Economy

Lord Lang of Monkton Excerpts

Monday 7th June 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord De Mauley]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Kinnock, will not be surprised to hear that I do not necessarily agree with him. I respectfully suggest to him that his line of questioning on job losses, in particular, is somewhat flawed in that it ignores the near certainty that job losses on a massive scale will occur if cuts are not made because of the danger of rising interest rates and their effect on business.

[Lord Lang of Monkton]

My Lords, as the Minister addresses the difficult inheritance that he has to deal with, will he bear in mind the fact that the greatest imbalance in our economy is between the public sector and the private sector and that without a healthy and diverse private sector there can be no effective public sector? Will he ensure that this thought is kept at the forefront of his deliberations and those of his colleagues?

[Lord De Mauley]

My Lords, I could not agree more with my noble friend.