Economy: The Growth Plan 2022

Baroness Sheehan Excerpts

Monday 10th October 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sheehan (LD)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Stroud. I start by congratulating the noble Baroness, Lady Gohir, on an excellent maiden speech—I am sorry she is not in her place. Whoever would have thought that there would be two Shaistas in the House of Lords?—make of that what you will.

It seems that in her youth, the Prime Minister confused the great tradition of liberalism with libertarianism when she joined my party. Perhaps, despite her education, she had missed the central tenet of liberalism: do no harm. Untrammelled freedom, free from responsibility, is far from what it means to be a Liberal Democrat. If I may indulge myself a little, I shall read the first sentence from our constitution:

“The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community.”


The key word here is “balance”. Our ambitions are diametrically opposed to hers, and I am proud she decided that the Liberal Democrats were not the party for her.

Instead, the Prime Minister identified ideological soulmates within elements of the Conservative party, and the so-called mini-Budget is ideologically driven. It is a Budget that unashamedly signals that this Government want to install an economy in which growth is driven by a “me, me, me” culture, one in which the law of the jungle will reign supreme. The “Do no harm” principle is ignored. The poor and vulnerable are asked to bear more of the tax burden, to shoulder more of the pain of inflation, while incomes and benefits for some stay the same. At the same time, the rich receive tax cuts, oil and gas giants bank eye-watering increases in profits, other big businesses make even greater profits and bankers take home even bigger bonuses.

My message to the Government is: stop the harm. Ditch the high ideology and grapple with the imperatives of the day. Help the most needy in our society. They cannot afford to pay double the energy costs of last year and cover the economic ineptitude which led to higher borrowing costs. Invest in education and R&D, without which the holy grail of growth will ever remain a pipe dream.

It is meaningful, long-term investment in R&D, skills and training that will drive the innovation and technology needed to meet the challenge of climate change. Without this investment, we will see the rest of the world forge ahead and grow without us.

In concluding, I associate myself with all previous remarks condemning the Government’s actions on obstructing green growth and loosening protection of the environment. I want to stress two points. First, the issuing of new licences for the exploration and production of oil and gas is reprehensible, as is removing the ban on fracking. Can the Minister assure your Lordships’ House that taxpayers will not be left to pick up the cost of dismantling the inevitable future stranded assets? Secondly, can the Government just get on with launching an information campaign on what people can do to reduce energy use? If, for ideological reasons, they cannot bring themselves to do this, they should get out of the way of others who can.