King’s Speech (4th Day)

Lord Bishop of Newcastle Excerpts

Monday 22nd July 2024 Lords Chamber

[The Lord Bishop of Newcastle]

My Lords, I welcome the gracious Speech and the importance it places on economic growth. I congratulate the noble Lords, Lord Vallance and Lord Petitgas, on their excellent maiden speeches.

The Government’s bold articulation of fiscal reality, and the resistance to colluding with demands for short-term fixes, present a helpful foundation for next steps. One question is: when striving for growth, who will most feel its impact? The UK has some of the highest levels of geographic inequality in Europe. According to a survey conducted in 2022 by YouGov and the Resolution Foundation, 41% of those surveyed in the north-east felt that their region has generally declined in recent years—the highest out of any region in the UK. This feeling is not unfounded when real wages in half of the north-east’s local authorities are still below 2008 levels. The impact can be felt in take-home pay and on our high streets, and it is borne out in the investment decisions of businesses.

It is essential that the growth we strive for is for the UK in its entirety, with a particular focus on communities whose potential is not yet fully realised. I therefore welcome the emphasis this Government place on local economies, and I look forward to seeing increases in mayoral powers and local growth plans through the English devolution Bill. However, the responsibility of ensuring that everyone feels the benefits of growth should not rest solely with the Government but should be shared by us all. How can each sphere of society—businesses, charities and civic institutions—partner together so that the benefits of growth are felt more widely?

I would like to highlight the businesses and social enterprises that recognise that their success is bound up with the flourishing of the local communities that they serve. The Big River Bakery in the Shieldfield area of Newcastle is a terrific example of this very point; it is a bakery, shop, cafe, training space, and so much more—a sustainable commercial model partnering with external support, rooted in a deprived local community, and nurturing kindness and compassion in its mission to serve.

There is another bakery, founded in Newcastle in the 1950s. Today, that bakery can be found on high streets across the UK and took an 8.2% share of the UK’s food-to-go sales in 2023. I was one of the many who joined Greggs in celebrating National Sausage Roll Day last month by purchasing its limited-edition yard of sausage rolls. That is a lot of sausage rolls; other sausage roll makers are available. Greggs has experienced enormous growth as a business, but it continues to serve its communities, contributing a proportion of its profits towards the Greggs Foundation, which supports local community organisations and addresses issues of poverty and inequality by distributing upwards of £4 million in grants each year and establishing more than 800 breakfast clubs. An example of how profit and growth can be achieved, but through partnership, its impact goes further. How can our Government encourage greater partnership and social responsibility, so that more communities feel the benefits of growth?

It is clear that economic growth is the driving mission of this new Government. I believe that success will be measured by the fruits of growth. My hope is that we will work towards equitable and sustainable growth, achieved through partnership for the benefit of all.