Budget Responsibility and National Audit Bill [Lords]

Lindsay Hoyle Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd March 2011 Commons Chamber

The elephant in the room is the implications of European Union policy. As Chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee, I can assure the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Nottingham East, of the importance of this. He told me the other day that when he took on this job he had no idea just how much the European Union was affecting his functions. Indeed, the same goes for the Government. The European dimension overlays the provisions of the Bill. The duties that the Bill imposes will be subject to the requirements that European law will impose on top of them. That raises the second question referred to by the hon. Gentleman: the question of judicial authority.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)]

Order. The hon. Gentleman knows what I am going to say. I do not want to spoil what he is going to say on Third Reading, so it might be better if he stuck to the subject of the amendments. That would be more useful to us at this stage.

[Mr Cash]

I am very glad to be able to follow that advice. In order for the provisions contained in the amendments to be inserted in the Bill, it is essential for the House to be aware of the implications of judicial authority, the assertions of the Supreme Court in that context, and the sovereignty of Parliament. There is, for example, the question of fiscal policy and the charter, which is set out in clause 1(2) and to which the question of economic growth and job creation would be added by the amendments. Clause 6(3) states:

“The Office must, in the performance of its duty under section 4, act consistently with any guidance included in the Charter by virtue of this section.”

I am deeply worried about the legal status of the charter in this context.

As for fiscal policy, I remind the House that the other day, probably for the first time since 1640—Pym and Hampden and all that—the Government passed a motion saying that we were only primarily responsible for it. I voted against the motion—as did my hon. Friend the Member for Bury North (Mr Nuttall) and a number of others—but the whole House should have voted against it, because in fact we are exclusively responsible for fiscal policy, and that is what the Bill is supposed to be based on.

What worries me particularly is the inconsistency with fundamental questions that are in the background, involving the primacy of European law, sovereignty and judicial authority. I need make no further points, because in a nutshell, if those issues cannot be reconciled with what is in the Bill, and if the duties of the Office for Budget Responsibility are to examine and report on the sustainability of the public finances, to prepare “fiscal and economic forecasts”, to make assessments and analyse sustainability, and to act consistently with the charter as a matter of law, we are surely entitled to ask: which law will prevail?

Obviously, I agree with all the ideas that are being presented. We all want an efficient economy, we all want jobs and we all want growth. We cannot survive without growth, and we cannot generate the revenues to pay for the public sector without that growth in the private sector. What worries me is that all those ideas are being imposed through a Bill, rather than through the judgment of Ministers who are accountable to the House of Commons, and should not be required to refer back to the judicial authority of the courts or the alleged primacy of the European Union.

I fear that we are embarking on one of those Lewis Carroll-type situations. I am reminded of “The Hunting of the Snark”. Members may recall the phraseology. We know that we want it, we know it is there, but the question is, what is it going to do? I have a serious problem with the Bill for that reason. I fear that we are engaged in a process of wishful thinking rather than achievement, and that we are being locked into a withdrawal from parliamentary accountability—and, as some Members may know by now, I regard that as the ultimate test of our democratic system.

--- Later in debate ---

[Stewart Hosie]

rose—

[Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)]

Order. We are not going to be drawn into the party politics of Scotland. Let us stick to the amendment.

[Ian Murray]

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I will resist the temptation to have another go at the Scottish National party in the Chamber, and will take your guidance.

I shall finish on two quick points. First, the level of borrowing before the financial crisis did not cause the recession. Every country in the world was affected, so it does not take a rocket scientist to work out that it was a worldwide financial crisis. The coalition Government’s propaganda—