Gilt Yields

Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness for her question. As she will know, recent gilt yield movements have risen in line with global peers, mainly driven by global factors. The recent gilt market moves have also been orderly. As she knows, our commitment to the fiscal rules is non-negotiable and we have a clear plan in place to put the public finances on a sustainable path and prioritise investment to support long-term growth. She talks about the position of the UK economy; she knows that this is an uncertain and volatile global economy, but even so the UK remains resilient and is outperforming our peers. The UK was the fastest-growing economy in the G7 in the first half of this year and our commitment to stability is paying off, creating space for the Bank of England to cut interest rates five times since the election, with business confidence now at its highest level for 12 months.

[Lord Macpherson of Earl’s Court (CB)]

My Lords, the Financial Secretary is right to point out that yields on German bunds have risen almost as much as yields on gilts in the UK over the last month, but does he recognise the importance of ensuring that the UK’s economic policy does not stand out from other medium-sized countries in Europe? To that end, can he reaffirm the Government’s commitment to their fiscal rules in particular and to sound money in general?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Lord for his question. I am happy to reconfirm that; our commitment to the fiscal rules is non-negotiable. The Government have a clear plan in place to put the public finances on a sustainable path and prioritise investment to support long-term growth. At the Spring Statement, the OBR forecast that borrowing would fall in every single year of the forecast, from 4.8% of GDP to 2.1% of GDP in 2029-30.

The noble Lord also said it is important that our economic policy does not stand out from our peers. One area in which we did stand out when this Government came to office was in historically low levels of investment in our economy, which constrained growth. We had the lowest levels of investment in the G7, which is something that our fiscal rules seek to rectify.