Financial Services: Mansion House Speech

Debate between Lord Livermore and Lord Liddle

Thursday 21st November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am very grateful to the noble Lord. It will not surprise anyone to hear that I agree with the sentiment behind his question. He is right that you cannot undo 14 years of damage in one Budget. Our economic strategy is based on the principles of stability, investment and reform; the Budget was about restoring stability to the public finances and therefore stability to the economy, which is the essential underpinning of any growth strategy. The Budget also talked about increasing levels of public investment in our economy; these Mansion House reforms are part of increasing private investment into our economy. The noble Lord is correct that there will be lags in that investment, but we very much hope to see growth coming through in due course.

[Lord Liddle (Lab)]

My Lords, I very much welcome the proposals on pension funds that the Chancellor has put forward. However, I have some sympathies with what the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer, said about City regulation. We must face the fact that, when the financial crisis hit us in 2008, because of the prudence of Gordon Brown as Chancellor of the Exchequer the debt to GDP ratio was less than 40%, whereas under the Conservatives over the last 14 years it has reached 100%. The chances of us being able to launch a massive rescue operation of banks in the way that Gordon Brown did with such success in 2008 will be constrained by that fact. What is the Minister’s judgment of that?

Secondly, what are the Government’s plans to improve access to finance for small and growing firms, particularly those outside London and the south-east? Lots of studies have demonstrated that growing firms find access to capital difficult. The British Business Bank is one response to that. Are the Government proposing to upscale it? That area is a key constraint on UK growth.

[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.

Fiscal Rules

Debate between Lord Livermore and Lord Liddle

Tuesday 29th October 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am not aware that the Government have any such plans, but I hope that tomorrow’s Budget will include good news for Wales.

[Lord Liddle (Lab)]

My Lords, the new policy on investment that has been announced will be widely welcomed on this side of the House as giving an opportunity for the public sector, in partnership with the private sector, to raise the dismal rate of growth that we experienced under the last Government. Will my noble friend not let noble Lords opposite get away with the total unsustainability of their fiscal plan to cut public investment from 2.6% of GDP to 1.9%, which would have had disastrous consequences for growth and public services?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am extremely grateful to my noble friend for that point and for his support for what we have set out. He is absolutely right to draw attention to the record we inherited. As he says, the UK lags behind every other G7 country on business investment as a share of our economy, and the plans we inherited from the previous Government would have seen public sector investment decline to the lowest level in over 10 years. Nothing we have heard so far today suggests that they think there is anything wrong with that.

My noble friend also drew attention to the importance of partnership with the private sector. To rebuild our country, it is vital that we increase investment in partnership with the private sector. As he says, we must first create the conditions for the private sector to invest by stabilising our economy and introducing reforms to things such as planning and skills. The Government must invest alongside business, through expert bodies such as the new national wealth fund, to catalyse more private sector money. As we have been discussing today, there is also a significant role for public investment to play.