King’s Speech (4th Day)

Lord Lee of Trafford Excerpts

Monday 22nd July 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lee of Trafford (LD)]

My Lords, first I declare an interest. I am here in my 83rd year, and there is a threat of the culling of the 80 year-olds. I would like to ask the Government whether they have any plans to provide counselling for us 80 year-olds as we live through the next few years under the sword of Damocles.

The Chancellor, in pursuing her growth strategy has a difficult balancing act. On the one hand, there will be inevitable tax rises—things such as CGT and possibly inheritance tax—but she must be careful to avoid stifling and blunting business and enterprise. Specifically, she must be very careful in possibly ending, for example, the business property relief, which would negatively affect AIM shares—shares on the Alternative Investment Market—because that would very much send the wrong message in terms of encouraging growth. I declare shareholdings in that regard.

I will focus my remarks today, if I may, on the stock market in particular. I think it is agreed that the UK market has been languishing and is undervalued. The number of UK listed companies is down by 40% from its 2008 peak, and of course we have had a rash of recent takeovers. The biggest boost would come, unquestionably, if pension funds modestly—I repeat, modestly—increased their UK equity content. Given that the pension contributions themselves come from the UK and the pensioners live in the UK, it is not unreasonable to ask that greater support is given to the UK equity market.

I have three specific recommendations. First, financial education in our schools is abysmal; there are many more youngsters who speculate in cryptocurrency than invest traditionally. I suggest that the Government gift, say, £5,000 worth of NatWest shares to every state secondary school, with the pupils themselves to decide how they spend that £350 dividend. Assuming full take-up, this would cost about £20 million in total, but it would transform young people’s knowledge of the stock market, dividends and banks. I and a number of Tory Peers put this to Jeremy Hunt, who was considering it, but of course the election intervened. I hope that Rachel Reeves will look seriously at this. We should also be encouraging regional public companies to gift small numbers of shares to schools in their locality. I intend to write to the QCA, the Quoted Companies Alliance, about this.

Secondly, there is near zero coverage by television of the stock market or investment opportunities. I believe this to be a national tragedy. I suggest it is a combination of producers’ disinterest and fear of the regulator. I got nowhere when taking this up with City Ministers in the previous Government. I hope the new Government will look at this and attempt to bring about a change. We have so many excellent public companies to invest in and support in this country.

Thirdly, I turn to ISAs, which of course have been a huge success, and their precursor, PEPs. I have been a big supporter and, I declare, a beneficiary. I supported the principle of Jeremy Hunt’s £5,000 British ISA, but frankly it was rather a damp squib, being too small and administratively messy in that people would have to open a separate ISA. I believe that all future ISA sales and new monies going into ISAs should be restricted to UK-quoted companies. Why give tax breaks to those investing abroad? They are still free to invest abroad, but why do we give them tax breaks to enable them to do it? I am not suggesting that they should have to divest any existing overseas holdings, because that would be too messy administratively, and unfair retrospectively.