Economy: The Growth Plan 2022

Lord Naseby Excerpts

Monday 10th October 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Naseby (Con)]

My Lords, what joy it brings me to see my noble friend on the Front Bench and what a speech she gave to the House this afternoon.

I am very happy with the new Prime Minister and Chancellor. I joined the Conservative Party in 1964, and the basic tenets of the party at that time were almost identical to what we are being offered today. I fought my seat in Northampton South in February 1974. I was told that I would not win, that it had been a Labour seat all its life and that there had never been a Conservative in Northampton. I fought that seat on the basis of what I have just described, with energy, determination and enthusiasm. What the Prime Minister is bringing to our nation is energy, huge effort, enthusiasm and commitment to the basic philosophy of the party I joined so long ago and continue to support wholeheartedly.

My goodness, what challenges she faced on the day she became Prime Minister: the world facing its fifth wave of debt, inflation rising far too fast, energy supply and pricing a huge challenge, and, on top of all that, Ukraine and Russia. There was no time to really prepare for any of that, yet somehow she and her team, in a very limited time, did a huge amount of work that is manifesting itself now. My friend the noble Lord, Lord Lupton, may well be right that some of the elements could have been better put together, but you have to look at the time span. Does nobody understand the sheer pressure of having fought to be leader of our party for a whole month and then being thrown in? She and her team have succeeded. It is a truly great achievement.

My noble friends need to understand that one element is missing. There is one word missing: communication. I spent my economic career in the marketing world, and part of that time as the director responsible to the Central Office of Information for whatever campaign the Government of the day decided needed to be communicated. I say to my noble friends on the Front Bench that it is no good relying just on TV. There is press, billboards, radio—all sorts of media. Remember that, and please do not forget that it is not unusual to communicate directly to every single household in this country if the need is there. At this point in time, I believe that need is there. It has been done before and ought to be considered again. If that happens and we really communicate well, I am quite sure that this will be a highly successful Government. I look forward to continuing to support them.