costs almost doubled at their peak and are now around 50% higher than their pre-crisis levels, so the Government are going further, cutting the duty rate on red diesel by over one-third, reducing the rate to its lowest level for over 20 years. This takes effect from 15 June and remains in place until the end of 2026. The noble Baroness will also know that we have cut regular fuel duty by 5p, and diesel will be 11p per litre cheaper throughout 2026 than it would have been compared to plans inherited from the previous Government.

[Lord Bellingham (Con)]

The Minister said that the UK was “too exposed to energy imports”, and he mentioned that he was therefore keen to see the opening of the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields. Many of us are encouraged by what he said, but can he now commit to following Norway’s example and commit the Government to going ahead and opening further North Sea oil and gas fields so as to further improve our energy security?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

Just to be clear, I said that oil and gas production in the North Sea is an important and valuable resource, and I support its continued use. I did not comment on Jackdaw and Rosebank specifically because I am not able to do so at this point, but the noble Lord will know that we are harnessing our domestic supply by managing existing fields for their entire lifetime, including by allowing tiebacks for those fields to ensure that they remain viable. I believe that when the Chancellor set out those measures in advance of legislation, we published further details on tiebacks, which external analysis has predicted could result in tens of millions more barrels of oil being available for UK supply. The announcement that we made gives industry greater clarity to support investment in these projects and maximise supply from our own existing sites in order to support our energy security, and the Government will legislate in due course to introduce these changes.

Higher Earners: Emigration

Lord Bellingham Excerpts

Thursday 21st May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)]

My Lords—

[Lord Bellingham (Con)]

My Lords—

[Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, it is the turn of the Cross Benches.

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

This Government have been very clear that we will close down any tax loopholes that we can while ensuring that the tax regime remains highly competitive. That is exactly what we are doing.

[Lord Bellingham (Con)]

The Minister talked about celebrating entrepreneurs and business creation. According to City A.M., nearly 6,000 British business owners have quit the UK over the past two years. Why is this?

VAT Relief: Business Donations

Lord Bellingham Excerpts

Tuesday 19th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

For the avoidance of doubt, I was not tempted to go down that path. Having heard from my noble friend, I am even less tempted to do so than I was before.

[Lord Bellingham (Con)]

My Lords, will the Minister say something about the role of supermarkets in helping food banks?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

This tax relief is designed to help businesses donate surplus food to social supermarkets. This Government are dedicated to reducing reliance on food banks, which is exactly why we are taking the measures on child poverty that I previously described.

Small Businesses: VAT Threshold

Lord Bellingham Excerpts

Thursday 5th March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

In a previous answer, I discussed the issues surrounding changing the threshold. The noble Baroness may know that the Windsor Framework imposes an upper limit of just over £90,000 on the threshold in Northern Ireland. The Windsor Framework is relevant by extension to the Government’s decisions in Great Britain too, so there are limitations to what we can do. She talked about the other decisions that the Government have taken, which she has consistently opposed—for example, raising the minimum wage. However, it is only because of these decisions that the Chancellor was able to tell Parliament, the day before yesterday, that living standards are now rising, having fallen under the previous Government, and that by the next election people will be £1,000 a year better off.

[Lord Bellingham (Con)]

My Lords, small businesses are the key driver for creating jobs and employment. Can the Minister confirm that unemployment is now 5.6%—higher than during the Covid pandemic—while youth unemployment is 15.9%? What is going wrong? The Minister spent 18 months blaming the £22 billion black hole and everyone from Liz Truss to Boris—he even blamed the Tories for repealing the corn laws. When will he take responsibility for what is going wrong?

Rules on Duty-Free Goods

Lord Bellingham Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd October 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Lord for his question. I will clarify this for him. The original Question asked about flights from Belfast to the European Union, so that is what this Question is about. I will be very clear. If we have duty-free, we have to have allowances. If we have allowances, we have to have checks and enforcement. If we have checks, we have to have border infrastructure, and border infra- structure is contrary to the Windsor Framework and the Good Friday agreement.

[Lord Bellingham (Con)]

My Lords, one of the key outcomes of the Windsor Framework was the plan for green lanes for goods leaving the UK but staying in Northern Ireland rather than being transported to the Republic. Can the Minister tell the House what progress has been made on the introduction of those green lanes?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

This may have been another of the fantasies that people had about certain Brexit outcomes rather than reflecting reality. What we have ended up with—I pay tribute to the previous Government for negotiating this—is the Windsor Framework, which, as I said, is the best workable solution to Northern Ireland’s unique circumstances. We absolutely support the implementation of the Windsor Framework.

Making Tax Digital

Lord Bellingham Excerpts

Wednesday 17th September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

It may surprise the noble Baroness to hear that I absolutely agree. As part of our regulation action plan, we committed to reducing the regulatory burden on businesses by 25%. We must have a benchmark from which we reduce that burden. We are engaged in doing that, and, as I said, I completely agree with the noble Baroness.

[Lord Bellingham (Con)]

On the shadow Minister’s point about the impact assessment, the Government’s own impact assessment of the Employment Rights Bill puts the costs at £5 billion extra. How is that going to help the Government’s growth agenda?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

We have an extensive growth agenda, not least in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill that we talked about yesterday, and I hope all noble Lords will help that to move swiftly through the House.

Winter Fuel Payment

Lord Bellingham Excerpts

Tuesday 10th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

My noble friend is obviously right to point out that the party opposite has consistently criticised the public sector pay rises that we have given.

[Lord Bellingham (Con)]

My Lords, following on from the question asked by the right reverend Prelate, I hope that the Minister is aware that roughly 750,000 pensioners on pension credit and therefore eligible for the winter fuel allowance applied for it last winter but have not yet had it. Will he look at this problem?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I will look at that and discuss it with my noble friend Lady Sherlock.

British Steel

Lord Bellingham Excerpts

Thursday 24th April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gustafsson (Lab)]

A significant part of the ongoing steel strategy will be thinking about how the provisioning of energy will be created for the long term as a reliable and sustainable source. That will form part of the long-term steel strategy plan that will be coming out. That will include provisions about how or whether it will appropriate to use hydrogen as part of that consideration.

[Lord Bellingham (Con)]

My Lords, will the Minister find time today to look at the comments by one of the UK’s foremost energy experts, Simon French of Panmure Liberum, who recently pointed out that when the UK imports oil, gas and coking coal rather than relying on domestic sources the resulting carbon emissions are a staggering four times as high? Therefore, will she commit now to ensuring that the Government look very urgently at opening up coking mines in this country and, indeed, oil and gas fields in the North Sea?

[Baroness Gustafsson (Lab)]

There is an immediate and a long-term challenge here. The immediate-term one is working to make sure that British Steel has the raw materials that it needs to be able to keep those blast furnaces running. The UK does not have any operational coke ovens, so we are unable to change domestically mined coal into the coke that is required for blast furnaces. This means we are required to import it. There have been questions about whether we can be thinking about a Cumbria development to be able to source some of that, and it has been explored, but the current assessment is that coal from the Whitehaven mine, for example, has too high a sulphur content for British Steel’s needs.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Gustafsson (Lab)]

I would be more than happy to follow up specifically in that regard.

[Lord Bellingham (Con)]

My Lords, can I just push the Minister on the last part of my question? She answered my point about coking coal production in the UK, but not oil and gas fields in the North Sea. Is it now the Government’s intention to pursue vigorously the production in those fields in the North Sea, including Rosebank?

[Baroness Gustafsson (Lab)]

I am more than happy to follow up specifically on that matter with you separately.

Spring Statement

Lord Bellingham Excerpts

Thursday 27th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

They are not, and I am sure that the policies are fully in line with all equality laws, because that would have been signed up to before the policies were published. On what we are doing for working people, we saw yesterday that wages are now rising faster than prices, and that in this Parliament living standards will rise at twice the rate they did in the previous Parliament.

[Lord Bellingham (Con)]

During the Minister’s main response, he mentioned small businesses, SMEs, job creation and deregulation a number of times. Can he give the House the names of any SMEs that support the Employment Rights Bill?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

No, I do not have a full list of all SMEs in front of me, and I am not sure that that is a sensible question to ask me, if I am honest. Everyone is clear that we have a very clear small business strategy. We are helping small businesses to expand and grow, and to trade with the European Union.

Carbon Border Taxes

Lord Bellingham Excerpts

Wednesday 12th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

Fertiliser production in the UK is subject to carbon pricing under the UK Emissions Trading Scheme. A UK CBAM will ensure that fertiliser produced overseas faces a comparable carbon price to equivalent goods produced in the UK. Most UK agricultural prices are a function of a range of international factors and the Government do not expect a CBAM on fertiliser to put UK farmers at a competitive disadvantage.

[Lord Bellingham (Con)]

My Lords, I declare an interest in this subject. Further to the question asked by the noble Earl, Lord Devon, can the Minister say whether the Government have made any assessment at all of the impact that this could have on our balance of payments?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I do not think that that is relevant to this policy. Most of our trade in food is with the EU, and the EU has a similar scheme to ours.