Budget Statement

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock Excerpts

Friday 12th March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op) [V]]

My Lords, the Chancellor faced two major hazards in preparing his Budget. The first, the Covid pandemic, was of course not of his making but, for the second, the fallout from Brexit, he and his Government must accept the major responsibility. Indeed, we see today that our exports to the European Union have dropped by over 40%, with huge economic disbenefit.

The worst aspect of the Brexit con trick, however, was the slogan on the side of the campaign bus promising £350 million a week for the NHS. If we are getting anything, it is not providing a decent pay rise for the staff who have cared for us through this pandemic, as the noble Earl, Lord Shrewsbury, said earlier. But there is money going to the track and trace consultants, who are no doubt struggling by on average pay of £1,000 a day.

I am one of those who will continue—as my noble friend Lady Quin said she would—to argue that Brexit was a tragic, self-inflicted wound, achieved through a flawed referendum process. I recognise, however, that we cannot now undo it, but it is a caution against stumbling into another similar, but far worse, tragic error. With the chaos and misery that we now see developing as a result of the UK leaving a successful economic union after 40 years, think how much worse it would be for Scotland to leave an even more successful economic union after more than 300 years. The separatists have no answer to the key questions of currency, debt or breaking up long-standing financial arrangements. They rely on the same emotive arguments of national identity that led us into the disaster of Brexit. We all need now to raise our game in the fight to save our precious United Kingdom.