Growing the UK Economy

Debate between Lord Livermore and Baroness Penn

Monday 3rd February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I agree with the noble Baroness’s analysis, and we are absolutely dedicated to resetting our relationship with the EU, which is clearly our biggest trading partner. Following their meeting in Brussels in October, the Prime Minister and the President of the Commission agreed to strengthen the relationship between the UK and the EU, and last month at a Eurogroup meeting of EU Finance Ministers, the first to be attended by a UK Chancellor since Brexit, the Chancellor set out the need for a closer UK-EU economic relationship based on trust, mutual respect and pragmatism. The Chancellor has also said that she is absolutely willing to consider the customs partnership that the noble Baroness refers to. The noble Baroness is also right about speed: we recognise that delivering new agreements will take time, but we are ambitious, we have clear priorities and we want to move forward at pace.

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

My Lords, I am glad the Minister found something else to agree with my noble friend Lady Neville-Rolfe on: the importance of affordable energy for growth. Can the Minister therefore clarify whether the Government endorse the more than doubling of the carbon price in the next five years, which is needed to achieve and deliver another of the Government’s missions—that of clean power by 2030—as set out in the National Energy System Operator report?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness for that question. I will leave it to my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for DESNZ to bring forward the Government’s response in that area.

Agricultural and Business Property Reliefs: OBR Costing

Debate between Lord Livermore and Baroness Penn

Monday 27th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I absolutely agree with everything that the noble Lord said. Last week’s publication from the OBR does not contain any new information about its view on the fiscal impact of this policy; it remains the same as it set out in its Economic and Fiscal Outlook for the 2024 Budget. The noble Lord’s question relates to that of the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering. The OBR described this as “highly uncertain” because such a wide range of tax planning options are available to respond to this policy change, including being able to pass on up to £3 million tax-free. The noble Lord was also correct to say that the current system, particularly the extent to which it drives up land prices, has locked out young farmers from being able to own property—and them being able to do so is undoubtedly a good thing.

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

My Lords, the costings we have seen for this policy tend to put APR and BPR together. Can the Minister provide figures for the effects of each separately?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

They have been costed jointly at £0.5 billion, as the noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh of Pickering, said.

Financial Services: Mansion House Speech

Debate between Lord Livermore and Baroness Penn

Thursday 21st November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am grateful to my noble friend for his points. In the letter that the Chancellor sent to the chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority, she made it very clear that the importance of competition, growth and risk-taking is to be seen in the context of its regulatory duties. She said that:

“The financial services regulators are key to driving forward”


growth;

“we must have proportionate, effective regulation that allows firms of all sizes to compete, innovate and grow, creates a stable, attractive environment which encourages businesses to establish and expand in the UK, and adequately protects consumers”.


She recognises that there are trade-offs to be made, but she would like to see a greater emphasis on achieving that secondary growth objective.

On supporting small businesses and their access to finance, my noble friend is absolutely right that, to date, the UK has been a very good place to start a business but a less good place to scale one, and access to capital is a vital part of improving that. He mentions the British Business Bank, which is incredibly important; it has been very successful in providing some of that finance, and we need to go further. Colleagues in the Department for Business and Trade will also be coming forward with proposals to help small businesses scale and grow.

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

My Lords, I welcome the inclusion in the Statement of work with tech platforms and telco networks to tackle fraud. Can the Minister confirm whether that work is just the implementation of the charter, launched about a year ago under the previous Government, on voluntary action from those companies, or whether it will move towards mandatory action if sufficient progress is not made? Can he also update the House on the implementation of the measures in the Online Safety Act to tackle fraud online?

Budget: Taxes and Borrowing

Debate between Lord Livermore and Baroness Penn

Monday 4th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Livermore) (Lab)]

My Lords, the Budget raises taxes by £40 billion as we repair the public finances and rebuild our public services. Borrowing falls from 4.5% of GDP this year to 2.1% of GDP by the end of the forecast. The current budget moves into surplus from 2027-28, ensuring that we do not borrow to fund day-to-day spending.

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

My Lords, after delivering the biggest tax-raising Budget on record, the Chancellor rightly said at the weekend that she was wrong to rule out those tax rises ahead of the election. She also said that this Budget

“wiped the slate clean … set the spending envelope for the remainder of this Parliament”,

and that

“we don’t need to increase taxes further”.

Will the Minister repeat the Chancellor’s reassurances today and rule out any further tax rises in future Budgets, or should we not believe what the Chancellor has said this time round either?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

We had to take some very difficult decisions in the Budget. They were the right decisions to clear up the mess that we inherited from the party opposite, to rebuild the NHS after years of neglect, to choose investment and not decline, and to keep our promises to working people. However, the noble Baroness is absolutely right and of course I agree with what the Chancellor said. This was a very significant Budget, because of the need to repair the public finances and rebuild our public services simultaneously. We have now wiped the slate clean, meaning we never have to do a Budget like this again. The noble Baroness asks about tax, and I point out that we have kept every single promise that we made on tax. Her Government, when she was a Treasury Minister, froze income tax thresholds, costing working people nearly £30 billion. We could have extended that but we chose not to.