Regional Growth

Debate between Baroness Coffey and Lord Livermore

Thursday 5th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am very grateful to my noble friend. Even though he was late, I was very happy for him to contribute when he was welcoming what we have done, for which I am grateful; I was less keen once he started with his gripe. We have pledged £2 billion of additional investment in the East Midlands to develop the Trent Arc, linking Derby and Nottingham to create tens of thousands of new jobs and homes, and to connect Infinity Park Investment zone and the East Midlands Freeport with sites including Ratcliffe-on-Soar clean energy and advanced manufacturing and East Midlands Intermodal Park—home of Toyota in the region. I absolutely hear what he says about Leicester; I will take that back and hopefully will have more good news for him in the spending review next week.

[Baroness Coffey (Con)]

My Lords, I am conscious that some of these announcements sound familiar—that is why I welcome them—but I was concerned that the Ely Junction upgrade was not mentioned. I hope for better news later next week. The Minister referred to the Green Book. I am very interested in this, because it was changed in December 2020 specifically to make sure that the Government’s strategic priorities—of which growth around the country was one—meant that a project’s BCR could be lower than for other projects, but that it would still be awarded and could go ahead.

Based on what the Minister has said, I am just wondering what further changes are going to be made in the Green Book on the back of the changes that have already happened, which have meant that projects could be deployed—that is why so many of these projects were announced two years ago. I would be grateful if he could explain this further. He talks about black holes and the like; of course, he knows that the OBR does not agree with that assessment. I would also be grateful if he could clarify the spending announcement, because he said that this would be new money. Is that on top of the £36 billion announced two years ago for many of the projects that were re-announced yesterday?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

The noble Baroness has asked a number of questions. When she stood up, I was hoping she was going to defend the Liz Truss mini-Budget that her party is trying to distance itself from today. I was disappointed that she did not do that. She did try to defend the £22 billion black hole, which is almost as enjoyable as defending the Liz Truss mini-Budget, and she will know that that is what we inherited.

The noble Baroness talked about re-announcements made yesterday. I will just make this point again: they are not re-announcements if actual money is put behind them. The previous Government announced many things and made lots of promises—the noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Rolfe, used the word “promises” lots of times—but they did not put a single penny behind any of those things. Not one penny or pound of any of those announcements was ever funded. We are now funding those announcements, so it is a very different situation.

The noble Baroness asked about the Green Book. As she knows, the Treasury Green Book sets out the guidance for public servants on how to assess the value for money of Government projects. We have heard from many regional mayors that previous Governments wielded the Green Book against them as an excuse to deny important investment in their areas. That is why in January the Chancellor ordered a review of the Green Book and its use to make sure that this Government give every region a fair hearing on investment. The purpose of the review is to determine whether the Green Book is being used to provide Ministers with fair, objective and transparent advice on public investment across the country, including outside London and the south-east of England. We will publish the full conclusions of that review next week alongside the spending review.

Spring Statement

Debate between Baroness Coffey and Lord Livermore

Thursday 27th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I agree with much of what the noble Lord says: supporting carers is very important. He talked about the spending review leaving them unsupported. Of course, the spending review has not yet taken place; it will take place in June of this year, and I think perhaps we should wait until the spending review reports to see what it has to say.

[Baroness Coffey (Con)]

Some 250,000 more people will be plunged into poverty, including 50,000 children. The OBR forecasts lower employment as a direct result of Labour’s welfare announcements, with unemployment rising overall and even more applications for PIP with changes to the UC health element. We will face the worst of all worlds, with arbitrary cuts and the Government dismissively discarding the previous Government’s proposals. Over 1 million people will be impacted; they face fear every day. When will the Government communicate to those people individually how they will be impacted, so that we do not see a rise in the genuine distress that people are facing right now?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness for her concern. She talks about employment, but, according to the OBR, it will rise by 1.2 million people over the course of the forecast, so I am not sure that what she is saying there is correct. As I have said repeatedly during this Question, the impact assessment she refers to takes no account of the £1 billion investment in helping people get back into work, so I am afraid that the impact assessment figures she is using are not correct. The OBR will look at the additional £1 billion over the course of the summer and come back with an updated impact assessment that takes it into account.