Economy: Productivity

Baroness Wheatcroft Excerpts
Thursday 28th June 2018

(6 years, 5 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Bates Portrait Lord Bates
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On the point about foreign direct investment, just look over the past couple of weeks: we have seen Amazon announce 3,000 jobs in the east Midlands; a major biomass investment in Cheshire that will bring 3,000 jobs; and Vauxhall has announced the investment of 1,400 jobs in Luton. We are seeing record investment levels and a doubling of tech investment in the UK. This is all part of a strong, vibrant British economy that we are absolutely confident will continue to progress and improve beyond Brexit.

Baroness Wheatcroft Portrait Baroness Wheatcroft (Con)
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My Lords, businesses need long-term investment if they are to improve productivity. Does my noble friend agree that we need some sort of incentive for organisations to be long-term shareholders? Algorithmic trading is the absolute reverse of long-term investment, and there is far too much of it. We should have incentives for people to hold for the long term.