Destitution: Low Median Wage

Lord Lexden Excerpts

Thursday 23rd November 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)]

This Government are absolutely committed to ending a low-wage economy, and that is why we have just introduced the largest ever rise in the national living wage. Also, it is not just about the national living wage; I absolutely accept that there will be people who are living on benefits—that may be for a temporary period—and that is why we uprated benefits by 6.7%, which was the September CPI, versus a forecast inflation rate next year of 3.1%, so people will see more pounds in their pocket.

[Lord Lexden (Con)]

My Lords, should we not express the hope that yesterday’s measures will represent a real turning point in the economic life of our country, opening the way for sustained growth and greater prosperity for all our people?

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton (Con)]

I absolutely agree with my noble friend. It is an absolute turning point. It is about the long-term decisions that have to be made, and that is about investing not only in businesses but also in our people. From a business perspective, the full expensing has been widely welcomed across the economy. It will add an extra £3 billion of new investment. We already have the lowest corporation tax in the G7 and now, with full expensing, that will bring in the investments that my noble friend Lord Johnson really needs to see.

Local Authorities: Budgets

Lord Lexden Excerpts

Tuesday 19th September 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

My Lords, I just set out the position on broader reform to the funding system for local government. The Government recognise the pressures that local authorities are facing. At the spending review 2021, the Government confirmed that councils in England would receive £4.8 billion of new grant funding between 2022-23 and 2024-25 to meet pressures in social care and other services. We also recognised in the Autumn Statement last year that the position on inflation had changed the position for councils, and set out additional funding to respond to that.

[Lord Lexden (Con)]

My Lords, is it not tragic that Birmingham—once the jewel of local government, thanks to Joseph Chamberlain and his son Neville, the reforming lord mayor in the early 20th century—should have been reduced to its present pass? What is to be done about this great council? Should it be split up? Its present position is truly tragic.

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

My Lords, as we speak, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Levelling Up is giving a Statement to the House of Commons on action to be taken on Birmingham City Council. It is the Government’s intention to appoint commissioners in that instance, but there will be a period of consultation, I believe, before that is brought forth.

Inheritance Tax: Cohabiting Siblings

Lord Lexden Excerpts

Tuesday 20th June 2023 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Lexden]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what plans they have, if any, to make transfers of property between long-term cohabiting siblings exempt from inheritance tax.

[The Parliamentary Secretary, HM Treasury (Baroness Penn) (Con)]

My Lords, the long-standing inheritance tax assumption for wealth transfers between spouses and civil partners reflects the formal legal obligations that marriages and civil partnerships necessarily entail. While the Government understand the issue, there are no plans to exempt transfers of property between long-term cohabiting siblings.

[Lord Lexden (Con)]

My Lords, the Government say that two people who have shared a jointly owned home for years must be in a legal relationship if inheritance tax is to be deferred when they are parted by death. I remind the Government that they blocked my Private Member’s Bill to open up civil partnerships to siblings after its Second Reading, where it gained wide support across the House. This would have enabled siblings to establish legal relationships and solve the problem. Why on earth should the postponement of tax on the death of the first of two people united in a loving association for years require sexual activity between them? Why should the survivor of a chaste relationship have to face the agony of selling the family home on the death of a loved partner to pay an inheritance tax bill? Have this Government no compassion?

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

My Lords, it is important to set this Question in context. Each individual has a nil rate band of £325,000. Two cohabiting siblings who jointly own a house may have an inheritance tax liability only when the value of the house exceeds £650,000—well in excess of both the average UK house price and the average London house price. There are also circumstances in which inheritance tax can be paid over a period of time, giving the beneficiaries time to adjust to changed circumstances. That facility would enable people in those circumstances to remain in their home, which I believe is the concern at the heart of my noble friend’s Question.

Devolved Budget for Wales: Inflation

Lord Lexden Excerpts

Wednesday 15th March 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lexden (Con)]

My Lords, is it not extremely difficult to secure throughout our country the high level of prosperity that we would all like to see? My noble colleagues from Northern Ireland will testify to that.

[Baroness Penn (Con)]

It is a difficult thing, but one that this Government are committed to. That is why I am so pleased to see that as a result of the measures announced in this Budget today, we have seen the OBR adjust its growth forecasts upwards by the largest amount based on supply-side reforms since its establishment in 2010.