Economy: Quantitative Easing

Lord Peston Excerpts

Monday 12th November 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Taverne]

My Lords—

[Lord Peston]

My Lords—

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally)]

I think it is the Liberal Democrats. We have had a Labour Member and a Cross-Bencher.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Sassoon]

My Lords, we are putting together a British business bank in order to bring together the various schemes that SMEs and all companies have access to. I entirely agree with my noble friend that this is an ongoing and very serious issue. We will continue to use the strength of the Government’s balance sheet, which is due to the credible deficit reduction plan, to back up schemes such as the infrastructure guarantee scheme, which goes precisely to one part of the demand and need for long-term bank finance. We will, and have already, come forward with schemes, because I completely agree with my noble friend that this is a critical area.

[Lord Peston]

My Lords, could the Minister just clarify his Answer a little? Is he saying that the economy is now on a continuous expansion path of a sustainable nature, and therefore that everybody else—all the experts who say that there are nothing but bad times ahead—is mistaken? Is that the Government’s view?

[Lord Sassoon]

My Lords, I merely stated that, on the last numbers from the ONS, the economy is growing again. If we bring this back to the subject of the Question—quantitative easing—the Bank of England’s analysis of 23 August is that economic growth would have been lower in the absence of the asset purchases and unemployment would have been higher.