Hospitality Industry: VAT
Debate between Lord Watts and Lord Pitt-Watson(2 weeks ago)
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Lord Pitt-Watson (Lab)
That is a really good question that mayors and local authorities around the country will have to think about—how they make their towns attractive to tourists and nice places to come and visit and therefore support the hospitality industry and the wider community.
Lord Watts (Lab)
My Lords, does the Minister agree with me that everyone would like a tax cut? Any individual, company or sector will want tax cuts, but you have to be responsible. The Truss Government were not responsible and that set the bond markets off and caused a lot of the problems that we are experiencing now.
Lord Pitt-Watson (Lab)
I thank the noble Lord for that question. It brings me back to the fundamental question that we have to think about, which is that we can live only within our means. A VAT cut of 10 percentage points would cost £11 billion. That is about the same cost as the Royal Navy. We need to ask ourselves what the priorities will be. As we look to the Budget, I know that the Chancellor will be looking at absolutely everything, but I thought that benchmark might be helpful for your Lordships’ House.
United Kingdom: Business Competitiveness
Debate between Lord Watts and Lord Pitt-Watson(3 weeks, 6 days ago)
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Lord Pitt-Watson (Lab)
The noble Baroness is correct that 900,000 small businesses are protected from this. There are also protections for hiring people under 21 and apprentices under 25. But there is not a specific study of this, and the reason is because we view this as a system. People pay their tax and therefore we are able to do education, transport and all those other services. Would we want that tax to be lower? Absolutely, but we will do it in a way that balances the books and maintains the fiscal discipline to which this Government are committed.
Lord Watts (Lab)
My Lords, is it not the case that these tax increases are required only because the last Government left us with a £22 billion deficit and hollowed out public services with their policies over many years? Is it not about time they apologise rather than criticise?
Lord Pitt-Watson (Lab)
I thank the noble Lord for that question. I have been trying to stay in the spirit of our new Prime Minister and to reach the greatest cross-party consensus that we can on this. What the Chancellor and the Prime Minister have said about being really careful about business costs, and making sure that business stays competitive, takes us some way in that direction. But every businessperson will tell you that you need to balance the books, and the comment from my Benches suggested that perhaps, three years ago, that was not taking place.