Queen’s Speech

Lord Sharpe of Epsom Excerpts

Wednesday 12th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, I also congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Blake of Leeds, and my noble friend Lord Lebedev on their maiden speeches and wish the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Portsmouth the very best in his retirement.

I am delighted that the gracious Speech focused so much attention on rebuilding and improving all parts of the United Kingdom in the wake of the pandemic. The latest GDP figures are very encouraging, and it is good to see the majority of commentators revising up their forecasts, but, as Bobby Kennedy famously noted, in isolation, GDP measures are somewhat crude. As he said,

“it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile”,

so it is also very encouraging to see the Government commit to addressing so many other areas which do make life worth while, particularly in education, health and the environment.

If there is a positive to take from the pandemic, it is that it has accelerated innovation in the world of work. I particularly welcome the Prime Minister’s commitment to harness, in his words, the “extraordinary spirit” that has been on display, particularly with regard to our world-leading vaccine development and rollout programme. I confess that, before the pandemic, I may have been somewhat cynical about the Government’s abilities in this area, but having seen the rollout, I am persuaded that, when carefully managed and thought through, government can play a collaborative role with science and industry. I therefore welcome the fact that R&D spending is now at its highest level in four decades. It is perfectly possible to argue that this level of spending has been thoroughly stress-tested in the pandemic and, obviously, lessons have been learned, but I also welcome the fact that the economic benefits of this spending are clearly laid out: on average, every pound of government spending leverages an additional £2 of private investment and delivers £7 of net benefits. Those numbers need to be carefully monitored and not allowed to slip, but there are strong grounds for optimism that this government commitment will deliver.

I therefore also welcome the commitment to establish the advanced research and invention agency. I listened very carefully to the noble Lord, Lord Eatwell, on this subject, but I think that international examples of similar organisations, including in the US, more than validate this initiative. It is also appropriate that the Government maintain an arm’s-length process, set a high tolerance of failure and, more generally, launch a review of business bureaucracy to advise on practical solutions to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy.

My final point relates to bureaucracy and its bedfellow, regulation. I note that the Government are committed to improving regulation—indeed, regulators will be getting new powers through this legislative programme, including Ofcom, particularly in relation to online activity. I was particularly pleased to read that the Prime Minister has established a Better Regulation Cabinet Committee, chaired by the Chancellor, to ensure that the Government drive through an ambitious programme of reform that enables and supports growth and innovation across the economy. As we have now left the EU, that is both welcome and necessary, and there are many obvious improvements that can and should be made to take into account this country’s particular areas of interest and skills.

We need to return to two issues that were given a lengthy airing in your Lordships’ House during the passage of the recent Financial Services Bill. First, improving regulation also requires ensuring that the regulators themselves are properly resourced, both with money and personnel, particularly in the area of financial markets. Since the passage of that Bill, there have been more failures. I do not mean business failures, which are inevitable and should be tolerated, as the advanced research and invention agency will do, but failures to perform basic regulatory functions appropriately. There have been far too many of these and I therefore hope that my noble friend will encourage and indeed exhort the Cabinet committee to instigate a thorough overhaul. These agencies are responsible for the foundations of global Britain’s future success.

To that end, I return to a theme explored by my noble friends Lord Hunt of Wirral and Lord Trenchard, among others: that our regulators must have regard to our global competitiveness. This is not an argument for less regulation, but for nimble, topical and agile regulation that maintains and, in some cases, re-establishes our place as a global exemplar. I hope the Cabinet committee will also commit to that.