King’s Speech (4th Day)

Lord McNicol of West Kilbride Excerpts

Monday 22nd July 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord McNicol of West Kilbride (Lab)]

My Lords, I will focus the short time I have on one of the starkest areas of contrast between the priorities of this new Labour Government as set out in the gracious Speech and those of the previous 14 years.

Contained within the first few lines of the King’s Speech briefing notes were the words:

“we will create a new industrial strategy”.

This industrial strategy has the opportunity to help our country to grow, flourish and deliver. On 4 July, the country faced a crossroads. The British people chose economic stability, with a plan for growth and a Government that look to the future. Over the course of the King’s Speech a series of ambitious plans to improve every aspect of the country were laid out—from energy to education and skills, from transport to the NHS. However, all these plans rest entirely on economic reform and growth. Breaking down the barriers to opportunity does not rest on education alone. The causes of crime cannot be tackled without economic recovery that creates jobs and opportunities. Put simply, our country’s future rests on economic stability and security, and a long-term industrial strategy will be the backbone that runs through that stability and security.

Greg Clark’s industrial strategy of 2017 was inherently decent; it was his Government and the then Prime Minister’s failure to deliver on that strategy that truly let the country down. We now have an opportunity to reverse that: to deliver an industrial strategy that not only stabilises and grows our economy but directly improves the lives of working people. The damaging churn of instability that came with the last Government’s short-term economic decision-making allowed our economy to enter a downward spiral of insecurity, as was ably outlined by my noble friend Lord Wood of Anfield. Yes, there were headwinds, but the Government did little to subvert them, and in a number of cases made them worse.

With a long-term industrial strategy underpinned by a council of experts, growth can begin to support and develop Britain’s economy. Our excellent university and research institutions, often let down by underfunding, will now have the opportunity to push our country forward. Our professional services, often long-suffering from a stop-start, chop-change approach, will now have the stability to underpin their planning. Our manufacturing sector can at last grow beyond the short-term economic failures that often let it down. Our creative industries, as was touched on earlier, can thrive—driving innovation and investment across our country.

We must be proactive and invest highly in our national infrastructure. That was clear from the King’s Speech. Labour will merge the NIC and the IPA to create NISTA—the national infrastructure and service transformation authority—a powerful body to promote a more co-ordinated infrastructure decision-making system. Labour will kick-start this large-scale vision and solidify our maximum potential with these institutions.

After austerity, the UK’s productivity flatlined at little more than 100 GDP per hour—a rate that has hardly increased in the last 14 years, as my noble friend Lord Vallance of Balham noted in his maiden speech when opening the debate. If productivity had increased at the same rate as under the previous Labour Government, it would be 25% higher. Now that change has finally come, we have an opportunity to build a better and fairer Britain that works for all citizens, with Labour working in partnership with business and trade unions. Was it not refreshing to hear in my noble friend’s opening speech the talk about potential, ambition and hope, in stark contrast to the mean-spirited speech of the noble Lord, Lord Callanan, from the Opposition Benches? It appears he has learned little from the election or the electorate.