Sterling
Debate between Lord Davies of Oldham and Earl of Courtown
Lord Davies of Oldham (Lab)
My Lords, does the noble Earl appreciate that his answer to my noble friend clashes with reality? With the pound at a low level you would expect our manufacturers and exporters to be making considerable progress, but informed opinion—as opposed to that from the Government Front Bench—in the manufacturing industry says that investment in that industry is at its lowest level since the slump and great crisis of 2008. How do his previous answers square with the brutal facts?
The Earl of Courtown
My Lords, the noble Lord will be perfectly well aware that our economy has changed over the years. As I said earlier, the manufacturing sector has seen productivity increase by over three times faster than the UK economy as a whole over the past 10 years. As noble Lords will be aware, what is becoming more and more important is the service economy, our advances in the digital age and the technology that we are producing. That is what is really important and it is how the economy will grow further.