Finance Bill

Lord Dobbs Excerpts

2nd reading & Committee negatived & 3rd reading & 2nd reading (Hansard) & 2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & 3rd reading (Hansard) & 3rd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & Committee negatived (Hansard) & Committee negatived (Hansard): House of Lords
Friday 17th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Dobbs (Con) [V]]

My Lords, 40 years ago this country was confronted by mass unemployment. It went way above 3 million. Foreigners mocked us. Britain was the sick man of Europe. Unemployment was supposed to be the club with which the Opposition would beat the Thatcher Government to death, but it did not happen. The Government were re-elected. Unemployment began to decline and hope returned. But unemployment is not just figures; it is real people and real lives. I have never forgotten the darkness that enveloped my family when my father lost his job—not for days or weeks, but many months.

Today the challenge is much the same. We are about to suffer another great blow. Unemployment will rise very sharply, beyond 3 million again. Many families and decent people will suffer. Many worthy causes will suffer with them, as the noble Lord, Lord Addington, has just pointed out. Yet we are in a better position to respond than we were in the 1970s. Our economy is far more flexible, fleeter of foot, more adaptable and more entrepreneurial—and it will become much more so as Brexit opens up new opportunities.

Yet for the moment the challenge that lies ahead—for us all, not just for the Chancellor—is not just about trying to balance conflicting and impossible demands and repaying all that debt. That is important, but life is not just about money—about living on bread alone, if you will—but about dreams and intangibles that cannot be measured but are crucial. Our recovery will be about not letting go of our dreams, ambitions and entrepreneurship.

That means a prime objective for government policy will be sustaining and strengthening our wealth makers, whose success underpins everything else: our elderly, our sick, and the young people who are our future. So, simplified taxation, sustained training, providing incentives, encouraging innovation and new investment, enterprise in everything we do—and, I hope, discovering new plays, new music and new entertainments to restore our spirits.

Let us not despair. We will get through this challenge. We have before. I wish our remarkable Chancellor well.