Baroness Kramer
Main Page: Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Baroness Kramer's debates with the HM Treasury
(1 month, 1 week ago)
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Lord Pitt-Watson (Lab)
Overall fiscal discipline is the central question. Discipline is really important. The noble Baroness mentioned the moron premium. I do not know whether all noble Lords understand what that term refers to: it was a slight by an economist describing the behaviour of the team responsible for the September 2022 mini-Budget. To give a sense of the cost, it is £15 billion a year. I think we have learned lessons from that. When I spoke in the debate last week, speakers from across the House agreed that fiscal discipline, independent oversight and not moving the goalposts were critical. The balance of spending on tax might be something on which we disagree, but on fiscal discipline we agree entirely.
Baroness Kramer (LD)
My Lords, under the 2026-27 Treasury remit to the Debt Management Office, index-linked gilt issuances will account for 9.3% of total new gilt issuances. Why was this decision made when a quarter of UK gilts are already index-linked well above the international norms, when we are in a period of inflation and rising interest rates, and when defined benefit plans—the schemes which had a hedging rather than a speculative use for index-linking—are rapidly disappearing? Does this make any sense?
Lord Pitt-Watson (Lab)
The Debt Management Office is part of the Bank of England. I would be more than happy to write to it, or the noble Baroness herself might wish to write for the answer to her question.