King’s Speech (4th Day)

Viscount Goschen Excerpts

Monday 22nd July 2024 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Goschen (Con)]

My Lords, this has been a classic House of Lords occasion and debate. I might say that the Minister, the noble Lord, Lord Vallance, completely nailed his maiden speech and set the tone. He held the attention of the House in a remarkable way: one could tell that by the quiet around the Chamber as people listened extremely carefully to what he had to say. I wish him and his colleagues—some new faces and some distinguished faces we have seen in previous incarnations—success in most but not entirely all of their endeavours.

I also pay tribute to my new noble friend Lord Petitgas, who made an extraordinary maiden speech. He spoke with passion, wit and charm, and a lifetime of knowledge of investment banking and related sectors. I feel absolutely certain that we will hear a lot more from him once the House has decided how to pronounce his surname. No doubt a Select Committee will be set up quickly to do that. If it was not against the provisions of the Standing Orders to speak in a foreign tongue, I would say “chapeau” to him—but obviously I will not take that liberty.

It must be rare at the start of a new Government, after the preceding Administration have been in power for a long time and after a vigorously fought elect campaign, for there to be such consensus around the Chamber. From most of what has been talked about today, one has the strong sense that the overall objectives are shared—if not necessarily the mechanics of how to get there. I feel that is very refreshing.

I am particularly pleased that the Prime Minister has placed economic growth front and centre of the Government’s agenda. I think it is worth emphasising how resilient corporate performance has been over the past few years in the face of the major challenges of energy price rises, interest rate volatility, Covid, trade regulation with key partners, supply chain pressures, profound changes in technology and global political uncertainty, instability and conflict. None the less, there is a significant challenge to what the Government can do to deliver what they have said they are going to do.

This is one concern I have: expectations are very high of the Government’s ability to deliver growth. Although government has an incredibly important role, perhaps the emphasis might be as much on creating the framework for business to create sustainable value, which in the final analysis will be the real creator of wealth in the country, rather than on government being able to make interventions and pull levers, with the exception of some that we have covered in previous debates on the planning system and so forth. Surely the role of the Government—again with the exception of areas where there is a particular strategic national interest—to intervene to create growth drivers is extremely limited and the law of unintended consequences works pretty hard in this regard. Therefore, I was much encouraged by the emphasis on partnership with businesses, and no doubt their requirements and perspectives have been well received already by government departments and Ministers.

However, there is very little that is new here. The requirements of business are much the same as they were before the 4 July election, as indeed is the expertise of officials in the relevant government departments. My concern therefore is that, once the honeymoon period for the new Administration has worn off and the challenge of delivering sustainable economic growth has become very clear, there will be pressure for the Government to pursue more novel interventions. I think that would be regrettable. I have real trouble equating innovation, agility, risk-taking and technological innovation with more legislation, statutory government bodies and regulation. I am not sure they are perfect bedfellows.

My final point is that this has been a very domestic debate, whereas what we have to consider is the UK’s international competitiveness. Every regulatory intervention must be considered in that context. By far the majority of FTSE 100 revenues are international and every aspect of our business system is interconnected with the global economy, so we cannot look at these matters in isolation.